WIAA Basketball

10 0 YEAR S O F WI A A BASKET BALL

SPECIAL SECTION

SUNDAY, MARCH 8, 2015 • A1

THE TOP

25

Tom Oates draws up his list of the best players in state tournament history

Diamond Stone

Sam Okey Clarence Sherrod

Fred Brown

8, 2015

WIAA bask etball fan gu

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INSIDE: A FAN’S GUIDE TO MADISON AND THE KOHL CENTER 48

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Olin Ave.

UW-Arboretum

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Fish Hatcher y Rd.

Advance tickets www.wiaawi.org may be purchased CARRY-INS online /tickets. The $84 for all cost is $12 at seven for one session Note: All items handling fees. sessions, not includin or g processing Storage facilitiesand spectators are and Admission are not availabl subject to search. items. is free for e for checkin children younger g prohibited For those needing than 2 years Items permitt accessible of age. ticket and ed: Bags seating, purchas binoculars, exchange it cameras withno larger than 8.5 x at B turnstile banners, flags, s at the Kohl the Welcome Desk e a regular lenses no larger 11 inches, inside the signs, items Center. than 100mm chairbacks Gate Remaining related , not tickets may (with child). more than 18 inches to a medical conditio $10 per session. be purchas n, ed at the gate wide, and diaper for bags Among the prohibited inches (includin items: Bags strollers, baby g backpacks), food, larger than 8.5 x 11 beverag carrier seats, weapons, inflatab laser pointers es, containers, les, laptops, , with lenses video recordenoisemakers, greater than rs, dangerous or inappro 100mm, or any items cameras priate. deemed

lot or ramp

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HOURS: 10:30 (follow the Energy Center signage); and 6:30 a.m. Fridaya.m. Thursday, Street in front on of the Kohl Dayton and 8 a.m.

Center.

Saturday.

COST: $5 per PARKING: Parking at person round Alliant Center is $6.50 per person trip or $3 one-way. per vehicle. Energy SPECIAL NEEDS: FREQUENCY: A shuttle will The shuttles wheelchair 20 minutes are accessible. until one hour run every For any special needs, call after the Laura 608-825-8700, at Kobussen Buses at ext. 502.

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Three-point shooting competition: 9 a.m.

SESSION SIX Division 5, 4 11:05 a.m., and 3 championship 1 p.m., 3 p.m. games: SESSION SEVEN Division 2 and 1 champi 6:35 p.m., onship games: 8:30 p.m.

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For a map of City of Madison Disabled parking visitdowntownm spaces may lots, visit be Parking_Map.pd adison.com/uploads/med f ia/

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Joe Wolf

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SESSION THREE Division 3 semifinals: 9:05 a.m. and 10:45 a.m.

SESSION FOUR Division 2 semifinals: 1:35 and 3:15 p.m.

SESSION FIVE Division 1 semifinals: 6:35 and 8:15 p.m.

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(Game times approximate) SESSION ONE Division 5 semifinals: 1:35 and 3:15 p.m.

SESSION TWO

8, 2015 • 15

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105 224 205 324 125 104 305 103 126 225 204 102 101 128 127 325 304 203 226 202 201 SPECIAL EVEN 228 227 303 326 TS 302 301 327 328 To mark the Gate B many new milestone event that Gate A attractions is will be presentthe 100th WIAA state Dayton boys ed at the Kohl basketballStreet 3-POINT tournament, Center. Among CHALLENG the many activitie E See players TIPOFF EVEN s: from T in the inaugur across the state On Thursda participate y, information, al 3-Point Challenge. event will opena pregame tipoff For visit: www.wi wiaa-boys-3poin ssports.net/ more weekend, and the tournament t-challenge. session will a ticket to the first include entry SPECIAL festivities.

ICE CREA Doors will opento the FLAVOR M 11 a.m. for at a receptio include a walking n that will Babcock Dairy special commem tour of the of ice cream has mixed up a special orative displays in the Kohl batch WIAA state to commemorate the Center basketball 100th highlight events concourse that tournament. special flavor, of the tourney’ The “Alley first 99 Oop Scoop,” s years. available at will be the Kohl Center. former athletesOther WIAA fans and will be on hand.

At noon, a 30-minute video, “Celebrating the Game,” will MORE DETA on the Kohl be shown ILS ONLIN Center’s big For more informa screen.

E tion on the and maps tournament with transit — includin options and driving directio g hotel specials, ns — visit http://W dining and shoppin g options IAA100.com.

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2 • SUNDAY, MARCH 8, 2015

WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL

HEARTBREAK AND HAPPINESS In its 100 years, the WIAA state boys basketball tournament has meant many things to many people — including an old sportswriter from Sussex

L

ike so many of us, I fell in love during my senior year of high school.

Of course, after a few thrilling months it all ended in sudden, crushing, absolute heartbreak.

The heartbreak happened in a late-afternoon instant on March 18, 1976, before thousands of fans and a statewide television audience, right on the floor of the UW Field House.

The son of a gun who did it was Tim Bakken, a senior at Eau Claire Memorial. He banked ART in a tiebreakKABELOWSKY ing, 18-foot jump shot with 5 seconds left. And after a nerve-wracking time out and a tipped pass, coach Dick Bennett (where have I heard that name before?) and the Old Abes had knocked out my Sussex Hamilton Chargers 44-42 in a quarterfinal of the WIAA Class A state boys basketball tournament.

The previous fall, the 15-year-old version of me had worked up the courage to ask coach Rich Ludka if he needed a statistician. My logic: I had gone to every game I could over my first three years at Hamilton; my previous ride to the road games was off to college; and I could contribute to the program while becoming a small part of it.

I truly had no clue how fun, exciting and incredible the experience would be.

I had a seat on the team bus, a spot in the back of the locker room during halftime talks and a place in the stands — where Mike Campbell and I wore ties, clutched clipboards and charted shots, rebounds and assists. I had our team, because I had asked first.

As it turned out, I literally had a courtside seat as Hamilton history unfolded. The 1975-76 Chargers went on to earn the first state tournament trip in school history, going 20-2 and beating Ray

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Eau Claire Memorial’s Terry Hams makes an underhand layup while Sussex Hamilton’s Scott Erickson defends during a 1976 WIAA Class A state boys basketball semifinal at the UW Field House. Memorial won 44-42.

Rozek’s Milwaukee Madison Green Knights in the sectional at Whitefish Bay. It finally struck me as the players went wild in the locker room after that victory: My team was going to play on TV in Madison and I would be there.

Madison is only 80 miles from Sussex, but this was to be just my second trip to Mad Town.

(The first was a school field trip in seventh grade, and my main memories from it were amazement at the State Capitol and that Dick Greuel bought and ate nothing but French fries — seven orders — when our bus stopped at

a McDonald’s for lunch.)

Of course, we were there quite early, taking in the second morning game and the first Class A semifinal before our 2:45 start. At some point, though, everything became a blur of tension and emotion.

All I remember are the giant TV cameras, the noise and spectacle, taking my shot chart into the locker room at halftime and hoping I didn’t pass out as Memorial stalled from the 1:35 mark to the 11-second mark in the fourth quarter.

And after Bakken made that crazy shot, my clipboard somehow, shall we say, slipped out of

my hand at a rate of speed high enough to break it in half.

So that’s love and heartbreak in a nutshell. It continued for the next few years, too. I might have been in college, but my closest friend growing up, Terry Youngbauer, was about to lead the Chargers to two more state trips — in 1977 and his first-team, all-state season of 1979.

By then, I was well on my way toward becoming a sports journalist, working weekends and summers for the Menomonee Falls News. I took my first full-time job in 1981, one sports editor removed from Tom Oates at the Daily Jefferson County Union in Fort Atkinson.

I made every state tournament between 1976 and 1997, when I was out of state and couldn’t get away.

But I had retired from making predictions after writing a 1983 column that correctly picked the winners of 12 of the 13 state games, missing only on Green Bay West’s quarterfinal victory over Milwaukee Madison.

And I patched things up with that Tim Bakken character, too. I was sports editor of the La Crosse Tribune in 1996 when I heard Bakken had decided to run for Congress. I read his news release and learned he had earned bachelor’s and law degrees from UW and had been a homicide prosecutor in Brooklyn.

When our political reporter interviewed him, I jumped on the phone as the call was wrapping up. My first words, from a guy he didn’t know from Adam: “I have hated you for many years, Mr. Bakken.”

He didn’t laugh until I explained myself, and then we had a nice chat. Bakken lost that primary to Ron Kind, but he’s doing fine today as a law professor at the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, N.Y. And here at the State Journal, we’re gearing up for the 100th WIAA state basketball tournament (it’ll be my 33rd). More memories, more happiness, more heartbreak, all just a bank shot away.

CONTENTS THE KINGS OF MADISON

Tom Oates’ list of the best 25 individual performers over the first 99 years of the WIAA state boys basketball tournament. Page 4 SCORING MACHINE

Catching up with Wisconsin’s alltime scoring leader, Wausaukee’s Anthony Pieper. Page 12 WIAA TOURNEY FAN GUIDE

Parking, tickets, more. Pages 14-15 ON THE AIR

State tournament broadcasting icon Jay Wilson recaps the connection between TV and the WIAA. Page 16 TEACHING HISTORY

By Jerry Petitgoue, as told to Dennis Semrau Cuba City’s coach discusses his favorite memories from a 48-year career of high school basketball. Page 18 OKEY-DOKEY

A visit with Sam Okey, the Cassville star who was the talk of the state for a few years in the 1990s. Page 22 THE MADLIST

The 13 times Madison high schools have earned WIAA titles. Page 24 GRIDIRON GLORY

Hoop stars who have gone from the state tourney to the NFL. Page 27

CREDITS The Wisconsin State Journal’s retrospective on the 100-year legacy of the WIAA state boys basketball tournament is a product of the Wisconsin State Journal and Capital Newspapers Inc. Editor: John Smalley.

Sports editor: Greg Sprout.

Assistant sports editors: Reed Southmayd, Art Kabelowsky.

Section editor: Art Kabelowsky.

Design: Mike Rott, Lee Enterprises Regional Design Center.

Copy editing: Wisconsin State Journal sports desk.

Reporters/columnists: Tom Oates, Dennis Semrau, Jason Galloway, Brock Fritz, Art Kabelowsky, Jay Wilson.

Photography: Wisconsin State Journal staff, past and present; many photos from the collection of former WSJ photographer Arthur Vinje; many photos contributed through athlete/family collections and school archives.

Thanks: Todd Clark and Deb Hauser, WIAA; Dennis McCormick; Simone O. Munson and John Nondorf, Wisconsin Historical Society; Sam Okey; Anthony Pieper; Jerry Petitgoue; Jay Wilson; Adam Thompson; Joe Ziemer; Dave Wedeward; Capital Newspapers advertising, circulation, marketing and pressroom teams.

A Tradition of Success...

Congratulations on 100 Years!

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4 • SUNDAY, MARCH 8, 2015

WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL

KINGS OF MARCH MADNESS My picks for the top 25 performers from the first 99 years of the WIAA state boys tournament

T

hey come in all shapes and sizes, from every corner of the state, from large schools and small — and, for the past 15 years, from public schools and private.

They are the very best prep boys basketball players in Wisconsin, and they’ve been coming to the WIAA state tournament for 100 years.

Some dominate with their size, some with their speed, some with their skill and some with all three.

Some put on scoring exhibitions.

Some tower — literally — over the opposition. Some have a reputation that precedes them; others burst upon the scene. Some make it to state only once, others make it an annual trip. Some win titles, some come up short.

All have one thing in common, however: When they make the pilgrimage to Madison for three days in March, they put on a great show.

The 100th annual state boys basketball tournament will take place this month, which means there has been a century of great players strutting their stuff in the most prestigious prep sporting event in Wisconsin. Trying to pick five or 25 or even 100 players for a mythical all-time all-tournament team is an impossible task, in part because no one has seen everyone play in a tournament that was started in 1916 by the old Wisconsin Normal Schools.

The winners from 1916 to 1919 now are recognized as champions

TOURNEY TIMELINE

STATE TOURNAMENT HISTORY IN WORDS AND PICTURES

by the WIAA, which staged its first state tournament in 1920 at the old Red Gym next to the Memorial Union on the University of Wisconsin campus. With TOM the exception of OATES 1936, when the tournament was held in Wisconsin Rapids, UW has been the host every year since 1920 — first at the Red Gym, then at the UW Field House and, since 1998, at the Kohl Center.

As I present my 25-man all-time all-tournament team, there is one thing to keep in mind: This is not — repeat, not — a compilation of the greatest players in state history. It is a reflection of the greatest players in “state tournament” history, judged solely on their body of work and the genuine statewide buzz they generated during the three-day tournament.

Often those two groups intersect, but not necessarily.

They certainly intersect on the first team, which consists of three small-school big men — Joe Wolf of Kohler, Sam Okey of Cassville and Diamond Stone of Whitefish Bay Dominican — plus the backcourt from the mighty Milwaukee Lincoln teams of the mid-1960s, Clarence Sherrod and Fred Brown.

Stone is a senior this season, but

like the others, he has captured the attention of fans across the state with his play on high school sports’ biggest stage.

Of course, the top five also belong on any team of all-time greats produced in Wisconsin.

The five teams are filled with the best shooters, rebounders, passers, defenders and winners from the tournament’s first 99 years. At least they are in my opinion — which is based on games I’ve seen, reports I’ve read and observers I’ve talked to over the years. Of course, it is just that — an opinion.

The most difficult players to leave off the five teams were, in chronological order: Bob Sullivan of Manitowoc, John Rushing of Milwaukee Lincoln, LaMont Weaver of Beloit Memorial, Bill Hanzlik of Beloit Memorial, Brad Clark of Markesan, Jose Winston of Milwaukee Vincent, Greg Brown of Milwaukee Vincent and Bronson Koenig of La Crosse Aquinas.

