THE BANQUET

In my story…“THE GIANTS AT MONROE” AND THE 1909 CHASES FOR THE STATE TITLE…PART 2…I mentioned that with the Brewers in the playoffs vs. the Chicago Cubs it was doubtful that I could make it to Ladysmith on Friday, October 10 for the school’s first Hall of Fame induction.  Thanks to a start time change on Saturday I would have time to make it back fine to make my shift after staying overnight in Ladysmith.

From the start of my entering the front door of the high school I was greeted warmly by Dawn Ohlfs.  She somehow recognized me, even before I walked up to the registration table.  I guess she knew everyone who was coming in and I was a stranger.  Dawn told me I needed to hurry to the cafeteria where dinner was to be served.  She directed a student escort to show me the way and quipped that the guide should point out Bob Davis (A HOF inductee) to me.  The young man admitted that he didn’t know who Bob Davis was and I was left in the room of about 150 people to find my way on my own.  I had emailed both Bob Davis and the event coordinator, Kent Ohlfs (Dawn’s husband), that I could make the event after all but they must have failed to check their messages.  Maybe Dawn had read my email but hadn’t told Kent or Bob.  We were given name badges and so I went from table to table in the room checking others badges until I came upon Bob Davis.  He was surprised to meet me.  We had exchanged a number of emails but being there in person made my evening.  We talked a bit.  He introduced me to Terry Berger, a former LHS teammate and long-term friend.  Terry would introduce Bob during the formal induction.  Bob then directed me to Kent Ohlfs.

It was great meeting.  Kent was very busy dealing with many people concerning the nights events.  We talked for a few minutes and then I looked for a table to sit down for the dinner.  I picked the last empty 8-seater.  Within a few minutes two couples found their way to the table…Ken Buh, Merry Reynolds, LeRoy and Judith Opsal.  They were there to celebrate their friends who were being inducted. We exchanged greetings and I had a great time talking with them.  Somehow, I became a person to meet.  My out of town, first time visit to Ladysmith was drawing some attention.  Bill Mestelle, one of the HOF inductees, came over and we talked a bit.  A moment later Luke Klink, editor of the Ladysmith News approached me.  We talked briefly and then Luke took my picture with me holding a copy of my book.

October 16, 2025, Ladysmith News

There were others who came over to talk.  I was amazed of the attention I was getting.  If you read the above caption below the picture, you will see some mistakes.  Word had gotten around that I had driven from Milwaukee and that I worked for the Brewers which is true.  First, I’m not the statistician for the Brewers.  Mr. Klink was told, incorrectly, by someone, who referred to my record books which are located on the WFCA web page.  I told him that I worked for the Brewers.  It was a funny mix-up, to me, when I saw the story in the paper the next Thursday.  I had taken copies of my two blogs on the 1940’s-60’s teams and spread them around the gathering.  The caption said my stories on Ladysmith were in the book, but they are not.  I had the book to give to Bob and Kent plus I brought a few extra’s along.

October 16, 2025, Ladysmith News

Dinner was served and then those being honored were gathered for a group photo before we all went to the school auditorium for the main event presentations.

October 16, 2025, Ladysmith News

The gathering of the inductees in the auditorium went well, even if some introductions or acceptance speeches went longer than expected but it was fun.  The audience enjoyed the ceremony.  The school decided to honor people from the pre-1970’s for their first HOF class.  The Master of Ceremonies was the voice of the Lumberjacks and Lumberjills was Bob Krejcarek.  He introduced Dr. Jason LeMay, the school Superintendent and Kirk Yudes who is LHS’ Athletic Director and acting Principal.  Then Bob began calling up the individuals, one at a time, who would introduce the first members of the HOF.  One by one the inductees were called up, and they gave their acceptance speeches. Dr. LeMay and Mr. Yudes presented the plaques.  The honorees were:

E. L. Jay was a teacher and coach of football and basketball.  He was at LHS from 1924-55.

J.R. “Buck” Morgan played for Coach Jay in the 1920’s as a center on the football team and stared on the basketball team.  He was the first name on Jay’s list when he was asked to list his all-time best players.

Marshall Brown played four sports…football, basketball, track and field and baseball in the late 1940’s-50.  He later coached football in Bay City Texas and was inducted into the Texas High School Hall of Fame as well as Bay City H.S. HOF.

