The Rushing Yardage Race of 1992

After reviewing Hillsboro's Dick Barbour's record setting 1970, I was reviewing the progression of the state single season rushing record. In doing so, I had to dig back into my files for game-by-game stats on the two star running backs of 1992, Owen-Withe's Nathan Harms and Elk Mound's Jake Morris. The two would both run for more than Steve Hougum's previous record of 2,616 yards, set in 1986, and it was a great fight for the state rushing record. Would Morris hold the record only to see Harms take it away from him? The season was a see-saw battle.

The big question that I needed to answer by digging back through game-by-game stats was not if Nathan Harms had broken Hougum's record but who broke it first, Harms or Morris. In my last post, I listed the progression of the state single season rushing record. Until Hougum, all of those people had set the record in just 8-9 games of regular season play without the advantage of the playoffs.

When the 1992 season started, Jake Morris was a marked man. He had led the state in rushing as a junior, gained 2,593 yards as a two-year starter and his freshman season as a sub. He had also scored 38 touchdowns. At 5'11", 200 pounds he was a speedster who had great moves as he negotiated the open field. Nathan Harms, standing 6'0" and weighing 185 pounds was more of a power back with good speed. Harms had totaled only 423 yards and scored 7 touchdowns in previous seasons.

Westby's Steve Hougum had broken the season yardage total set in 1970 by Barbour in 12 games. The WIAA had expanded the playoffs and it wouldn't be until the next season, 1987, that there would be more teams added to each division and the champions would play 13 games. It was in the playoffs that Hougum really excelled. Having 1,801 yards in the nine-game regular season, he tore through his playoff opponents. In the opening round he took the opening kickoff back 81-yards to put his team ahead but it was a battle even after Westby led 21-0 going into the second quarter. Dodgeville stormed back and it was 28-28 a the end of three quarters and it remained that way through regulation. Westby's Heath Meyer, a 1400+ rusher on the season for the Norsemen scored the deciding touchdown in overtime for a 34-28 win. Hougum added 154 yards to his total to put him at 1,955.

Next up was Beloit Turner and they fell 28-17 as Hougum passed Barbour for the single season rushing record by gaining 297 yards on 34 carries. This game him 2,252 yards in one season, 16 more than the old season record but in 11 games. The state title pitted Westby against Stanley-Boyd and Hougum set a state title record for all divisions by running for an incredible 362 yards. He only scored one touchdown, that was on the first play of the game as he ran 75 yards to the goal line. The game total gave him a season of 295 carries for 2,616 yards and 26 touchdowns. He had 2,116 yards and 29 touchdowns as a junior to become the first Wisconsin player to gain 2,000+ yards twice. He was all-state as a junior and the AP Player of the Year for 1986.

In 1992, the lead between Harms and Morris changed hands many times during the season. In the end, they both topped Steve Hougum's 1986 season total but fell short of beating Dick Barbour's per game average as each player led their team to the state championship with Owen-Withee beating Hilbert in the D6 game (16-14) while Elk Mound fell for the third time in four seasons in the D5 title matchup to Edgar (14-7). The Mounders lost in 1989 to Hilbert and to Darlington in 1990. In a four season stretch with Jake Morris on the team, Elk Mound went 12-1, 12-1, 10-1 and 12-1 for a four season total of 46-4. Great by any standard.

Morris took an early lead after two games and stayed close until he overtook Harms again in game seven. Nathan Harms had a 301 yard game in week nine and was pressing Morris hard. Then came game eleven and he surged ahead for good. Jake had 2,600 yards after game twelve but that was less than Hougum's 2,616 1986 total. Meanwhile, Nathan surged to 2,698 yards in twelve games as he surpassed the former record holder. Neither had a breakout game in the state finals like Hougum but they played well. So, did Morris hold the season record even for just one day? No. Harms and the Owen-Withee Blackhawks played the day before Moris had a chance to show his stuff in the finals. Despite out gaining Harms in the title game, Morris would have had to have a 240 yard game to beat Harms. He was denied that by Edgars great defense that bent a little but overall held him in check, at least more than most of Elk Mound's opponents could.