It’s important to note players who later excelled in college or the NBA — such as Stevens Point’s Dick Cable, Green Bay East’s Terry Rand, Madison La Follette’s Gary Anderson, Milwaukee South’s Terry Porter, Racine Park’s Caron Butler and Wauwatosa East’s Devin Harris — but never got the chance to play in the WIAA state tournament.

Nor did private-school stars from the era before 2000, such as Ron Debelius of Menasha St. Mary’s,

Don Kojis of Milwaukee Notre Dame, John Johnson of Milwaukee Messmer, Jim Chones of Racine St. Catherine’s, Mickey Crowe of JFK Prep, Joe Chrnelich of Milwaukee Pius and Nick Van Exel of Kenosha St. Joe’s.

Other greats made it to Madison but didn’t do quite enough while here to warrant consideration, either because they didn’t dominate or their team didn’t survive long enough. That list includes Wauwatosa East’s Tony Smith, Milwaukee Washington’s Latrell Sprewell, Green Bay Preble’s Tony Bennett, Waukesha South’s Julian Swartz, Madison West’s Reece Gaines, Fond du Lac’s Travis Diener, Milwaukee Hamilton’s Kevon Looney and Rice Lake’s Henry Ellenson, who is a senior this season.

No, this team consists of the best of the best in March, the players who have supplied the wow factor in the first 99 years of the state tournament.

FIRST TEAM Joe Wolf, 6-10, Kohler (Class of 1983) Displaying a string of puka shells around his neck and an athletic, free-flowing game on the floor, Wolf simply was unlike any big man who had arrived in the state tournament before him. He could score Please see TOP 25, Page 5

• Athletic directors of the Wisconsin Normal Schools (now the University of Wisconsin System) decide to start their own state tournament program, in competition with Lawrence’s.

1905

1916

• Lawrence University in Appleton organizes an invitational state tournament, the first of its kind in the United States. The tourney runs through 1918.

• Fond du Lac beats Grand Rapids, 22-7, in the first state tournament organized by what would eventually become the WIAA.

The Sheboygan Press

Joe Wolf, Kohler, Class of 1983

• Fond du Lac beats Eau Claire 27-19 to become the first team to win a state championship with an undefeated record (16-0).

1917

1918 • Madison Central (16-1) beat Watertown 27-17 in the state tournament final in Stevens Point.

From left: Coach George A. Crispin, Ole Gunderson, Ralph “Skinny” Gill, Paul “Monk” Tenney, Leon “Turk” Mathison, “Fish” Tauchen, Roman “Kibo” Brumm and manager Tom Reynolds.

1919 • The WIAA takes over operation of the state tournament program. The event is relocated to UW’s Red Gym in 1920.

WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL

SUNDAY, MARCH 8, 2015 • 5

Top 25

A CENTURY’S BEST The all-time WIAA state boys basketball tournament team

Continued from Page 4

The all-time WIAA state tournament boys basketball team, as selected by Wisconsin State Journal sports columnist Tom Oates based solely on performance in state tournament games. With height, school and graduation year:

FIRST TEAM Joe Wolf Sam Okey Fred Brown Clarence Sherrod Diamond Stone

6-10 Kohler 1983 6-7 Cassville 1995 6-2 Milwaukee Lincoln 1967 6-0 Milwaukee Lincoln 1967 6-10 W’fish Bay Dominican 2015

SECOND TEAM John Kotz Marshall Williams Sam Dekker Jeronne Maymon Max Walker

6-1 6-5 6-8 6-7 6-2

Rhinelander 1939 Milwaukee Vincent 1999 Sheboygan Lutheran 2012 Madison Memorial 2009 Milwaukee Lincoln 1962

THIRD TEAM Johnny Watts Roy Birk Brian Butch Kurt Nimphius Anthony Pieper

5-10 Beloit 6-1 Waukesha 6-11 Appleton West 6-9 South Milwaukee 6-3 Wausaukee

1934 1961 2003 1976 1993

FOURTH TEAM Marty Gharrity Rick Olson Bob Litzow Bob Anderegg Wayne Kreklow

6-2 6-1 6-3 6-3 6-4

Shawano 1958 Madison La Follette 1982 Stevens Point 1954 Monroe 1955 Neenah 1975

6-7 6-4 6-6 6-5 6-11

Randolph West Allis Hale South Milwaukee Madison Memorial Germantown

FIFTH TEAM Ryan Tillema Sam Antcliffe Jay Schauer Wesley Matthews Luke Fischer

two seasons.

In a 1993 title-game showdown with Wausaukee scoring machine Anthony Pieper, Okey — then a sophomore — racked up 33 points, 15 rebounds, three assists and six blocked shots.

Perhaps his greatest game came in a 1995 semifinal against Prentice, when he had 30 points, 23 rebounds, 12 blocked shots, seven assists and three steals. The next game, Cassville buried Oakfield to win the title, with Okey showing off his versatility by draining six of his 10 shots from 3-point range. Cassville went 6-2 at state during Okey’s four years and he averaged 27.3 points and 16.0 rebounds in those games.

A McDonald’s All-American, Okey played 2½ seasons at Wisconsin, where he was named Big Ten freshman of the year, before finishing his career at Iowa.

2005 1956 1954 2005 2013

inside or outside, rebound, block shots, handle the ball and run the floor.

Wolf played on three Class C state championship teams with the Blue Bombers. As a 6-foot-6 freshman, he was Kohler’s sixth man, scoring 28 points and grabbing 21 rebounds in two games.

Things were different in 1982 and 1983, when Wolf lifted Kohler to back-to-back titles virtually by himself, scoring 58 points in two games as a junior and 48 as a senior. His high game was 32 points in 61-56 victory over Thorp in the 1982 final.

Wolf averaged 22.3 points and 14.0 rebounds in six state tournament games, all victories. In his final two seasons at state, those averages were 26.5 points and 15.8 rebounds. Kohler lost only 11 games during his four seasons, with most of them coming to much larger schools.

As Wisconsin’s first McDonald’s All-American pick, Wolf was the subject of an intense recruiting battle that was the talk of the UW Field House during his final two trips to state. He played four years at North Carolina and 11 years in the NBA, including a stint with the Milwaukee Bucks.

Sam Okey, 6-7, Cassville (Class of 1995)

Fred Brown, 6-2, Milwaukee Lincoln (Class of 1967)

DAVE SCHLABOWSKE — Associated Press

Sam Okey, Cassville, Class of 1995

Okey was a few inches shorter than Wolf, but no less dominant. He, too, could score from anywhere on the floor, rebound, block shots and pass the ball. Unlike the slender Wolf, though, Okey weighed 230 pounds and was a powerful jumper with large hands

who could — and would — dunk on anyone.

With Okey in the middle, Cassville reached the Division 4 state tournament four times, finishing second in 1992 and 1993 and winning titles in 1994 and 1995.

The Comets went 97-9 in Okey’s four years, including a 54-0 mark over his final

Lincoln’s backto-back state champions in 1966 and 1967 are considered the greatest teams in Wisconsin history.

And the cornerstone of the group that generated fear and awe in opponents and spectators alike was the backcourt of Brown and Clarence Sherrod. As juniors, they teamed with 6-4 All-State pick John RushFred Brown, Milwaukee ing on what coach Lincoln, Class of 1967 Jim Smallins called his best team. As seniors, they led a team that arrived in Madison averaging 101.7 points per game — two decades before the 3-point shot was Please see TOP 25, Page 6

• The state tournament relocates from Stevens Point to Madison in 1920, and is held inside the Red Gym (UW Armory) through the 1930 season.

1920 UW’s Red Gym

1921

1922

1923 • After winning the WIAA title, Wisconsin High of Madison receives an invitation from Amos Alonzo Stagg to take part in a 32-state national tournament in Chicago. Coach Ira Davis turns down the offer.

1924

1925

1926

1927

1928

• The lowestscoring final in tourney history: Stevens Point 9, River Falls 7.

• Superior Central makes its 10th straight state visit. The record still stands.

• Watertown beats Madison Central 27-14 in the state final.

1929

6 • SUNDAY, MARCH 8, 2015

WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL

Top 25 Continued from Page 5

introduced to the high school game.

Brown was the quiet member of Lincoln’s big three (Rushing was a mid-year graduate and didn’t play in the 1967 tournament), though most considered him the most talented player. He had great range on his shot, displayed terrific jumping skills and was a strong defender. Once Rushing left, Brown often had to play inside, and more than held his own.

Brown scored 28 points when Lincoln shattered the tournament single-game scoring record in a 109-71 victory over La Crosse Central in a 1967 quarterfinal.

The subsequent title was Lincoln’s fifth in nine years. Over six state tournament games, Brown averaged 21.2 points.

After a stop at a junior college, Brown played at Iowa for two seasons, averaging 22.7 points per game. He was known as “Downtown” Freddie Brown during a 13-year NBA career that included a championship with Seattle in 1979.

Clarence Sherrod, 6-0, Milwaukee Lincoln (Class of 1967) Sherrod, the Comets’ cat-quick point guard, was a more dynamic presence than Brown in high school. He could shoot, penetrate and, most of all, dribble like a magician. He was dribbling behind his back and between his legs long before that became standard operating procedure. And even in the Comets’ record-setting 1967 blowout of La Crosse Central, Sherrod scored 29 to Brown’s 28.

Sherrod was at his best when Lincoln was threatened, as the Comets were in both championship games. Wisconsin Rapids kept within striking distance in the 1966 final until Sherrod buried three long-range shots in the fourth quarter to put away the Red Raiders. He finished with a team-high 20 points in that game. In the 1967 final,

State Journal archives

Clarence Sherrod, Milwaukee Lincoln, Class of 1967

a game in which Wausau threw a huge scare into the Comets before falling 61-56, Sherrod scored a team-high 17 points and conducted a one-man stall by dribbling out a sizable portion of the final 5 minutes. In six games at state, Sherrod averaged 19.7 points per outing.

Sherrod went to UW, where he averaged 19.6 points per game during his three-year career and left as the school’s all-time leading scorer. He’s now 11th on the list, but Badgers fans remember him as a clever ballhandler and dynamic scorer.

Diamond Stone, 6-10, Whitefish Bay Dominican (Class of 2015) Stone’s first state tournament game, as a Green Knights freshman in 2012, was a sign of things to come. He recorded a triple double — 15 points, 15 rebounds, 14 blocked shots — in a 67-44 victory over Colfax, instantly becoming a household name.

Stone has since delivered on that promise, leading Dominican to Division 4 state titles in his first three seasons. He’s still

ROB HERNANDEZ — State Journal

Diamond Stone, Whitefish Bay Dominican, Class of 2015

working on his legacy, too, and could join Randolph’s Ryan Tillema as the only player in state history to play a significant role for four championship teams should Dominican win again this season. To be included on this all-time all-tournament team after his junior year shows that Stone is just as dominant as Joe Wolf and Sam Okey were.

An anomaly among centers in today’s game, Stone is comfortable with his back to the basket. He has, however, expanded his game every season and can now shoot the 3-point shot in addition to his wide variety

of power moves inside. As teammates such as current Marquette guard Duane Wilson filtered out of the Dominican program, Stone became even more dominant. In six state tournament games, he has averaged 19 points, 11.8 rebounds and 7.5 blocked shots per game while shooting 60 percent.

Stone has been selected to play in this year’s McDonald’s All-American game and is regarded by recruiters as one of the top five seniors in the country.

Please see TOP 25, Page 7

• Beloit (1932 team pictured at right) becomes the first school to win three consecutive WIAA championships, from 1932-1934.

Playing with a broken wrist in ’33, Johnny Watts (bottom row, third from right), is the first African-American to play a starring role in the state tourney.

1930

1931

• The UW Field House, designed by Ar• Madison’s Wisconsin thur Peabody, is dedicated on Dec. 18 High wins its second state and becomes the tourney’s home in 1931. title, 20-19 over Racine.

1932

1933

1934 • The WIAA breaks the state tournament into two enrollment-based classes, in a two-year experiment.

WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL

SUNDAY, MARCH 8, 2015 • 7

Top 25

Beloit in the 1930s. It was his late-game exploits that stood out, though.

As a freshman in 1996, his 15-footer with 32 seconds left gave Vincent the lead in a 52-49 semifinal victory over Watertown. In the next day’s final, his three-point play with 29 seconds left gave Vincent a 48-45 overtime victory over Mukwonago. In the 1998 final, Williams sank a 12-foot, pull-up jumper with 7 seconds left to give Vincent a 36-34 victory over Middleton. Williams and Vincent ran out of late-game magic against Racine Case in a 1999 semifinal, but in 11 tournament games, he averaged 14.9 points and 6.7 rebounds per game while shooting 55.2 percent from the field.

Williams played one season at North Carolina State before a knee injury derailed his career.

Continued from Page 6

SECOND TEAM John Kotz, 6-1, Rhinelander (Class of 1939)

John Kotz, Rhinelander, Class of 1939

State Journal archives

Marshall Williams, Milwaukee Vincent, Class of 1999

Kotz’s revolutionary one-handed push shot and ahead-of-his-time scoring totals were all the rage after Rhinelander’s state tournament appearances in 1937 and 1938. But it wasn’t until his senior year that the Hodags finally broke through to win the Class A title.

A burly center, Kotz scored 26 points to lead Rhinelander to a 46-29 victory over Wausau in the 1939 final, completing a 20-0 season. Kotz had scored 28 in a Sam Dekker, 6-8, Sheboygan 56-21 quarterfinal victory over Lutheran (Class of 2012) Wauwatosa, as the tournament’s Dekker’s team only reached the state single-game individual and team tournament once, but he made the scoring records fell in the same most of his two games on the big stage. game. He led the tournament with As a small-school scoring machine 64 points, a previously unthinkable from in-state who had already signed record that lasted until 1950. Afterwith UW, Dekker arrived at the Kohl ward, the Wisconsin State Journal Center accompanied by unprecedented proclaimed Kotz the tournament’s hype, yet somehow exceeded it with his No. 1 individual star of all time and dazzling performance.

