People Are the Priority

Kari Flunker Hoffman ’05 is a Hall of Fame basketball player, holding first place in the Lady Jacket record books for three-point shots made, three-point field goal percentage and assists. She’s also the second all-time leading scorer in Cedarville women’s basketball history with 2,275 points during her four-year career.

In 2004 and 2005, she led her team to the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) championship game. In 2004, she was presented the Hustle award following the championship game, and one year later she was named the National Christian College Athletic Association (NCCAA) player of the year.

Kari is also an outstanding coach, leading the women’s team from 2016 to 2020 to 106 victories and three regular-season conference championships.  

But for all the accolades, it comes back to people for Kari. As a player, more than anything she wanted to be the kind of teammate that others wanted to play with. When the door opened for her to lead the Wright State University NCAA Division I women’s basketball program, it was a focus on student-athletes as people to be developed first that convinced her the move was from the Lord.

And as she reflects on her years coaching at Cedarville, this theme remains true.

“There’s just so many good people at Cedarville that I want to keep part of my life,” she comments during the podcast. “All my best friends were my teammates there, and they always will be. I want to keep people and relationships a priority. I hope I’m remembered for treating people right, caring about them and the program, and doing it all while keeping Christ first in my life.”

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Kari is being inducted in the Cedarville Athletics Hall of Fame during homecoming weekend 2021.