Concordia University

Charles Chatman was an exceptional running back and safety at Costa Mesa High, but his days as a football player ended while he was on scholarship at Kent State. Now, with some guidance from his uncle, Cleveland Indian batting coach Clarence Jones, Chatman is playing baseball at Concordia and hoping he didn't wait too long to change his focus. "This is what I should have been doing all along, playing baseball," said Chatman, who rushed for 2,500 yards and 29 touchdowns at Costa Mesa in 1994.

On the same Concordia University campus where they met and fell in love, friends and family of Monica Quan and her fiance, Keith Lawrence, remembered the young couple Sunday for their humility, selflessness and love of basketball. Helped to the podium by family, Lawrence's younger brother, Kris, whispered, "I can do this, I can do this" as he struggled against tears to pay tribute to the protective older brother who he said always did the right thing and comforted him as a child when he was scared of the dark.

Officials passed out fliers near Concordia University warning that a mountain lion had been seen in the area. Police said the cougar, estimated to be 60 pounds, was seen early Monday near Dorm Road on the campus. "The animal was not acting aggressively ... and is not considered a public danger," Irvine Police Lt. Jeff Love said.

Four days before her death, Monica Quan had news for her team. Quan, an assistant coach at Cal State Fullerton, held up her hand to show off an engagement ring. The players screamed and huddled around her for a closer look, head coach Marcia Foster recalled. Quan was as happy as her basketball players, and later said she wished she had recorded the moment. She loved to have pictures taken with her friends. She wanted a big wedding, and her fiance, Keith Lawrence, a public safety officer at USC, was trying to work extra hours to make it possible.

Christ College Irvine will become Concordia University in July as it joins nine sister colleges around the United States in creating a new university system, college officials said Monday. Christ College's board of regents agreed last week to change the college's name to become a part of the new Concordia University system, college President D. Ray Halm said. Halm announced the decision to students during a chapel service on Friday.

C. Neil Ash has been elected chairman of the Concordia University Board of Regents. Ash, who became a member of the board in 1990, is a retired vice president of Allied-Signal and a member of the State Bar of California. He served in the U.S. Navy in World War II and in the Korean War, for which he earned the rank of lieutenant commander. He and his wife, June, live in Rancho Santa Fe.

More than 200 Latino Lutheran ministers, lay workers and seminary students will gather next week for Encuentro '99, a conference at Concordia University in Irvine. The event is intended to encourage participants to develop a vision for their communities, said coordinator the Rev. Robert Gonzalez of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod Board. The four-day conference begins at 7:30 p.m.

Spaces are still available for vendors and craftspeople at the Friends of Concordia University auxiliary's annual Christmas Boutique. In conjunction with the university's annual Christmas concert, the boutique will be from noon to 10 p.m. Dec. 13 and 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Dec. 14 at the Concordia University Theatre. The cost to rent a 6-by-8-foot space is $40. All proceeds from vendor fees will be used for student scholarships. Information: (714) 854-8002, Ext. 862.

The Aid Assn. for Lutherans has awarded Concordia University a $31,900 grant through its Affirmations of Lutheran Higher Education program, which assists Lutheran colleges, universities and Bible institutes in launching new approaches to meet the institutions' needs and goals.

Jim Staunton, the powerful commissioner of the CIF Southern Section, announced Thursday that he would retire effective July 29, 2011, opening the way for a likely spirited competition to replace him. Staunton made the announcement at a meeting of league representatives at the Southern Section Council meeting, though he informed the Executive Committee of his intentions last May. In a news release, Staunton, who leads an organization that...

Richard Monette, 64, the longest-serving artistic director of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Canada, died Tuesday of a blood clot in the lung at a hospital in London, Ontario, the festival confirmed. Monette was artistic director at Stratford, the largest repertory theater in North America, from 1994 to 2007. During his tenure, he improved the theater's economic stability and shepherded it to record levels of attendance. The son of a French-Canadian father and an Italian mother, Monette was born in Montreal in 1944.

Officials passed out fliers near Concordia University warning that a mountain lion had been seen in the area. Police said the cougar, estimated to be 60 pounds, was seen early Monday near Dorm Road on the campus. "The animal was not acting aggressively ... and is not considered a public danger," Irvine Police Lt. Jeff Love said.

Drawing on the controversy that has haunted his reelection campaign in recent weeks, President Bush on Friday pointed to the U.S. soldiers accused of abusing Iraqi inmates as a life lesson for new college graduates. "In Iraq, the cruelty of a few has brought discredit to their uniform and embarrassment to our country," Bush told the 491 graduates and their families at Concordia University, on the shore of Lake Michigan in suburban Milwaukee.

Outwardly, at least, this looked to be just another Tuesday afternoon at Concordia University. A gentle breeze rolled across the campus, which is nestled in the rolling hills adjacent to the affluent Turtle Rock section of Irvine. A few students strolled to or from classes at a leisurely pace. Others gathered to watch the women's softball team play a doubleheader against Point Loma.

The airplane may have landed at Orange County's John Wayne Airport early Wednesday afternoon but the Concordia basketball team remained above the clouds. That is what winning the first National Assn. of Intercollegiate Athletics championship will do. The Eagles became the first Southern California team to win the nation's oldest tournament with their 88-84 overtime victory over Mountain State (W.Va.) Tuesday night in Kansas City, Mo.

Robert Baden, the retired executive vice president of Concordia University in Irvine, has died, a spokesman for the Lutheran school said Friday. He was 64. Marian Baden said her husband died Dec. 29 at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange after a three-year battle with cancer. Baden began his education career at Concordia High School in Seward, Neb., where he taught English and coached football, basketball and baseball. He coached the basketball and baseball teams to four state championships.

An exhibit of paintings by Concordia University professor Ben Marxhausen are on display through Sept. 30 at the university's theater. Marxhausen uses burnt Masonite boards and modeling paste to achieve a unique texture, university officials said. The theme of the exhibit is the egg. The exhibit is in the University Theater Lobby, 1530 Concordia West, from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Friday. Admission is free. Information: (714) 845-8002.

Behind the 29-point performance of junior guard Jeremy Groth, Concordia University (Calif.) defeated McKendree College (Ill.), 81-58, in the semifinals of the 2003 Buffalo Funds-NAIA Division I men's basketball national championship Monday at Kansas City, Mo., to earn its first trip in school history to the tournament's title game.

Concordia University announced this week that it will launch a school of adult studies, the sixth academic school at the Irvine campus. Longtime Concordia administrator and professor Timothy Peters was appointed dean of the school, which will aim to help adults complete degrees. The school, which is scheduled to open this summer, will offer an applied liberal arts degree with an emphasis in business or education, and a degree in business technology management.