Rhinelander the greatest team ever An athletic, long perimeter player, produced in the state. In nine tourDekker scored 35 points in a 63-61 nament games over three seasons, semifinal victory over Chippewa Falls he averaged 15.7 points per game.

Kotz went to UW, where he was M.P. KING — State Journal McDonell, but that only served as an appetizer for the curious Kohl Center an All-American and the NCAA Sam Dekker, Sheboygan Lutheran, Class of 2012 crowd. tournament’s most outstanding With Sheboygan Lutheran trailing by player when the Badgers won their eight with less than a minute to play in the Vikings’ Mr. Clutch. Vincent often played only NCAA title in 1941.

Division 5 final against Racine Lutheran, close, intense, low-scoring games — and Marshall Williams, 6-5, Dekker went off. He scored 12 points in the more often than not, it was Williams who Milwaukee Vincent (Class of 1999) final 48.5 seconds — including the gamedelivered at the end. winning 3-pointer on a contested shot Williams topped the tournament in Vincent’s Lincoln-like run of five titles from the corner with 4.6 seconds left — to scoring as a freshman (48 points) and a in six years under coach Tom Diener was junior (49) as Vincent became the first large fueled by multiple All-State players, but no school to win three consecutive titles since one played a bigger role than Williams, the Please see TOP 25, Page 8

• The tourney moves to Wisconsin Rapids for a year, its only stop outside Madison since 1920.

1935

1936 • The WIAA expands its tournament field again, going to three enrollmentbased classes.

The format holds for four seasons.

1937

1938

• The rule calling for a jump ball after every field goal is eliminated.

• Work starts on a Field House balcony level, boosting capacity to 12,000 in 1939.

1939 • With a new onehanded “push” shot, star John Kotz and Rhinelander smash WIAA scoring records. ... Wausau’s Elroy Hirsch makes the all-tourney team.

1940 • The WIAA returns to a one-division format; the one-class tournament remains until 1972.

1941

1942

• Reuben Le Claire and Jim Wondrasch lead champ Two Rivers to a tourney-record 161 points in three games.

1943 • Racine Park rolls past Shawano, 40-23, for the state title.

1944

8 • SUNDAY, MARCH 8, 2015

WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL

State Journal archives

Jeronne Maymon, Madison Memorial, Class of 2009

Top 25 Continued from Page 7

give the Crusaders an improbable 67-66 victory and a state title. In the two games, Dekker totaled 75 points, 29 rebounds and 10 blocked shots.

Now a junior at UW, Dekker recently went over the 1,000-point mark and was a vital member of the Badgers’ Final Four team in 2014.

Jeronne Maymon, 6-7, Madison Memorial (Class of 2009) A physical inside presence, Maymon started in four consecutive state tournaments during Memorial’s run of nine straight trips to state (which included three titles). Spartans standouts Wesley Matthews, Keaton Nankivil and Vander Blue might have had more college success than Maymon, but none of them made more noise in the state tournament, either on the court or in the media.

Maymon dominated as a junior, posting tournament-best marks of 90 points and 44 rebounds, but Memorial suffered a 58-56 overtime loss to Wauwatosa East in the final, the Spartans’ second title-game loss in three years. Afterward, Maymon publicly vowed he wouldn’t leave high school without a championship. Taking a step back individually to get others — including Blue — more involved, Maymon delivered on his promise as a senior. He scored 25 points and grabbed 12 rebounds as Memorial crushed Racine Horlick 56-41 in the final. In 10 tournament games, he averaged 19.8 points and 10.6 rebounds while shooting 55.2 percent.

Maymon played briefly at Marquette before finishing his career at Tennessee, where he averaged 9.7 points and 7.2 rebounds per game in three seasons.

Max Walker, 6-2, Milwaukee Lincoln (Class of 1962) Lincoln’s first dominant team — led

by Walker, Allen Suttle and Al Jackson —

1945

1946

• After setting the Big Eight single-season scoring record, Don Page leads Madison West past Lena 44-35 in the state final.

• Reedsville, with an enrollment of 87 students, beats Eau Claire 48-39 in the single-class state final, becoming the smallest community (pop. 476) to win a one-class title.

won back-to-back state championships in 1961 and 1962 while compiling a 51-1 record. The pressing, running Comets always shared the wealth on offense, but their biggest gun was Walker, a silkysmooth performer who could shoot and handle the ball equally well.

Walker scored 49 points at state as a junior, including 23 in a 77-75 overtime victory over Rice Lake in the final. He ramped up his scoring as a senior, netting 86 points in three games to share the tournament scoring lead with Eau Claire’s Stan Johnson. Walker scored 27 in Lincoln’s 93-80 victory over Eau Claire in the final. That gave him a 22.5 scoring average in his six tournament games.

Walker played three seasons at Indiana, leading the Hoosiers in scoring as a senior with 16.5 points per game. He also coached Milwaukee King to a runner-up finish in the 1971 state tournament.

Please see TOP 25, Page 9

1947

1948

• Fans from Hurley, located on the Michigan border, whoop it up in the Field House in 1947, celebrating the first of their team’s three straight state appearances.

State Journal archives

Max Walker, Milwaukee Lincoln, Class of 1962

1949 • Hurley’s Midgets, coaches by Carl Vergamini, capture the state’s hearts and win their first and only state title, beating La Crosse Logan 37-36 in the championship game.

WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL

SUNDAY, MARCH 8, 2015 • 9

Top 25 Continued from Page 8

THIRD TEAM Johnny Watts, 5-10, Beloit (Class of 1934) At a time where there were few black players in the state tournament, Watts helped turn Beloit into the state’s premier power. With the quick-handed Watts at forward, the Purple Knights won state titles in 1932, 1933 and 1934, a feat no school matched until Marathon won three straight Class C championships during the 1970s.

Watts led Beloit in scoring all three years, but his most memorable tournament game came in the state final his junior year. He entered the game in the fourth quarter with a makeshift splint on his left wrist due to a broken bone, but was still able to rally Beloit to a 15-14 victory over Wausau. The 3,500 fans stood and cheered as he entered the game with Beloit trailing 13-11, and Watts didn’t disappoint. He led an inspired defense that held Wausau to one point in the quarter and also scored the winning basket on a layup. One year later, Watts scored 14 points in the final as Beloit made it three in a row with a 32-18 victory over Wisconsin Rapids.

Watts played two years at UW-La Crosse and later with the Harlem Globetrotters.

Roy Birk, 6-1, Waukesha (Class of 1961) Many legendary scorers have played in the state tournament, but no one Roy Birk, ever scored more points Waukesha, in one weekend than Birk.

Class of 1961 The Blackshirts’ offensive machine twice led the tournament in scoring, but the record 102 points he tallied as a senior in 1961 has

UW-La Crosse Archives

Joihnny Watts, Beloit, Class of 1934

stood for more than a half-century.

Birk, a forward, could score from anywhere on the floor. He was a deadly shooter with great range and the ability to create his own shot. Birk scored 69 points as a junior, when Waukesha went 2-1 to finish in third place (there were third-place and consolation games back then). He dropped 40 points on Shawano in an 88-86 victory in the 1961 quarterfinals, including the gamewinning shot from the corner with 4 seconds left, and then followed up with games of 26 and 36 as the Blackshirts again took third. Against Madison East in the thirdplace game, Birk scored 28 of his 36 points in the second half to break the tournament record of 89 held by West Allis Hale’s Sam Antcliffe.

Birk played freshman basketball at Bradley, but never saw playing time on the varsity.

Brian Butch, 6-11, Appleton West (Class of 2003) The tournament debut of the skilled center was impressive: 29 points and 15 rebounds in a loss to eventual champion Madison La Follette in 2002. But Butch stuck around a lot longer the following year, when he broke the single-game record by scoring 45 points in an 81-66 quarterfinal victory over Milwaukee Custer.

Butch scored 27 points in the first half

and, with 2:35 left, sank two free throws to tie the 45-yearold record of 44 points set by Shawano’s Marty Gharrity. The teams cleared their benches with 50 seconds left, but West coach Greg Hartjes, realizing Butch had tied State Journal archives Gharrity, put Brian Butch, Appleton him right back West, Class of 2003 in and Butch broke the record on a free throw with 1 second left. The decision angered Custer coach Marc Mitchell, though his game-long reliance on a man-to-man defense had more to do with Butch’s big day than anything else.

With Butch notching a tournament-best 94 points, West reached the final before falling to Milwaukee King. In four games over two years, Butch averaged 30.8 points and 12.3 rebounds while shooting 52.8 percent.

Butch was a three-year starter at UW and an all-Big Ten first-team pick as a senior.

He scored 1,115 points for the Badgers.

Kurt Nimphius, 6-9, South Milwaukee (Class of 1976) Despite being one of the first truly athletic big men in the state tournament, Nimphius never strayed far from the basket on either end. As a result, he dominated the 1976 Class A tournament like few players ever have, Kurt Nimphius, leading South Milwaukee to South three victories and a 25-0 Milwaukee, season.

Class of 1976 Nimphius scored 97 points, to this day the

second-highest total ever in the tournament, in victories over heavyweights Milwaukee Washington, Madison West and Eau Claire Memorial. He also led the tournament with 40 rebounds. The Rockets started four role players around Nimphius, making his 30-point, 11-rebound effort in their 45-43 victory over coach Dick Bennett’s Old Abes in the title game even more remarkable.

Nimphius hit a short jumper — his specialty — with 46 seconds left to break a 43-43 tie.

Nimphius played four years at Arizona State and was named All-Pac-10 as a senior.

He also played eight seasons in the NBA. Anthony Pieper, 6-3, Wausaukee (Class of 1993) The state’s all-time scoring leader struggled when Wausaukee came to the tournament in 1991, going 0-for-6 from 3-point range and scoring only 24 points in a 61-57 semifinal loss to Shullsburg. But if Pieper had the jitters as a sophomore, he had conquered them by the time he hit the big stage as a senior.

An athletic guard who could shoot from 3, drive to the basket or convert a dunk off a lob pass, Pieper Associated Press archives scored 84 points — 42 in each game — to Anthony Pieper, give Wausaukee the Wausaukee, Class of 1993 Division 4 title. 1993 He hit the gamewinning shot with 1.5 seconds left in a 65-63 win over Albany in a semifinal, then outdueled Cassville sophomore Sam Okey in the final as the Rangers prevailed by a 69-57 score. Wausaukee pulled away in the fourth quarter behind Pieper, who sank 15 of his 29 shots in the game.

Pieper was a four-year starter at Marquette, scoring 1,234 points.

Please see TOP 25, Page 10

• After a 1951 decision by the conferences, the Milwaukee City and Fox River Valley conferences accept the WIAA’s invitation and participate in the postseason tournament series for the first time.

1950 • Tiny St. Croix Falls strikes another blow for the little guy, beating Eau Claire 59-35 in the state final.

1951 • Athletes from Madison West’s runner-up team confer with coach Bob Harris during their 64-55 loss to Wisconsin Rapids in the title game.

1952

1953 • Menasha beats Sheboygan Central in the final; a new “one-and-one” bonus free throw rule leads to five scoring records.

1954 • Official scorer Jim Gunderson shows off the new striped jersey now required for courtside scorers.

10 • SUNDAY, MARCH 8, 2015

WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL

Top 25 Continued from Page 9

FOURTH TEAM Marty Gharrity, 6-2, Shawano (Class of 1958) Before Gharrity came along, most of the record-setting scorers in the tournament had been big men. A gifted shooter who could also score off the dribble, the Indians guard scored 18 points in 1956 and 50 in 1957 as Shawano won back-to-back state titles.

At the start of the 1958 state tournament, all eyes were on Shawano and its three-peat bid.

In the team’s first game under the glare of that spotlight, State Journal archives Gharrity exploded for 44 points State Journal archives Rick Olson, Madison La Follette, in a 90-81 quarterfinal victory Class of 1982 over Eau Claire, setting a record Marty Gharrity (No. 22), Shawano, Class of 1958 that stood for 45 years. He went totals, Stevens Point beat Beloit, Oshkosh 15-for-26 from the field and 14-for-16 from tournament history. and Superior Central to claim the title and Though he had made only six of his first the free throw line to break the record of erase two years of postseason heartache.

21 shots, Olson went 4-for-4 in the final 41 set two years earlier by Sam Antcliffe Known as a pure shooter, Litzow scored 3:15, scoring eight of the Lancers’ fi nal 12 of West Allis Hale. Gharrity had only 12 32 points in a 70-65, championship-game points. There were six lead changes in the points on 2-for-5 shooting as Shawano victory over Superior Central, tying the final 2:27, but the Lancers took the lead for was upended by Milwaukee North the tournament single-game record set by Eau good when Olson, surrounded by most of next night, but the team rebounded to take Claire’s Warren Hoff in 1946. The 83 points the Point team, dished off to Scott Hogan third place and Gharrity finished with a Litzow scored in three games surpassed the for a layup with 34 seconds left.

After nettournament-best 81 points. tournament record of 79 set by St. Croix ting 24 in the final, Olson led the tournaGharrity played one season at UW and Falls’ Paul Morrow in 1950. ment with 86 points. one season at Northern Michigan.

Litzow started three seasons for UW, Olson played four years at UW and left as Rick Olson, 6-1, twice leading the Badgers in scoring. the school’s No. 2 career scorer (he’s now Madison La Follette (Class of 1982) fifth).

Bob Anderegg, 6-3, Monroe By the midpoint of the fourth quarter (Class of 1955) Bob Litzow, 6-3, Stevens Point in the 1982 Class A final, the battle lines (Class of 1954) Rangy and rugged, Anderegg was nearly had been drawn: It was Olson, La Follette’s impossible to stop at state in 1954 and Stevens Point lost in the final when sharpshooting guard, against an undefeated 1955. The Cheesemakers went 0-2 when Litzow was a sophomore, but the Panthers Stevens Point team that was ranked No. 1 Anderegg was a junior and took third place finally reached the top during the hotin the state. Olson came out on top as the when he was a senior, but during a decade Lancers outlasted the Panthers 62-61 in one shooting forward’s senior season. With of scoring stars at the tournament, he took a Litzow putting up record-setting point of the great fourth-quarter shootouts in • Eau Claire tops Superior Central 81-71 for the school’s third state title.

