HEART OF THE NORTH…LADYSMITH…PART 1

While doing research for another blog I ran across a story in the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram newspaper about Ladysmith high school and the Heart of the North Conference. The story was about Ladysmith winning the 1961 conference title, it’s first undisputed title since 1949. This isn’t a history of a conference north of Eau Claire, but there is a bit of background on the Heart of the North to put things in perspective. So, here goes, the non-history, history (Because all my blogs are historical).

In the late 1920’s, after years of schools and newspapers not having set schedules and many teams not in conferences the WIAA put pressure on schools to form conferences. If you haven’t read previous blogs, then in the “old” days there were few teams with set schedules. It was often week to week that teams would try and match up against other opponents. Sometimes a team would have a “set” opponent as of the upcoming Wednesday or Thursday and then that opponent would drop out and the first team would have to scramble to find someone else for Saturday (Most games were played back on Saturday, occasionally on Sunday, until the advent of outdoor lights. It was the 1930’s and 1940’s when “Friday Night Lites” became fashionable). The WIAA outlawed the “match games” to set up a potential state champion, even if it was a mythical title. Seeing the story in the paper drew me to the early Ladysmith football program but I also wanted to know more about the Heart of the North Conference. I couldn’t find a definite date when the conference began but I went back in newspaper archives and first found a mention in a 1926 EC L-T story that listed Barron, Bloomer, Cameron, Cumberland, Ladysmith, Rice Lake and Spooner as members. A February 1930 story about basketball lists the previously mentioned seven teams as well as Chetek, Clayton, New Auburn, Shell Lake and Turtle Lake. That made the basketball conference a total of 12 teams. But a November 1930 story listed the football teams as what I would call “the six” …Barron, Bloomer, Cumberland, Ladysmith, Riced Lake and Spooner. It stayed that way until early in the 1940’s when Hayward joined the conference.

The 1940 Ladysmith team won the conference title with a 5-0-0 posting. The highlight of the season was the final conference game as over 500 Lumberjack fans drove 40 miles to see their team beat Rice Lake 28-0. 1941 saw Ladysmith drop to an overall 0-9-1 record. For much of the rest of the 1940’s they were pretty much a middle of the road team. Toward the end of the decade the 1948 team went 5-1-2 and finished second in the Heart of the North. They were getting ready for the next season. The 1949 Ladysmith team went 9-0-0 as coach John “Blackie” O’Brian directed a steady but not a high scoring squad as they scored 166 points and allowed only 45 points. 20 of the points the defense allowed occurred in the season finale a 38-20 victory over non-conference foe Cornell. The 38 points the Lumberjacks scored was a season high.

The 1949 Ladysmith team…yearbook

By the 1950’s the conference expanded to eight teams as Chetek was added and the 1958 squad went 6-2-0 overall and finished, 5-2 in the conference. It was Roger Harring’s first season as head coach as junior back Bob Davis led the team in rushing and scoring. Davis picked up over 800-yards on the ground and scored 17 touchdowns. Ladysmith again went 6-2 in 1959 but this time they finished second in the conference race. Bob Davis, now a senior, carried the ball for 939 yards on 113 carries for 15 touchdowns and two extra points. He was named to the AP All-State third team and honorable mention on the UPI squad.

Ladysmith Yearbook

The decade changed and Ladysmith dropped to 3-5-0 in 1960 but the team was young and in 1961 they rose to the top of the Heart of the North. Coach Harring’s molded his Lumberjacks into a dominate team as they went 8-0-0 overall and of course, 7-0-0 in the conference. There were many team leaders including Larry Anderson a speedster who carried the ball 98 times for 1,058 yards, a 10.8 average and 11 touchdowns with six extra points. He earned All-Northwest honors from the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram. Anderson was part of a one-two-three rushing attack. Halfback Tom Howard scored nine touchdowns and four extra point for a total of 56 while fullback Allan Hanson scored eight times with four extra points. Both gained over 450 yards rushing. Junior end Tom Mestelle was the leading receiver hauling in passes from junior quarterback Dennis Bay. The outstanding lineman was junior center Mike Petrick who was the leading tackler as a linebacker on defense. Guards Daryl Jordan and Ted Collins were also dominate in blocking for the running backs.