It should have been easy collecting stats as both players were listed each week in the Eau Clair Leader-Telegram but it turns out that their stats listed in the weekly area leader list were often wrong, even going into the playoffs. I've mentioned before that some stats were incorrectly reported in newspapers because of simple adding errors. This seemed to come up quite often for these two players, especially Harms. The final totals for each player are correct but the game totals varied during the season in the paper because after looking at game film the totals might change and it might not have been reported to the newspaper.

In fact, to this day, the Eau Claire Leader-Telegram insists that Nathan Harms gained 2,799 yards. Back in 2010 I ran across the school's football website and saw they had Harms with 2,820 which is what I had pieced together back in 1995. Coach Laube confirmed the total in an email that he sent to me and I forwarded to the newspaper but got no response. So I have the coach's and school's official total here and in the record book. Having access to computerized stats reporting that was available as early as 2006 by both MaxPreps.com and WisSports.net has made it easier for coaches and stats people to enter and correct team and individual player's totals. Its done on an honor system that teams aren't padding stats information and it seems to work. Until 2006 the online programs that other websites had perfected were not widely used.

Both players would set other state records in their fantastic 1992 seasons.

Nathan Harms

• 2,820 yards on 342 carries and 37 touchdowns (Plus a safety).

• 22 2-point conversion runs, a record that stood until 2019.

• Record of 268 points on the season was ranked then as the third best season total.

Jake Morris

• Scored 49 touchdowns and 1 2-point run for 296 points (A state single season record at the time.)

• Scored seven touchdowns in a single game against Prescott and again against Blair-Taylor. The only player to score seven touchdowns twice in the same season.

• Returned seven of the eight punts kicked to him in 1992 for 449 yards (55.8 average) and a state record seven touchdowns in a season.

• Returned 10 total punts for touchdowns in his career.

• His career 5,447 rushing yards and his career 530 points were state records.

Great performances by both and they had success after high school. Nathan Harms attended UW-Stevens Point where he earned 1st team All-WSUC honors as a senior in 1996. He earned a teaching degree and lives in Waupaca with his family, according to his former coach, Terry Laube. Nathan is also an assistant football coach for Waupaca High School (Thanks for the heads up Terry).

Jake Morris's career took him to North Dakota State University where he had an interesting football career. He redshirted as a freshman and went on to earn all-conference honors the next season. He tore his ACL as a junior and was told he would never play again but he spent the year getting into great shape and in 1996 he returned to the field and set school records by rushing for 1,865 yards and earning Little All-America honors. He ended up gaining3,843 career yards. Jake then had a two-day tryout with the Packers but was cut. Two weeks later his agent called him with an offer from the Detroit Lions that listed three weeks. He returned to Fargo and got his degree in pharmacy.

1992 was a great year for the two running backs. Jake Morris was named State Player of the Year and Nathan Harms joined him on the first team squad. But what about their coaches?

I mentioned Terry Laube of the Owen-Withee Blackhawks. He's still there after winning the 1992, 1999 and the 2014 state titles and he has posted a 192-135 career record. He still coaches and has outside business interests. Terry is a member of the WFCA Hall of Fame. Likewise, Elk Mounds coach Dan Pederson put in some long years at the school. He is also part of the WFCA Hall of Fame having posted a 261-128 career record at the school. He was recently named to the National High School Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

There you have it. The race for the state rushing record and season title for 1992. But there is one more aspect to the record. In 1998, Luke Hagel of Random Lake nearly broke the single season rushing mark. You see, he had 2,652 yards and scored 301 points on the season, in 12 games. As a junior he had 2,139 yards and scored a single season total of 317 points, also in 12 games. His team played a total of 13 games in 1998 as they made it to the state title game. he was hurt and didn't play game number eight against Oostburg. What if he had the same rushing and scoring totals as he obtained as a junior against Oostburg, a game where he gained 219 yards and put up 35 points on five touchdowns and five extra point kicks? Those totals would certainly have been within reach as his team scored a 32-3 win without him. If you added those 1997 game stats to his 1998 totals he MIGHT have had 2,871 yards along with 336 points. He would have been at the top of the single game rushing list until Adrian Davis came along in 2001.

