Early Scoring Records

Back when I was writing my book, The Great Teams, I came upon a story in the Wisconsin State Journal that featured the Madison area 1942 scoring leaders. It was said that Herbert “Herbie” Dobson of Blanchardville's 209 points (On 34 touchdowns and five extra point runs) was the seasonal state record beating Burlington’s Bob “Ding” Barry who, in 1938, scored 130 points on 20 touchdowns and 10 extra point runs.

Was the 209 points that Herbie scored a single season record? As far as I can tell by my research the answer is YES. That total would last 29-years when in 1971 Greg Hermsen of Bloomington crossed the goal line for 33 touchdowns, 20 extra-point kicks and a two-point run for 218 total points. The record of 34 touchdowns wouldn’t be equaled until 1978 when Antigo’s Jerry Schedlbauer also scored 34 times. It took another eight seasons, 1986, before the touchdown total was passed by Beloit Turner’s Travis Talton scored 35 times.

Back in the early days, prior to 1945, not a lot of information was spread around the state by schools or newspapers. Few schools sent out statistical information to papers around the state, only to the local one, if that. Until the 1945 AP All-State team was named not a lot of people knew about players from outside their area. It would appear that someone in Madison somehow got the word on “Ding” Barry. He did score 130 points but the paper failed to hear of Burlington’s Jack Rein, who, in 1940 scored 22 touchdowns for a total of 132 points. So, that would mean Jack Rein really held the record, right? NO, not by a longshot.

What led me to do additional research was a story in the Racine Journal Times from 1949 about Bill Angel of Racine St. Catherine’s setting the state scoring record in 1931. This great player reeled off many long, touchdown runs in leading the Angles to a 7-1-1 record. He scored 18 touchdowns and ran for 13 extra points. AND, he did that in seven games! He was held scoreless in the opening two games and only scored a single extra-point in another game. If you thought that was remarkable, well "Ding" Barry scored his 130 points in only six contests!!! Rein did his in seven games.

Anyway, back to Bill Angel. The Racine paper reported that he beat the record set by Kenosha quarterback, Joe “Babe” Serpe who scored 105 points in 1930. Or was it 94 or 95? You see, the Kenosha News reported that Serpe scored 105 points in 1930 so, to get more information I looked at the 1931 school yearbook. A steady player as a junior but not the star player, “Babe”, played halfback and was the Red Devils number two quarterback as the team posted a 6-2-1 record and was the Big Six Conference champion. By the way, the conference had seven teams in it that year and expanded to eight in 1930 to become the Big Eight. As a senior in 1931 he had a breakout season leading the Red Devils to a 7-1-2 record as they finished in a tie for second place. Five of their games were tight affairs but the other five were blowouts: 33-14 over Madison East, 70-0 over Janesville, 20-6 over a tough Waukegan team, 75-0 romp over Madison West and a sound beating of Racine Washington Park, 52-0. You would have thought Serpe would have scored more than the reported 105 points. But here is where things get murky. While the Kenosha News reported 105 points, the school yearbook says that he scored 94 points. He did set a conference record that year with 94 points but the yearbook story doesn’t take into account the non-conference totals. A later story mentions that he scored 95 points. I looked at the game stat scoring reports from the Kenosha News, the Wisconsin State Journal, The Capitol Times and the Janesville Gazette. No matter how much I looked, I only came up with 99 points scored. Was there a missing touchdown in the game reports? Yes!!

There were some problems in the newspaper stories themselves. While there were great game stories in the papers the recaps often didn’t have the scoring totals. By this, I mean, it listed the roster for all the starters for the two teams and their substitutions but not always a scoring recap. I had to dig deeper and read each story more carefully and then I found the missing touchdown. He had scored the reported 105 points on 15 touchdowns and 15 extra points (14 by kicking). I should note that in 1931, the Racine Journal Times gave the 105-point figure as the goal for Bill Angel to pass with one final game on the season to go. Angel had 101 points by his second to last game and when he scored 20 points against Milwaukee Messmer, Angel surged to a final total of 121 points and a new state single season scoring record. But wait. There’s more.