1955

back seat to no one.

Anderegg scored 47 points in 1954 to rank sixth in the tournament. In 1955, he scored a tournament-record 86 points, eclipsing the 83 scored by Stevens Point’s Bob Litzow the year before.

He nabbed 46 rebounds to lead the tournament in that category, too. Anderegg’s 34-point eruption in a 59-57 loss to Superior Central in a semifinal broke the tournaBob ment record of 33 that had Anderegg, been set hours earlier by Wausau’s Bob Schmidlkofer. Monroe, Class of 1955 In five tournament games, he averaged 26.1 points.

Anderegg started three years at Michigan State and led the Spartans in scoring when they won the Big Ten title in 1959. He played one year in the NBA. Wayne Kreklow, 6-4, Neenah (Class of 1975) Neenah was synonymous with tournament heartbreak in the 1960s and 1970s.

But Kreklow, one of the finest all-around players in state history, put an end to that.

Kreklow had an accurate jump shot and was extremely quick and athletic, so much so that he even jumped center. He did everything for the Rockets and could have scored more points had he not been so team-oriented.

After scoring 23 points in Neenah’s quarterfinal loss in 1974, Kreklow led the 1975 tournament in scoring with 69 points, including 19 in a heartwarming 64-55 victory over Milwaukee Marshall in the Class A final. The Rockets had to sweat, though, enduring a power outage at the UW Field House and an ankle injury that Kreklow overcame before wrapping up the title.

Kreklow started four seasons at Drake and left as the Bulldogs’ third all-time leading scorer. He played one season in the NBA. Please see TOP 25, Page 11

• Madison East defeats Milwaukee North 62-59 in the championship game. Juniors Dale Hackbart (left) and Pat Richter lead.

1956

1957

1958

1959

• Shawano captures the first of two consecutive state titles after beating Appleton 66-61.

• Two veteran tournament officials, Archie Morrow and Dynie Mansfield, announce their retirement.

• Shawano junior Marty Gharrity scores a tournament single-game record 44 points in a 90-81 quarterfinal victory over Eau Claire.

• Coach Richard Wadewitz leads Milwaukee Lincoln to the first of what would be five titles in nine years.

WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL

SUNDAY, MARCH 8, 2015 • 11

Top 25 Continued from Page 10

FIFTH TEAM Ryan Tillema, 6-7, Randolph (Class of 2005) For three seasons, Tillema was overshadowed by Greg Stiemsma, his taller, more highly recruited teammate. Once Stiemsma left for UW, however, Tillema was the face of the fabled Randolph dynasty. He and three teammates became the only players to be on four WIAA state championship teams when he led Randolph to its unprecedented fourth consecutive Division 4 title in 2005.

Tillema made 15 of 18 shots (78.9 percent) at state as a sophomore and, even with Stiemsma playing alongside him during his junior year, had 20 points and 12 rebounds in the Blue Rockets’ 52-50 victory over Hilbert in the final. As a senior, Tillema led the tournament with 45 points and 29 rebounds while shooting 62.9 percent as Randolph went 2-0 again. In eight games at state, all victories, he averaged 15.9 points, 9.4 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game.

Tillema was a four-year starter at UWGreen Bay and led the Phoenix in scoring as a senior.

Sam Antcliffe, 6-4, West Allis Hale (Class of 1956) After record-setting performances by Stevens Point’s Bob Litzow in 1954 and Monroe’s Bob Anderegg in 1955, it was Antcliffe’s turn in 1956. Hale dropped a 79-77 decision to eventual state champion Shawano in a quarterfinal, but bounced back behind Antcliffe’s exploits to win the consolation trophy.

Antcliffe led the tournament with 91 points and 47 rebounds. His 91 points broke Anderegg’s record by five. Antcliffe also smashed the single-game tournament record when he netted 41 in Hale’s 83-64 victory over La Crosse Central in

CRAIG SCHREINER — State Journal archives

CRAIG SCHREINER — State Journal archives

Ryan Tillema, Randolph, Class of 2005

Wesley Matthews, Madison Memorial, Class of 2005

the consolation final, topping the mark of 39 set two days earlier by Central’s Gar Ammerman. Antcliffe’s 41 field goals in the tournament and 18 in one game established records that still stand.

Antcliffe began his collegiate career at UW and played two seasons at UW-Stevens Point.

running into Milwaukee King. A physical perimeter player, Matthews helped the Spartans take the final step in 2005 when they beat Milwaukee Vincent 63-55 for the Division 1 title.

Matthews led the 2005 tournament in scoring with 85 points, including 32 in a semifinal victory over Wisconsin Rapids. In the final against Vincent, Matthews led the way with 29 points and 10 rebounds. In six games at state, he averaged 21.8 points per game and shot 50.6 percent from the field.

Matthews started four seasons at Marquette and is now in his sixth NBA season, the last five with Portland.

Jay Schauer, 6-6, South Milwaukee (Class of 1954) Schauer was a sophomore when he led South Milwaukee to the 1952 state title.

He never got the Rockets back to Madison during his stellar prep career, but he left a significant mark while he was there.

A smooth operator for a big man, Schauer scored 55 points and grabbed 56 rebounds in three games, both tournament bests. His 56 rebounds set a record that still stands more than 60 years later. In South Milwaukee’s 61-54 victory over Stevens Point in the final, Schauer scored 15 points and snared 26 rebounds, the latter another record that has never been matched.

Schauer played one season at Marquette before giving up the sport to concentrate on his studies.

Wesley Matthews, 6-5, Madison Memorial (Class of 2005) In 2004, Matthews led Memorial to the state tournament for the first time in school history, and then scored 46 points as the Spartans reached the title game before

1960 • The state tournament is televised for the first time, using a Milwaukee crew. WMTV (Ch. 15) was one of the statewide affiliates. Not every affiliate carried every game.

1961 • Waukesha’s Roy Birk sets a record for points scored in the state tournament, pouring in 102 over three games.

Luke Fischer, 6-11, Germantown (Class of 2013) Germantown has won the past three Division 1 titles, but its 2012 and 2013 teams dominated opponents like few others in tournament history. The Warhawks’ only close game at state in those two years was a 72-69 victory over Milwaukee King in the 2012 final. Otherwise, they beat Madison Memorial by 38 in 2012, and Oshkosh North by 20 and Mukwonago by 29 in 2013.

The common denominator on those two teams was Fischer. Perfectly suited for Germantown’s up-tempo style because he could run the floor, Fischer had 19 points, five rebounds, two blocked shots and four steals in the narrow victory over King. In the semifinal victory over North in 2013, he had 32 points, 16 rebounds and six blocked shots. In two tournament games as a senior, he sank 22 of 29 shots (75.9 percent). Overall, he averaged 19.5 points, 8.5 rebounds and 2.5 blocks while shooting 70.8 percent in four games at state.

Fischer began his college career at Indiana, but transferred to Marquette, where he is now a sophomore starter.

HONORABLE MENTION Others who received consideration (with the year they graduated): Ernie Nevers, Superior (1920) Troy Rudoll, Sheboygan North (1986) Don Page, Madison West (1945) Kurt Portmann, Sheboygan North (1986) Dick Axness, Ashland (1946) Brian Garner, Milwaukee Washington (1987) Bob Wolff, Wauwatosa (1948) Dean Vander Plas, Oostburg (1987) Paul Morrow, St. Croix Falls (1950) Calvin Rayford, Milwaukee Washington (1991) Bob Sullivan, Manitowoc (1965) Brad Clark, Markesan (1996) John Schell, Cumberland (1965) Jose Winston, Milwaukee Vincent (1998) John Rushing, Milwaukee Lincoln (1966) Greg Brown, Milwaukee Vincent (2002) Lamont Weaver, Beloit Memorial (1970) Jon Krull, Marshall (2003) Rich Reitzner, Appleton West (1971) DuPree Fletcher, Milwaukee King (2004) Bill Hanzlik, Beloit Memorial (1976) Vander Blue, Madison Memorial (2010) Mike Jirschele, Clintonville (1977) Bronson Koenig, La Crosse Aquinas (2013) Robert Berryhill, Racine Horlick (1986) Matt Thomas, Onalaska (2013)

1962 • Milwaukee Lincoln beats Eau Claire, 9380, for a second straight title.

1963

1964 • Small-school darlings Dodgeville rolls past Milwaukee North Division 59-45 to win the state title after falling to Manitowoc in the 1963 championship game.

12 • SUNDAY, MARCH 8, 2015

WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL

WAUSAUKEE’S SCORING MACHINE Anthony Pieper’s state-record total of 3,391 points still stands — and the lessons learned playing basketball for the Rangers still serve him today DENNIS SEMRAU dsemrau@madison.com, 608-252-6490

Anthony Pieper doesn’t have too many connections with basketball these days.

Still, the former Wausaukee High School and Marquette University star did return to his home state 18 months ago, when he was inducted into the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

Every year, around this time, fans take a look at the state record listings and wonder whether anyone will ever break Pieper’s state career scoring mark of 3,391 points, set during his four-year prep career (19891993) at Wausaukee.

“It’s going to be hard to do. But if someone does, I’ll shake his hand,” Pieper said of the possibility of his record being surpassed.

When it comes to individual marks, Pieper’s career scoring mark remains one of the elite accomplishments in state high school sports history.

Pieper burst onto the scene as a freshman with 488 points, and then scored 808 as a sophomore before topping the 1,000-point mark each of his last two years as the leading scorer in the Rangers’ up-tempo, push-itto-the-limit offense.

He played in 103 of his team’s 108 games over four seasons, averaging 32.9 points per game. Wausaukee advanced to at least the

sectional final each season, giving Pieper several additional games to run up his score.

“To be honest, you will have to do something special to knock that one off,” said Pieper, who also had a successful collegiate career at Marquette and was inducted into the WBCA Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. He now lives in Houston.

“You’d have to play quite a few games, and I only missed five. We went to state and lost once and we won it all once. I went to the sectional finals the other two times. Think of all the extra points I got in those games.

It’s going to be tough. You’ve got to get over 30 per game for four years.”

Pieper obliterated the previous mark of 2,724 set by Mickey Crowe in 1975, soaring past the St. Nazianz JFK Prep legend in the middle of his senior year.

To break Pieper’s record, a player would have to average 848 points per year in a four-year high school career.

Pieper also owns the two highest scoring seasons in history: 1,063 points (38.4 points per game) in 1992-1993, when he led the Rangers to a 69-57 victory over Sam Okey and Cassville in the WIAA Division 4 title game; and 1,032 points in 1991-1992, when Wausaukee was stopped in the sectional Please see PIEPER, Page 13

Associated Press archives

Wausaukee’s Mike Cavanaugh (24), Anthony Pieper and Corey Biernasz (20) celebrate their 69-57 victory over Cassville to become the 1993 WIAA Division 4 state champions.

Lincoln’s Clarence Sherrod, left, and coach Jim Smallins.

1965 • Led by 29 points from Bob Buchholtz and 19 from Tom Mitchell (above), Monroe beats Eau Claire Memorial 74-71 to cap a 26-0 season.

1966

1967

• Coach Jim Smallins leads Milwaukee Lincoln to backto-back titles behind “Downtown” Fred Brown and Clarence Sherrod, ending a run of five titles in nine years. The 1966-1967 team entered state averaging 101.7 points per game and set five tournament scoring records en route to a second consecutive 25-1 season.

1968

1969

• Led by 6-7 Pete Hansen and 6-4 Tom Haag, Manitowoc completes a 26-0 season with a 63-51 victory over Beloit Memorial.

• Beloit Memorial’s LaMont Weaver (25) sinks “The Shot Heard ’Round the State” to force overtime in the final; Beloit beat Neenah in two overtimes, 80-79.

WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL

SUNDAY, MARCH 8, 2015 • 13

Pieper

However as another March Madness approaches, winning Wausaukee’s only state championship remains Pieper’s most memorable moment. The gold ball helped atone for a disappointing state tournament debut two years earlier, when Pieper scored 24 points but fouled out and drew a technical foul in the final minute of a 61-57 semifinal loss to Shullsburg.

Two years later, he was walking off the court a winner with his father Gene, the Rangers’ coach.

“No doubt about it, as I’m walking off the court I was able to give my dad a little hug.

That was pretty awesome,” Pieper said. “It was his first and only state championship.

“As a sophomore, I kind of laid an egg (at state). Thank goodness we were able to go back there.”

Continued from Page 12

finals despite a 53-point effort by Pieper.

He scored a career-high 59 points in the regional championship game as a senior, when he averaged 6.9 assists and shot 52 percent from the field and 78.7 percent from the free throw line.

Wausaukee back on top These days, though, Pieper is more enthusiastic about the current success of his old high school team. Wausaukee went 20-2 over the regular season, won the Marinette & Oconto Conference with a 16-0 mark and was ranked No. 1 in the final regular-season Associated Press state poll for Division 5 teams.

The Rangers are coached by John Ranallo, a teammate of Pieper’s on the Rangers’ 1993 state title team.

“He’s doing a fantastic job,” Pieper said.

“The guys are playing well and I’m excited for them.”

Ranallo recalled in a phone conversation what it was like to play with Pieper, who was not only a teammate and classmate but also a close friend.

“I’m always telling my players I’ve been around basketball my whole life. I’ve never seen anyone with the drive or the discipline or just the self-motivation that Anthony Pieper had,” said Ranallo, who is in his third season as Wausaukee’s coach.

“Yeah, he scored around 40 points a game, and people today might think he just shot a lot. But he put the time and the effort in and he was an option. How can you not go to a guy who could score like that? And he could dribble faster than most people could run.