Roger Harring coached 1958-63 and developed many great players during his stay.  He moved on to Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln H.S. and then on to UW-La Crosse where he posted a 261-75-7 record.  He was one of college’s all-time greats.

Bob Davis, class of 1960, was a great back, earning 3^rd team all-state.  Stared while playing basketball and set the school record in track while tossing the shot.

Tom Mestelle, class of 1963, was a fabulous end who set a Heart of the North conference scoring record in 1962 with 126 points.  He also played basketball, track and baseball.  After staring at UW-La Crosse he went on to coach Ashland High School to the 1984 D-2 title and then coached Superior High School to the 1990 D-1 title.  He also coached girls’ basketball and baseball. Tom is a member of the WFCA HOF.

Frank Poquette, 1965, earned 12 letters (4 in football, 4 in basketball, 3 in track and 1 in baseball).  His senior year in football, Frank was the quarterback but also returned kicks, played defensive back and was a receiver, at times.

Bill Mestelle was Tom’s younger brother who stared in football, lettering four years.  Bill led the state in scoring as a junior in 1964 with 174 points in only 8-games and smashed the conference scoring record.  Named to both the A.P. and the U.P.I. first team squads as well as honorable mention Scholastic Coach Magazine All-American.  Injured for part of his senior year, Bill still scored 85 points and again earned all-state and honorable mention all-America honors.  Bill would earn his college degree and retire as the principal of Hayward High School.

Bruce Stewart was a 1966 LHS graduate who earned 12 letters, four each in football, basketball and baseball.  After stops at Spencer H.S. and Mount Senario College he came back to Ladysmith and coached football and track from 1984-2006.  Bruce is a member of the WFCA HOF.

Dick Nerbun, 1967, won letters in basketball and football but is best remembered for his feats in track and field.  Dick set records in the 120-yard-high hurdles (1967 state champion), earned 4^th place at state in the low hurdles and 4^th place in the long jump.  He also set the school record in the high jump.

Following the ceremonial induction I met with many people.  Two nice individuals were Jim Woelfer, Curator of the Rusk County Historical Society.  He was wearing a Chicago Cubs hat but I smilingly told him “I still liked him” as he was a fan of “the enemy”.    As Jim and I briefly talked up came Linda Krejcarek, wife of Bob who was the Master of Ceremonies asked me for a copy of my book.  Saturday was Bob’s birthday and she wanted one for a gift to give him.  Several others approached me, thanked me for coming and wishing me a safe trip back to Milwaukee.  They hoped the Brewers would win on Saturday.

It was a great time in Ladysmith.  I’m not sure when the school will hold their next induction, but they have a few names picked out.  When they hold their next one, I hope to attend. 

In writing my stories on 1909 Monroe, Athletic Director Eric Jubeck told me that Monroe was moving, in 2026, to a new school and they would create their own HOF soon after.

Finally, I wish to thank Ken Ohlfs and everyone at Ladysmith for their hospitality.

“THE GIANTS AT MONROE” AND THE 1909 CHASES FOR THE STATE TITLE…PART 3

One of the side stories to the Monroe’s 1909 season is that both quarterback Roy Collentine and center Frank Herin went to school at Monroe from 1906 through the winter of 1909-10.  They then quit Monroe and moved to Rockford to play and start on Tommy Mills’ 1910 team.  The Rockford yearbook, entitled “The Annual” lists the two as being juniors on the team roster.  A check of the 1912 yearbook does not list them so they may have graduated following the fall, 1910 year.  According to the story in the 1973 Monroe paper, this was common for students to only go to school in the fall, dropping out and then returning the next fall.  This is sort of news to me.  However, the only other regular instances of students graduating in December that I found was when I researched the 1940’s Milwaukee Washington yearbooks and a few students from various schools who were of age, joining the military service during World War II.

The 1973 Monroe Evening Times newspaper story also makes mention of Roy Collentine throwing a pass to Frank Davis for the first completion in the school’s history.  That was when the two were sophomores in 1907.  It isn’t noted if Davis was playing tackle or end.  In this era the ball had to go 10-yards past thew line of scrimmage to be considered a legal pass completion.  In those days it was also somewhat common for a lineman to take a reverse pitch or handoff and run the ball.  Davis was one such a player who did this and did it well when called upon. 

