REVISITING THE FIRST NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME AND MORE…PART 2…THE GAME AND THE MADISON PLAYERS

MINOR UPDATES MADE ON APRIL 17

THE GAME:

Woodward Avenue in Detroit is one of the most famous thoroughfares in America.  Woodward runs from the Detroit River north to Pontiac (MI) 30-miles away.  North Tonawanda left on foot early for the D.A.C. field and arrived about 12:30pm for the scheduled 2:30pm start.  Madison took virtually the same route and arrived at 2:15. The field had been mapped out by officials with a rope that outlined noting where the fans and player substitutes could stand.  The Tigers quickly warmed up.  They had waited for the air temperature to rise from 20 degrees at 9:00am to the day’s high of 30 degrees.  There was a slight wind but no snow as some stories in national stories reported.  The walk to the field, three miles from their hotel, helped warm them up.   I note that most news stories have the game starting at 2:30pm but another had it at 3:30…typo?

1897 Madison High School Football Team

NT's fullback Billinger kicked off to Madison as 200-700 fans (Estimates by different news reports varied) looked on and soon the ball was on the five-yard line.  Because the players jerseys had no names or numbers on them and not watching from an elevated position the scoring is a bit muddled.  Newspaper reports has end Bob Rathburn carrying on what must have been an end-around to score.  Madison led 4-0,

The two exchanged the ball and the Tigers drove to the Lumberjacks three when NT dropped a Madison runner for a five-yard loss which brought out a loud round of applause from their fans.  The ball was exchanged, and North Tonawanda gained 25-yards but then the size of Madison took over and the Lumberjacks could not gain further.  The first half ended, 4-0 with Madison in the lead but NT was getting worn down after playing 30-minutes.  The two teams took a 15-minute break and then resumed.  During the break coach Frank Hinkey firmly attempted to fire up his Lumberjacks. But they could not make any headway.  Here’s where the scoring gets mixed up.  One report had tackle Art Curtiss scoring once and another story had him scoring twice.  Not knowing how the early offenses really worked beyond line plunges and end arounds but I don’t know how a tackle would get involved in scoring.  The first story had Paul Newman running about 15-yards for a score.  Both reports agreed having fullback Duffy Rowell kick an extra point goal.  After 15-minutes into the second half and Madison leading 14-0, Hinkey and the NT team captain Gray, told Madison captain Lucius Donkle that they were calling it quits.  They knew they were beat, and no comeback was possible.  Madison was now the first high school national champion.

Following the game the reporter for the Detroit News spent time talking first to Frank Hinkey and then to Harry Cochems.  It had been agreed that both Hinkey and Cochems act as umpire and referee and now they wanted to talk.  However, another story had Hinkey's brother. Larry listed as the umpire. The papers neede the get their facts straight.

Hinkey was a famed Yale end and he talked more about Yale than his Lumberjack team.  Hinkey heaped praise on his former Yale teammates, his brother Larry who was also an end for Yale and he spent talking up Eastern football, especially Yale vs. Harvard.  He conceded that the performance of the “Westerners” was surprising, and the Madison team was very good and disciplined but then switched back tom talking about Yale and Harvard.  In the same vein, Cochems stated that the East wasn’t the only area of the country that could play football.  He pointed out a few of the Tonawanda players notably fullback Bellinger, quarterback Gray, both starters and substitutes Ferris and Wallace.  Harry talked up "western" football.

Before the game, A.K. Brown, representing Ann Arbor (MI) High School offered a challenge to the Madison boys to play anytime and anyplace that the two teams could agree for honors of the "real" west.  Following the win Joe Jackson turned Ann Arbor down saying that the team was tired.  It was a long season and they just wished to end the year.  The Michigan squad left the invitation open should Madison reconsider. I couldn't find a record for the Ann Arbor team ro compare efforts.