“He was a freak of nature, no doubt. But his self-motivation and determination were far beyond more than any physical attribute he ever had. He was a special player and I have not seen another one since.”

Pieper said he occasionally reminisces

Petitgoue: ‘Best shooter ever’

Associated Press

Wausaukee High School product Anthony Pieper reacts after hitting a basket in the second half for Marquette University against St. Bonaventure in a 1995 National Invitation Tournament game in Milwaukee. Pieper led Marquette with 24 points in a 70-61 victory.

about his prep playing days when he gets together with family in the Houston area.

“I have a 12-year-old cousin who had never seen me play,” he said. “I went on YouTube and found the semifinal game against Albany from my senior year and put it on and let him take a look at it. He got a kick out of it, and it brought back some fond memories from that time.

“But I’d rather have seen the game when we beat Sam Okey for the championship.”

Pieper’s post-basketball career as a sales and marketing executive has taken him to Indianapolis and St. Petersburg, Florida. He recently moved to Houston to take a position as a corporate development manager for On-Site Towing.

Although he scored most of his points in transition, Pieper wasn’t afraid to take the ball the ball to the basket. He eventually also earned a reputation as a stellar 3-point shooter during his collegiate career.

“He was the best shooter I ever saw,” said Cuba City coach Jerry Petitgoue, the state’s winningest coach and executive director of the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association.

Pieper scored 42 points in back-toback 1993 state tournament games — the 84-point total remains a state tournament record for two games — to secure the title.

Yet he lamented his performance in a 65-63 victory over Albany in the semifinals.

“The first game was actually my worst of the season. I scored 42, but I took (36) shots,” he recalled. “The only thing I did good in that game was that it was a tie game with about a minute left and we held the ball for the entire minute and I made the last-second shot.

“I was awful. I couldn’t have been any worse that game.”

But Pieper said he came out on fire two days later, sinking four of his first five shots against Cassville in the final.

“I remember thinking, ‘Finally, the lid is removed from the hoop.’ So I played much better,” he said, sinking 15 of 29 field goal attempts and 10 of 11 from the line.

“If you look at that game, we had to play a hell of a game to beat them. We really did, because we were so much smaller than they were. We just didn’t have anyone who could guard Sam (Okey). I couldn’t guard him because I was going to get three offensive fouls every game.”

Memorable matchup Ranallo said it was a great matchup that was fun to witness firsthand on the court.

“Okey was a handful. Thank God we ran into him as a sophomore,” Ranallo said.

“He was definitely one of the better players Wisconsin has ever seen. But with the kind of talent we had at Wausaukee at the time, we weren’t intimidated. We played against Anthony all the time in open gyms and in practice.”

Pieper said when Scott Clarke, the team’s second-leading scorer, suffered a seasonending injury the week before state, few people outside of the team’s inner circle believed they could still accomplish their goal.

“I’m sure a lot of people had doubts, but I know how confident I was and how confident my teammates were,” Pieper said. “I’m sure a lot of people were sweating it.”

Ranallo said the players knew they were in trouble, but the team had its goals set before the season and were determined not to let an injury derail their state title hopes.

“We wanted the gold ball and weren’t going to let that stop us,” Ranallo said.

“Obviously, with Anthony, anything was possible anyway. But as a group, we pulled together and it all worked out.”

Pieper maintains the life lessons he and his teammates learned have served them well in their adult lives.

“You take all the athletics I played in my life, they are so beneficial to me now,” he said. “Playing basketball wasn’t a right. It was a privilege.”

• WKOW-TV (Ch. 27) in Madison takes over production duties for the WIAA’s statewide television network.

1970 • A year after losing to Beloit Memorial in double overtime, Neenah falls again on a final shot — this time a jumper by Appleton West’s Scott Hanson.

• Superior upsets Milwaukee Lincoln (7467, OT) in Lincoln’s final state visit.

1971

1972

1973

1974

• Bob Luchsinger scores 25 points to lead underdog Janesville Parker past Milwaukee King 79-68.

• The WIAA expands the state tournament field to two divisions for the first time since 1940. Bloomington wins the Class B title.

• McFarland coach Sam Mills orders a stall with a 13-point fourth-quarter lead and sweats out a 51-49 victory over Luck in the 1973 Class B final, its first of two straight titles.

•The WIAA adds a third enrollment-based division and eliminates consolation games from the state tournament.

14 • SUNDAY, MARCH 8, 2015

WISCONSIN STA

WIAA basketbal GETTING TO THE KOHL CENTER DETAIL First balcony

Street level

Gate C 312

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SPECIAL EVENTS

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See players from across the state participate in the inaugural 3-Point Challenge. For more information, visit: www.wissports.net/ wiaa-boys-3point-challenge.

SPECIAL ICE CREAM FLAVOR Babcock Dairy has mixed up a special batch of ice cream to commemorate the 100th WIAA state basketball tournament. The special flavor, “Alley Oop Scoop,” will be available at the Kohl Center.

325 326

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Kohl Center

Pedestrian underpass

94 Rail

29

road

Regent St.

UW

Gate B

Gate A

Dayton Street To mark the milestone event that is the 100th WIAA state boys basketball tournament, many new attractions will be presented at the Kohl Center. Among the many activities:

3-POINT CHALLENGE

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Camp Randall

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Johnson St.

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Univ

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State St.

TIPOFF EVENT On Thursday, a pregame tipoff event will open the tournament weekend, and a ticket to the first session will include entry to the festivities. Doors will open at 11 a.m. for a reception that will include a walking tour of the special commemorative displays in the Kohl Center concourse that highlight events of the tourney’s first 99 years. Other WIAA fans and former athletes will be on hand.

At noon, a 30-minute video, “Celebrating the Game,” will be shown on the Kohl Center’s big screen.

MORE DETAILS ONLINE For more information on the tournament — including hotel specials, dining and shopping options and maps with transit options and driving directions — visit http://WIAA100.com.

City of Madison ramp (Hourly) $8 parking Accessible parking (limited availability) Bus parking Parking near the Kohl Center will be limited on Thursday and Friday before 5 p.m. After 5 p.m. on weekdays and Saturday, parking will be sold in the lots surrounding the Kohl Center on a first-come, first-served basis.

CAMPUS PARKING OPTIONS Several University of Wisconsin lots have been designated for WIAA fans (see the accompanying map).

purchased on a first-come, first-served b Lots 48 and 87.

CITY PARKING OPTIONS

Cost: The fee will be $8 per session. Cash only; pay on entry.

Two city parking ramps within walking di of the Kohl Center will be available durin tournament for $4. Cash only; pay on ent

Availability: Parking on campus is extremely limited before 5 p.m. on Thursday and Friday. During these times, it is highly recommended to arrive early or take the shuttle from the Alliant Energy Center.

Special needs: Disabled parking spaces may be

These lots include the State Street Camp Garage and the State Street Capitol Gara For a map of City of Madison lots, visit visitdowntownmadison.com/uploads/me Parking_Map.pdf

ATE JOURNAL

SUNDAY, MARCH 8, 2015 • 15

ll fan guide TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE THURSDAY, MARCH 19

Capitol

adison

Kohl Center Av e.

W. W as

m

Division 4 semifinals: 6:35 and 8:15 p.m.

.

St

FRIDAY, MARCH 20 SESSION THREE

.

St

Division 3 semifinals: 9:05 a.m. and 10:45 a.m.

Lake Monona

Division 2 semifinals: 1:35 and 3:15 p.m.

SESSION FIVE

Monona Bay

Division 1 semifinals: 6:35 and 8:15 p.m.

er. noDl oleN n hNn JohJo

SATURDAY, MARCH 21

r.

nD Olin-Turville Park

istance ng the try.

151

RIDE THE SHUTTLE To enjoy a worry-free trip downtown, fans can utilize the convenient option of the shuttle service between the Alliant Energy Center to the Kohl Center.

HOURS: 10:30 a.m. Thursday, 6:30 a.m. Friday and 8 a.m. Saturday.

COST: $5 per person round trip or $3 per person one-way.

FREQUENCY: A shuttle will run every 20 minutes until one hour after the

Rimr ock Rd.

Park St.

Fish Hatchery Rd.

basis in

Shuttle stop will be along Fairgrounds Drive across from Pavilion 2.

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SESSION SEVEN Division 2 and 1 championship games: 6:35 p.m., 8:30 p.m.

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SESSION SIX Division 5, 4 and 3 championship games: 11:05 a.m., 1 p.m., 3 p.m.

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edia/

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Monona Terrace

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on

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P Public parking

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SESSION ONE

hi ng t

t or ramp

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Street level

(Game times approximate)

Park St.

versity Ave.

KOHL CENTER SEATING

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TICKETS, CARRY-IN POLICY e ltlin

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18

Be

end of the day’s final game.

PICKUP, DROPOFF POINTS: On Fairgrounds Drive directly across from Pavilion 2 at the Alliant Energy Center (follow the signage); and on Dayton Street in front of the Kohl Center.

PARKING: Parking at Alliant Energy Center is $6.50 per vehicle.

SPECIAL NEEDS: The shuttles are wheelchair accessible. For any special needs, call Laura at Kobussen Buses at 608-825-8700, ext. 502.

TICKETS

CARRY-INS

Advance tickets may be purchased online at www.wiaawi.org/tickets. The cost is $12 for one session or $84 for all seven sessions, not including processing and handling fees.

Note: All items and spectators are subject to search.

Storage facilities are not available for checking prohibited items.

Admission is free for children younger than 2 years of age.

For those needing accessible seating, purchase a regular ticket and exchange it at the Welcome Desk inside the Gate B turnstiles at the Kohl Center.

Remaining tickets may be purchased at the gate for $10 per session.

Items permitted: Bags no larger than 8.5 x 11 inches, binoculars, cameras with lenses no larger than 100mm, banners, flags, signs, items related to a medical condition, chairbacks not more than 18 inches wide, and diaper bags (with child).

Among the prohibited items: Bags larger than 8.5 x 11 inches (including backpacks), food, beverages, containers, strollers, baby carrier seats, laser pointers, noisemakers, weapons, inflatables, laptops, video recorders, cameras with lenses greater than 100mm, or any items deemed dangerous or inappropriate.

16 • Sunday, March 8, 2015

ON THE AIR

WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL

Television played a large role in the state tournament’s growth and popularity

JAY WILSON WISC-TV Sports Director

Jay Wilson bio

W

‌ en the first state high school bash ketball tournament was played in Appleton in 1916, it didn’t get a lot of attention in the media.‌ Now, almost a century later, the tournament has secured its place as “Mustsee TV” every March around the state of Wisconsin.

The state basketball tournament first was televised in 1960. It found its current, long-term home on WKOW-TV in Madison (Ch. 27) in 1968.

So why have the tournaments become so popular on television? Well, there are a lot of reasons.

For more than 40 years, the tournaments have been carried by a statewide network including stations in Madison, Wausau, La Crosse, Eau Claire, Duluth/Superior, Milwaukee and Green Bay — bringing the ability to watch the telecasts to virtually every corner of the state.

The number of households in that network would be comparable to the population of Atlanta, Ga. — the ninth-largest television market in the country.‌ In the early 1980s, the WIAA and its thenbroadcast partner, Shockley Communications, agreed to televise every game of the boys and girls state basketball tournaments.

That made Wisconsin the only state in the nation to boast free, over-the-air coverage of every game of its state tournaments.‌ That start-to-finish coverage brought exposure for more schools and more Wisconsin communities. And, because of that, more viewers — because once people watched, they became hooked.

The broadcasts provide a great opportunity for viewers, but a tremendous responsibility for the production crew in charge of televising 30 basketball games (boys and girls) over a stretch of 10 days.

When ESPN or the Big Ten Network come to Madison for a Badgers telecast, it’s one game and out. On the WIAA Television Network, when you finish the first game on Thursday, you have 14 more to go over the next three days.

Fortunately, the people in charge of the telecasts always have demanded quality in the quantity — and that’s why the games have looked like ESPN productions‌.

Former WIAA executive director Doug Chickering and the telecast’s executive pro-

Madison television sports icon Jay Wilson is sports director at WISC-TV, Channel 3 and a correspondent for the Big Ten Network.

Wilson is a native of Vesper who attended Wisconsin Rapids Assumption High School and the University of Wisconsin.

Previously, Jay covered 25 years of WIAA state basketball tournaments for WKOW-TV (Channel 27) and the statewide WIAA Television Network — between the years of 1982-2007 — as the lead play-by-play announcer, host and telecast producer.

Jay started at WKOW in 1980, worked at WISN-TV (Channel 12) in Milwaukee from 1984-1987, returned to WKOW from 1987-2008 and joined WISC and BTN in 2008.

State Journal archives

Jay Wilson of the state boys basketball television network interviews WIAA executive director Doug Chickering.

ducer, Laurin Jorstad, worked hand in hand for years to form a partnership‌.

I was involved in the state basketball telecasts for 30 years as an announcer and a producer, and I still marvel at how many people watched.

I was based in Madison, so I was seen in places such as Wausau and La Crosse only once a year — when the tournaments were televised. Because of that, as I traveled through the state, someone in a town far from Madison would look, point and say “Hey, you’re the guy on the basketball

tournament” — even though they saw me on their local television station for no more than six days during the year.

I had the honor to work with some of the greatest names in state history in our broadcasts. Our analysts included Hall of Fame coaches such as Eli Crogan, Carl Bruggink and Jerry Petitgoue. Our longtime statistician, the late Don Kerr, was my righthand man (he literally sat to my right for three decades). He was a genius in finding meaningful statistics and helping to create informative graphics.‌

Our crew of engineers, camera operators and other staff worked many professional sports telecasts in Milwaukee and Chicago, even NFL games and the Olympics, providing the highest level of television production.‌ But the most important factors in the popularity of the WIAA state basketball tournament are “the moments.”‌ Perhaps the state tournament’s first televised magical moment came in 1969, when Beloit Memorial’s LaMont Weaver hit a halfcourt shot (before the 3-point rule) to force overtime and his Purple Knights eventually won a state championship against powerhouse Neenah at the UW Field House before a statewide television audience.‌ And, of course, new memories are waiting to be created with the next year’s telecasts.‌ Some people watch the tournaments religiously every year. Some will have a renewed interest if their high school is playing. Some will be drawn in by a team that hasn’t played at state for a long time. Whatever the reason, they realize the state basketball tournament is, at its core, a celebration of young people working together to achieve a common goal.

