1922 BATTLE FOR THE STATE TITLE

It was a wild ride to the 1922 football state title.  So many teams could have been considered to contend for the title.  The battle to be named #1 forced changes in the Wisconsin high school sports landscape. 

As of November 13, 1922, 13 schools were, in some way or another in contention for a title game match-up.  Some were undefeated, a few had one loss but they were good teams despite the losses.  A few were “Academies” and the public schools didn’t or wouldn’t take them into consideration for a title game.  Some individuals tried to force others to bend to their wishes to ensure that their school held an undue advantage.  Other schools felt it wasn’t worth the expense or the gate receipts offered to meet up with an opponent. 

The 13 schools were: (Season records as or November 13)

Darlington (6-2-0)             Delafield St. John’s (5-1-2)

Edgerton (7-1-0)               Ft. Atkinson (8-0-1)

Green Bay East (6-2-0)    La Crosse (7-0-0)                            

 Marinette (7-0-0)              Milwaukee Marquette (4-0-1)     

Oshkosh (3-0-2)                 Sheboygan (7-0-0)

Stevens Point (7-0-0)        Superior (8-0-0)

West Allis (8-0-0)       

November 13 was an important date that season.  Many teams played Armistice Day (November 11) games and they often closed their season then.  A few would shoot for a final game on Thanksgiving Day but that day in 1922 was 17-days away, on the 30^th.  Marinette, the 1921 state champion, was on a train on that day, 11/13, to Toledo Ohio to play Toledo Scott High School.  Scott was one of the top teams in Ohio and was undefeated.  It should have been a good match-up of two powerhouse squads.

While Marinette traveled the WIAA decided to issue a statement concerning a possible title game, a game that they often encouraged.  In 1921 Marinette received a pennant from the WIAA honoring their acclaimed state title.  In looking back to 1914 the WIAA had, in years since, presented several such banners.  The association encouraged powerful state newspapers to help set up the match-ups.

On the 13^th Fred J. Holt of Edgerton, the new chairman of the WIAA board of control, said that Superior and La Crosse should meet to determine the top team in that area of the state.  He also issued a statement that there would be no state champion that year.  Paul Neverman, Superintendent of Marinette Schools (1919-24) was an advisor to the WIAA and later the organizations first secretary.  Newspapers reported that Neverman tried to exert pressure on the WIAA board to further help Marinette be part of another championship awarded by the organization.  It was to no avail.

That same day, November 13, prior to leaving for Toledo, Marinette finalized a deal to play West Allis on November 23, later moved to the 30th.  Marquette University High School then issued a challenge to the winner of the Marinette and West Allis game for a “real” state championship title game.  If such a game would happen could the winner claim to be the official state champion?  In truth, the WIAA would not condone the use of the term champion by a school?  In fact, they couldn’t prevent newspapers, egged on by competing schools, from using the term state champion.   So, schools went forward with title talk. 

Two days prior to the WIAA’s declaration of no state title being awarded La Crosse played Chicago Lane Tech on the field of La Crosse Normal.  In a patriotic celebration the Red and Black destroyed their Chicago foe 48-6.  Lane was supposed to be a powerhouse of their own.  The school had 4,600 MALE day students and 1,800-night class attendee’s verses a Wisconsin school that had 300 boys.  Because the schools wanting to facilitate the needs of the students, they actually had three football squads…the “heavies”, the “middies” and the “lights”.  Managed by Coach Clark who moved players from team to team to get what he hoped was the best group to the next games opponent.  Lane played schools all over the place…Toledo (Ohio) Waite, Hinsdale (A Chicago suburb). Flint Michigan, and the Chicago Public School league foes Austin and others.  They lost to Austin and that failed their attempt to win the city title.  Coach Clark claimed that his best team, the “heavies” faced La Crosse but there were doubts.  Following the blowout undefeated Winchester (MA) challenged La Crosse to a game prior to that schools annual Thanksgiving Day meeting with Woburn (MA) Memorial.  Winchester offered to come to La Crosse but were turned down.  The Red and Black chose to meet Superior on Thanksgiving and take the nearly three weeks interim to rest and prepare for the Vikings visit.

What was going on was schools like La Crosse, Marinette, Oshkosh and Madison usually played only home games.  They wanted the local crowd advantage. 

