Joel Leftwich and Robert Miller were inducted yesterday into the Crusader Wall of Recognition. Loren Hibbs, also inducted, is not pictured.

by Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow — Three inductees have been initiated into the Wellington Crusader Wall of Recognition for 2019.

Joel Leftwich, a 1996 graduate; Robert Miller, a 1962 graduate; and Loren Hibbs, a 1979 graduate have joined a list of inductees that have been part of the wall since 2011.

Yesterday, the three were honored throughout the day at WHS, culminating in an awards presentation during Class Night. Hibbs was not in attendance.

The Crusader Wall of Recognition was established to honor culture and tradition of excellence and high achievement by recognition of outstanding Wellington High School Alumni and contributors.

It also serves to inspire current and future Crusaders to lead their lives in a way that will perpetuate the standards of excellence and high achievement the honorees have set forth. The Crusader Wall of Recognition was implemented in 2012 with a total of 20 inductees to date.

The following is a biography of this year’s wall inductees:

Joel Leftwich

Leftwich was born and raised in Wellington, graduating in 1996. He earned a B.A. in Political Science/History from Friends University in 2000 and a M.A. in Political Science from Loyola University of Chicago in 2004.

Upon graduating from Friends, where he served two years as President of the Student Government Association, Leftwich went to work for U.S. Representative Jim Ryun (R-Kans.) as a legislative aide handling correspondence and assisting with agricultural policy. After a year in Washington D.C., Leftwich returned to Kansas as Friends University’s Director of Alumni Relations where he worked to enhance relationships with the university’s broader community.

Recognizing his desire to return to public policy, Joel enrolled in the Loyola University of Chicago’s Graduate School for Political Science and focused his studies on the U.S. Executive Branch and the political party system. After earning his master’s degree, Joel accepted a position with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s office of Congressional Relations in President George W. Bush’s administration. In this capacity, Leftwich worked with USDA officials and congressional offices to implement portions of the 2002 Farm Bill’s conservation and forestry provisions.

In May 2005, Leftwich joined U.S. Senator Pat Roberts’ (R-Kans.) staff as a legislative assistant working on public policy provisions in the field of agriculture, aviation, commodity futures, energy, food safety, immigration, nutrition and transportation. During this time, Leftwich played an integral role assisting Senator Roberts in passing legislation benefitting multiple Kansas and national constituencies. This relationship with Senator Roberts grew over the years, eventually leading to Joel becoming the Majority Staff Director for the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry when Senator Roberts became chairman in 2015. With Senator Roberts as the Chair and Joel as the Staff Director, Congress passed and President Obama signed into law sweeping legislation regulating how food is labeled that protects production methods for U.S. farmers and ranchers while also providing consumers more information about how their food is grown and made.

With many years spent in the public sector, Joel also has experience in the private sector as Senior director of public policy and Government Affairs for PepsiCo, Inc. and Program Manager for Federal Affairs for DuPont. In these roles, Joel helped craft the companies policies and regulatory positions regarding nutrition, food safety, ingredient supply, and sustainability.

Joel is currently a Managing Director at The Glover Park Group, a strategic communications and policy advocacy firm with operations in Washington D.C. and New York, N.Y. He provides strategic and policy counsel to the firm’s food and agriculture clients.

Joel and his wife, Shannon, and their family enjoy returning to Wellington often to visit family and friends.

Robert Miller

Miller went to the rural eight-grade school, then attended WHS, graduating in 1962. He then went to Kansas State University and received a B.S. in agriculture economics in 1967. He served in the Air Force, working in communications.

After college and the Air Force, Robert started farming near Wellington. At the same time he ran for Kansas State Legislature, defeating a 10-year incumbent. During his 26 years, he chaired over 10 committees and was elected majority leader, minority leader, and Speaker of the House. He is the only Kansan to hold those three positions.

When he left the legislature, he was appointed by Governor Bill Graves to the Kansas Racing and Gaming Commission and was elected vice chairman. He also served a term as chairman of the North American Pari-Mutual Regulators Association.

Back on his farm, he joined a small number of farmers who were starting to grow cotton. He was elected board president of the southern Kansas cotton growers COOP and led in the creation of the Kansas Cotton Association, which he led as president for 10 years. As Kansas cotton production grew, so did his involvement outside of the state. He was the first Kansan appointed to the U.S. Cotton board by the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture and was on the board of Cotton Inc., and the National Cotton Council. He was also elected as chairman of the Plains Cotton Cooperative Warehouse Committee and Vice Chairman of the Marketing Committee (the largest cotton marketing pool in the world).

Off the farm, Miller is a longtime director of the Security State Bank, and has worked as a volunteer in agricultural projects in the Philippines and Azerbaijan. He also was on the board of the Sumner Regional Medical Center for eight years – six years as chairman.

Robert is married to Roxann Rooney, and has two daughters and five grandchildren.

Loren Hibbs

  Loren Steven Hibbs graduated from WHS in 1979. He was an outstanding student and athlete participating in football, basketball, cross country and track and field earning multiple all-league honors. At the time, Hibbs was attending Wellington High School, there was not a school baseball program so he participated during the summers in Babe Ruth Baseball, American Legion Baseball, and semi-pro baseball with the Wellington Dukes.

After graduations, Hibbs attended the University of Kansas and was on the Jayhawk baseball team for a year and a half before transferring to Wichita State University where he played baseball from 1982 – 1984. During Loren’s playing career the Shockers won two regular-season Missouri Conference titles and one MVC tournament title and in 1982 Loren was a three-time all MVC and all-district selection as an outfield and was a member of the 1982 College World Series All-Tournament team. He still holds the NCAA record for most runs scored in a season at 125. Hibbs was a three-time professional draft pick and had a brief stint with the San Francisco  Giants farm system.

Hibbs began his coaching career as an assistant at his alma mater, WSU, from 1985 to 1992 and was a member of the coaching staff when the Shockers won the College World Series National Championship in 1989.

In 1992, Hibbs was hired as the head baseball coach at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, a position he still holds today. As of the end of the 2018 season, Hibbs has compiled an overall record of 798-651-4 and a 360-319 conference record including seven regular-season conference titles, four conference tournament titles and five NCAA Tournament appearances.

In 2018, Hibbs was inducted into the Kansas Baseball Hall of Fame.

Loren has three children, Tyson, Erin and Lanie and he is married to the former Lisa Helms.

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