BRIDGEPORT, Pa. — Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) President/Hall of Fame member Mark Gensheimer is among five Bucknell University alumni, representing five different sports and four different decades, elected to the Bucknell Athletics Hall of Fame. The 44th Hall of Fame class will be formally inducted on Friday, Sept. 30, as part of Homecoming Weekend festivities.
A 2012 inductee to the CWPA Hall of Fame, Gensheimer was among a generation of Bison that tallied a 114-15-3 record along with four consecutive Eastern Championships and National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) berths (1977-to-1980).
In the history of the league, only the 1993-to-1996 University of Massachusetts Minutemen equaled the mark of four consecutive men’s Eastern crowns and NCAA appearance established by Gensheimer and the Bison during the CWPA’s infancy.
He ranks among Bucknell’s all-time leaders in career points (396), goals (244) and assists (152), along with rating on the school’s single season points (181 in 1980), goals (108 in 1980) and assists (73 in 1980) lists.
He began his collegiate career in 1977 by posting 42 goals and 11 assists in helping the Bison finish 28-5, claim the Eastern Championship and notch a seventh place finish at the NCAA Championship hosted by Brown University in the Bucknell program’s first season of varsity play. In the Eastern Championship game, he tallied the game winning score in a 21-20 sudden death win over the University of Pittsburgh.
Gensheimer and Bucknell exceeded their inaugural varsity performances over the next two seasons.
In 1978, he guided the Bison to a 28-3 mark, an Eastern Championship and a sixth place mark at the NCAA Championship at Long Beach State University by tallying 20 goals and 17 assists. A year later, he posted 74 goals and 51 assists in helping Bucknell finish 27-3-1, claim another Eastern Championship and place fifth at the NCAA Championship on the campus of Long Beach State University. In addition, he scored 13 goals and nine assists in six games at the Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) Indoor National Water Polo Championship to claim AAU All-America honors.
His senior season brought a 31-4-2 mark for the Bison as Gensheimer scored a career-high 108 goals and 73 assists to finish with 181 points and earn All-East First Team honors in 1980. An AAU Honorable Mention All-America selection, he scored a career-high nine goals against Millersville University on October 25, as the Bison rolled through the league to claim the programs’ fourth consecutive Eastern Championship and a seventh place finish at the NCAA Championship hosted by Long Beach State.
For his collegiate career, he combined with classmate and fellow CWPA Hall of Fame member Scott Schulte (586-256-842) for an astounding 1,238 points from 830 goals and 408 assists.
Following graduation, Gensheimer participated on the East Team at the 1981 United States Olympic Festival and helped his squad to a Gold Medal. It marks the only time in the history of the sport that a Gold Medal was claimed by a team from the East.
President of CS McKee, a money management firm in Pittsburgh that manages pension funds, profit-sharing plans, reserve funds, endowments and other financial assets for municipalities, unions, corporations, foundations, hospitals, schools, religious organizations and other institutions, Gensheimer also co-founded and served as President of Invesmart Inc., a provider of retirement plans.
