The Army Lieutenant Colonel, ’66, attributes many of life’s accomplishments to his alma mater
LTC (R) Charles Hunsaker, ’66, blazed a trail while a student at Capital University leading to many record-setting and first-time experiences – opportunities that he now says might not have been possible, if not for Capital.
Hunsaker was a member of the legendary 1965 track team that set the school record for the 4x800 relay – a record that still stands today. Wearing the purple and white, he also was a three-time Ohio Athletic Conference Champion in the 600-yard indoor race. Perhaps, more remarkably, Hunsaker, along with three other men on that year’s team, Jim Demo, ’65, Bob Lewis, ’66, and Wilfred “Wilf” Schnier, ’66, would all go on to have storied careers as track and cross-country coaches.
Today, Hunsaker says none of those accomplishments might have happened if he had gone to college anywhere else except Capital. As a high school student, he had set a school record in the one mile at Lima Shawnee High School, but he was not recruited by any universities. He knew he wanted to continue to run in college but had set his sights on a warmer climate and larger school. Ultimately, it was his pastor who convinced him to enroll at Capital, a decision that set the course for his life.
“Would I have had the opportunity to have the career I had if I had gone to a big school?” he asks. “I think the answer to that is absolutely no. I ended up getting the chance to run cross country and track. Capital gave me that opportunity. It was the place for me at the time. It set me up to be a coach.”
It was in his Lehman Hall dorm room helping another student who was new to track that Hunsaker realized he had an interest in coaching. “It kind of hit me right then, really,” he says, adding that he changed his major from pre-med the next day.
He acknowledges that there was a special camaraderie among the track guys and says former track Coach Jack Landrum played a significant role. “He coached track the way I wish track was coached today,” according to Hunsaker. “He really emphasized team. We had 1 ½ years where we didn’t lose any meets.”
After graduating from Capital, Hunsaker taught science and served as an assistant track coach at Allen East and Central junior high schools in Lima. He would soon be recruited to be a graduate assistant coach at University of Cincinnati where he earned his master’s degree in Athletics Administration in 1969. Before long, he was asked to take the head coaching job, a position he held for two years and included taking runners to the U.S. Olympic trials in 1972 and coaching UC’s first All-Americans in cross country, and indoor and outdoor track.
His success soon led to being recruited by Southwest Missouri State University, now Missouri State. Under his coaching, the team was national cross country champions once and runners-up twice. Hunsaker coached 22 All-Americans and earned State Coach of the Year honors five times, NCAA Regional Coach of the Year three times and National Coach of the Year two times.
In July 1976, the U.S. Military Academy at West Point welcomed its first women’s class and offered Hunsaker, who was in the Army Reserves, a position as the first women’s track and cross country coach in 1978. In their second year of competition, the women’s team was runner-up in the east and ninth in the nation. By year three, the team was the eastern champion in indoor track and cross country. He was named Eastern Women’s Coach of the Year in both sports.
“I really wanted those women to be honored and rewarded for what they did,” Hunsaker says.
He authored a book, “Angels in Combat Boots,” detailing the integration of women into the Corps of Cadets and is currently working with a film company on a documentary based on the book. It is scheduled to be completed in time for West Point’s 50th anniversary of enrolling women in July 2026.
Hunsaker was inducted into Capital University’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 1986 and Missouri State’s Hall of Fame in 1997. He has also been inducted into the Ohio Track Coaches Hall of Fame and the Missouri Track Coaches Hall of Fame. Today, he and his wife Patricia live in Georgia and have two daughters and three grandchildren.
Hunsaker credits attending Capital and the Lutheran education he received as having “a big influence” on his life. He has served as president of several congregations and was president of Redeemer Lutheran Church, a Panamanian church in Balboa, Panama, while stationed there for 10 years in the Army.
“For a number of years, I served as the service coordinator for the Southeast Lutheran Conference, which was a group of 67 Lutheran congregations in the southeast U.S.,” he says. “I am currently national president of Lutheran Men, and I also serve as the chairman of the board for St. Paul Lutheran Seminary. And, I am the military endorser approving Lutheran pastors to serve as chaplains in the U.S. military.
“I don't know that any of that would have happened had I gone to another college. I know that we all sometimes complained about having to take religion classes, but those classes and the Lutheran influence of Capital definitely left its mark. In many ways, it was the mark of a Capital man.”