1961 Ladysmith team…Yearbook

Roger Harring…1962 Ladysmith yearbook.

1961 was the start of several great years for the Lumberjacks as they again showed who was toughest in the Heart of the North. The eight wins in 1961 rolled over to another undefeated season in 1962, a second 8-0-0 record and a 16-game win streak. Senior end/flanker, Tom Mestelle, 5’11, 165 was the leader that season as he hauled in 30 passes for 801 yards and 14 scores while taking 18 end-around rushes for 158 yards and six more touchdowns as well as scoring six extra points for a total of 126 points on the year.

1962 Ladysmith team…yearbook

The offense was balanced with Dennis Bay’s throwing and the running of fullback Allan Hanson, the team’s second leading scorer. Bay was 59-91-4-1,252-16 passing, and Hanson was 77-719-9 on the ground. Center/linebacker Mike Petrick, a three-year starter was again the leading blocker and tackler.

Tom Mestelle, 1962…Eau Claire Leader-Telegram

Tom Mestelle was named to both the UPI and AP All-State first teams. He attended La Crosse State (Now UW-La Crosse) in 1963 where he played both offensive and defensive end. He transferred to Eau-Claire State (Now UW-Eau Claire) and then at Mount Senario College as well and worked part time in the private industry while earning a teaching degree. He would later coach at Ashland and Superior. He was inducted into the WFCA Coaches Hall of Fame in 2007.

Roger Harring started at Ladysmith in 1958 and stayed until 1962 going 31-9-0 before moving to become the head coach at Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln where he coached football, wrestling and track (As he did at Ladysmith). He left in 1969 to take the head football position at UW-La Crosse where he stayed for 29 seasons, winning or tying for fourteen conference titles. He is also in the WFCA Hall of Fame as a college coach.

More on Ladysmith in the next blog.

ANOTHER 1960’S MULTI-SPORT HERO…DICK HANSON

Two years ago, I keyed in on some great multi-sport hero’s from the 1960’s, writing about Gary Bandor of Thorp, Mickey Vandehey of Auburndale and Steve Sterr of Lomira. Of course, there were others in this decade and one of them was Dick Hanson of Eau Claire Memorial.

Dick wasn’t the biggest player on the field or the court, but he was proficient. His father, Arnie, had been a star for the “Old Abe’s” in 1933 as they were rated the top football team in the state, going 9-0-0, the last time Memorial went undefeated on the gridiron. Standing 5’9, 165, Dick was a very fleet footed player with a terrific passing arm. Not only an All-American and All-State football player, but he was also a top basketball and baseball star and a top National Junior snow ski jumper. As a junior he passed for 567 yards to lead the Big Rivers Conference in passing, he also ran for 196 yards. The team went 2-3-2 in 1960.

The Eau Claire Leader-Telegram newspaper began in 1958 an area Athlete of the Year and in 1961 Hanson was the first high schooler to earn the honor. Billy Olson, a National Senior ski jumper, won in 1958 and 1959 followed by Joe Torre, a then minor league player (And future MLB star catcher and manager) in 1960. As a junior in the 1960-61 basketball season, Hanson averaged 12.0 points per game and 7.5 assists. Because the basketball season went late, all the way to the state tournament, he had to drop out of the National Championship ski jumping contest after placing second in the U.S. Central Association championships. He was also getting a hard look by MLB baseball scouts as a power hitting left-handed batting shortstop and as a pitcher who won the state title game in 1961 in a 4-0 win over Oshkosh. He even ran track occasionally and helped set a relay record. His football coach, Cy Berg, was named the years Coach of the Year after leading his team to the #1 spot in the U.P.I. football poll as well as coaching the baseball team to three state titles in five seasons.