Were you expecting more details/stats about the game?  Come on.  This was the 1890’s.  Newspaper details were usually wanting ands as this game shows the papers got things mixed up.  The above game report is the best I can do. But look at the Madison scores.  The team was undefeated, untied and unscored upon against high school opponents.  The Detroit News seemed to downplay the Madison team’s record.  However, Waukesha went 5-2-0, Minneapolis South weas the top team in the metro area of St. Paul-Minneapolis going 6-1-0.  Delafield St. John’s had a 9-1-0 record with their only loss was to Madison. There’s more info on St. John's.  The Lancers beat both Whitewater Normal and Lawrence University and allowed only 28 points, 22 to Madison.  Elgin was the Chicago suburban champions.  So, as you can see, Madison played a tough overall schedule.  Though they didn’t play each other, Eau Claire went 5-1-0.  The known record for Milwaukee East, if this is the Milwaukee team Madison played, had a 3-2-0 record.

THE MADISON TIGERS ROSTER

I do not have any individual scoring stats on the season other than the championship game but the players “after high school” is overall very impressive.  On Friday, October 31, 1947, a “golden jubilee” celebration banquet was held at 3:45pm to honor the 1897 national high school championship team as well as teams from 1907,1917, 1927 and 1937.  However, the reason was to really honor the champions.  From the story in the Wisconsin State Journal, I got some info on the starters and the bench players.

Left End Bob Rathbun…Living in Milwaukee…Retired from business.

Left Tackle Dr. Lucius Donkle…Team captain…still seeing patients.

Left Guard Dr. Earl Schreiber…Played two years at UW but was kicked off the team for being a “professional” (no details) …Professor of Medicine at the University of Montana.

Center Ed Haight…Deceased. Former Madison businessman

Right Guard Dr. Harry Keenan…Living in Stoughton

Right Tackle Dr. Arthur Curtis…While at UW Curtis earned All-America honors at the guard position.  After college Curtis was the 1902 head coach at Kansas leading the team to a 6-4-0 record before taking over at UW in the 1903-04 seasons and directing the Badgers to a 11-6-1 record.  He went into business before going back to school and earning a medical degree.  He moved to Evanston (IL) and became a famed gynecologist with the Northwestern University Medical School…He passed in 1956 at age 74.  The papers in 1897 misspelled his last name a Curtiss.

Right End Matt Conlin…Former Madison businessman   

Quarterback Billy Roys…Current Madison businessman.

Left halfback Dave Wheeler…Deceased…Former Madison businessman.

Right halfback Paul Newman…Deceased

Fullback Duffy Rowell…Deceased

That’s the starters but there’s more:

Team mascot Dr. James Jackson…Age 10 or 11 in 1897…Graduated from UW with a medical degree and operated a clinic for many year's

Manager Col. Joseph W.  Jackson…Attended UW earning a business degree then worked for various times for the city of Madison and Dane County while managing his brother James’ medical practice.  Joe earned the rank of Colonel for his service in World War I.

Coach Dr. Joe Dean…Member of the 1896 Madison team and a member of the UW football team…Opened the Dean Medical Group in 1904 and it is still going strong 120 years later.

The newspaper story mentioned multiple people connected with the championship team that I was not aware of.  Phil King, deceased, was listed as the coach of the team and H.H. Jacobs of Verona was listed as an assistant coach. King and Jacobs may have been teachers at Madison who helped out occasionally but to my records, the team manager, Joe Jackson was considered the coach until Joe Dean and Harry Cochems stepped in to get the team ready for the Detroit game.  All further records list Cochems as the coach.  Other players mentioned, all deceased, were Dr. Stanley Welch, Max Couse, Tom Donovan, Jack Hayes and Roy Watrous.  With the event starting at 3:45pm, those special guests would then be escorted to Breese Stevens Field by taxis arraigned ahead of time to watch the Madison Central Racine Horlick high school football game.  When Madison East High School opened in 1922 Madison’s name was changed to Central.

Wisconsin State Journal, November 1, 1947.  Shown from left to right are Robert Rathbun, George Smith, Joseph Jackson, Elmer Pierce, Dr. Arthur Curtis and Dr. Harry Keenan.

