Lancaster Bible College and the Lancaster Bible College Athletic Department are pleased to announce the LBC Athletics Hall of Honor Class of 2025. This year's class features former athletic director and coach Tom Figart, Jr., Justin Taylor ('19), Shanice (Smith) Hines ('17) and Albert Suniga ('17).
 
This year's quartet will be inducted into the hall of honor during LBC Homecoming & Family Weekend, scheduled for September 26-27.
 
Figart guided the LBC athletic program during its infancy in the early 1970s, serving as the LBC Men's Athletic Director from 1973-76. The college recognizes the 1972-73 academic year as the inaugural year of collegiate athletics and Figart led the charge, as the Chargers competed in men's soccer, field hockey and men's and women's basketball.
 
Following a time away from the college, Figart became the full-time athletic director in 1984 and served in the role until 1988. The late 1980s was a renaissance for the LBC athletic department, as the Chargers had several good teams, including the 1986 men's soccer team and 1987-88 men's basketball team, both of which Figart coached.
 
After a 20-year hiatus, Figart returned to Lancaster Bible in 2006 and was the head coach of the baseball team in 2006 and 2008, while serving as the assistant coach in 2007. The 2007 squad won the program's first-ever NCCAA East Region Championship and appeared in the NCCAA Division II World Series in Mason, Ohio.
 
Nearly a decade later, the LBC baseball program received another jolt, this time in the form of a hard-hitting, hard-throwing shortstop and pitcher named Justin Taylor. Taylor emerged on the scene immediately and hit .380 as a freshman with 57 hits, including 26 extra-base hits. He capped his opening season by earning North Eastern Athletic Conference (NEAC - now the United East) Rookie of the Year honors.
 
Taylor hit .400 as a sophomore and earned NEAC All-Conference First Team honors. He scored 27 runs as a sophomore and hit 13 doubles.
 
His first two seasons served as the appetizers to his junior year, which was one of the finest campaigns in program history. Taylor led all of NCAA Division III with 17 home runs and a .929 slugging percentage. He had 65 hits, including 31 for extra bases. Taylor was named a D3baseball.com NCAA DIvision III Second Team All-American, as well as NEAC Player of the Year and was also named to the Rawlings All-American Team.
 
Taylor hit .364 as a senior and added 10 more home runs and 44 more hits to his illustrious career. He finished his four seasons with a .402 batting average, 210 hits of which 95 were for extra bases. He smashed 40 home runs and drove in 147 runs.
 
If Taylor was owning the baseball diamond in the mid-2010s, then Horst Athletic Center belonged to our final two honorees, Shanice (Smith) Hines and Albert Suniga.

After suffering a season-ending injury in her first season, Hines and the LBC women's basketball program rattled off a 71-18 (.798 winning percentage) record from 2013-16, including a 53-3 mark in NEAC play and a 36-5 record at Horst Athletic Center.
 
During her 2013-14 sophomore season, Hines pulled down a then program-record 359 rebounds while averaging 14.5 points per game. She was named to the NEAC All-Conference Second Team and helped the Chargers to a NEAC Final appearance and a fifth place finish at the NCCAA Division II National Tournament.
 
Hines was even better as a junior, as she broke her own program record with 398 rebounds, including a NEAC-leading 270 defensive boards. She averaged 13 points and 13.3 rebounds per game and was fifth in the conference with 72 steals en route to her second straight NEAC All-Conference Second Team selection.
 
Hines capped her career in style with an impressive senior campaign. She grabbed 412 rebounds (14.2 per game) and averaged 14.4 points per contest. Hines was named to the NEAC All-Conference First Team and is one of three players to score 1,000+ points and grab 1,000+ rebounds. In 2022, Hines was named to the LBC Women's Basketball 50th Anniversary Team.
 
Suniga came to Lancaster from Arizona, joining the Chargers for the 2013-14 season. After disappointing seasons in 2011-12 and 2012-13, Suniga and Naheer Mirza were recruited to join the men's basketball program by second-year head coach Marshall Tague. The impact of the pair was immediate, as the Chargers went 22-9 during the 2013-14 season and made the program's first-ever appearance in the NEAC Final.
 
Suniga averaged 14.9 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.9 assists during his first season in Lancaster and was named NEAC Player of the Year. He also added NCCAA Division II All-American honors, becoming the first LBC men's basketball player to earn the distinction since Sam Rempel in 2000-01.
 
The Chargers were more dominant in Suniga's senior year, as the team lost its season opener in mid-November, but didn't lose again until the final day of January, rattling off 15 straight victories. The team eventually finished the regular season 23-2 and made its second straight trip to the NEAC Final. Though the championship didn't go LBC's way for the second straight year, the Chargers used the NEAC Final loss as motivation in the NCCAA Division II National Tournament.
 
Suniga and the Chargers breezed into the national championship game and took down Hillside Baptist for the program's first and only NCCAA Division II crown. Suniga averaged 10.9 points, 5.2 rebounds and 3.6 assists during his senior year and was once again named an NCCAA Division II All-American. In his two seasons in Lancaster, Suniga led the Chargers to a 50-12 (.807 winning percentage) record. In 2022, Suniga was named to the LBC Men's Basketball 50th Anniversary Team.

For more information on the Lancaster Bible College Hall of Honor, please visit the LBC Athletics Hall of Honor website, which features information on past inductees, as well as our anniversary teams and past award winners.