Dick Hanson…Eau Claire Memorial Hall of Fame plaque

Even coming off the poor 1960 season there was great hope for the team. The 1961 football season started with a 25-6 win over Wisconsin Rapids. It’s remarkable that Rapids scored at all (They did so on a87-yard kickoff return) as they picked up only four first downs and the Red Raiders was held to only four yards total in the game. Hanson started the season on just a less than average performance, passing 12 times with six completions and gained only 62-yards. He ran nine times for 32-yards, but he lost 31-yards on fumbles and sacks. His play against Rapids did not foreshadow what was to come in week two.

Things fell into place against La Crosse Logan for Hanson and the Old Abe’s, a 47-0 route. The effort that he gave is one of the best by any player in state history. He ran 12 times for 135 yards, passed 12 times with nine completions and another 255 yards. He returned a kickoff for a 92-yard touchdown, hauled in two punts for 38 yards and he had an interception that he returned for 29 yards. Besides the kickoff return he scored twice on runs of 54 and 28 yards, passed for three scores of 41, 29 and 68 yards and ended up with 551 total yards. He had three touchdowns called back on 20- and 38-yard passes and a 57-yard punt return and he converted on five of seven extra-point kicks. He came out of the game with eight minutes to go in the third period but did return for the final two minutes of the game. The effort got state-wide attention.

Traveling to Menominee (MI) for game three Dick had another great game through the air as he completed 11 passes in 17 attempts for 267 yards and two touchdowns on completions of 80 and 67 yards. Next was a 26-6 win over La Crosse Central. Week six saw another blowout, this time as Hanson led a powerful offensive attack as his team destroyed Menomonie (WI) with him passing 11 times, 7completeions for 184 yards and three touchdowns. Against Marinette he ripped the Marines apart tossing for 121 yards and a touchdown, ran for 160 yards and two scores while kicking three extra point and hauling in an interception.

Before over 5,000 spectators at Eau Claire’s Carson Park, Hanson was able catalyst in the game as he tossed two first half touchdowns in the 13-7 win over Wausau to win outright the Big Rivers Conference title. The Abes had never won a sole title and had only tied once, that being in 1958 when they shared the honors with Wausau and Menomonie (MI).

In beating Chippewa Falls, Hanson ended on a high note rushing 13 times for 98 yards and two touchdowns, returned a kickoff 77 yards for another and was 6-9-0-138 yards passing. The game was 7-6 at halftime with Falls on top but Dick led a furious second half comeback to keep his team undefeated. As a team it was the tough play of the defense, just as the week before against Wausau, that helped greatly to the win. In the first half Eau Claire had a 91-88 lead in yardage but in the end, they put up a total of 320 yards to the Cardinals 118. Hanson’s second half kickoff return broke their opponents back and set things up for a big momentum swing.

Hanson would set many school records as he posted 59-99-8-1,218-12 passing, led the team in rushing as he led the team with 610 rushing yards on 88 carries, returned two kickoffs for 168 yards, running back four punts for 54 yards and gaining 61 yards on three interceptions. This totals to 2,111 yards on the season for an average of 263.9 yards per game. Dick scored a team leading 72 points on nine touchdowns and 18 extra points. As a team the Abe’s rolled up 3,098 yards with 1,761 yards on the ground and 1,337 yards passing. All told he set or tied 30 school and Big Rivers Conference records.

Dick Hanson …Eau Claire Memorial Hall of Fame plaque

After football Dick Hanson led the basketball team to the state semi-finals as the Old Abe’s lost to the great Milwaukee Lincoln (26-0) team, 93-80. The 1961 Lincoln squad is considered one of the state's all-time best teams. On his senior season Hanson led the team in scoring and assists.