While enroute to Toledo, on top of their setting up a game with undefeated West Allis, Marinette received a challenge from another top Chicago team, a really strong Tilden High School, a school that was large but only had one squad.  The Marines had accepted the challenge but with no contract signed they backed out of the game.  They didn’t want to play in Chicago and Tilden didn’t think the gate split of the receipts would cover their expenses.  Marinette would get blown out by Toledo Scott 45-19.  It was the amount of the gate receipts that made the Marines visit the Ohio city.  When Marinette and West Allis agreed to play, the team from southeast Wisconsin insisted on a neutral site.  They got it but how neutral was it to play the game in Menominee Michigan, across the river from Marinette?  Poor West Allis had to travel over 185 miles to the game while Marinette had to go only less than three miles.  Some neutral site.

All this haggling over gate receipts, teams not wanting to play away games, one team scheduling their next opponent one day then dropping them for a better matchup was driving the WIAA crazy.  They really wanted no part of an official state championship and they were hearing from many schools about scheduling problems.  On top of it all, Marinette still thought of themselves as the team to beat.  With all this haggling over who would play whom it settled down to the following: On November 24 Marquette High School issued a challenge to both Marinette and West Allis to play for a “true” state title.  Marinette turned the challenge down as they didn’t play “academies” (private schools.).  No answer from West Allis.  On November 30, Thanksgiving Day, Marinette beat West Allis 41-0.  Superior beat La Crosse 14-12 that same day.  Marinette and Superior should have been matched up for the un-official title. 

Marinette would, along with the newspapers push, following the Thanksgiving Day game with West Allis, set to meet Sheboygan on a neutral field in Green Bay.  Marinette dictated the event by stating that undefeated Superior had only played one Wisconsin high school.  In fact, while the Vikings played mainly against nearby Minnesota schools, they did play Ashland and Eau Claire so they also didn’t get any love, only the approved title of the Champs of the Northeast

Oshkosh, Stevens Point, Delafield St. John’s, Ft. Atkinson, Darlington, Edgerton and Green Bay East also go “no love” when it came to a title game.   Oshkosh's, Darlington's, Marquette, Ft. Atkinson, Edgerton, Stevens Point and Green Bay East all kept the same records of November 13. Delafield St. John's would end up with a 6-1-1 record, West Allis would go 8-1-0, La Crosse would end with an 7-1-0 season, Superior posted a 9-0-0 season and Marinette would have a 8-1-0 record and the title.

A side note here: Perhaps the schedule played by Delafield St. John’s Military Academy was too tough for a Wisconsin high school to hope to match.   True, the school had no real chance of a final matchup with a Wisconsin public school.  The Lancers would end their year with a 6-1-2 record.  They weren’t considered by the press because they hadn’t played any Wisconsin high schools…only a semi-pro team, six colleges (Some college varsity or school “seconds”, a military academy from Missouri and a team from the U.S. Naval Training School from Great Lakes Naval in Illinois.  They tied 0-0 to Milwaukee Normal (Now UW-M) and Whitewater Normal (Now UW-Whitewater) and lost 7-0 to Carroll College.  They beat the others, playing most games on the road. Their overall record stands tall, though.

 The question would be why any team would decide to play Iin December? But Sheboygan and Marinette did meet on the 9^th.  Marinette would win, 6-3 on a snowy, windy and cold day.

So why is the 1922 season so important in state football sports history? 

Because the WIAA would further insist that schools form into conferences and avoid the challenge system. Stop scheduling on the "fly", so to speak. That was done beginning in the 1923 season with a few exceptions.  Marinette would go 10-0-0 and be declared by the press as the mythical state champion. Scoring 455 points, shutting out seven opponents and allowing only 25 total points, the Marines soundly beat most opponents, with only two exceptions.  First, a 13-0 win over Milwaukee Marquette.  They must have changed their minds about playing academies.  And second, they played a final game against Rockford Illinois and won 14-12.  It was, to my information, the last “challenge” game allowed by the WIAA and maybe the last Thanksgiving Day game played by a state school.  In 1942 Wausau and Delafield St. John’s were undefeated and an attempt was made for the two schools to play a “showdown” game, but it never came off for various reasons but mainly the WIAA rule about no post-season games.  In 1969 the private schools under the WISAA began playoffs and the WIAA would follow suit in 1976.  So, between 1924 and 1968 it would be the press who would declare a state champion.  The first official press poll would be in 1947 and then restarted in 1958.  Between 1924-1946 and the 1948-1955 seasons it was sort of a “gentleman’s agreement” between the press and the state schools as to what team was tops.  And with that, until there were playoffs, only a few disagreements would occur. 

