A TALE OF TWO RIVERS…PART 2...THE 1940'S

“It was the worst of times…” Well, not that bad

In May of 1947 Harry O’Mealy turned in his notice in early May.  A month later his replacement, Ray Wiersig, was named to become THE next school coach.  Ray inherited a football program with a 29-game unbeaten streak.  O’Mealy didn’t leave Wiersig without some experienced players. 

Ray Wiersig attended Stevens Point Teachers College and graduated in 1940.  He spent the next six years coaching, first at Argonne for one year then next at Pardeeville for another season only coaching basketball. In 1943 he moved to Sparta and coached football, basketball and baseball and stayed two years.  Next came the job that go him noticed by the school officials at Two Rivers, that as head football and basketball coach at conference rival, Algoma.  In 1945 Algoma had a 3-3-1 record and in 1946 a 2-2-3 posting in football.  Only a lack of depth kept his Wolves from doing better.

So now, the 1947 football season was starting, and this is “The worst of times”, sort of.  The season started poorly, losing to neighbor rival Manitowoc 39-12.  The Two Rivers streak was over and the Wiersig era was just beginning, although school fans began to wonder if he was the right man for the job.  During the loss the Purgolds fumbled 11 times and lost seven.  Six of those turnovers led to six Ships scores.  Ray got the players attention during the next weeks practices and the boys recovered to beat East De Pere 27-12 and the start of a five-game win streak, all conference wins.  It seems that the school had problems against non-conference teams as in game seven, a matchup against mighty Marinette, fumbles and interceptions again became a problem.  In the 35-7 loss the Raiders (Remember from Part 1 the schools had many nicknames) fumbled a state record 14 times, losing only four but they also threw two interceptions.  It seemed that non-conference foes gave the team the jitters.  In eight games the team fumbled 30-times but 25 were in their two loses. Even so, the 1947 season would earn the school their fifth consecutive eastern division of the Northwestern Wisconsin Conference (NWC) title.

In 1948 the good times returned as Two Rivers again went undefeated, 7-0-0 and won another NWC championship.  A realignment of the conference schedule led to a scheduled non-league game against Marinette to be cancelled so they only played the seven games that year.  In 1949 the AP released their All-State team and while no one from the school made the first, second or third teams two player, end Bill Zellnekl and back Earl Kandler were named to the “official” honorable mention lists (The AP started the honorable mention lists), two of 78 named. The team ended 1949 with a 4-4-1 record playing teams like Marinette, Menasha, Clintonville and Watertown.

The Purple Raiders finished the 1940’s with a 62-11-4 record.  Overall, it was the best of times for Two Rivers.

What happened to Coach Hall, Coach O’Mealy and Coach Wiersig?

Ed Hall, as I mentioned in Part 1 moved to Oshkosh High School and coached the basketball team for 10+ years.  Ed was an assistant football coach for 20+ seasons with HOF coach Harold Schumerth. 

Harry O’Mealy had a decision to make in 1947.  He was approached by three schools…Benton Harbor MI, an Illinois high school and Nogales high school in Arizona…to come and be THE coach at their schools.  I’m not sure how he made the decision to go to Arizona but as far as his coaching basketball, things mostly went well.  During Christmas break in 1947, after a lackluster 2-7-0 football season his roundball squad was headed to the state tournament when one of his star players, a freshman center played in two church league games.  The Arizona Interscholastic Association (AIA) made the school forfeit all the games he played in…which was all of 19 out of 21. They could still play in the state tournament, but the forfeits knocked the wind out of their sails in a quest for the title.  In 1948 his baseball team went 11-5, his football squad was 3-6-0 and his 1948-49 basketball squad was the Class B champion with a 25-4 record. 

Things though didn’t get better for his baseball and track teams when two of his sophomore athletes, again the starting basketball center and a guard took an unauthorized trip to visit what is now called Arizona State University at Tempe, a Phoenix suburb, to be recruited early which was against the AIA rules.  He had had enough of the kids not following rules.  His track and baseball seasons were ruined by the loss of the two stars as they were ruled ineligible for the spring.   Frustrated with the lack of players controlling their actions, O’Mealy resigned in June and moved to Missouri to a very small college, Tarkio (Now closed) to coach football, basketball and baseball.  He stayed one year and then moved to Springfield Missouri where he taught high school science, at various times, to three city high schools.  At several of the schools he was the Science Department Chairman. He occasionally helped with the varsity and junior varsity football teams and was recognized as a person that the local newspaper could talk to about local athletes, especially basketball players.  In 1962 he took a one season job coaching the basketball team at the American High School in Frankfurt Germany.  Playing only American teams from bases in Germany and Belgium the team went 13-1.