Under the direction of baseball coach Cy Berg, Hanson again helped lead the school to the 1962 state title. After winning the title in 1957 and 1958, Berg led the team in 1961 and 1962 to the championship. The school, under the direction of James Bollinger would win two more baseball titles in 1964 and 1966.

Dick’s father, Arnie, was a star football, basketball and track star at Memorial, graduating in 1934 at 5’8, 165. Arnie was a 3-year letterwinner in football, 4-year letterwinner as well in track. The 1932 Old Abes football team went 6-1-0 and followed it up going 9-0-0 and the mythical state championship. Known as the “Blond Flash” on the basketball court and the track, Hanson specialized in the 100 and 200-yard dash as well as the broad jump. His 1933-34 basketball team went 17-0 before losing to the eventual champion, Beloit, in the semi-finals. He went on to play in the Canadian Football League in 1937 for the Regina Roughriders but only played the one season. A knee injury ended his playing after leading the team in rushing. Also, a very good baseball player, even though he didn’t play it for the high school team but rather for local summer teams, he was a star pitcher and infielder. Arnie also coached basketball for a while at Eau Claire St. Patrick’s (Now Eau Claire Regis). Dick followed in his dad's footsteps as Arnie was on several Central U.S. Junior Ski Jumping teams. In 1957, Arnie coached the Wisconsin State Babe Ruth Baseball Champion's that Dick, and his brother Jim were a part of.

Dick’s brother, Jim, got the big gene’s as he was 6’1, 210 pounds and played center on the football team and went on to play at Eau Clair State (Now UW-Eau Claire) after accepting a scholarship to play at the University of Indiana.

After graduating in 1962, having been named first team All-State in football by the AP and UPI, after leading his team to the #! State ranking in the UPI poll and earning High School All-America honors as presented by Scholastic Coach Magazine, things didn’t seem to go Dick’s way. Dick had wanted to go to the University of Minnesota, but his grades were not up to par so he decided to attend Parsons College in Fairfield Iowa. He played two seasons there and as a freshman he moved into the starting quarterback spot as the team enjoyed a 9-0-0 season (Yes, in another story that I used for my book it stated that Parsons went 10-0-0. Bad initial information). His stats for the two years there were 74-148-8-1,186-13. There were changes in the coaching after his sophomore season as the team went 5-4-0 and he wasn’t doing well in school, so he dropped out and returned to Eau Claire and went to work in a meat packing plant. His plans were to take a semester off, go back to school at Eau Claire State and become eligible to play for the Blugolds.

At this point, I’ve hit a dead end on what happened after Dick Hanson attempted to come back to Eau Claire other than in 2011 both Dick and his Father Arnie were inducted into the Memorial Athletic Hall of Fame. If you’ve read my other blogs, you know that I like to “tell the rest of the story” on players and coaches. There is no record online with the UW-Eau Claire football records as his ever playing for the school. I did an obituary search and like I said in a precious blog concerning a player from Pewaukee, there are numerous Dick Hanson’s but no matches. In 1960-63 there are so many mentions of men named Dick Hanson playing golf, YMCA basketball, tennis and other sports that it got confusing trying to sort things out. There are several Dick Hansen’s, with an “e”, as well. SO, if you know about the Old Abe’s former star or have contact information, please pass it on.

EARLY UPDATES ON THIS SEASON SO FAR

Yes, I know the season is already underway but here are a few updates on coaches, teams and players.

COACHES:

I don’t know where Kevin Askeland finds all the time to update records on a national basis. At the start of the season several Wisconsin coaches were on the list presented by MaxPreps.com, written by Kevin, for several career categories…300 career wins and coaches with highest winning percentage. The stories appear at: High school football: Coaches with the highest winning percentages (maxpreps.com)

The list for most career wins is dated September 22, 2022, but don’t let the date throw you off. This is the date of the original list, but it has been updated since the end of 2022.