I thought I would show you the 1930 efforts of Joe Serpe and Bill Angel and give you a brief post- high school story on each.

JOE SERPE…QUARTERBACK

I couldn’t find much about Joe Serpe other than his senior season feats. Joe had a very good passing arm and he used it to great advantage. He did play basketball for the Red Devils. Joe played college ball at Creighton University where he eventually started at the quarterback position. He returned to Kenosha for a time during his sophomore year to mend from a series of injuries and his name is mentioned in later years in the Kenosha News as being part of the Italian-American Society in that city doing charity work and playing such sports as basketball and bowling. But nothing after that could be found.

Here are his 1930 scoring stats along with his touchdown passes:

BILL ANGEL…HALFBACK

Entering his senior season at Racine St. Catherine’s, Bill was a 130-pound gifted athlete. He would earn six varsity letters, three each for football and basketball. Bill and his brother Harold both went to school, played sports and worked at their father Bob’s restaurant, the Beefsteak Inn. Harold was a year behind Bill in school and would make All-Catholic conference as an end in 1931 then move to halfback in 1932 and earn all-conference honors a second time as St. Catherine’s would go 8-0-0. Bill “beefed” up to an official 137-pounds when the season opened. His high school coach was Tom Hearden who directed the Angels to the 1932 Catholic state mythical title and then he would move on and coach at Green Bay East, leading the school to three consecutive overall mythical state titles in 1936, 1937 and 1938. Hearden had a great career including coaching for the Green Bay Packers and landing in the WFCA Hall of Fame.

Bill Angel scored 13 points as a sophomore against Racine College, the only game he played much and scored in that year. In an earlier game, he wasn’t looking where he was running after taking a handoff and collided with one of his teammates and was knocked unconscious. As a junior he scored 12 touchdowns for 72 points and with the 121 as a senior that gave him a career total of 206 points. He had great speed and used it to his advantage. In 1929 against Racine College, he had a 65-yard touchdown run. As a junior he had a 97-yard punt return against Chicago Mt. Carmel as well as a 45-yard td reception, a 90-yard kickoff return against Milwaukee Washington, an 87-yard reception (Short pass, at least 80 yards were the run after the catch) vs. Milwaukee Lincoln and a 70-yard td run against Chicago St. Ignatius. In the game against Milwaukee St. John’s Cathedral Bill scored on a 85-yard punt return and a 50-yard interception return.

His senior year was even more spectacular with 45-yard and 35-yard runs and a 52-yard reception against St. John’s Cathedral, a 70-yard non-touchdown run against Milwaukee Lincoln, a 60-yard touchdown run against Hammond, IN. Catholic Central, a 40-yard punt return for a score against Pio Nono as well as a 73-yard touchdown in that same game and against Boy’s Tech Bill hauled in a 40-yard scoring pass. I would like to note that almost no individual rushing totals were kept at this time but it was reported that with the 70-yard run against Milwaukee Lincoln, Angel had 180 total-yards rushing in the game. His 74 points that he scored in four conference games stood as a record until1948 when St. Catherine’s Jim Feest scored 85 points in six conference games. In fact, Bill scored more points and had more touchdowns than the other four Catholic Conference teams combined in league play.

Despite his scoring records and the fact that that many college backs didn’t weigh much more than 160- pounds, schools didn’t come calling on Bill for his services. It was the Depression and Bill was able to get a job with Western Printing in Kenosha and he then played for one season on the company football team as a semi-professional. In 1932 Bill took up golf and for many years into his 60’s he played around the state in tournaments and often was the champion. He left Western in 1947 and he founded his own printing company, Angel Lithographing, retiring in 1984. Bill died in 1998 at the age of 85. Here is his senior season scoring stats:

Well, that covers 1930-31 but what about the supposed record by the two guys from Burlington, Barry and Rein, before Dobson’s huge effort in 1942? It took a lot of digging to confirm Barry and Rein’s scoring stats and even though the Journal Times often had special pages for news happening in the western part of Racine County not all the games were reported and the sports stories didn’t seem to be written by the main sports department writers. So, unless you lived in the city of Racine and read the news for Burlington, Rochester and the other small towns in the outer reaches of the county, you wouldn’t have been aware of their feats.