ARCADIA RAIDERS…THE BILL CASHEN ERA INCLUDING A GREAT DECADE…1949-58 AND BEYOND

The “Great Decade” started in with Arcadia coming off a 4-2-1 year in 1948 (Two wins at the end of the season) Cashen directed his teams to a 20-0-1 record over the next three years.  His squad was 6-0-1 in 1949 before the school and Cashen turned the trick of going undefeated, untied and unscored upon in 1950 going 7-0-0.  1951 was a duplicate of 1950 as the team coasted to another 7-0-0 record.  They would win the 1952 opener then fall on bad times due to injuries that year, but they had put up a winning streak of 23-0-1 overall.  

1950 Arcadia 7-0-0

Coach Bill Cashen developed Arcadia into a small school powerhouse for the 39 years he was at the school. Posting a 172-70-18 record in football, Cashen also coached basketball for 27 years, winning 283 games as well as coaching baseball for 36 years.  The win over Mondovi was crucial as the two schools battled to a 12-122 tie in 1949 to share the MVC title. Mondovi had come into the game also undefeated in six games and had scored 142 points and allowed only 25. Led by George Galuska, a 180-pound fullback who scored 13 touchdowns and 14 extra points for a team leading total of 82 points. Halfback Dick Mettlack was second in the scoring with 78 points and junior Willie Berzinski followed with 51. David Wolfe and Gordon Schultz shared the quarterback choirs. Up front Aymarr Nelson and Robert Malesyteki were tough tackles. Jack Mettlach and Terry Gautsch were the starting guards. David Bohrnstedt held down the center position while Don Berzinski and Gerald Wolfe were the ends. Coach Cashen said the players had exceptional spirit and teamwork. That was the reason for their success. At the time Cashen had a soft spot for his 1950's team, stating that they had better balance than his 1939 and 1943 squads.

From the 1951 Arcadia “Arcadian Acorn” Yearbook

List of 1950 Wisconsin High School Football Undefeated Teams

Wisconsin State Journal Nov. 14, 1950

One of the top players on the 1950 team was junior Willie Berzinski, an outstanding halfback, who earned AP Third Team All-State in 1951. Many of the area coaches felt that if he had been on a larger school team, he would have earned first team honors. As it turned out, a few tears after Willie graduated from Arcadia a UW-Madison coach told Cashen that Berzinski was the best player for several years that the school failed to recruit.  Willie would attend UW-La Crosse where he started four years, setting school rushing and scoring records and was Small College All-America. In 1956, he played in the College All-Star game and then played a season with the Philadelphia Eagles and then Canadian football. Berzinski also lettered four years on the track team in college as a weight man, sprinter and long jumper. In 1993 he was named honorable mention to the Milwaukee Journal Team of the Century.

Another one of the 1949-51 stars was halfback Richard "Dick" Mettlach who attended UW-La Crosse with Berzinski and then became a Michigan Football Coaches Association HOF coach by directing Crystel Falls Forest Park to a 239-73-6 career record and two Class D State Titles.

As mentioned above Arcadia won the first two games in 1952 before ending the year with a 5-2-1 record.  Injuries in 1953 and 1954 also hindered their success but the opening win in 1955 started a 36-game unbeaten streak.  Both 1956 and 1958 seasons were 8-0-0, with a 7-0-1 1957 posting.  The 1959 team would then win three games and tie once before losing 7-0 to Black River Falls.  In that game with 83-yards to go for a score and little time on the clock it looked like the game would end in a tie. Arcadia had the ball on their own 17-yard line with a first and ten and then they fumbled.  Black River Falls recovered the lost fumble and scored with 10-seconds on the clock on a pass and kicked the extra point for the win.  The 36-game unbeaten streak ended.  The Raiders would have a 61-11-3 record during the 1949-1958 period with seven undefeated seasons.  Remarkable.