And that often makes for high drama on a big stage.

Every team has its own unique journey to state, its own story — a story that will be told again and again in their hometowns for decades to come.

And that’s why every March, it’s “Mustsee TV.”‌

on 100 years of Sporting Excellence And good luck to all our Wisconsin Youth during this years tournaments We’re proud to be serving you in:

Green Bay, De Pere, Suamico, Appleton, Neenah, Oshkosh, Fond du Lac, Manitowoc, Sheyboygan, Marshfield, Eau Claire, Holmen, Onalaska, La Crosse, Kenosha, Fort Atkinson, Racine We are an employee-owned, community-involved Wisconsin supermarket company • festfoods.com

and coming soon to Madison.

18 • SUNDAY, MARCH 8, 2015

WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL

Teaching history, making history In 48 years of coaching, Cuba City’s Jerry Petitgoue has built community, character and champions ... and a record of success that will be difficult to catch JERRY PETITGOUE as told to Dennis Semrau

I Wisconsin’s winningest coaches The 10 winningest coaches in the history of Wisconsin high school boys basketball, according to the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association. Won-lost totals are through the end of the 2014-15 regular season (* = active coaches).

Coach Years School(s) W-L 1. Jerry Petitgoue* 48 Cuba City/Gratiot 880-215 2. Bob Letsch* 36 Racine St. Catherine’s 651-234 3. Tim Anderson 40 Auburndale 607-280 4. Tom Desotell* 38 Sheboygan North 621-237 5. Harold Mulhern 39 Osseo-Fairchild/ 559-314 Chip. Falls McDonell/Durand 6. Ron Einerson 37 Cashton/Plymouth/Neenah 556-235 7. Frank Schade* 39 Oshkosh North/Plymouth 565-308 8. Carl Bruggink 41 Clintonville 549-368 9. Fred Kestly 38 Pulaski 543-269 10. Jon Murphy 28 Seymour 543-145 M.P. KING — State Journal

taught “American History and Social Problems” and “Wisconsin History” for decades, and I loved it more than I loved coaching. I got a chance to perform every day and I loved that.

Who would have guessed when I started that I’d be part of a basketball program that has made Wisconsin history of its own?

I can tell you the game has changed a great deal over the decades — and the boys basketball tournament has changed a great deal, too.

But the biggest state tournament memory for me happened when we won the first state tournament game played at the Kohl Center in 1998, just after it opened.

It was on a Thursday morning, and we beat Amherst 73-61. That was a big deal for Cuba City and our fans. Then, of course, we came back on Saturday and won the state championship 75-67 over Phillips.

Now, I know it’s always about what happens between the lines. But when you’ve got a chance to play in one of the finest basketball arenas in America in the Kohl Center, throw the nostalgia out the window. I love the Field House, too, but I love the Kohl Center more.

But I grew up an Illinois boy, so my first Wisconsin state tournament would have been 1964, with coach Weenie Wilson and Dodgeville beating Milwaukee North with the 1-3-1 defense at the Field House.

Cuba City boys basketball coach Jerry Petitgoue gives instructions to his team during the first half of a home game against Mineral Point on Feb. 6.

Please see PETITGOUE, Page 19

• Mark Lofthus and Colfax beat future Chicago Bears Super Bowl champ Mark Bortz and

1975

1976

1977

1978

1979

• After heartbreaking losses in five of the past six years, coach Ron Einerson and Neenah finally win Class A behind star Wayne Kreklow.

• Future NBA center Kurt Nimphius leads South Milwaukee past Eau Claire Memorial (and future UW coach Dick Bennett), 45-43.

• Playing the underdog role, Marathon captures a record-tying third straight Class C title with a 53-52 overtime win over Oostburg.

Pardeeville 75-61 in the Class C championship game.

• Fred Suchy and Elkhorn have a 6-12 regular season, but win seven WIAA games to repeat in Class B — at 13-12.

WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL

SUNDAY, MARCH 8, 2015 • 19

Petitgoue Continued from Page 18

And the next year, 1965, I thought the southern part of the state owned the state tournament because Monroe beat Eau Claire Memorial.

From my point of view, because I’m a coach, I remember the coaches more than the players. I remember in 1965, because we were less than 25 miles from Monroe, I watched Monroe play at least seven games. I got to know (coach) Lee Mitchell a little bit.

When LaMont Weaver hit his shot in 1969, I felt so sorry for Neenah coach Ron Einerson because he was my hero. LaMont made that shot and Beloit won in overtime.

Once we got to the 1990s, there was Sam Okey and Cassville. Dennis Uppena was the head coach, and that was a tremendous stretch for them.

I remember a lot of the old-time coaches who coached there such as Bernie Barkin from Beloit, who was there a lot, and like I said, Ron Einerson, and Bob Haffele of Randolph. God, 10 state titles is just amazing!

But my favorite memories have been taking my teams to state and the three titles that we won in 1981, 1991 and 1998. We went to state in 1981, 1983, 1989, 1991, 1998, 2005, 2012 and 2013.

What a thrill it was in 1981 when we won the state championship against Ladysmith (52-47). At that time there were three divisions, A, B and C, and we won Class B. We had to play Shorewood the first night and we beat them (61-44). The next day, we played Ladysmith in the championship and I remember we were up by one with less than a minute to go when my point guard, Jeff Shaffer, went to the line.

My assistant, Stu Fraundorf, said, “Coach, do you realize Jeff has made 11 free throws in a row?” What a kiss of death! But Jeff rattled the first one in and swished the second, and

M.P. KING — State Journal

Jerry Petitgoue has an alumnus coach award named after him at the University of Dubuque, where he went to school. It was established in 2012.

we won the state championship.

That one was really, really sweet. Because if you never won another one, you at least won one championship.

Everyone was on Cloud Nine. I remember the fire truck parade through town. We ended the parade at the gym for a pep rally and we had over 1,000 people in the gym

waiting for us. It was special because it brought the whole town together. It makes me very proud because, as I look back on it, 30-plus years later all those kids that were on that team have had successful careers.

That’s what makes me the most proud.

Everybody knows everybody, so you know that kid on the basketball team and if they

are fortunate to get to state, it’s something really special for a small town. It is a source of pride for your community and it’s still special for our players, to have been part of a state championship.

My 1983 team, I remember we beat Please see PETITGOUE, Page 20

• Joe Wolf, voted the best prep player in state history, leads Kohler past

1980 • Milwaukee North beats

Janesville Craig, 65-63, in the Class A final as part of a run of six finals victories in seven years for Milwaukee schools (1979 to 1985).

1981 • Coach Ray Rozek and

Milwaukee Madison beat Wausau West 77-60 but later vacate the title for using an ineligible player. There is no official ’81 Class A champ.

1982 • Madison La Follette edges Stevens Point 62-61 in the final. The Lancers’ Rick Olson and Panthers’ Jay Laszewski went on to play at UW.

1983 Fall Creek 70-57 for its third Class C title in four years.

1984 • For the only time in the

three-class era (17 years), each state champ goes unbeaten: Milwaukee King (24-0), Wilmot (25-0) and Fall Creek (26-0).

20 • SUNDAY, MARCH 8, 2015

WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL

Petitgoue

Jerry Petitgoue’s state success at Cuba City

Continued from Page 19

Viroqua in the sectional final and that was a great win. Then we go to the state and all four teams were undefeated. How about that?

It was at a time when Tim Blair was playing for Mayville and his dad was the coach.

We got beat by Valders in the Class B semifinals. Valders had that run of three in a row where they didn’t win it, but they finished second.

In 1989, I had Brad Timmerman go to state and we lost to Clintonville in the semifinals.

In 1991, we were able to beat Phillips for the Division 3 title; in 1998, we beat Phillips again for the Division 3 championship.

The 2005 tournament started the run of Dominican and we lost to Dominican. In 2012, we played the state championship game and lost to Dominican. In 2012 and ’13, those teams were special for me because they were undefeated seasons, back-toback undefeated regular seasons. That’s hard to do. I was really pleased.

I’ve also been fortunate to be a part of the television broadcasts when I wasn’t coaching at state. There really are no losers here. It doesn’t matter if you got beat, you made the state. That’s special.

Change brings opportunity I think the class system (enrollmentbased divisions) has been outstanding. Once in a while, someone says to me “Well, there’s no Reedsville and there’s no Dodgeville.”

Well, yeah, Reedsville and Dodgeville come along once in a lifetime. When you win a state championship, you never say it was in Class C or Class D or was Division 4 or Division 5. You’re a state champ.

I wasn’t in the Field House for the Weaver shot, but I did see it on TV. I’ve seen it on video so many times. I felt sorry for (Neenah coach) Ron Einerson because he was my hero. To this day, I think he was the best high

• Executive Director John Roberts says the WIAA will consider relocating

1985 the state tournament to the planned new arena in Milwaukee.

M.P. KING — State Journal

Cuba City coach Jerry Petitgoue runs a few different offenses, including the stack and the swing.

Another is the “Dribble Drive Motion,” because it often gets his players to the free throw line.

school basketball coach to ever come out of Wisconsin.

What I remember about the state tournament is that buzz — that buzz that happens at the state tournament. Peoples’ steps are a little bit livelier.

We always have a Cinderella team in there and you’re always thinking, “Gee, what a matchup tonight. We’ve got this team playing that team, and they’ve got this player who is going to Wisconsin and they’ve got this player going to Marquette.” Those are the things I remember more about the state tournament than anything else.

Also, I enjoy the camaraderie: “Gee, I haven’t seen this coach in a year. Last year at the state tournament I saw him.” You get a chance to see the newspaper people — State Journal columnist Tom Oates always gives me his opinion.

People like (the late) Don Kerr, Jay Wilson, Doug Chickering of the WIAA and

• Sheboygan North (with future UW star Kurt Portmann) beats Appleton East, 47-38.

1986 • The WIAA allows teams

to play 20 regular-season games, up from 18.

• Trevor Powell and Marc Mitchell celebrate Milwaukee Washington’s 44-41, double-overtime victory over Fond du Lac.

1987 • The threepoint line is introduced.

Deb Hauser of the WIAA right now, these are people who really put the heart and soul into the state tournament, making it special.

And it is special. You can take a great deal of pride that Wisconsin is the only state to have TV broadcasts of every game at state, boys and girls. From sunrise to sunset, it’s there and they do it right. It’s a great event.

It’s part of Wisconsin culture.

It’s nice to see scorekeepers at the Kohl Center. Otto Puls has been there forever and Jon Reneau, who used to referee for me, and (the late) Gordie Bass and Fred Kinney. You always see Dave Kelliher around. I remember Don Lindstrom and Milt Diehl.

As far as players, I remember John Schell of Cumberland. He captured a lot of hearts at the state tournament.

Obviously, the best player I ever saw at the state tournament was Sam Okey. He was No. 1 and Joe Wolf from Kohler, what a good big man he was.

Cuba City has a 7-4 record in seven WIAA state tournament appearances under coach Jerry Petitgoue: 1981 (Class B champion) Semifinal: Cuba City 61, Shorewood 44 Championship: Cuba City 52, Ladysmith 47 1989 (Class B) Semifinal: Clintonville 63, Cuba City 57 1991 (Division 3 champion) Semifinal: Cuba City 36, Auburndale 35 Championship: Cuba City 50, Phillips 48 1998 (Division 3 champion) Semifinal: Cuba City 73, Amherst 61 Championship: Cuba City 75, Phillips 67 2005 (Division 3) Semifinal: Whitefish Bay Dominican 59, Cuba City 56 2012 (Division 4 runner-up) Semifinal: Cuba City 72, Oshkosh Lourdes 27 Championship: Whitefish Bay Dominican 61, Cuba City 43 2013 (Division 4) Semifinal: Whitefish Bay Dominican 55, Cuba City 47

I’ve always liked those scorers. When Anthony Pieper came in, they were saying he scored over 2,000 points. I remember saying, “I want to see him play.”

Ricky Olson of Madison La Follette and Bob Falk from Madison West were outstanding players. There were so many good ones. Every year brings someone else to the forefront.

There have been a lot of great teams, but the Milwaukee Lincoln teams were tremendous. When you have Clarence Sherrod and Fred Brown on the same team, wow! It was something special.

It’s all been good; it’s all been positive with the state tournament.

• Green Bay Preble’s Tony Bennett, the son of thenUW-Green Bay coach Dick Bennett, works against Stevens Point’s

1988 Ben Johnson during a 45-39 quarterfinal loss. Bennett now is head coach at Virginia.

• Coach Bob Wolfe’s Florence team becomes the first squad to finish 27-0 after winning the Class C title, 60-54 over Glenwood City.

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WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL

DENNIS SEMRAU dsemrau@madison.com, 608-252-6490

O

nce Sam Okey fell in love with the game of basketball as a secondgrader in the blue-collar, southwestern Wisconsin town of Cassville, he couldn’t get enough of it — winter, spring, summer and fall.

In time, Okey blossomed into a statewide legend, arguably one of the greatest high school basketball players Wisconsin has ever produced. He still ranks fifth on the state’s all-time career scoring list with 2,539 points.

In September, he will be inducted into the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame as a player — in his first year of eligibility — in a ceremony in Wisconsin Dells.

When WBCA executive director Jerry Petitgoue delivered the good news during a recent telephone conversation, Okey said it brought back a flood of wonderful memories.