1960 Springfield MO Hilcrest HS Yearbook

Ray Wiersig an avid baseball fan who briefly played minor league ball, left coaching and teaching mathematics in 1952 and bought a bought the C. Schlei Dray Line in Manitowoc.  He ran the company until he retired in 1983. 

THEN AND LATER

53-years after the 1946 football season there was a reunion of the team.  Below is a picture of the 1946 starters and a1999 photo of those starters who attended the event.

May 9, 1999, Manitowoc Herald-Times-reporter

That’s it for now but coming up will be “A Tale of Two Rivers…Part 3” as I’ll be going “Back to the Future” to cover the early 1980’s Two Rivers championship teams. 

A TALE OF TWO RIVERS…PART 1...THE 1940'S

“IT WAS THE BEST OF TIMES”

One of the big stories in Wisconsin high school football during the mid-1940’s was the winning streak performed by Two Rivers.  The team was unbeaten over 29-game’s starting in 1943 through 1946.  To get a feel for how the streak started we must look at what came before it.

Football began in Two Rivers in 1921. The school could have started earlier but enthusiasm by the students and the public didn't back the sport until then. The season was only two games, both against Neenah which won game one, 19-0, and game two by a score of 7-6. Overall, during the period of 1921-1931 Two Rivers was often a at the bottom of the Northeastern Wisconsin Interscholastic Conference.

Well, as I said it wasn’t the best of times before 1932 as the Two Rivers football program seldom produced winners.  The season ending victory over neighbor rival, Manitowoc Lincoln High School, 6-0 capped a one-win year for the Purgolders.  Both came into the game winless and the Two Rivers Reporter newspaper editorialized the win like it was THE VICTORY OF VICTORIES.  Fullback Myron Rocheleau scored from the six-yard line with only moments left in the game.  He was given a hero’s hurrah as he was carried by his teammates carried him off the field on their shoulders. The team did it without their head coach being present as Dean Barber had rushed to his dying mother’s bedside in Oshkosh before the game.  It isn’t known who substituted for Barber as coach for the season ending game.

In 1932 Barber was replaced as the football coach by Ed Hall.  His start was slow as he posted a 1-6-2 record.   After another losing season in 1933 things turned around with a 6-2-0 record in 1934 and a 5-3-1 record in 1935.  Things dropped off a little bit from 1936-39 but then Hall hit his stride with a 6-1-0 posting in 1940 and an undefeated year, 6-0-1, in 1942. 

1942 Two Rivers team from the Two Rivers Reporter

As soon as the 1942 football season ended Hall accepted a coaching position at Oshkosh High School as the school’s head basketball and track coach as well as an assistant football coach.  Hall had become THE Two Rivers coach in 1934 when he took the reins of the basketball team as well as that of the baseball and track sports.  Hall posted an overall 41-32-10 football record at Two Rivers but his claim to fame was his 1940-41 undefeated (21-0) state championship basketball team.  His record on the hard court was 112-54.

I emphasize THE meaning that in these cases the person coached most if not all of the school sports. Many schools only had football, basketball (Boys) , baseball and sometimes track. THE coach was also often the Athletic Director. Often, they only had one assistant.

With little time to cover their school coaching needs the administration snared a young coach from Grantsburg, William Harry O’Mealy.   O’Mealy was born in Waukesha, earned seven athletic letters playing basketball track and running cross country at Waukesha High and attended Carroll College.  While at Carroll he participated in all three sports.  Harry graduated in 1937 and was an assistant there until he took THE head coaching position at Wautoma.  There he coached the 1940 baseball team to a 17-3 record.  He posted an overall 12-2-0 football record.  O’Mealy jumped at the chance to move and move quickly to Two Rivers and become THE coach.  The basketball season was already underway when he assumed the head coaching spot and went only 3-3 the rest of the year.  He coached baseball and track that spring and then assumed the football team in 1943.  Ed Hall had a number of stars graduate but the cupboard wasn’t bare and O’Mealy’s boys went 5-2-0.  The Pure Golds, Purgolder’s, The Golden Air Patrol or the Purple Raiders…various names listed in the Two Rivers Reporter as the school’s nickname.  Harry’s boys lost the 1943 opener to Manitowoc, 13-0.  They beat Sturgeon Bay in game 2, 48-0.  Next, the team fell to Kewaunee 13-7 and then the 29-game unbeaten streak began. 