The previous Sunday, October 28, the Wisconsin State Journal gave its first preview of the event.  The story listed Harry Cochems as the coach. The late Henry L. Doherty, manager of the Madison Gas and Electric Company was credited as the financial backer of the team’s trip to Detroit.  Each attendee received a miniature gold football with a black “M” imprinted on it.  When they watched the football game in the evening, they were along the sidelines sitting on a special gold painted bench.  Unfortunately, Central lost to Horlick 20-19 on a touchdown scored with 90-seconds left in the game.  The committee that set the celebration was headed by Joe Jackson.  Has there ever been a team with so many successful post-high school individuals?  Seven doctors, not including Joe Dean who assisted in coaching the boy’s prior to leaving for Detroit. And this is just the start.

Sorry, no recap on the North Tonawanda players can be found by me. Tough to research without first names.

Hope you are still with me.  Up next, the interesting stories of the two coaches…Harry Cochems and Frank Hinkey.

REVISITING THE FIRST NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME AND MORE…PART 1

I had planned on doing just one blog on the first high school national championship team. I've used the analogy before...to paraphrase Forest Gump, when you do research, you never know what you're going to get. I got a lot more than what you will see in the three, but I condensed the information, and the one blog has turned into three. It's all history. I hope you like them.

One of the first stories that was in my book and the very first story blog was a reprint of the book-story on the 1897 Madison High School championship team…1897 Madison (8-2-1) - National Champions (wihifootball.com).

I was looking at some old national football records and here it is, three and a half years later from that above first post and I’ve decided to expand on the Madison High School story.  Madison High was opened in 1853 in the basement of a Methodist church with 90 students and one teacher.  It grew out of that location and eventually was finally located near Johnson Street and Wisconsin Avenue, not far from the state capitol.  Over the years the school expanded as did the student population.  In 1893 the school played its first football game, as noted in my blog on early football teams…NOTES ON SOME EARLY FOOTBALL PROGRAMS…PART 1 (wihifootball.com).  In 1894 the school had 354 young people attending classes.  Madison may have been a town/city of about 15,000 people but it could still be considered a large farming community despite it being the Wisconsin capitol.  Kids from all over attended school there.  Also noted in the above blogs the school had a powerhouse football and other sports program.  After posting a series of successful seasons (1893 3-0-0, 1894 7-1-0, 1895 5-0-0 and 1896 going 5-2-0), things for the Tigers looked bright for the upcoming 1897 season.  Their only two losses in 1896 were to the University of Wisconsin. The team had sent off to the local university several very good players, but they still had a solid core.  The team manager, Joseph Jackson got bold and worked three games against college teams as well as seven high school squads into the schedule.  Remember, the early games in a season were often set up and then the rest of the year was on a week-to-week basis.  Most games were on Saturday but there could be two games during a week.  Most seasons started in October, so it wasn’t unusual to play a December game now and then.  After “Tigers “mauled Oregon HS 32-0 in the season opener the Madison boys destroyed Evansville 50-0.  Now came a game against the University of Wisconsin at Camp Randall.  Though the team lost to the Badgers, against some of their old classmates, they only gave up two touchdowns (Four points each) in an 8-0 loss.  The Badgers were led by 25-year-old All-American fullback/kicker, Pat O'Dea. Next up was a battle with Whitewater Normal that resulted in a 10-10 tie.   The next week they beat a very good Waukesha team 30-0 but suffered several key injuries.

Again, manager Jackson worked a match against the University of Wisconsin, again at Camp Randall, but things turned disastrous as Madison took it on the chin 29-0.  The game was before a remarkable crowd of about 3,000 fans, huge for a high school game at that time but most were probably there to cheer on the University.  Those previous injuries kept several stars out of the game.  The school would have lost but maybe by a lessor margin.  Madison took a week off (Only because Eau Claire High backed out of a scheduled meet which Madison took as a forfeit but later dropped that from their official record) and then they played the top team in Minnesota, Minneapolis South and came away a 14-0 winner.  Things were now back on track. 