“It got me thinking about all of the people I got to meet during my career, all of the people who helped me out and all of the places I got to go and the experiences I got to have through basketball,” said Okey, who now lives in Schofield, near Wausau. “Being from a small town like Cassville, I probably never would have gotten to do those things, especially at such a young age.”

While dreams of an NBA career never materialized, Okey said he has no regrets.

“I definitely have great memories, like winning every game we played the last two years in high school. You got everybody’s best shot. Everybody wanted to knock you off. I’m pretty proud of that accomplishment.”

As the WIAA celebrates the 100th annual state boys basketball tournament in March, Okey’s dominance in the 1990s will surely be celebrated.

He led Cassville to a 54-game winning streak and back-to-back WIAA Division 4 state titles in 1994 and 1995.

He finished his prep career with a pair of state tournament performances that, nearly

Fond flashback

DAN CURRIER

two decades later, remain legendary: • In a 78-64 semifinal victory over Prentice in 1995, Okey achieved a tripledouble in points, rebounds and blocked shots — with a minute left before halftime.

He amassed 19 points, 11 rebounds and 10 blocked shots while leading Cassville to a 40-22 lead at the break. Okey finished with 30 points, 23 rebounds, 12 blocks and seven assists.

“That was crazy, but looking back, it was pretty cool,” Okey said.

• Two days later, Okey helped the Comets repeat as champions when he capped his career with a game-high 33 points and 19 rebounds in a 56-43 victory over Oakfield.

Okey said the man who had the most influence on his career was his father, Louis, who is now retired and living near Rice Lake with Sam’s mother, Amy. “He’ll still tell you he has a better shot than me,” Okey chuckled. “I had a lot of great coaches along the way. I played AAU for coach (Jerry) Petitgoue when I was 11 to 13 years old and he was coaching for Cuba City. In the summertime, I had (Wisconsin coach) Bo Ryan as a mentor from when I was in fifth grade on, when he was coaching in Platteville.

“At Cassville, I had coach (Dennis) Uppena, who was a great influence on my life, not just as a basketball player. And then all of my coaches in college, like Dick Bennett at Wisconsin and Tom Davis when I was at Iowa. I had a lot of southwestern Wisconsin ties, but it all started with my dad.”

Okey said he also treasurers the memories of playing with his Cassville teammates.

“The best part was just playing with the guys. We really had a group of about seven who were about a year apart in age. I never played on any team with a group of guys where we knew where each other (would

Cassville’s Sam Okey drives past Oakfield’s Jason Collien in the first half of the 1995 WIAA Division 4 final. Cassville won 55-43. Okey had 33 points and 19 rebounds in the game.

Please see OKEY, Page 23

Cassville’s Sam Okey looks back upon a dominant prep career that included a 54-game winning streak and consecutive state titles

• Roger Wiebe, who played on Madison West’s state

• Milwaukee Hamilton sues the WIAA after its tournament berth

1990 was revoked because it played too many regularseason games. A judge allowed Hamilton to play, but its two state games later were ruled as forfeits.

1991 • Veteran coach Jerry Petitgoue leads Cuba City to the second of his three titles, 50-48 over Phillips.

• The tournament grows to four enrollment divisions.

1992 tourney teams of 1957 and 1958, coaches the Regents to a 77-63 victory over Milwaukee King in the Division 1 final.

• Cassville junior Sam Okey leads the Comets to a 67-56 win over

1993

1994

• Wausaukee’s Anthony Pieper, the state’s all-time scoring leader, outduels Cassville’s Sam Okey in the Division 4 final, leading the Rangers to a 69-57 victory.

Goodman and the first of two straight Division 4 titles.

WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL

SUNDAY, MARCH 8, 2015 • 23

Okey Continued from Page 22

be) at all points in time.

“We didn’t have to talk about it. If I wanted to go backdoor for a lob, I didn’t have to say anything. All I had to do was look at them and they knew what to do.

They were always in the right spot if I was double-teamed. It was quite a feeling. We were like a well-oiled machine playing ball.”

However, Okey attributed the enthusiasm and showmanship in his game to his exposure to basketball on the Amateur Athletic Union and Milwaukee summer circuits.

“In high school, I played with Diante Flenorl and Corey Reed, all of the Milwaukee guys,” said Okey, who recalled his first AAU experience was playing for a traveling summer team from Cuba City.

“Coach Jerry Petitgoue got me on his team and we ended up going farther than we thought we could. We were 12 and 13 years old and played against Diante and Corey and D.J. Walker and all of those guys back then. We got spanked. All of the guys I was playing with on the team were a little shell-shocked.”

Okey said his father quickly turned the crushing setback into a positive.

“My dad said, ‘Listen, if you want to make basketball your career someday, or if you want it to take you places and see how far you can get, you’re going to have to play like that,’ ” Okey said.

His father contacted Marty McGlothan, an AAU coach in Milwaukee. Every summer from then on, as soon as the school year was over, Sam traveled to Milwaukee and spent the summer playing basketball with McGlothan’s inner city-based program.

Okey also played with an AAU program based out of Randolph, and says he owed a lot of his growth as a player to Hugh Roberts, the man who helmed that club.

As a senior in 1995, Okey was named the state’s Mr. Basketball, earned All-American

honors and played in the prestigious McDonald’s All-American Game.

A University of Wisconsin recruit, he played 2½ years for the Badgers — earning Big Ten Conference Freshman of the Year accolades and back-to-back all-league second-team honors — before transferring to the University of Iowa to complete his collegiate career. His professional career included stints in Turkey, Italy and Finland.

“When I think back, everybody has regrets about certain decisions and what they might have done differently,” he said.

“But all in all, I got to travel the world and play overseas, got to play in the CBA and had a great time in college. I got to play in the McDonald’s game, which was something special, so I don’t have any regrets.”

Okey, who is married and works as a corporate liaison for Dudley Corporation in Wausau, said a back injury eventually led to the end of his playing career. But he has transferred his passion for the game into coaching.

“I have some kids on an AAU team I’m working with in Wausau,” he said. “I’ll tell you, it’s a lot easier to tell people what to do than it is to go out there and show them how to do it.”

Okey played in the state championship game all four years in high school, averaging 27.3 points and 16 rebounds per game.

He said one of his favorite games remains the Comets’ 69-57 loss to Wausaukee — and state all-time scoring leader Anthony Pieper — in the Division 4 state final during his sophomore year.

“It wasn’t like we weren’t guarding him, or we didn’t know he was going to shoot it.

He could still hit them. That’s what made him so impressive,” Okey said after Pieper outscored him, 42-33.

“It was a great game. But I would have liked to have played him when I was a senior and he was a senior. That would have been a lot of fun.”

MORRY GASH

Cassville’s Sam Okey gets a hug from teammate John Koopman (35) after their WIAA Div. 4 semifinal win over Randolph on March 18, 1994. Cassville won 54-52 in overtime.

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

• In his third consecutive finals appearance, Sam Okey leads Cassville past Oakfield 56-43 for the Division 4 championship.

• With perhaps the most stifling defense the tourney has seen, Milwaukee Vincent begins a run of five titles in six years.

• Coach Tom Diener leads Vincent past Washington in an all-Milwaukee final, for the second of three straight “V-House” titles.

• The state tournament relocates 0.8 miles east down Dayton Street to the brandnew Kohl Center, its home to this day.

• In the Division 3 championship game, Jerry Pritzl scores 25 points to lead Park Falls past Omro, 57-53, to complete a 27-0 season.

WIAA BOYS BASKETBALL HISTORY

WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL 24 • SUNDAY, MARCH 8, 2015

THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2014 • 43 WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL

Thirteen times, Madison’s high schools have completed the climb to the top of the WIAA heap

THE MADLIST BROCK FRITZ AND JASON GALLOWAY | 608-252-6170

T

hirteen lucky times. Thirteen talented times. Thirteen terrific times.

Over the first 98 years of the state high school boys basketball tournament, Madison-based high schools have collected a baker's dozen of championships.

A city school has kept the “Gold Ball” championship trophy in Madison at least once per decade — except for the turbulent 1960s — since Madison Central won the third tournament sponsored by what is now called the WIAA, back in 1918.

Madison La Follette has won three times, West and Wisconsin High twice and East, Edgewood and Central once. The dominant program lately has been Memorial, which enjoyed a run of seven finals appearances in eight years (2005-2011), with three titles.

Aside from the Madison-based schools, only three other times have Dane County teams won WIAA boys championships: McFarland, under brash young coach Sam Mills, in 1973 and 1974; and Marshall in 2002, under Jason Treutelaar.

In fact, 2002 was a unique year in that three Dane County schools (not to mention nearby neighbor Randolph in Division 4) won championships, with La Follette taking Division 1 and Edgewood winning Division 2.

A closer look at the city’s championship successes: 1918 Madison Central 37, Watertown 17 Madison Central (16-1) defeated Watertown (12-3) to win the third state tournament officially sponsored by what would become the WIAA. It was Central’s first appearance. Central knocked out Eau Claire (18-10), Ripon (24-13) and Mauston (45-16) before beating Watertown in the final.

The 1918 tournament was organized by athletic directors of the Wisconsin Normal Schools, now known as the University of Wisconsin System. From 1916 to 1918, the

tournament was held along with a separate tournament hosted by Lawrence College (now University) in Appleton that ran from 1905-1918. The 1905 tournament was the first state basketball tournament in the nation.

While Madison Central won the Wisconsin Normal Schools tourney in 1918, Wisconsin Rapids won the tournament held at Lawrence College.

The WIAA took control of the tournament during the 1919-1920 season. The Wisconsin Normal Schools tournament is the one recognized today as the original Wisconsin state tournament.

• The WIAA adds pri- • Veteran official vate schools for the Dave Kelliher of • The WIAA adds pri- • Veteran official first time, starting Madison calls his vate schools for the Dave Kelliher of with the 2001 tourlast game before first time, starting Madison calls his ney. Debate rages retiring: the with the 2001 tourlast game before (and continues to Division 1 ney. Debate rages retiring: the this day) over the final between (and continues to Division 1 methods used tothe Milwaukee this day) over final between classify private Vincent and methods used to Milwaukee schools by division.

Oshkosh classify private Vincent and West.

• Seymour begins a schools by division.

Oshkosh run eight straight West.

• of Seymour begins a Vincent Division state trips. won 66-60.

Vincent run of 2 eight straight Division 2 state trips. won 66-60.

2000 2000

2001 2001

CRAIG SCHREINER

Madison Memorial’s 2011 state tournament hero, sophomore Brendan Ortiz.

1923 Wisconsin High 26, Oshkosh 13

1931 Wisconsin High 20, Racine Park 19

Wisconsin High (15-3) — also known as “Whiskey High” in a time which fell in the Prohibition era — earned the first state title in school history with a dominating performance against Oshkosh (16-4). Key players Stehr, Nelson and Holzworth led the way for the Badger Preps.

The Badger Preps fell behind early but recovered to win decisively. On its way to the final, Wisconsin High defeated Appleton 26-21; Two Rivers 37-20; and Stevens Point 23-12. Coach Ira Davis and his team had finished fourth in the tournament a year earlier.

The Badger Preps became one of what is now 43 teams in WIAA history to finish their championship season undefeated, going 21-0 with their narrow victory over Park. Coach Russell Rippe’s team survived as Shad Loughborough led the way with seven points and Petie Nelson added five.

Racine Park led at halftime and at the end of the third quarter before Art Tolchin scored the go-ahead basket in the fourth. To get to the final, the Badger Preps defeated Watertown 12-8, in a semifinal;

• Greg Stiemsma leads Randolph to the first of its • Greg Stiemsma leads record fourtoconsecutive Randolph the first of its Division 4 championships. record four consecutive Division 4 championships.

2002 2002

• Appleton West’s • Appleton Brian West’s Butch Brian breaks a Butch 45-yearbreaks a old record 45-yearwith 45 old record points in with 45 apoints quarterin final vs. a quarterMilwaukee final vs.

Custer.

Milwaukee Custer.

2003 2003

Continued Continued on on Page Page 45 25

• Starting a run of seven

appearances in eight • finals Starting a run of seven years, Madison Memorial finals appearances in eight falls to Milwaukee King years, Madison Memorial 75-58 in the Division falls to Milwaukee King 1 final.

75-58 in the Division 1 final.

2004 2004

WIAA BOYS BASKETBALL HISTORY

WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL

THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2014 • 45 SUNDAY, MARCH 8, 2015 • 25 one of 36 teams to win a gold ball in its first trip to state.

Continuedfrom fromPage Page2443 Continued

Wisconsin Rapids 14-13, in a quarterfinal; and Beloit 17-14, in the first round.

Joe Kelly was named unanimously to the All-State team. Wisconsin High finished the 1930-1931 season winning the Southern Wisconsin Six conference, the Madison city title, the Monroe district championship and the state title.

Wisconsin High closed in 1964 and its building (at 425 Henry Mall) was razed in 1990.

1982 Madison La Follette 63, Stevens Point 61

Coach Pete Olson and the Lancers (20-5) advanced to state for the third time in six years and beat Stevens Point (24-1) to pick up the second title in school history.

The Lancers’ leader with 24 points was Rick Olson (no relation to the coach), the winner of the state coaches association’s inaugural Mr. Basketball award after becoming Madison’s all-time, single1945 season scoring leader. Olson scored 82 Madison West 44, Lena 35 points in three tournament games.

La Follette trailed by one point after Madison West owns the oldest gold ball State Journal archives the Panthers’ Bill Gifford hit a jumper of all the city schools that remain open. with 45 seconds remaining. Scott Hogan The Regents (22-1) beat Lena (25-2) in the The starting five for Madison East High School basketball team compete in the 1958 WIAA state tournament. From left are Bob Powers, Ron Staley, coach Verlyn Belisle, Pat Richter, Dave Heisig took a pass from Olson and scored to put final after beating Eau Claire 52-34 and and Dale Holzhuter.