A few years ago I added a seasonal leaders list to my state records (Found on the WFCA website at State Records (wifca.org) ) and while they are far from complete in the years before 1938 I have some scoring records going back to 1916. Rollie Williams of Edgerton scored 23 touchdowns and ran for 12 extra points to post 150 total points that year. Individual scoring records before that are VERY sketchy before then so that’s where I started the list. Two years later Superior sophomore John “Bone” Hancock totaled a record 26 touchdowns and 21 extra points for 177 total points. The touchdowns scored and the 177-point total would last until 1942 when Dobson crushed the record. In fact, he beat William’s record in each of his three seasons at Superior, scoring 153 points as a junior and 155 as a senior.

As stated, there wasn’t an organized effort to collect records around the state so things were missed by the press. In fact, Hancock would set the state career scoring record of 486 points (73 touchdowns and 47 extra points) that would last until 1982 when De Forest’s Scott Reinert matched that total 486 points in his career (66 touchdowns, 81 extra-point kicks, three two-point runs and a field goal). Hancock’s 73 touchdowns would remain a state standard until a few seasons later when Marinette’s Jeff Messenger would pass the mark in 1989 with 78 career scores. Hancock’s seasonal and career records weren’t even printed in the Superior Telegram. The paper only shared game stats and there weren’t any post season team recaps.

Let’s move on though. Now remember that the Wisconsin State Journal said Dobson beat Burlington’s “Ding” Barry’s 130-point record but besides missing Jack Rein’s 132 points from 1940 they also missed the 143 points scored by Milwaukee Washington star player Pat Harder in 1939. And, all the while Harder was playing for the UW Badgers at the time the Dobson story was written.

Herbie Dobson’s game-by game scoring feats for 1942 are in my book, The Great Teams. I’m sure there are others that need to be added to my seasonal scoring or even the passing, rushing and the two receiving lists (Receptions and yards) and if you know of any, pass that info along. Thanks.

Player of the Year: 1903-1944

In June, I wrote about the Players of the Year for 1945-1965 and I promised a list for the very early years, 1900-1944. After a lot of research I have come up with a list for 1903-1944. I spent a lot of time looking for possible players to nominate but some years have empty slots. Several years have a back but no lineman or vice versa. There are some interesting picks and in the case of some players I could have mentioned them for multiple years just as I did for 1962 and 1963 when I named Rocky Bleier of Appleton Xavier as the top back or lineman. In fact, I did name one player as the Back of the Year three times!! That was John “Ronc” or “Bone” Hancock of Superior, 1918-1920. It’s true, I have him in a tie with another senior in 1920, Jim Crowley of Green Bay East. The accomplishments that the two performed made it impossible to just pick one. Crowley would go on to star in the Four Horsemen backfield at Notre Dame, earn All-America honors and have a successful coaching career. Hancock was converted to a tackle at Iowa where he earned All-Big 10 as a senior. He moved into coaching and in 1936, while head football coach at Colorado State Teachers College (Now Colorado State University) he also coached wrestling and started the state wrestling championships. He is called the “Father of Colorado Wrestling”. While they both had Hall of Fame honors, what Crowley and Hancock did at the high school level is why they are on my list.

Hancock would set career scoring records that would last until 1982 when De Forests' Scott Reinhart would score one more point, 486, to Hancock’s 485. That’s 62 years that he held the record!! Reinhart would score 66 touchdowns and kick 81 extra points, one field goal and run for three two-point conversions in his career. “Ronc’ scored a record 73 career touchdowns (In addition to 47 extra points) and that record lasted until 1989 when the great Jeff Messenger of Marinette scored 78.