They followed up the Minneapolis victory with a victory over a Milwaukee high school, possibly East Side as South Side had cancelled the matchup of the two schools over eligibility issues.  No official record exists in any of the two school s records or newspaper accounts but the game was reported in a December Madison newspaper season account as a win.  Or, maybe, because South cancelled at the last-minute Madison may have called it a win by forfeit but the story is unclear.  As I mentioned above, the Eau Claire game was cancelled but maybe it was with enough notice and not the day of the game.  A possible three other games that season were also cancelled against Watertown, Janesville and Fort Atkinson when those schools voided their initial agreements.  Jackson also tried to get games with Beloit and Rockford (IL) but was unable to secure a suitable play date   Where all these games would have fit in but I’m sure there might have been several two games in a weeks' time.  A solid 22-0 victory against powerhouse Delafield St. John’s Military Academy followed the Milwaukee game and then a game against Elgin (IL) high school that resulted in a 28-0 win. 

The season seemed to be over to the players but not to the ingenious Joe Jackson.  Somehow, he learned of a team back east in New York that claimed to be the top team in the East if not the nation.  So, Jackson made contact with the North Tonawanda school and after multiple telegrams and phone calls he was able to get that school to agree to play Madison. 

NOTE: Moving forward I may occasionally use the initials NT to refer to North Tonawanda.

Now, they needed a place to play and formally set a date.  Jackson’s players were very agreeable to playing one more game for a “National Title”.  Remember, the team had no formal coach.  Jackson, a senior at Madison High School, drew up some plays as did the team captain, left tackle Lucius Donkle, and a few of the other players.  Jackson’s main job was to get games scheduled, get the players to and from the game and settle the game receipts. He was an ingenious young man who later became a manager of his brother, Dr. James Jackson’s medical clinic and a civic leader.

So, here we are, early December 1897.  The game was set up through a third party from the Detroit Athletic Club who offered to host the game on Christmas Day.  North Tonawanda had been proclaimed by the upper New York press as the “Champion of the East”.  Football west of Pittsburgh and the Allegany Mountains was considered to be “backwater, not capable of standing up to the “superior” eastern powers.   

Chicago Tribune, December 9, 1897

With the game set up, all the two teams needed to do was get ready and get to the train station for the trip to Detroit.  On Madison’s side they got help from several UW football players…Harry F. Cochems (An assistant athletic director, student and a back-up member of the Badger football team) and UW freshman Joe Dean (A member of Madison Highs 1894-96 teams) Cochems and Dean worked the team for three hours a day, for the three weeks in the sun, the rain and snow to get the Madison boy’s ready.  Much more about those UW helpers later but first, how did North Tonawanda become known as the best team in the East?  That’s a good question.

 Some of the other early Eastern high school powerhouses:  William Penn Charter (Philadelphia, PA), Germantown Academy (Fort Washington, PA), Haverhill (MA), Salem (MA) and New Briton (Conn) were all some of the top teams in the period 1892-1899 but none were undefeated in 1897.  They all had at least one loss, several with two defeats they weren’t in the mix to be called one of the East’s top team that year.  NT was a regularly powerful team in the upper New York area and they ended the regular season with a 5-0-0 record with multiple games cancelled.  Maybe the press from Erie, Buffalo, Erie and Rochester just pumped the team up and the rest of the region bought in.  Anyway, the game was on schedule.

The matchups of seasonal schedules were:

Today’s players average over 210 pounds but in the 1890’s size mattered a great deal as athletes were smaller in both weight and height.  If you look at the last line of the “Off to Detroit” story you will see that it says the two teams will average 147 pounds.  In reality, North Tonawanda’s squad averaged only 138 pounds while the Madison team was a “heavy” 165.  That size would be a big difference in the game along with the coaching from Dean and Cochems.  Publicity and fans from New York showed their teams red and blue colors around NT’s headquarters, the St. Claire Hotel in downtown Detroit.  Even football fans living in the Detroit area seemed to favor the Eastern squad.  The Lumberjacks seemed to be at ease and freely mingled with their fans. Meanwhile, at the Wayne Hotel, about a mile away the Madison Tigers were keeping things low key and stayed behind closed doors until just before game time.  Their quiet and restrained manner worked well for the pre-game meetings.