La Follette back on top at 60-59. The Ashland 34-26 in earlier rounds.

Lancers forced a turnover on the ensuing Madison West jumped to a 15-0 first1977 possession and 6-foot-6 Steve Amundson first-year coach, Verlyn Belisle, knocked quarter lead against Lena. The combined Madison La Follette 65, Eau Claire Memorial 48 made two free throws with 4 seconds left scoring total of 79 points set a tournament off Milwaukee North for the only title in to lock up the victory. school history. record for a championship game.

La Follette tied the state record for Milwaukee North trimmed the East lead Don Page, West’s leading scorer and an The Lancers (17-8), who finished in a single-game accuracy from the free throw to 60-59 before Pat Richter — yes, that All-State forward, led the team with 16 fourth-place tie with Janesville Craig in line, making all 12 of its tries. points. West shot 32.3 percent throughout Pat Richter — made a layup with 7 seconds the Big Eight Conference race, made an Olson went on to play at Wisconsin, the tournament, a remarkable number for on the clock. During the regular season, unexpected run to the Class A final, capped teaming up with Stevens Point star Jay Richter had one game in which he scored that era. by a runaway victory over second-ranked Laszewski. Amundson went on to play at 50 points and another in which he grabbed Eau Claire Memorial (23-2).

The Regents finished the season with a Western Michigan.

40 rebounds.

20-game winning streak. Their only loss Pete Sheild shot 8-for-11 from the field The Purple and Gold got past Big Eight came to Rockford (Ill.) West. for 19 points, Mark Levenick went 8-for-9 1992 co-champion Madison West 57-55 in Jack Wise, West’s second-leading for 18 points and added nine rebounds and Madison West 77, Milwaukee King 63 the semifinal. Ron Staley led East with scorer, earned second-team All-State the Lancers shot 63.6 percent (28-for-44), Coach Roger Wiebe’s Regents (25-2) honors. Coach Willis Jones’ team consisted 18 points as East won the season series a state record at the time. Ross Anderson, against the Regents, two games to one. of 10 seniors. who went on to play football at UW, added pulled off an impressive upset, handling defending champion and top-ranked King Staley earned first-team all-tournament Also in 1945, Madison Edgewood won 12 points.

(26-1) to win the school’s second state title. honors and Richter made the second team. the state Catholic school championship, The Old Abes had been to state 15 times The heavily favored Generals, ranked Richter went on to become a three-sport marking the first time that one city held since Madison last produced a finalist 11th in the nation by USA Today prior to star at UW (earning nine letters) and played both the public and Catholic titles. in 1958. It was the first time the Lancthe loss, had knocked out the Regents in a eight seasons for the NFL’s Washington ers had advanced past the regional level 1958 1991 quarterfinal.

Redskins before becoming Wisconsin’s ath- in the school’s 13-year history. Levenick, Madison East 62, Milwaukee North 59 letic director. Staley played end at UW and Sheild and Anderson each made the allContinuedon onPage Page47 26 was drafted by the Minnesota Vikings.

The Purple and Gold (22-3) and their tournament team and the Lancers became Continued • Benton alum Jim • Benton Blaine alum Jim coaches Blaine the coaches the Zephyrs to the Zephyrs Division to the 4 title.

Division

2005

2006

• Randolph beats Oshkosh • Randolph beats Oshkosh Lourdes to win a record Lourdes to win a record fourth straight state title, fourth straight state going 101-6 during itstitle, run.

• With Lance Randall step• With Lance Randall ping in to coach after stephis ping in to coach after his father Steve’s 2004 death, father Steve’s 2004 26-0. death, Oshkosh West goes

2005

going 101-6 during its run.

2006

Oshkosh West goes 26-0.

2007

2007

• Racine St. Catherine’s • Racine St. becomes theCatherine’s fifth school becomes the fifth school and the first private school and thethree first private school to win straight titles. to win three straight titles.

2008

2008

4 title.

2009

2009

• The WIAA goes to a • The WIAA allows boys • three-man The WIAA goes to a crew• The allows boysteams officiating andWIAA girls basketball three-man officiating crewup and teams for tournament games, togirls playbasketball 22 regular-season for tournament games, up to play 22 regular-season from two. games, up from 20. from two.

games, up from 20.

WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL 26 • Sunday, March 8, 2015

THURSDAY, MARCH 13, 2014JOURNAL • 47 WISCONSIN STATE

WIAA BOYS BASKETBALL HISTORY 2002 Madison La Follette 43, Fond du Lac 40

Continued Continuedfrom fromPage Page25 45

Seniors Mike Dammen and Alex Compton led the Regents offensively with 27 and 26 points, respectively. Dammen made five consecutive 3-point baskets in the third quarter as the Regents opened a 49-29 lead. Senior Myron Adams (15 rebounds) and junior Alec Moeser (11) controlled the boards and shut down the Generals’ big Division 1 recruits, Otto McDuffie (Wisconsin) and Brian Currie (Marquette).

Wiebe, who played on the Regents’ first state championship team in 1957, retired as West’s coach in 1997 after 27 years.

2002 Madison Edgewood 62, Seymour 38 In the Division 2 final, the Crusaders (24-3) blew out defending champion Seymour (22-4), making Edgewood’s only WIAA tournament appearance — in only its second year as a full WIAA member — a crowning success.

Crusaders forward Nick Gardon scored 11 points, guard Alvah Hansbro had 10 points and four assists and the Crusaders held Seymour to 11-for-32 shooting, tiring out the Thunder with an attacking, fullcourt press that led to 23 turnovers and a 17-4 third-quarter run. The final margin came within four points of the record for the largest margin of victory in a D2 final.

It was just the second year the Crusaders were eligible to win the title because private schools had a separate state organization (the Wisconsin Independent Schools Athletic Association) through 1999-2000 until being admitted into the WIAA in 2000-2001.

In a semifinal, Edgewood defeated Brown Deer and Wisconsin Player of the Year Steve Novak — who went on to star at Marquette and is now in his ninth NBA season, playing for the Toronto Raptors.

Senior center Quincy Henderson, a future Creighton player, totaled 13 points and eight rebounds to lead the Lancers (25-11) past surprising Fond du Lac (16-11).

The Lancers’ defense and quickness proved to be keys, as they forced 15 Cardinals turnovers and outscored Fond du Lac 24-0 in fast-break points. Still, the game went down to the wire.

The Lancers held a two-point lead with 25 seconds left when Henderson grabbed an offensive rebound after junior forward Jonte Flowers (seven points, seven rebounds, six steals) missed the front end of a one-and-one. Jonte’s sophomore brother, Michael (11 points), missed the front end of the ensuing bonus — but the Lancers again got it back before the eldest Flowers brother, senior point guard Jason, hit a free throw for a three-point lead.

Fond du Lac’s Matt Sprader had a threequarter court heave fall short at the buzzer.

In a quarterfinal, the Lancers needed a basket from Michael Flowers at the buzzer to pull out a 51-49 victory over Appleton West and McDonald’s All-American and future Wisconsin center Brian Butch (29 points, 15 rebounds). Jonte Flowers collected a Division 1-record 17 steals in three tournament games.

Each of the Flowers brothers went on to play collegiately: Jason at Madison Area Technical College; Jonte at Winona State University in Minnesota (where he won two NCAA Division II championships and received All-American honors); and Michael at Wisconsin.

2005 Madison Memorial 63, Milwaukee Vincent 55 Senior guard Wesley Matthews scored 29 points and grabbed 10 rebounds as the Spartans (24-2) beat future Badger

• Madison Memorial beats De Pere 80-78 in the only triple-overtime final in state tourney history.

2010

2011

• Randolph wins the Division 4 title and sets a state record for victories in one season with 29.

• The WIAA adds a fifth tournament enrollment division and restructures the state field so that four teams qualify for state in each division.

Marcus Landry and Milwaukee Vincent (20-6).

“That was the beginning of it, and that was special because we were the first (Memorial) team to have done it,” Spartans coach Steve Collins said. “The Milwaukee city schools had really dominated a lot of the Division 1 state titles, and we were one of the first ones to kind of crack that.”

Center Kori Vernon had 13 points and nine rebounds in support of Matthews, who went on to play at Marquette and in the NBA. Landry, a forward, finished with 21 points and eight rebounds for Vincent.

Matthews, who now is with the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers, totaled 85 points in three tournament games. Vernon added 41 points and 33 rebounds.

2011 Madison Memorial 80, De Pere 78 (3 OT)

The Spartans (22-6) won their third gold ball in eight years, beating the Cardinals (25-3) in a triple-overtime classic crafted by the sheer will of sophomore guard Brendan Ortiz.

“The ’11 team was really kind of the Cinderella team,” Collins said. “We didn’t have a Division I player on that team. We were good, but every game in the tournament was really close.”

Ortiz hit the game-winning runner with 2 seconds left in the third overtime, giving him 15 points and five assists in 41 minutes on the floor. That wasn’t Ortiz’s only big shot — actually, the game’s entire clutch run seemed to belong to the diminutive youngster who found himself solidly “in 2009 the zone” on the state’s biggest stage.

Madison Memorial 56, Racine Horlick 41 With 1 second left in regulation, Ortiz Senior forward and state Mr. Basketball hit a 3-pointer to force overtime. In both award winner Jeronne Maymon, and junior the first and second overtimes, the sophomore went 2-for-2 from the free throw guard Vander Blue, drove the Spartans to line to force an extra period. In the third a title. The Spartans (26-1) opened a 27-11 overtime, Memorial fell behind, 78-75, halftime lead over the Rebels (24-2) and after a 3-pointer by Cardinals senior guard never wavered.

Maymon, now playing at the University Reece Zoelle, but Ortiz answered to set up of Tennessee, scored 25 points and grabbed the game-winning shot.

“I think that’s possibly the best high 12 rebounds — one year after he had 33 school basketball game ever played, at least points and 17 rebounds in Memorial’s at the state tournament, as far as exciteovertime loss in the 2008 state title game. ment,” Collins said.

“We had lost a tough one the year Senior guard Tre’ Burnette led the Sparbefore,” Collins said. “(Maymon) basically tans with 17 points and seven rebounds said in the press conference in ’08 that and Junior Lomomba had 16 points, six we were going to come back and we were rebounds and four steals. Zoelle and junior going to win it in ’09.”

Blue had 19 points and 11 rebounds. The forward Brett VandenBergh led the Cardinals with 19 points apiece.

Spartans held Rebels senior Jamil Wilson, It was just the 12th overtime champiwho (after a side trip to the University of onship game in the 97-year history of the Oregon) eventually became Blue’s teamWIAA, and the lone triple-overtime game. mate at Marquette, to just nine points.

The victory concluded a run of seven state The toughest game for the Spartans was a 64-60 overtime thriller against a game Bay championship game appearances in eight seasons for the Spartans.

Port squad in the semifinals.

• Sam Dekker of Sheboygan Lutheran scores 40 points, 12 in the final 48.5 seconds, to lead

2012 Sheboygan Lutheran past Racine Lutheran 67-66 in the Division 5 final.

2013 • Randolph coach Bob Haffele retires after leading the Rockets to their state-record 10th championship.

2014 • The 100th WIAA state basketball tournament brings students, families, coaches and fans together in Madison once again.

WISCONSIN STATE JOURNAL

Sunday, March 8, 2015 • 27

GRIDIRON GLORY

JOE THOMAS

JOHN ANDERSON

Brookfield Central: Class of 2003 WIAA state: 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003 College FB: Wisconsin (OT) NFL: Cleveland, 2007-present

Waukesha (South): Class of 1973 WIAA state: 1972, 1973 College FB: Michigan (LB) NFL: Green Bay, 1978-1889

Some of the Wisconsin-grown athletes who graduated from the WIAA state basketball tournament to the NFL

MARK TAUSCHER Auburndale: Class of 1995 WIAA state: 1993 champions; 1994; 1995 runner-up College FB: Wisconsin (OT) NFL: Green Bay, 2000-2010

JERRY TAGGE

JIM CALDWELL

Green Bay West: Class of 1968 WIAA state: 1966, 1967 College FB: Nebraska (QB) NFL: Green Bay, 1972-1974

Beloit Memorial: Class of 1973 WIAA state: 1973 champions College FB: Iowa (DB) NFL: Coach, Indianapolis, Detroit

FORT ATKINSON 1981 Coach Don Gruber’s 1981 Blackhawks were the most prolific prep basketball team in state history — in terms of generating NFL players. Three players spent time in the NFL; a fourth, Mike Smrekar (No. 44 at left), played tight end for the Badgers; a fifth, Brian Borland (20), is in his first year as defensive coordinator at the University at Buffalo after 20 years at UW-Whitewater.

The 1981 Blackhawks’ NFL alumni: John Offerdahl (40): Miami Dolphins, LB, 1986-1993. College: Western Michigan.

Keith Neubert (42): New York Jets, TE, 1988-1989. College: Nebraska.

Jerry Quaerna (52): Detroit Lions, OT, 1987.

College: Michigan.

PAT RICHTER Madison East: Class of 1959 WIAA state: 1958 champions College FB: Wisconsin (E, WR, P) NFL: Washington, 1963-1970

JIM BAKKEN Madison West: Class of 1958 WIAA state: 1957 runner-up; 1958 College FB: Wisconsin (QB, K, P, DB) NFL: St. Louis, 1962-1978

MARK BORTZ Pardeeville: Class of 1979 WIAA state: 1978 runner-up College FB: Iowa (DT) NFL: Chicago, 1983-1994

TIM STRACKA Madison West: Class of 1978 WIAA state: 1976, 1978 College FB: Wisconsin (TE) NFL: Cleveland, 1983-1984

DAVID GREENWOOD Park Falls: Class of 1979 WIAA state: 1978 runner-up; 1979 College FB: Wisconsin (S) NFL: TB, 1985; GB, 1986; LAR, 1988

Congratulations on 100 Years!

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2501 East Springs Drive • Madison

3415 Parmenter Street, Middleton

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