Dick Barbour - Hillsboro - 1970

Dick Barbour is one of many people profiled in my book but in covering over a hundred years of players, coaches and teams there are many great people that deserve additional recognition. This is the first in what will likely be several posts where I expand on the profiles in my book.

From the book:

“First team all-state and the first Wisconsin player to rush for 2,000 yards in a season. Barbour had a dream senior season as he rushed for 2,238 yards on 236 carries, a 9.5 average per carry and in nine games averaged 248.7 yards. He scored 29 times. In one three game stretch, Dick gained 1,032 yards, 332 against Wonewoc, 367 against New Lisbon and 333 against Brockwood.”

I remembered reading a story about Barbour in the Milwaukee Journal while I was attending Arizona State University. The school library newspaper section was filled with papers from around the country and I was surprised to find not only the Journal but the Waukesha Freeman. The library kept papers for 90 days before tossing them so I asked and was surprised to obtain that edition so I could cut out and save the story. I still have it today. When I returned to Wisconsin, I spent many hours at the State Historical Society in Madison looking up players and teams. I was hooked on record keeping. Working on a microfilm reader it was hard to pin down exact stats for some players. Dick Barbour was a huge challenge.

So I decided to explore more about Dick's senior season online through newspapers dot com and I ran into a lot of the same statistical misinformation about him that I encountered back in 1974-75 at the historical society. No one newspaper, the Madison Capitol Times, the Wisconsin State Journal or the La Crosse Tribune got many of the game stats correct or reported the correct totals. One thing for sure was that he ran for 2,236 yards to become the state's first player to rush for 2,000 yards or more in a single season. He did score 29 touchdowns and ran for eight two-point conversions for a total of 190 points on the year. But the game-by-game stats were a nightmare to figure out. First look at his full season game stats:

All his scoring plays were on runs with 11 plays of over 40 yards. He was listed as a fullback in most stories but other stories said he was the deep back in the I-formation. That was his position as a junior and a sophomore. He didn't play much defense his senior year even though he was all-conference as a junior and earned honorable mention as a sophomore. Those seasons he played both linebacker and defensive back. As a senior he was always on the kick-off team, hanging back to see if a player was breaking through and he would run up to haul the returner down. Barbour had 10.3 speed in the 100 yard dash and could out-run just about anyone. Standing 5'8", 180 as a senior he wasn't imposing but he sure could play. His coach was Tom Anders, just out of college and had played football at La Crosse State (Now UW-La Crosse). He felt that even though Hillsboro was a small school playing in the All-Scenic Central Conference that if Barbour were at a Big 8 or Big Rivers Conference school, he would have gained about 1,500-1,700 yards in much tougher competition.

Coach Anders was from New Lisbon and it was against that school that Barbour scored an "accidental" touchdown. With Hillsboro leading 46-6 in the fourth quarter and after sitting out much of the second half, Dick was sent in with the ball on the HIllsboro 10 yard line. The 'B' team was having trouble moving and holding onto the ball as they had fumbled three times in other series of play. Barbour was supposed to just run the ball out far enough to give the 'B' team some breathing room but on his first carry he broke through and at the 50 he was all alone as he ran by Anders and his teammates urging him on towards a 90 yard touchdown.

Dick Barbour would earn State Back of the Week honors or special mention multiple times during the season and that is where his game stats get mixed up. The AP would write one set of stats and the UPI another total. Either the rushing yardage or the number of carries would differ from the Saturday game stories. Sometime when I forgot his totals back in the 1970s I had to piece together his carries total as some were not mentioned in one paper or another but a later story would have his running total so I would take that and subtract what I had found. In the end the stats worked out as they matched both the UPI and AP and the La Crosse Tribune's All-Coulee Region Teams. By the way, Barbour averaged 9.5 yards per carry and even though the Tribune had the right amount of carries and yards they reported a 9.9 average. Hand calculators had just come out in 1969 or 1970 and I remember my college math teacher insisting on using a slide ruler for tests! Talk about being behind the times.