The Detroit Athletic Club was formed in 1887 to encourage armature athletics.  They built a large bicycle track and a clubhouse nearby.  The football game would be played on the inner grass area of the quarter-mile track.  There were no grandstands at the time of the championship game.  Located between Woodward Ave., Forest Ave. East, Cass Ave. and Canfield Ave.  The Club would later relocate about two and a half miles closer to the Detroit River and it now is only about two blocks from Comerica Park, home of the Detroit Tigers baseball team.

Christmas morning the sky was clear with temperatures in the low 20’s but it would get to about 30 with no snow in the forecast.  The game was scheduled to start at 2:30pm.  North Tonawanda decided to leave the hotel early by walking and arrived at the Detroit Athletic Club about three miles north at about 11:45am followed by about 30 rooters.  Madison stayed at the St. Claire until close to game time and they didn’t spend a lot of time warming up.  It would be an interesting battle.

Next up, the game and afterwards.

LEADER OF THE EDGAR WILDCATS

Prelude:

Friday night, September 30, 1966, was the start of the of the longest game in state history.  I’ve found teams that played each other twice in the regular season back in the early days of Wisconsin High School football.  The state record book shows that Wauzeka vs. LaFarge on October 9, 1981, and Waukesha South vs. West Bend East on September 5, 2008, all played six overtime periods with each game lasting nearly four hours.  Yet, these are not the longest game (s).

In the third quarter St. Croix Central’s Don Riley picked up a “fumble” that went through the legs of an Elmwood player on a punt.  Riley ran 15-yards for the only score of a scoreless matchup of two undefeated Dunn-St. Croix Conference teams. Central failed to convert the extra point and the score ended 6-0.  The ball appeared to have touched the leg of the Elmwood player and that constitutes a “muff”, something that cannot be advanced because he never had possession of the ball.  After the game one of the officials contacted WIAA official Lew Ansorge for clarification of the rule.  On October 24 the WIAA ruled that the officials were in error and the game needed to be replayed from the point of the muff.

There had been sometimes, previously, when the game, ruled by the WIAA, had to be replayed from the start but this time the game would be played from the middle of the third quarter and moving forward.  William Shay, superintendent of St. Croix Central, had filed a counter protest with the WIAA saying that the Board of Control violated the spirit of the constitution in making a hasty decision.  St. Croix Central’s protest was overturned, and the game was tentatively scheduled for November 3 to be played in Elmwood, where the game from September had started. 

On Thursday, November 3 at 1:45pm the game resumed.  Elmwood, a village of about 750 people, was nearly deserted.  Few cars were on the streets.  It seemed that everyone in town was at the high school football game.  An afternoon game on a Thursday was an unusual time to play.  Many St. Croix students and team fans made the 27 miles to watch the game.  St. Croix Central was undefeated with an overall 7-0-0 record, (6-0-0 in conference play) not counting the earlier battle with Elmwood.  They had just won their second consecutive conference title, but this would be a battle.  Elmwood was 5-2-0 and in second place in the Dunn-St. Croix conference with a 5-1-0 posting.  If Elmwood won, the championship would mean that the two schools actually tied for the title.

First, the game officials had to determine where to place the ball.  It had gone through the legs of the Elmwood punt returner, glanced off of a leg and was picked up on the 15-yard line.  Was it the 22 or the 23-yard line?  Even the two head coaches differed as to where the ball should be placed.  The officials compromised and put it on the 22 ½ and it was St. Croix’s ball. With six minutes remaining in the third period history was being made. Nearly five weeks after the first game it finally resumed.  St. Croix Central drove the distance in seven plays, picking up two first downs as fullback Norm Ross crashed over from the one for the touchdown.  On the try for the extra point Ross was again given the ball but defensive back, junior Jerry Sinz came up and tackled him behind the line and the score stood 6-0.  With less than two minutes left in the final period Elmwood’s quarterback Jeff Fischer tossed the ball to Jeff Nelson who made a fingertip catch between two defenders in the end zone for an Elmwood score. Fullback Jim Bock fought his way over the goal for the extra point and then Elmwood hung on to win 7-6 and a tie for the conference title.