You can ask about my start date, 1903. Why that year? That was the first season I could find a reasonable candidate, Eau Claire’s Len Roseth. There were years I couldn’t make a Sophie’s choice. Between 1904 and 1908 it was hard to find a worthy POY. I just did my best. So, here it is. Look it over. I know there are gaps. But I hope you enjoy it.

YEAR PLAYER SCHOOL POSITION

1903 Len Roseth Eau Claire Back

1903 Line

1904 Back

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1905 Back

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1906 Back

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1907 Ralph Fletcher Delafield St.John's Back

1907 Line

1908 Back

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1909 Gus Dorais Chippewa Falls Back

1909 Richard "Jab" Murray Marinette Line

1910 Back

1910 Richard "Jab" Murray Marinette Line

1910 Howard "Cub" Buck Eau Claire Line

1910 Arlie Mucks Oshkosh Line

1911 Back

1911 Arlie Mucks Oshkosh Line

1912 Eber Simpson Oshkosh Back

1912 Line

1913 Hank Gallo Milwaukee South Back

1913 Raymond "Tubby" Keeler La Crosse Line

1914 Walter "Willie" Reget La Crosse Back

1914 Howard "Whitey" Woodin Ft. Atkinson Line

1915 Walter "Willie" Reget La Crosse Back

1915 Clinton "Bud" Miller Milwaukee East Line

1916 Rollie Williams Edgerton Back

1916 Line

1917 Back

1917 Arnold Peters Marinette Line

1918 John "Bone"/"Ronc" Hancock Superior Back

1918 Howard "Harry" Woodin Delafield St.John's Line

1919 John "Bone"/"Ronc" Hancock Superior Back

1919 Line

1920 John "Bone"/"Ronc" Hancock Superior Back

1920 Jim Crowley Green Bay East Back

1920 Line

1921 Back

1921 Line

1922 Back

1922 Clarence Barofsky Marinette Line

1923 Einer Lund Marinette Back

1923 Line

1924 David Zuidmuller Green Bay East Back

1924 Line

1925 Back

1925 Line

1926 Back

1926 Milt Garterbern La Crosse Line

1927 Arnie Herber Green Bay West Back

1927 Chester "Swede" Johnson Appleton Back

1927 Jack Riley Delafield St.John's Line

1928 John "Bull" Dohring Milwaukee West Back

1928 Art Krueger Milwaukee Riverside Line

1929 Back

1929 Champ Siebold Oshkosh Line

1930 Francis "Pug" Lund Rice Lake Back

1930 Milt Trost Milwaukee Washington Line

1931 Billy Angel Racine St. Catherine's Back

1931 Alphonse "Tuffy" Lemans Superior EasT Back

1931 Line

1932 Eddie Jankowski Milwaukee Riverside Back

1932 Line

1933 Arnie Hanson Eau Claire Back

1933 Ray Bulvid Port Washington Back

1933 Line

1934 Howie Weiss Ft. Atkinson Back

1934 Line

1935 Back

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1936 Irv Comp Milwaukee Bay View Back

1936 Line

1937 Back

1937 Dave Schreiner Lancaster Line

1938 Back

1938 Line

1939 Pat Harder Milwaukee Washington Back

1939 Paul Hinnbrunner Darlington Line

1940 Elroy "Crazey Legs" Hirsch Wausau Back

1940 Line

1941 Paul Romano Madison Central Back

1941 John Strzykaski Milwaukee South Line

1942 Roger Trotter Wausau Back

1942 Line

1943 Earl "Jug" Girard Marinette Back

1943 Line

1944 Stan Heath Shorewood Back

1944 Line

Several other notes: As mentioned last time, Arnie Hanson was the POY as a back for Eau Claire in 1933, playing as a halfback. In 1961 his son Dick earned High School All-America honors as the quarterback for Eau Claire Memorial and was POY as a back.