Dick was the All-Coulee Player of the Year, the UPI Player of the Year and earned second team All-State on the AP press poll. As a junior he rushed for 818 yards and scored 13 touchdowns and 3 extra points while earning all-conference and honorable mention all-state in the AP and UPI polls. Wisconsin State Journal sports writer, Don Lindstrom, called him another Jim Bertelson and hoped the Badgers would sign Dick to a scholarship and not let him get away like they did the great runner from Hudson who went on to play ball for the Texas Longhorns and later in the NFL.

His 184 points in conference play (190 points overall) fell just short of beating 1968 North Crawford star Tom Knoble's 192 point conference scoring record. 1970 was still a great year for Barbour and he ended his career with 4,110 yards on 475 carries, a 8.7 per carry average, 53 touchdowns, and 11 2-pt conversion runs for a total of 340 points. he had a state record 248.44 yards per game average and his three consecutive 300+ yard games were a state record until 2001 when Kenosha St. Joseph's Adrian Davis tied it and then, later in 2916, South Milwaukee's Jake SImuncak also posted three in a row. Barbour's season average is for only 9 games but nobody has matched it even playing more games.

Dick went to Wisconsin State La Crosse for a while but quit the football team. I don't know if he completed college or went into the service but I do know that from a profile in the La Crosse paper in 2005 he was a land developer and real estate agent in the La Crosse area.

The progression of the state single season rushing record is as follows:

Bob Petruska - Lake Mills - 1946 1,401 yards (the most I could find up to that season)

Jim Baier - Elmwood - 1961 1,630 yards

Bobby Koch - Marshfield Columbus - 1965 1,698

Dick Barbour - Hillsboro - 1970 2,236

Steve Hougum - Westby - 1986 2,616

Nathan Harms - Owen-Withee - 1992 2,820 (Jake Morris of Elk Mound rushed for 2,767 yards the

same year)

Adrian Davis - Kenosha St. Joseph's - 2001 3,422 yards in 14 games (2,238 in 9 games)

Dick Barbour not only set the record but did so by 538 yards. It wouldn't be until playoffs began to extend the season further that his record would fall.

THE GREAT 1949 RACINE ST. CATHERINE’S TEAM

I know, the headline says the great 1949 Racine St. Catherine’s team but first I have to mention several other items.

First, a message I received from Thomas Schaefer concerning the story I wrote a while back about the Waukesha Blackshirts. The info I had on the school’s nickname was from an online school profile on WisSports.net, I think, or from the Waukesha Freeman…I’m not sure which. Mr. Schaefer offers a more interesting and personal account. Here it is:

“Re: The Blackshirts of Waukesha I recall a much different reason for the Cardinals of Waukesha to change their name to the Blackshirts. As I was growing up my mother and father as well as my grandfather would explain that the Blackshirts started wearing black after the formation of the Suburban Conference in the late 20's or early 30's. Four of the teams; Waukesha, Shorewood, South Milwaukee and Wauwatosa all had red or scarlet figure prominently in their school color scheme. As the athletic directors worked late into the night to complete the formation of this new conference none of them wanted to change their schools color scheme. This would be very expensive. The Athletic Director of the Waukesha school district, tired of the impasse and wanting to go home, declared his teams would wear black, this solved the uniform issues and the meeting soon ended. It also afforded a cost saving to the Waukesha school because black uniforms (especially football uniforms which had to be cleaned more often) could go longer between washings. Since then, Waukesha, and now Waukesha South has worn black and their cardinal mascot dressed in black has been known as "Blackie Blackshirt". I have not heard the story about the cost of red dye inhibiting the purchase of red uniforms until very recently and wonder if this were indeed the case why so many smaller districts, South Milwaukee and Wauwatosa to name two, would not have made similar moves. My father, Ernie Schaefer, played for Lee Saubert who was the longtime football, basketball, track coach and Athletic Director at Waukesha from 1920 to 1960. This was the era when the name was changed from the 'Cardinals' to the 'Blackshirts'. In fact, he married Lee Sauberts daughter, Suzanne, who is my mother. My sources for this history have a pretty solid provenance. There are many explanations for where the name and change to black uniforms came from. This is the one that Lee Sauberts children and grandchildren have heard many times over the years.”