Edgar:

The 1966 game was the first-time defensive back Jerry Sinz got major recognition, but it wouldn’t be the last.  Jerry graduated from Elmwood in 1968 and went on to attend UW-Stout where he was a three-year letterwinner and started at safety and as a punt returner for two years.  Upon graduating in 1972 he took a teaching/coaching position at Edgar, and he’s been there ever since. 

Edgar started playing football in 1962 and after thirteen seasons and five previous head coaches, Edgar offered the position in 1975 to the young coach and he has built a powerhouse.  The first season was a learning process for Sinz, his small staff of assistants and the players as Edgar went 3-6.  A member of the Marawood Conference the Wildcats won the conference title in 1976 and 1977. A sort of down year followed in 1978 (5-4) and then 1979 came along and the team went 12-0 and won the WIAA Division 4 title with an 11-6 win over Iowa-Grant. 

After the 1979 title, things just got better for Edgar and Jerry Sinz.   Through the decades:

What a great record!!!

The first Edgar high school opened in 1909.  The students played intermural sports like basketball and baseball for several years.  In 1926-27 the boys played basketball had their first  official school vs. school competition and they made it to the district tournament and posted an 11-5 season record.  Other sports came along in the 1930’s…boxing, softball, track, volleyball and tennis, to name a few.  But no football until 1962.   Prior to Jerry Sinz taking over as head coach Edgar had only posted a 43-57-1 record (1962-75).

I had a great talk with Coach Sinz back in February.  He said that after being an assistant for three seasons that there had been some talk of the sport being shut down following a combined 5-13 record for 1973-74.  The previous coach had left and Sinz stepped in.  Moral was low among the players and he was determined to turn things around.  It wasn’t an instant success as the team posted a 3-6 season in 1976.  But since then, the program has grown.  

But how has Sinz and Edgar been so successful?  First, he wanted to make things fun for the players.  He began to get the team involved in the community as a way of building relationships.  One of those programs is helping make the community more aware of breast cancer and how to prevent it. Another way that he has been able to build cohesiveness in his squads is trying to get his players to show marked improvement in their on-field performance as well as in the classroom.  He stresses good rest for his players and, with his assistants coaching other sports, build their speed, quickness, agility and strength.  Music is a way to build team spirit in the locker room.  The players love to sing along and mug it up.

Jerry taught math and technical education & engineering until 2014 when he retired.  He interacted with students in the classroom as well as on the football field and spent time as an assistant in both basketball and track.  In building a large coaching staff, eleven people listed in the 2023 WIAA State Championship program (Many of whom are former Edgar players) Sinz’s staff also coach other sports as well.  By doing so, they, under the goals of the football program, mentor their players in staying in good health, build comradery and reaching out to help other students and athletes.   There is no doubt that the interaction of Sinz and his assistants has been crucial in building a program that in the 2023-24 season only had 201 students in the school.   Some schools that have low student numbers like Edgar have moved to 8-player football but not the Wildcats.  The state championship program listed 42 players on the roster, a great accomplishment in school/team involvement.

Coach and I talked about a a number of things. He likes working with new coaches, spends time speaking at clinics and teaching religious classes.  I had asked Bob Hyland of Fond du Lac St. Mary’s Springs a few years ago if he had been approached by other schools to move to different program.  Afterall, he had been having great success and the head coaching spot at Fond du Lac Goodrich High School had become open several times over the years and he said that he had not been officially approached about that job or any other which surprised me.  I asked Coach Sinz the same question and he said there had been a few feelers a while back but he couldn’t see the need to make a jump.  It seems that these two coaches’, who have played against each other a few times over the years in the playoffs simply love the school and the town where they are at.  A good comfort zone.  And why not stay when you have a great coaching staff and students who are proud of what they have accomplished.