Looking at the MaxPreps list there is, of course, Bob Hyland of Fond du Lac St. Mary’s Springs near the top of the list with 503 career wins. He was ranked #4 All-Time, only two wins behind Mike Smith of Hampton VA who has retired after winning 505 games in his 51-year stint (1971-2021). After opening wins against Lake Country Lutheran and Madison Edgewood, the Ledgers blew past Omro to push Hylands record to 506-115-2. There are eight other coaches on the list from Wisconsin, as they started the season with 300+ wins. Besides Coach Hyland, Jerry Sinz of Edgar, Bill Young of Waukesha Catholic Memorial and Pat Rice of Waunakee are still active.

As of the end of week five Hyland is at 508 career wins, Sinz has 461, Young has 395 and Rice stands at 334 victories.

PLAYERS

There are several players that are moving up the records charts with a lot of the season left. One is senior Ryan McCormack of Mukwonago a very good kicker who last year converted on 71 of 79 extra points and nine of 11 field goals for 98 points and good for second best all-time in a single season (Sorry. When I posted the most recent records, I somehow swapped numbers and had him at 89 points on the season. It will be corrected online with the next posting in January.) As Mukwonago rolls through the year, he has a serious chance to make the all-time career kicking lists since he will only have kicked for two years.

Well, he did it again. Kevin Askeland (Hope you aren’t getting tired of hearing his name but don’t get tired of his info) posted a story on the high school players who had 600+ yards in a single game…MaxPreps National High School Football Record Book: Kaydon Custard, Jarrett Nielsen join list of players with over 600 yards total offense in a single game. Well, I looked at my record book and found that I didn’t have a category for Single Game Total Offense so I created one and you will see the list when it is updated at the coach’s web site in January. I found that so far, the top 10:

You will note that I’ve been unable to come up with rushing totals for Jeff Skemp and Steve Sterr so, based on just their passing yards they make the list anyway and that’s how it is for several other players on the complete list. This is the same as some rushing totals are unknown for the MaxPreps list.

Next, keep an eye on is Brayln Albritton of Milwaukee Academy of Science, a private school that plays an independent schedule. First, he already set several records after the numbers he put up last year (154-267-22-2,447-27+ 9 2-pt. passes) as a FRESHMAN. In his first game in 2022 against Cudahy he was 18-22-0-360-6. His 22 completions in 41 attempts against Monticello (IL) are individual game highs. The team did lose that one 38-6 and then 29-6 to Wisconsin Lutheran where he tossed six interceptions (Sadly, a record for a freshman). He’s off to a good start this year but it is doubtful that he will get to 2,000 yards because of at least one cancelled game. If he could reach that 2,000-yard mark, he would have a chance to be the only Wisconsin high school player to ever toss for 2,000+ yards in four consecutive seasons. Other career records could fall as well if he keeps on his current pace and the team can find opponents.

One player who jumped ahead of 10 others on the list for Most 2-Point Conversions in a Game (They all had four such conversions) is Ezra Hinz of Milwaukee Ronald Reagan. On August 31 Ezra, a 5’8, 180-pound junior running back ran 18 times for 93 yards, three touchdowns and the new state record of five conversion runs.

But he didn’t hold the top spot for long…for only a day as Demetrius Bergmann of Pepin/Alma ran for five as well the next afternoon, September 1. In a 54-14 win over Eleva-Strum Demetrius ran for 184 yards on only 11 carries and three touchdowns. At this time, he is one of the states leading rushers as well as a scoring leader. At the end of week five he had only carried the ball 59 times but had picked up 791 yards, a gaudy 13.4 rushing average plus he has scored 15 touchdowns and eight 2-point conversions. This season seems to be the year of rushing for 2-point conversions as so far, I’ve added seven more players to the list of four or more. Matthew Moll of Marshall has done it twice, followed by Ian Smith of Northwestern, Dawson Luther of Pittsville, Owen Seffrood of Black Hawk/Warren (IL), Jacob Kile of Randolph and finally, a teammate of Ezra Hinz’s at Reagan, Brennan Litchfield.

