As David Maraniss wrote recently in his book “Path Lite By Lightning, the Life of Jim Thorpe: “Before 1906 there were rules in football, but few to tame its ferocity.  The game seemed a case of unnecessary roughness.  Teams would line up head-to-head with no neutral zone and bang away at each other, hold, scrap, lock arms for brutal-like flying wedges, slug, bite, pile on and attack with deadly force.  Helmets, more like thin leather straps on bonnets, had been around since t

How Ladysmith got its name: Some background: Ladysmith was founded in 1885 with the name Flambeau Falls but was renamed to Corbett, then Warner in 1891. On July 1, 1900, the name was formally changed to Ladysmith, named after the bride of Charles R. Smith, head of the Menasha Wooden Ware Company. Since the 1920’s the city has had a fairly steady population of between 3,100- 3,900+ residents. Of the teams in the Heart of the North Conference, Ladysmith had the second larg

First off, Part 2 on the HEART of the NORTH will be posted next week. But I am looking ahead on a new project. It may take me several months to complete...a real "rabbit hole". First, take a look at this story: High school football: Programs with the most wins at end of each decade for last 120 years (maxpreps.com) It took my friend, Kevin Askeland, a long time to do the research. When he was working on it he asked me if Wisconsin had any contributions to the lists. I