In my book, “The Great Teams” I mentioned that one of the state’s early 1900’s great athletes, tackle Arle Mucks. A true giant, 6’4.5, 250 pounds, from Oshkosh (1908-12) often ran the ball and scored a few touchdowns in his career.  Mucks was a four-time All-State player in football, stared while playing basketball and baseball and set the state record for throwing the shot and the discus.  In the 1912 he became America’s high schooler to compete in the Olympics, finishing sixth in the discus.

I don’t have information on any of the players after 1909 other than the two who moved to Rockford except for a postscript, submitted by Bob Davis on his grandfather, Frank.  Bob’s great-grandfather father owned a 700-acre dairy farm south of Monroe.  It was a surprise to the family that Frank was allowed to play football, owing to his farm duties. Despite his one word of "Thanks" at the post season banquet Frank became a successful business owner selling appliances as well as farm equipment.  He developed the “gift of gab”.  He also served on the city council.  In 1939, as he was preparing to run for mayor he died from an infected appendix. 

Finally:

There are many people I want to thank for helping gather the information in these stories relating to Monroe.

First, Bob Davis of the Ladysmith HOF.  Without his alerting me to the story of 1909 it may have taken a long time for me to find out about the team.

I had great help from several librarians:

Susan Holland, Library Director of the Monroe Public Library.  Thanks for sending me the file of the 1973 newspaper with a clearer picture of the story on the 1909 team.  This made the series much more possible.

 Heather Johnson at Sterling (IL) High School library who helped me find a link to old yearbooks and newspapers for Sterling when the reference desk at the public library could not even though it is available on the local library web page.  I thanked Heather several times while she navigated me through the site and her reply was “Your welcome.  This is what librarians do.  Help”.

Jan Thompson of the L.E. Phillips Memorial Public Library in Eau Claire who helped verify the opponent of the one game that the 1909 Eau Claire football team lost.  It was a tough search since the online newspaper made it difficult to verify.  I thought that they had lost to Marinette, and they did, but I couldn’t find out for sure in all of my records.

Amber Kresol, Gardenia Pacheco and Lorene Kennard of the Rockford Public Library who all helped find yearbook information on the 1910 Rockford High School football team.

And to Eric Jubeck, Athletic Director at Monroe High School, who hooked me up with a link to older yearbooks starting with 1936 through 2024.  These appear to be the oldest available yearbooks.  He noted that when they move to the new high school next year that the Cheesemakers will also be starting an Athletic Hall of Fame.

As I said at the beginning of these stories, I’m sorry it took so long to get here but I hope it was worth it to you, the reader.  And yes, I could go on, but it would be more of a national, rather than Wisconsin, football history of the era.

“THE GIANTS AT MONROE” AND THE 1909 CHASES FOR THE STATE TITLE…PART 2

Last spring (2025) I received notice that Ladysmith High was going to begin an Athletic Hall of Fame and I was invited to attend the banquet to be held on Friday October 10 with the homecoming game to follow the next day.  First, I have never been to Ladysmith nor, until I wrote a stories about the 1940’S-1960’S teams…HEART OF THE NORTH…LADYSMITH…PART 1 and HEART OF THE NORTH…LADYSMITH…PART 2 

I had never talked to anyone from the town.  Maybe the stories helped get the ball rolling for the HOF.  Second, I have never been invited to a HOF dinner and I was excited.  I put the date on my calendar.  However, I work part-time for the Milwaukee Brewers and I had to tell the people at Ladysmith that if the Brewers made it deeper than the first round of the playoffs I couldn’t attend. As time for the banquet grows closer, I was made aware of the grandfather of Bob Davis, Frank.  Bob, who earned honorable mention All-State in 1959 at Ladysmith and who will be inducted into the first HOF class there wrote that the 1909 Monroe team was a very strong squad and I should look into things.  Bob sent me photo copy of a page from the October 13, 1973 edition of The Monroe Evening Times.  It was in very poor condition.  A hard to read and slightly crumpled and, in my view, fading photo. 

Since it was hard to read, I decided to take a day trip from Milwaukee to Monroe to look at microfilm at the public library.  Upon my arrival I found that the microfilm for that period of 1973 had been sent off for repair.  Yearbooks at the public library, the high school and the county historical society for 1910 (Covering the 1909 team) are not available.  So, I had to wait for the film to be returned and repaired.  I was told it may be weeks so I put this potential story on hold.  While at the public library, I looked at the 1909 Evening Times editions and found very little in the way of game reports on the team.  Some scores weren’t even reported.