For 1914 Howard “Whitey” Wooden of Ft. Atkinson is the lineman POY. A freshman starter and member of the great 1911 Fort team that went undefeated, untied and unscored upon, Wooden was earning notices from around the state at age 15. He went on to play for Marquette and was one of the original members of the Green Bay Packers Ring of Honor. Four years later Howard “Harry” Wooden of Delafield St. John’s Military Academy is my pick for the 1918 lineman POY. He also went on to play for Marquette and started for a while until injuries forced him to give the sport up.

Speaking of linemen, stepping back a few years before “Whitey” Wooden in 1909 Richard “Jab” Murray of Marinette was considered the top lineman in the state as a junior. The next season, 1910, he had competition as the only time three players for the same position are named as lineman Player of the Year. Murray repeated as a senior but two others were so good they earned the POY honors as well. Howard “Cub” Buck from Eau Claire was the best in the northwest while junior Arlie Mucks of Oshkosh is also named here. Mucks would hold the sole POY lineman spot as a senior in 1911.

So much praise was heaped on John Strzykalski of Milwaukee South that I could have named him as the only player of the year for both as a back and as a lineman (Linebacker) for 1941. Known as a great power runner who threw the ball well, he led the Milwaukee City Conference in touchdown passes and scoring. He was also noted as a devastating, bone crushing tackler. He was a well sought after player by the colleges. As good as he was as a back I did pick Paul Romano of Madison Central as the top back, the Big Eight conference leading scorer and for leading Central to an undefeated season.

If you have any other suggestions or wish to challenge my list with other names feel free to pass the names on. Thanks.

1967 Oconomowoc - An Unexpected Season

After an average 4-4-0 season in 1966, Oconomowoc changed head coaches as the former coach, Ralph Lonergan, had moved on to a college job in Illinois. Moving up from an assistant's position, Ed Rux took over the helm of the Conney program. After losing five All-Little Ten conference players even Rux was wondering how the team would do. The “Purple Reign” (Another nick name for the team) would surprise even themselves with an impressive 8-0-0 record.

In 1966 the team was good in the sense that they had talent but it took a change in head coaching to change the 1967 team from thinking modestly and gaining confidence. Rux had two assistants, Gale Douglas and Dave Thomas and together they instilled pride and the confidence that the team had been lacking. As sports editor Mark Hutchinson of the Waukesha Freeman and the Oconomowoc Enterprise said in a 2013 story, many players still wondered then what would have happened if the team had made the WIAA playoffs. Those playoffs were still eight years away and the requirements to be one of the four teams chosen to play in the first three divisional games was quite stringent but those members of the 1967 team were confident they could have been state champions.

The coaches had worked the team hard and the players came through. Rux told a writer for the Freeman that the team may have had 11 letterman back but depth was a problem. They had average speed in the backfield and good, average speed on the line. Some of his players lacked size like returning letterman Larry Manne who was only 135 pounds. He may have been undersized but he was a hitter. Returning all-conference linebacker Jerry Flach was returning as was 245 pound two-way tackle Bill Tweeden. Rux picked West Bend to win the southern division of the Little Ten Conference and Watertown to be the No. 2 team with Oconomowoc in the middle of the pack.