Bill Cashon said later, after the streak, that the 1958 team was, overall, his finest squad.  It was hard to argue the point as the team was full of stars.  Six players made the All-Mississippi Valley Conference first team squad made up of 12 members (Normally made up of 11 but there was a three-way tie at the guard position).  The first teamers were end Gary Pahl, tackle Gene Comero, guard David Pleerzina, center Ed Fernholz, quarterback Gary Luethl and back Dan Sobotta.  Tackle Darrell Lerch and guard Duane Guenther made the second team.  There were four other players, Wayne Killian, LeRoy Korpal, Jim Sobotta and Albin Slaby who made honorable mention.  All these honors in an eight-team league.

After the opening trouncing of Winona Cotter in 1958, the Raiders never looked back as they swept through their conference schedule.

Team picture and schedule from the 1959 Arcadia “Arcadian Acorn” yearbook

There were more honors to come for the players.  The Eau Claire Leader-Telegram’s regional reach covered many counties as well as 70+ schools.  Annually the Leader-Telegram posts their All-North West team and end Gary Pahl was named to the first team while quarterback Gary Luethl earned a spot on the second team.  Center Ed Fernholz, tackle Gene Cornero, fullback Dan Sabotta, a junior and junior guard David Plerzina each made honorable mention.  On December 6 the banner on the sports page announced that Pahl was named to the first team Associated Press All-State team.  Pahl, 6’2, 168, had hauled in 26 receptions that year for 418 yards and 10 touchdowns an added two extra points and one safety.  His 64 points led the conference. 

Luethl earned honorable mention on the All-State listings.  He tossed 18 touchdowns along with 700+ yards in 1958 while also scoring four rushing touchdowns.  

Another standout was Dan Sobotta who led the team in rushing 106 times for 932 yards and 12 touchdowns (Eight in conference play).

The end of the 1958 season saw a big change to the Mississippi Valley Conference.  Three teams announced that they were leaving the conference…Augusta, Osseo and Whitehall while three were joining…Menomonie, Chippewa Falls and Cochrane-Fountain City.

A three-way-tie for the conference title in 1959 occurred.  Arcadia (5-2-1) downed Chippewa Falls 13-6, Black River Falls defeated Arcadia 7-0 and CF beat BRF 6-0.  Now a senior, halfback Dan Sobotta completed a fine career as the schools all-time rusher.  Playing on four championship teams he gained 114 yards on 21 carries and one point as a freshman, 536 yards on 109 carries and 76 points as a sophomore (Earning 2^nd team MVC), 932 yards on 106 carries and 76 points as a junior and finally as a senior he gained 800 yards on 111 carries and 64 points.  His career totals were very good for the 1950’s as he ended with 2,382 yards on 347 carries and 172 points.

There would be a couple of good seasons (1961 and 1962) but after three teams leaving the conference and a number of injuries in 1963(1-5-0 record) Bill Cashen decided that 39-years of coaching was enough.  He would stay on as a teacher and then retire in 1973 but stay on for several years teaching part-time.  His reason for leaving sports so he could spend more time on learning the new methods of mathematics so he could do a better job of teaching his students.  One of things that endured the students to Bill was the extra time he spent with tutoring them in the off hours, even on Saturday mornings.  He was considered the kid’s best friend.

Blessed with good talent, Cashen preferred to stay in the background and let his players take the glory.  In the Mississippi Valley Conference Cashen’s opponents used a modified phrase taken from the MLB saying, “Break up the Yankees” and changed it to “Break up Arcadia”.

Bill Cashen would be part of the first class of 26 members in the WFCA Hall of Fame in 1980.  His career record is most impressive:

172-70-18 in 39-seasons

12 undefeated seasons

15 conference championships

A park in Arcadia was named for “Mr. Sports” in 1967 with a formal plaque installed in 1984.

La Crosse Tribune April 4, 1984

Bill’s wife Zeida preceded him in death in 1978 after 50-years of marriage and he passed in July 1986.  He truly was a great coach but even more a greatly beloved person.  

With 172 career wins, Bill Cashen is Arcadia’s winningest coach.  Current coach, Derek Updike has 139 career wins and Richard Fredrickson, who coached before Updike, had 135 victories.  From what I can track, since 1923 schools record is 503-321-21.