While this wasn’t/isn’t the longest win streak in Wisconsin (Wausau’s 46-game streak between 1940-46 was longer at this time) it still drew a lot of state-wide attention.  The Raiders played tough ball, often waiting until late in the third quarter or the fourth to put their opponent away.  They followed O’Mealy’s preaching, “It’s never too late” to do the work.  Harry was a hard taskmaster like many coaches of the era.  He had many stars like Howard Perry, Fran Allie, Bob LaFond, Evan Gagnon, Harold Krizske, Edwin Rozmarynoski, Dave Warden, Bob Ciha, Bob Pischner, Bob Kowalsky and Chuck Linsmeier. Here's a profile on three of the stars:

Tackle Bob Ciha was named to what could be called the unofficial honorable mention list for the 1st official All-State squad.  The state All-State technically had no honorable mention listing for its 39- player newspaper posting on the squad, but an earlier story had Ciha’s name as part of some that were being considered for the top citation.

Two Rivers Reporter November 2, 1945

Bob Kowalsky was named in 1946 to the 2nd ever official All-State High School Football Squad, sponsored by the Wisconsin High School Coaches Association.  He was one of 38 players named to the team which was made up of 20 backs and 18 linemen.  Bob was the first Two Rivers player to gain 1,000 yards (1,063) in a season yet he only scored four touchdowns in 1946.  He was a fullback and a defensive back.  Bob attended Marquette University on a football scholarship.

Wisconsin State Journal Nov. 29, 1946

O’Mealy’s 1946 team was the second highest scoring team in the state as they scored 260 points in nine games while Madison Edgewood was number one with 301 points, also in nine games.  Bob Pischner was one part of the “Touchdown Twins” backfield.  Pischner scored 11 touchdowns and three extra points, 69 total points.  He would score 133 career points.  His teammate, Chuck Linsmeier was second with 11 touchdowns and two extra points for a point total of 68.  Besides Kowalsky, the only other player on the 1946 team that I could track down having played college ball was Chuck.

Linsmeier's father was the Two Rivers Point Light Keeper. Like Kowalsky, Chuck accepted a scholarship to play at Marquette University. When his playing days were over, he enlisted in the Air Force in 1951 and served in Korea.  After that he settled in California where at first, he was a pioneer in the calculator industry and later, with his wife Marlene, formed a successful non-medical transportation company.

1947 Two Rivers Neshotah Yearbook

There is more on the streak but that’s for next time.

A RED ROBIN’S GREAT CAREER

Back in April 2022 I did a two-part story on the 1976 Antigo Red Robins and their great coach, Gordon Schofield.  One of the players that I mentioned was quarterback/defensive back Dam Thorpe.  Antigo won the initial Class A (Now D-1) WIAA championship and Thorpe was a team leader. 

While doing research for my two recent blogs on the 1980’s I ran across Dan’s name listed in the WIAA web pages concerning Football Championship Games listing of yearly champs…Team Champs.  I’d looked over the pages many times and this time I recognized the name of Dan Thorpe under the 1987/1988 D4 games.  So, I did a deep dive on Google, came up with some great info and so I decided to contact Dan.  Back when I did the stories on the 1976 Antigo stories Dan had sent me some info on his former coach.  I had saved his email address, and I contacted Dan for an interview, so here goes.

Dan grew up in Mattoon, WI., a village of about 375 people in 1976 located about 16 miles from Antigo.  Dan’s father was the area post master and his mom taught at grade schools nearby. The support in the Antigo area was tremendous as because of late practices.  With 13 of the 22 football starters who lived outside Antigo, members of the Elks, Rotary, Kiwanis, the American Legion, various elderly men and teachers competed to help drive the player’s home. 

One of five children, growing up, Dan’s idol was his older brother Tom, an All-Wisconsin Valley Conference first team forward basketball player and he also played at UW-Oshkosh.  As a senior Dan played both sides of the ball as the team’s quarterback and defensive back.  An all-round athlete, Dan earned All-Conference as a defensive back.  The UPI saw things a bit different from the conference and he earned 1st team All-State honors while being named by the UPI as the state’s top offensive player.  Dan was named to the 1st team on the AP squad as a defensive back.   