8-Player football started a week later than 11-player and some single game records have been set. First, in week three (9/8 and 9) Gillett’s Lavonzell Smith set the 8-player single game record for most tackles by hauling down 33 Suring players in a 36-28 win. That same night, Braden Sitte of Gibraltar was told by coach Mile Peck to do something VERY unusual. Tied 50-50 in overtime against Algoma, Sitte lined up for a field goal. First, field goals in 8-player football is rare but even more rare in an overtime game. He lined up and kicked a record 42-yard field goal. Not unusual for 11-player but a record for 8-player.

Last week, Sitte, a senior, set another record when he caught 12 passes for 399 yards and his six touchdowns tied him for the most in a single game in his team’s 53-22 victory over Wausaukee. His teammate/quarterback Braden Kita was 14-19-1-461-7 on the night. His 461-yards is ranked fifth all-time in a single game. Both Sitte and Kita are moving up the 8-player records chart. If you click on Sitte’s career receiving he has 106 receptions for 2,043 yards and 31 touchdowns. Check out Kita’s career completion percentage. It's at 70.6 after playing seven games last year and posting a 75.5% in 2022.

Read Travis Wilson’s WisSports.net recap of the 8-player recap for more details…8-Player Football Weekly Spotlight: September 20 (wissports.net)

Finally, all eyes are on Colton Brunell as he keeps picking up rushing yards in great numbers. Already with over 5,500 career yards with four regular season games to go Colton is the guy opponents key on. He has a good chance to tie Hilbert great, Mike Firkus, with three consecutive 2,000+ seasons and he could pass up Racine Lutheran’s Tyler Tenner as the All-time state rusher. Brunell could also climb the all-time scoring list as he currently has over 500 points.

There are others to watch but I focused on these players.

TEAMS

Again, Kevin Askeland of MaxPreps recently had an article dealing with schools that had a list of the top 200 winningest national football programs…Top 200 winningest programs in high school football history (maxpreps.com). Included on the list were Milwaukee Marquette University High School and Platteville. I pointed out to Kevin that he left off Darlington from his list and he recognized that he had failed to add them to his posting.

There was another mistake. I had recently reached out to Patrick Foran at Marquette who has been doing a lot of research on the school’s program before Askeland wrote his story. Like Travis Winkers of Darlington who in 2022 sent me season by season records for that program, Patrick had a complete listing of season-by-season records. Kevin Askeland listed Marquette with a 748-291-34 record but the official record is 749-288-36. They ranked #78 on the all-time list.

Askeland had Platteville at #152 with 705-295-17 overall record. Darlington would be listed just below at #153 and a 704-305-30. Check out my blog from last August, DARLINGTON: THEN AND NOW (wihifootball.com). I still feel that some of Platteville’s record is in doubt due to a math error but I will contact the person who sent me their records again and try and set up a meeting to resolve things. All three schools have a long and storied history. Read Kevin’s story on the Winningest Programs and you will see some interesting info on out of state schools.

Also, check out the Marquette High School Athletics Records and Hall of Fame pages. Thanks to Patrick Foran for sending me the links…Marquette University High School (touchpros.com) and Marquette University High School (touchpros.com). These take you to not just football pages but the school’s complete history in all sports. This may be the best single school web site that I’ve ever seen.

Finally, check out Kevin Askeland’s 1954 national High school Football Rankings…Archive - High School Sports History (substack.com). Again, Wisconsin school makes the list, all be it in the #50 spot in the rankings. That’s the mystical state champion, Green Bay West (8-0-0) squad. Don’t just skip down to the bottom of the listing as there is a lot of insightful information throughout his blog.

That’s it for now. Have a great weekend and enjoy a high school game in person.