Thanks to Nancy and Grant Hanson as well as Bob Davis for suggesting that I look further into Arcadia football.  It is long overdue.

Thanks to Christine Pyka at the Arcadia High School Library for her help.

ARCADIA RAIDERS…THE BILL CASHEN ERA…THE FIRST 23 YEARS

Long before 1949 when a great decade of success began people knew about the Arcadia football program. It had been successful before then but that would be the start of something special.  First, the beginning of the Bill Cashen era.

William “Bill” Cashen came to the school in 1925 after spending one year at his former high school in Monticello, Iowa.  Bill had graduated from Loras College in Dubuque with a teaching degree in mathematics.  Arcadia had just restarted the football program in 1923 after not playing the sport since the 1909 season. 

Besides football, Bill would, at various times, coach basketball, track, and baseball in his 39-year coaching career at Arcadia.  He also found time to coach for a few years the school boxing program.  The “Red Raiders” as they were nicknamed in those days started slowly, going 3-1-0 in 1925 as the team only scored 32 points but held their opponents to 25.  The Raiders would post the first of Cashen’s 12 undefeated teams in 1928 by having a 6-0-1 record.  Arcadia scored 229 points in 1928 and allowed only 18.  The season highlight was the 100-0 crushing of La Crosse Aquinas.  This is the most all-time points in a game scored by Arcadia and the worst loss for Aquinas who was playing football in their inaugural season.  All the La Crosse Tribune could report besides the score was: “Aquinas could do nothing to stem the tide and had the ball in its possession but seldom”.  End of story.   Only a tie to Winona Cotter marred an undefeated season.

The 1929 Arcadia “Arcadian Acorn” Yearbook

When Bill Cashen started at Arcadia it coincided with the formation of the Mississippi Valley Conference.  Originally made up of Galesville (Now Gale-Ettrick-Trempealeau or G-E-T), Black River Falls, Viroqua, Augusta and Mondovi, it would change in membership over the next 40-years.  

Average record seasons followed until 1939 when Cashen directed his team to a 6-0-0 record as they went undefeated, untied and unscored upon. 

                           1939 Arcadia (6-0-0)

In 1939, coach Bill Cashen led Arcadia to an undefeated, untied and unscored upon season, going 6-0-0. He is only the second coach known to post two such seasons in their career.  He would accomplish this feat again in 1950 with a 7-0-0 record. Left halfback Marcellus Brownlee was the team leader for the Raiders as he racked up 13 scores and 3 extra points for 81 of the team’s 133 points. Brownlee left the University of Wisconsin to enlist in the Navy as a pilot during World War II. He tragically died in an explosion and crash of a B-24 bomber on June 22, 1945, in the Philippines at the age of 23.

It should be noted, after further research done in 2019, besides Cashton and Arcadia having two undefeated, untied and unscored upon seasons under one coach, Eau Claire had the first two consecutive seasons, doing it in 1903 and 1904 but under two different coaches.  Delafield St. John’s Military Academy also did it in two consecutive seasons, 1904 and 1905 but under one coach, Louis Christopherson. There have been a few other schools t5o go undefeated, untied and unscored upon. I have posted stories on a few of them, most notably on Cashton High School...CASHTON…1978-81

There was success the next few years as the Raiders went 4-0-1 in 1940, 6-1-0 in 1941, 6-0-0 in 1942, 4-3-0 in1943 and 6-0-1 in 1944.  That’s three more undefeated seasons in Cashton’s first 20-years at Arcadia bringing his total to five up to then.  An interesting point about 1942 is that the team actually had a 5-1-0 record before, after losing to Black River Falls 18-12, it was discovered that BRF had used an ineligible player and the school forfeited their win to Arcadia alo0ng with several other wins to other opponents. 

In 1944 the team returned eight lettermen from the year before as Cashen and Arcadia went through a 4-3-0 season.  Those returning players formed a nucleus of a powerful group to develop a well-balanced team.  As you can see below, the defense was close to having another unscored upon record.  In fact, Mondovi scored only in the last minute of the game.  Bad weather played into keeping the Galesville score down but the offense picked up for the final three games.  It was the defense that was the main focus of Coach Cashen’s program.

There were a few lean years followed by huge success starting in 1949 and actually ending in mid-1959.  It was a great decade for the school. 

More on that next time.