Suddenly, four days later I received a pdf. file from the library.  It was crystal clear and has proved to be a big help.  I had found in the 1909 editions of The Evening Times there were only had four small game stories until a final December recap. 

 October 13, 1973 The Monroe Evening Times

It was strange that I found little local information in the 1909 newspapers but the 1973 story filled in a little bit of the season and also had some misinformation.  The above picture was taken by a E.H. Gloege.  Where the 1973 paper obtained the picture is a mystery to me as previously stated, the libraries, public or high school nor the local historical society had not a thing on the 1909 team.  I looked into mid-December of the 1909 newspaper and didn’t find the photo.

Next, the 1973 news story stated that they played eight games and scored 418 points.  They actually played nine games and scored 399 points.

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The above schedule is taken from a very late November edition of The Evening Times (I didn’t record the date) and you will note that there is a mistake in the Madison score.  The Capitol city high school actually scored 12 points not the two that is on the scoring schedule but is correctly noted in the brief story that the team allowed only 18 points overall on the year.  That’s an average of scoring 44.33 points per game and allowing only 2.0 points a contest.  BUT note that they scored the 399 in the next seven games after they had been shutout in the first two.  So, when the team could put points on the board in those seven games, they averaged 57.0 points!

The above schedule also lists that they played Delavan, but it wasn’t the local high school but rather the Delavan School for the Deaf.  That team had to use hand signals to “call” the plays.  Also, one of the stories I did find on Monroe was trhe game against “the Dummies”.  A derogatory reference to the boys with hearing problems but, well, that was ok in those days, I guess, but certainly not acceptable today. 

The usual starting Monroe team roster was: 

Center, Frank “Muzz” Haren, right guard Carl “Plug” Ruegger, right tackle Frank “Slim "Davis who was also the team captain, right end Alfred Chilson, left guard Ben Preston, left tackle Harry “Monk” Stauffacher, left end Andrew Trickle, quarterback Roy “Nick” Collentine, right halfback Clarence Trickle, left halfback Harold B. Caradine and fullback Hoy Clayton.  Of the 15 players shown in the team picture only 12 officially earned “M’s” for their school sweaters, according to a short story in the Evening Times.  The other letter winner in that brief note was listed as Clarence Baltzer.  Since the other players in the photo have “M’s” they also must have been awarded the letter later. 

This a lineup from The Beloit Daily Free Press, October 11, 1909. The only lineup I could find.  If you compare the lineup to the afore mentioned starters that some players switched positions…Spauffacher (Mis-spelled Sauffacher) moved from fullback to left tackle.  Yes, only 10 players from each side are listed. Another misprint.  The right end list for Monroe, last name Pergl.  No left end is listed. Since the 1973 article had one of the players is listed as "unknown”, this maybe he.  Again, no yearbook to check.  Unfortunately, the Beloit newspaper story didn’t give any meaty details, just like the Monroe edition.  One other point in the story was that Monroe was champion of four states...Wisconsin and three others. Well, that's not true. They didn't win the Wisconsin state title. They did beat Sterling (IL) which was considered the Western Illinois state Champion. They defeated Danville, champ of downstate Illinois and they defeated both Moline and Rock Island, both of whom defeated Davenport (IA) the 1908 Iowa champion

The Evening Times did have one tid-bit.  Frank Davis was the team's kicker…punting, kicking off and extra points.  If you figure that Monroe scored six touchdowns, at that time they were worth five points, then Davis possibly converted on two of those point after attempts.  Later, in the other story reports, Davis was mentioned as the kicker.  Not having scoring information, it is hard to tell how many team touchdowns, extra points and field goals were actually scored.  I can only estimate that 68 touchdowns were made by the team and 59 extra points possibly kicked.  Did Davis kick 13 extra points against Lake Mills and 59 on the season? I haven’t included possible field goals.  BUT these are only estimates. My numbers are just conjecture.  

One other thing stuck out in looking at the schedule.  The 103 points against Lake Mills was not in my state records lists and so it has been added.

