Wheaton College Athletics

Paul Avila made a lasting impact on many lives during his time at Wheaton as a member of the Crusader soccer team. Avila was a three-time All-MIIC selection and an All-Midwest Region selection his senior season. As a freshman, the Crusader completed an undefeated season with a record of 11-0-3. As a senior, he scored 15 goals and helped lead Wheaton to its third-consecutive NCAA Midwest Regional title. He was selected by his teammates as the teams Most Outstanding Offensive Player. Avila currently ranks in the Wheaton record books with 43 career goals and at the time of his graduation was the school leader in career goals and assists.

Avila graduated from Wheaton in 1970, had been married for four months to the former Jorie Hultgren, and had begun graduate studies at the Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, when doctors at the Mayo Clinic discovered that he had reticulum cell carcinoma. During his frequent visits to the Mayo Clinic, Paul met Dr. Jim Hartfield and stayed in the Hartfield home when he was in Minneapolis. Although quite ill, Paul would wrestle and play with Hartfield’s sons, leave the room to vomit, and then return to play. Through the 18 months of Avila’s relationship with Dr. Hartfield, the boys never knew that Paul was ill. Paul died on October 10, 1972, at age 24. Dr. Hartfield spole at Paul’s memorial service, calling Paul an “eloquent interlude”, which to him meant “an exposure or experience that speaks forcibly of life, of living and of a lifetime.”

Soccer coach Bob Baptista, at the memorial service, summarized Paul’s life by saying, “Through his soccer experience, Paul exhibited boundless enthusiasm, determination, drive, courage, and refusal to quit. But more than that, Paul had a firm faith in God, unshakeable confidence that God directed his life, words of testimony about God’s goodness and the testimony of his life confirming his verbal testimony.”