Following high school graduation Dan first attended Hamlen University in St. Paul, MN where he started and played both ways.  He transferred in 1978 to UW-Stevens Point and his coach, Ron Steiner had him concentrate on defense.  As a senior strong safety in 1980 Thorpe earned All-WSUC first team accolades.  After graduation Dan did post-grad studies at UW-River Falls and as an assistant coach he credits WFCA HOF coach Mike Farley as helping him in organizing strategies.  Dan then took an assistant coaching position under the tutelage of HOF coach Kip Cramer at Grafton where the 1982 team (11-1) won the D-2 title.  The 1983 (7-3) team earned third place in the North Shore Conference.  In 1984 Grafton went back to the state finals but lost and finished with a 10-1 record.

Following the 1984 season, Dan moved to Maryland as his wife took a job at a museum and they stayed two years. While living in Maryland was an assistant at Cambridge South Dorchester.  The team made the playoffs both seasons.  In 1987 he and his family moved back to Wisconsin Dan took his first head coaching position at Beloit Turner High School.  Replacing Ed Gavigan who had been successful there was a pressure spot to be in as the school had made the playoffs in 1985 and 1986.  Dan and his Trojans rose to the occasion and made it to the D-4 finals in 1987 (10-3 record), losing to Baldwin-Woodville 16-8.  The next year, 1988, the school went back to Madison and this time, going 11-2 overall and this time Turner blew out St. Croix Falls 50-0. 

Thorpe stayed at Turner until 1993, posting a 60-18 record over seven seasons.  He then moved to become, first, an assistant coach at Janesville Craig in 1994 and then took over the program in 1995.  Over the next five years the Craig Cougars went 28-22, making the playoffs three times and losing to either the eventual state champion or the runner-up.

His wife Dana took a job in Cleveland at a museum and Dan took a job as head coach at Warrenville Heights (15 miles south of Cleveland) from 2000-2002.  His teams had an overall 16-14 record in the three years (The team went 2-8 in his first year).  He moved on to Notre Dame Cathedral Latin High school in Chadron, Ohio located 30-miles east of Cleveland.  Success continued to follow.  In 2003 he directed the team to a 7-4 record and the school made the state playoffs for the first time.  He followed up in 2004 by going 9-2, the best record in the school’s history as they were the conference champions. 

With his wife taking a position as the Project Manager at the Schedd Aquarium in Chicago, the Thorpes moved to Illinois.  2005 was the beginning of a 19-year run at Aurora Marmion Academy, a private Catholic school.  Dan retired as head football coach in 2023 after posting an overall 101-86 record, making the Illinois playoffs 10-times.  His 2010 team went 12-2 and was the runner-up in 6A.  Taking the wing-T offense and 5-2 defense as the foundations of his football coaching, strategies that he learned from his high school coach.  Like a good coach he has modified the process to meet his team’s abilities.

Dan was also a track and field coach at multiple schools winning a number of conference track titles.  In 2018 Dan was selected as the Illinois State Track Coach of the Year. Over the years in addition to his coaching duties Dan has been a social studies teacher, a guidance counselor and at Marmion he is Director of College Guidance, a job which he continues to perform.

Thorpe had an overall Wisconsin record as a head coach of 88-40.  In Ohio his teams posted an overall 32-20 record. And, with his Marmion record of 101-86 his teams went to the playoffs 21-times in 35 years.  He coached six NFL players, four at Marmion, and won an overall 221 games with 146 loses.  He qualifies for the WFCA Hall of Fame as he was a head coach in the state for 12-years as well four seasons as an assistant and I think he should me nominated.  He coached in four state title games as an assistant and head coach.

Thorpe is the first person in Wisconsin history to win a State Championship as a player (1976) and as a head coach (1988). He is also the first person in Wisconsin to play in (1977) and coach (1991) in an All-Star Game. Besides his Wisconsin All-Star Game coaching duties, he has coached All-Star games in Ohio and Illinois.

I spent a lot of time talking to Dan and it was a pleasure to hear from him directly.

You never know what you find when doing research and thanks to delving into the 1980's I found several other ideas for future stories.