Since the Cheesemakers were out of final contention for the state title, the team scheduled a Thanksgiving Day game against Sterling Illinois.  Several schools in Illinois, like Wisconsin, claimed the state title.  Sterling made a similar claim even though they lost 5-0 in the serason opener to Rockford.  Later in the season, after Sterling beat Rock Island 22-0, Rock Island turned things around and beat Rockford 5-0.  Sterling then beat Danville, considered by many as the best team in downstate Illinois, 42-9.  East Aurora also had a very good team but the class of the state was Chicago Engelwood which went 11-0-0 and is listed in a WIKI page as the 1909 Mythical Champion… High school football national championships - Wikipedia.

While WIKI doesn’t have the actual season record (11-0-0), in another file that I found online about 15 years ago.  No author credited.  The Excel file has game-by-game scores of all the proclaimed Mythical National Champions from 1897.  Englewood faced some tough opponents and deserved to be #1 in Illinois and the country.  Tim Hudak, who is the author of “All the Way To #1” which is about most of the teams listed in the WIKI story, agrees that Englewood was the best. It’s a big book but a good read on football history.  Tim is also the creator of the Ohio High School football record book and is national known by us high school football history geeks.  

Sterling played some tough competition and after the season opening loss to Rockford, they reeled off eight consecutive wins against generally tough central/western Illinois teams.  Two wins were against Dixon College and De Kalb Normal (Now called Northern Illinois University).  This was truly a very good team but so was Monroe and when the two met in late November it was the size of their Wisconsin opponent and in truth, better coaching.  Most teams average weight was around 145-160 pounds.  Monroes opponent Lake Mills had two “giants” who stood 6’0 and weighed 190 pounds.  But the team’s average weight was only 150.  The largest player for Chippewa Falls was left tackle Nate De Long who was a massive 5’10, 170.  The team’s weight averaged only 152.45 with ends Will Velte (135) and Robert Wiley (138). Quarterback Gus Dorais’ weight was usually reported as 140 but some papers had him at 130.

So, when Sterling stepped onto the Monroe football field that Thanksgiving Day, they were facing an opponent that averaged 175 pounds!  HUGE.   One of them was 250-pound tackle Frank "Slim" Davis. Sterling went to Monroe after being offered the princely sum of $50.00 to play the Cheesemakers.  Despite having a great season, the team ended $30.00 in debt and couldn’t afford to give the players a letter sweater.  The Sterling yearbook said that the team was out of shape, not having practiced for a few weeks.  The Monroe field was made of mud and slush from snow that had to be shoveled in order to play.  Sterling’s team averaged 145 pounds and the weight difference showed.  Early on the two starting ends for the visitors were hurt and couldn’t continue playing with broken ribs.  Monroe dominated, winning 61-0.  Sterling had scored 275 points in their next eight games following the shutout issued by Rockford and had allowed only 40 points prior to losing to Monroe. 

Monroe ended with a very respectful 7-1-1 and the big story in the local paper was about the banquet the school and town gave the team.  Many local dignitaries (The mayor, councilmen, the coach) spoke and then team captain, Frank Davis was asked to say a few words.  And he did.  “Thanks” was all he could muster.  Stepping up after Davis was Roy Collentine who said a few more words: “We aren’t afraid to play any team in the U.S.A.”  The audience rose to their feet with great applause and the dinner was over.

I haven’t mentioned the Monroe coach.  His name was Tommy Mills, born in Beloit in 1883, and a graduate of Beloit College.  Mills had been a star halfback for the college. He had been living in Rockford prior to the 19o9 season and only coached the one year at Monroe.   He would move back to Rockford and become the head coach at Rockford High School for the 1910 season, guiding the team to an 8-0-0 record and a claim to the state title.  However, Oak Park is considered by experts to be the Illinois and National Champions with a 10-2 record.  Their two losses were to adult athletic clubs and they played Portland (OR) Washington, the top team west of the Mississippi River, for the national championship.  Interestingly, in 1910 Rockford beat Chicago Englewood, the 1909 champion, 35-0.

Mills would move on to Omaha where he would coach Creighton Prep High School and Creighton University in football and basketball.  He would have coaching tenures at Beloit College, Georgetown and Arkansas State as head coach for both sports as well as head basketball coach at Notre Dame and working as a football assistant coach to Knute Rockne (1928-1929).  He would later be a sports administrator at Notre Dame where he died of a heart attack in 1944. 

NEXT, FINAL NOTES ON 1909 MONROE AND A BIT MORE.