ROGER BUENEMANN
Tennis, 1975-79
Inducted February 22, 1997

Roger Buenemann was a standout tennis player for SMS during four seasons as a Bears’ letterman from 1975 to 1979 in the latter stages of the SMS NCAA Division II and MIAA membership.  During his competitive seasons at SMS, Buenemann played under Bears’ head coaches Tom Adams, Ken Hydinger and Jim Klousia.  A native of St. Charles, Mo., Buenemann teamed with Dave Sperry through the last half of his career to form the most successful one-two singles and doubles combination in SMS tennis history.  Buenemann and Sperry won the MIAA number one doubles championships in the conference meets in both 1978 and 1979 and Buenemann was also the league champion at number two singles in both of those seasons.  Sperry and Buenemann were the top performers as SMS captured back-to-back conference team championships in ’78 and ’79 with total domination of the MIAA as SMS players won all six singles flights and all three doubles championships both years.  Buenemann turned in a singles record of 17-9 as a freshman and followed that with won-lost standards of 19-8 as a sophomore, 18-12 his junior year, and 17-11 when he was a senior against increasingly difficult levels of competition.  Buenemann’s doubles mark was 18-9 his freshman year and 14-8 when he was a sophomore.  He redshirted during the 1977 season and came back to team with Sperry and post doubles records of 22-7 as a junior and 25-2 as a senior.  He and Sperry advanced to the NCAA Division II doubles championship both seasons.  Buenemann finished with SMS career records of 71-40 in singles and 79-26 in doubles and Buenemann ranks second only to Sperry on the all-time SMS lists for career match victories in both singles and doubles.  The 1978 tennis Bears had a team record of 23-3 for the best dual meet season record in school history.