Speaking of the Edgar staff, it was Troy Andreshak who responded to my request for some additional school statistical information.  Thanks, Troy.  What he sent was, well, a boat load of material.  Like Patrick Foran at Milwaukee Marquette (See links to that school’s athletic records in my blog… EARLY UPDATES ON THIS SEASON SO FAR (wihifootball.com) and Travis Winkers at Darlington who has built a very good file on that school’s all-time win/loss records as well as some player statistical records, Troy sent me a terrific file on Edgar’s history… Edgar Football Records - Google Sheets.  Then, he followed up several emails on stats that were missing from the state records book.  At this time, I asked if he could intercede and ask Coach Sinz if he would talk to me and I got the positive reply I had hoped for. 

On the football field Troy works with the wide receivers and linebackers.

Another assistant is Andrew Lukasko who I met while visiting my nephew, Eric Kossoris, in Madison after a Badger football game.  Andrew and Eric were both walk-on’s and ended up being roommates.  Again, Andrew and I only spent a few minutes talking about Edgar football but it weas fun.  Andrew is the head wrestling coach as well as an assistant track coach and he is the Special Teams Coordinator and works with the defensive backs and running backs.

The other assistants, and not to be slighted as they do a great job are Greg Streit is the defensive coordinator and works with the linebackers and the offensive line.  Greg teaches technology education as well as being head coach for both the boys and girls track teams.  Chris Trawicki works as the offensive coordinator as well as being the quarterback and defensive back coach. Chris is the Technology Coordinator instructor and serves as the assistant boys’ basketball coach.  Nathan Dahl is a science teacher at the high school and middle school football head coach as well as working with the varsity on the offensive and defensive lines.  Adam Decker works with the offensive and defensive lines and teaches Physical Education.  Earl Rau coaches the quarterbacks and linebackers and teaches high school social studies.  Eric Hafferman and Kaleb Hafferman are volunteer coaches who work with the defensive backs and running backs.  Zach Paul, another volunteer coach, deals with the tight ends/slots and the defensive line.  John Peterlik, the fourth volunteer is the middle school co-head coach and helps with the varsity linebackers and running backs.  The volunteer coaches attend most practices and all games.  Other than Coach Sinz and Coach Streit and the two middle school coaches the others rotate coaching the JV and JV2.  Why mention all this?  Because the coaches also work as a team.  They deal with multiple teams besides the varsity, overlapping responsibilities and work as a unit to develop a strong program in a small community that is proud of what has been accomplished. 

One of the final questions I had for coach Sinz was how much longer will he coach?  He had thought of retiring a few years back but after the 2020 COVID season he decided to stay on.  With 470 career wins is he thinking of going for the magic number, 500?  Two years ago, I wrote a blog about the 1976 Antigo team and their coach, Gordy Schofield who retired with 199 career wins.  Two years before the Antigo story, Dave Keel of Homestead High School retired after 30-years with 292 career wins.  Schofield could have coached one more season to get to 200 and Keel could have coached another as well to get to 300 wins.  When I asked Bob Hyland of St. Mary’s Springs how much longer he was going to coach…he had 493 wins at the time, he said that he was going to retire but his grandson asked that he stay on until 2024 so he, Hyland, could coach him.

Jerry Sinz told me that when it was time it was time.  Like Gordy Schofield and others, it’s not about the numbers but the lessons you teach.  The lives you touch.  Edgar’s Coach Sinz has done that over the years and he and his plyers and assistants have done it well:

49 Seasons/48 Consecutive Winning Seasons (1975-2023)

470 Career Wins   An .836 winning percentage

37 WIAA Playoff Appearances (96-28 Record)

25 Seasons of 10+ Wins

20 Undefeated Regular Seasons

8 WIAA Championships/5-Time Runner-up/Titles in Five              Different Decades

Thanks, coach, for your time.