May 21, 2007

INDIANAPOLIS, IN --- While former Northern Illinois University student-athlete Karl Heger established swimming school and pool records in the one and three-meter diving events and qualified for two National Collegiate Athletic Association Zone meets in the mid-1980s, it was the trampoline where he really made his mark.

Heger's high-flying, daredevil reputation on the trampoline has spread across the country and around the world for the last three decades and often landed the Brentwood, Missouri, product into the national and international spotlight.

To wit: A two-time double mini-trampoline team world champion and an 18-time national kingpin, Heger was one of seven individuals announced recently (May 9) to be enshrined into the USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame this summer. The USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame luncheon and induction ceremony are set for Friday (August 17) at 11 a.m. (PDT) at the San Jose (CA) Marriott Hotel.

Heger competed on the United States Trampoline Team for 22 years and led the U. S. men's double mini-trampoline team to Gold Medals at the 1988 and 1999 World Trampoline Championships. During his career, Heger appeared in 11 World Trampoline Championships, captured 18 national crowns, and won the synchronized trampoline at the 1991 World Games.

A 5-foot-11, 160-pounder and an Army ROTC cadet during his college days with the Huskies, Heger earned two varsity Northern Illinois swimming varsity letters under head coach Dave Clark and diving coach Randy Emerson during 1984-86. As a senior, Heger was selected team co-captain and team co-MVP and finished his career with two school records and one Anderson Hall pool mark.

Heger also trained with the then nationally prominent Northern Illinois men's gymnastics program and under the tutelage of Hall of Fame head coach Chuck Ehrlich in the Huskie Stadium gyms.

"No doubt, Karl was one of the top trampolinists in the world," said Ehrlich. "With his skill level, and if there was NCAA competition in the trampoline then, he would have been a national champion. He was the best. Karl used to do a quad(ruple) tuck back that no one else could do at the time. I saw him three or four years ago at the national power tumbling and trampoline championships in Las Vegas. He was working for the FBI and probably 39-40 years old and still finished second in the country. He belongs in the USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame."

In 1986, Heger was the NIU male recipient of the prestigious Mid-American Conference Scholar-Athlete Award and also received the school's John Lalonde Scholar-Athlete Award, thanks to a cumulative 3.20 grade point average as a computer science major. According to the team's media guide, he was described as a "world-class trampolinist."

As Northern Illinois' No. 1 diver during his two upperclassman years, Heger won blue ribbons 22 times in his specialty. At the 1986 MAC Championships, he placed third in the league's one-meter diving competition and fifth on the three-meter board. Heger wound up eighth in the one-meter and 22nd in the three-meter at the NCAA Zone C Qualification Meet the same season.

During his junior campaign, Heger placed third on the one-meter board and fourth in the three-meter at the 1985 MAC Championships, plus 16th in the one-meter and 15th in the three-meter competition at the NCAA Zone meet.

A member of the U.S. team since 1980, Heger served in the U.S. Army and was awarded the Bronze Star during Operation Desert Storm. He currently resides in Rockford, IL, and works for the FBI. As a special agent for the Chicago FBI SWAT team, Heger worked at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake, UT, as security and tactical operations.

In the late 1980s, Heger was stationed with the U. S. Army in West Germany when he ranked No. 1 in America and No. 1 in Europe on the double mini-trampoline. As the first American to compete in the European championships in December, 1987, he ruled the double mini-trampoline event. During his tenure in Europe, Heger met his wife, Ute, who was a member of the West German trampoline team and once ranked No. 9 in the world on that apparatus. His sons, Kevin and KJ have competed at the World Age Group Games on the trampoline.

"My mom put me on a trampoline at four years old because she got tired of me bouncing on the bed," Heger said in 1985. "I've been competing seriously since I was 15. That was the first year I was able to go to the national competition, and when I was 17 I made my first U.S. team, and we competed in 1980 in Zurich, Switzerland."

As a prep, Heger lettered four times in track and field as a pole vaulter at Brentwood High School (1978-81) and attended the Central Missouri State University (1981-82) and the University of Missouri (1982-83) prior to transferring to NIU.

-NIU-