The season opener was against Milwaukee Don Bosco, a traditional Catholic Conference title contender. For several years Don Bosco had been the season opening game for the Racoons. While Bosco was not a huge school they more than held their own against the bigger Catholic schools, Marquette, Pius, Racine St. Catherine’s and Messmer. Don Bosco would merge with Pio Nono in 1972 to form St. Thomas More High School. Oconomowoc had never beaten Don Bosco although in recent seasons they had played to 7-7 and 13-13 ties This game was just as close and after a Bob Cicenas 18-yard run in the first quarter. It took an extra point by Roger Jaeger to earn the squad their first win. This was a confidence builder to say the least for the team. As stated, the team lacked depth and only 13-players for Oconomowoc made it onto the field of play, but play hard they did. Not only was Jaeger’s foot the difference in the scoring, so was his line play as the 210 pound tackle spent much of his time on defense in the Don Bosco backfield where he tossed the opposing quarterback three times for big losses. Jim Zatrow also harassed their opponent by having nine solo tackles and four assists, stopping Bosco several times on key plays. The Dons were considered to be contenders for their conference title and would be the Catholic Conference champs as they posted an overall 7-1-0 season record and a 6-0-0 total in conference play. But, the Coons showed their fans who was better and the victory got the team off to a great start.

Even though the Coons had been outgained 139-171 the team was alive and waited for the next weeks opponent, Kettle Moraine. A 1-7-0 team in 1966, the Lasers were to graduate their first senior class in 1968. Coach Norm Bronson told the Freeman that his team would be an “awful lot better” squad in 1967 than in the previous season. Well, they were awful when they faced Oconomowoc, losing 42-0 as seven Cooney players scored six points in the game. The offense got into gear as they outgained Kettle Moraine 336 yards to 48. The defense held the Lasers to a -3 yards on the ground. KM had five first downs in the game and only one of those was in the second half. Roger Jaeger kicked the extra point after each Cooney touchdown. The game was so out of control after the third period coach Rux played his reserves the whole fourth quarter and those players gained more yards than the first team. Oconomowoc had only 25 yards in penalties to 105 for Kettle Moraine. Three quarterbacks were used in the game by the Racoons. Senior Rich Snyder started the game but junior Dan Shaw and sophomore Tom Luby filled in. Luby, in fact, scored the lone fourth quarter touchdown as he bulled his way to the endzone from 26-yards out. The Lasers would finish with a 3-5-0 record. Not awful and better than 1966.

Next up was Waupun and while they had dreams of an upset, the Racoons turned them back 21-0 for their second shutout. Bob Cicenas was the star on offense as he picked up 179 yards on 19 carries and two scores. Jim Zastrow was again the star on defense as he had seven solo and six assisted tackles plus an interception. The first three games were non-conference games and Oconomowoc was tuning up to play conference foe West Bend. Again, the defense did a superb job in stopping their opponent as the Racoons costed to a 24-0 win. Roger Jaeger played very well on the line and was proving himself to be the best blocker in the county. He also kicked three extra points and a field goal from 24-yards out after just missing on a 38 yarder earlier in the game Oconomowoc was in such command that the reserves played much of the second half. On defense, back Steve Bertram had 10 total tackles and two interceptions.

Homecoming against Homestead, a team that would finish in the middle of the pack in the Braveland (Yes, they were in the Braveland back then) Conference was on the horizon. The Highlanders would fall 28-9. Oconomowoc led 28-2 until Homestead finally crossed the goal line in the fourth quarter. Cicenas had 121 yards on 19 carries to lead the offense. Jaeger pitched in with four extra points and a blocked kick that was recovered by Jim Younger which led to a touchdown. The Cooney offense outgained the Highlanders 298 to 144.

The final three conference games were coming up and the team had great expectations. They could feel the wins coming. And win they did as they started off by beating Beaver Dam, 21-6. The usual stars shone bright that game led by Bob Cicenas who picked up 141 yards on 27 carries, two touchdowns, 27 yards on two pass receptions while contributing 10 tackles on defense. He also had punts of 42, 44 and 53 yards in his three attempts. Cicenas wasn’t the whole show. Jim Younger had 19 total tackles and stopped a Beaver player from scoring as he took the guy down on the one yard line. Roger Jaeger was one of several linemen who opened holes for Cicenas as well as continuing his streak of 17 extra-point kicks on the season without a miss. While the Racoons held the edge in total yards, 314-171, they could have had more as two third down touchdown runs, one a 39-yard run by the quarterback Rich Snyder. Offensive end/linebacker Jerry Flach had his best game since the season opener against Don Bosco and Jim Zastrow was praised by coach Rux for his play as well.

You wouldn’t expect that a team with 140 yards in penalties would level an opponent as Oconomowoc did in their 37-6 trouncing of Watertown. They had the large amount of penalty yards but the offense regrouped time and time again and crushed the Goslings as they gained 507 total yards, including 428 yards on the ground. Bob Cisenas again had a great game, picking up 207 yards on 17 carries. He scored once on an 82-yard run. But Bob shared the offensive limelight with Fred Smith who totaled 118 yards on eight carries. He finished with touchdown runs of 44,11 and 38. Smith had missed a lot of time because of injuries but now he was back and healthy. Roger Jaeger made all five extra points and stood out on defense as he tackled the Watertown quarterback for a safety. Up next was Hartford, an undefeated conference foe with a good offense and an equally strong defense.

Oconomowoc destroyed the Hartford Orioles in a great showdown, 14-0. Hartford had the conferenced leading scorer in fullback Dick West who would rush 22 times for 92 yards but not cross the goal line. In fact, Hartford gained only 87 yards on the ground as quarterback Tom Dillon ran and threw for his life. Dillon, who had over 400 yards rushing coming into the game was constantly tossed for a loss but also completed only two passes in 15 attempts with three interceptions. Bob Cisenas gained 113 yards and scored the two Cooney touchdowns. He batted down several passes, sacked Dillon twice and used his foot to punt the Orioles deep into a hole. Oconomowoc gained 224 total yards and had only 45 yards in penalties. Jaeger helped open holes and converted two conversions to make it 27 on the season without a miss. Jim Younger, Jim Zastrow, Tim Murray and Bill Tweeden also did their job on the line. Fred Smith gained enough yards to keep the pressure off Cisenas and returned a punt 42 yards to set up the second score of the game.

The Hartford game ended the season but the team and player honors were just starting to roll in. First, the team was named to the AP press final poll as the #10 ranked squad. Roger Jaeger earned All-Waukesha County as an offensive guard and as a defensive end. Other all-county players were offensive tackle Bill Tweeden, running back Bob Cinenas and defensive lineman Jim Younger. Jim Zastrow, running back Fred Smith and defensive back Steve Bertram earned special mention on the county team with end Jerry Flach earning honorable mention. When the all-conference team was announced Jaeger, Cinenas, Tweeden, Younger, Zastrow, Smith and Bertram all made the squad.

The AP all-state team was presented the last week of November and Jaeger made the first team as a defensive end and second team as an offensive guard. Bob Cinenas was listed in an honorable mention spot. About a week later in December the UPI named their all-state team and Roger Jaeger again was listed on the first team as an offensive guard and Steve Bertram was placed on the second ream as a defensive back. Jaeger who besides making 27 of 27 extra points and a field goal had a blocked kick, a safety and 56 overall tackles. He would go on to play for UW-Madison first as a linebacker then later moved to the guard spot before ending as a tackle. He was also the teams kicker for all three varsity seasons. He went on to coach at Luther College in Decorah, IA for 30+ years. He was recently honored by the school as he was inducted in to their hall of fame. Bob Cinenas gained 950 yards in 145 carries with 10 touchdowns. He attended Georgia Tech but transferred to UW-Milwaukee. He later served as head football coach at Kettle Moraine.

The main person behind all the success was coach Ed Rux, who opened his head coaching career with a bang and would become a WFCA Hall of Famer. For the next 23 seasons Rux directed the Racoon’s to a 207-93-2 record. After his long career at Oconomowoc, where the Racoons played their games in Amory Field, it was renovated and renamed in 2014 the Ed Rux Stadium. An honor well overdue for him. His 1967 team has been long remembered in the Lake Country and those former players still wonder how far they might have gone if there had been football playoffs. Quite far, I think.