Thanks to Mr. Schaefer for the information and if anyone has comments on other stories, please send them along!

Second: As some of you know I worked for MaxPreps.com (Based in California) at one time. I was the state of Wisconsin’s field representative for several years. I actually never met Kevin Askeland, one of the web site's writers in person, but he and I have been e-mailing each other a lot over the past 10-years concerning many subjects. Kevin writes history on several sports but mainly football and he has in the past highlighted several people from this state. He has two recent stories, one entitled “Football Coaches of the Year 1910-present” (High school football: Bob Ladouceur, Paul Brown, Herman Boone top Coach of Year list from last 110 seasons - MaxPreps ). I enjoyed the list and I understand that not many state of Wisconsin schools have been highlighted nationally over the years but if you click on the link and scroll down to 1940 you will find Win Brockmeyer from Wausau listed as that season’s coach of the year.

In another story he lists Tony Romo from Burlington as the states “Greatest Quarterback” ( High school football: Every state's greatest quarterback - MaxPreps ) but this is based mainly on what a QB did in the NFL. Bart Starr and Brett Favre are the top players from their state, Alabama and Mississippi. Interesting and subjective.

Kevin Askeland also has an occasional blog story concerning the national history of high school football and other sports. It can be found at High School Sports History (substack.com).

I guess that was more than two things but, NOW, on to the 1949 St. Catherine’s team

The school has had a long history of sports success, mainly in basketball and cross country, but in the 1930-1961 period the football teams were highly successful, winning outright or sharing seven mythical Catholic state championships. The story of the 1949 team actually goes back to 1942. The school had a turn-style of football coaches during those seven years. In 1942 the school hired Gene Schneider from Loris College in Dubuque Iowa, who was only four years past graduating from the school, to take over the St. Catherine’s program. He posted a 3-3-2 record in 1942 but guided the team to the 1943 state mythical title in 1943, their first since the 8-0-0 team of 1931, going 7-0-1. Schneider was drafted into the Army and served from 1943-45. In stepped Orville “Orv” Dermody and he found some success, especially with the 1945 Catholic mythical state championship team (8-0-0). But, back from service came Gene Schneider who became co-coach with Dermody for the 1946 season as they again won the state title with another 8-0-0 season record. They had an assistant named Henry Engel. Schneider left in early August of 1947 to return and coach at Loris College and Orv Dermody had also moved on so that left the school shorthanded and the coaching reigns were turned over to Henry Engel. He directed the team to a lowly 2-5-0 record. He was set to again be the head coach the next year, 1948, but then he was called back to active service by the military so a new coach had to be found. The school picked a good one in Eddie Race.

Like many coaches of the time, Eddie Race had varied duties wherever he was located. Born in Pittsburgh, an uncle brought Ed to Milwaukee and enrolled him at Pio Nono (Now St. Thomas More) where he played football, basketball and baseball. He was recruited to play football at Loyola Marymount where he started all four seasons on the football team as well as playing hockey for three seasons as a goalie. It was in that sport that he earned a mention in the old newspaper stories called “Ripley’s Believe it or Not” after scoring a goal as a goalie. He also was cast in a Hollywood movie, “The Game That Kills” in 1937. Not a great movie but it had a few future stars in it. Rita Hayworth, Ward Bond and Paul Fix. Eddie played, what else, a goalie. His play on the ice at Loyola earned him a spot in the U.S. National Hockey Hall of Fame (Located in Eveleth, MN.). Eddie then returned to Milwaukee where he became the head football and basketball coach at St. Benedict’s High School, posting a 16-5-0 record from 1938-40. Moving on, he then directed Messmer High School football, hockey, boxing and baseball teams. On the gridiron he had a 25-8-4 record for the 1941-46 years. Next up was the 1947-48 season where he coached football, boxing, hockey, and baseball at St. Francis Minor Seminary (Now also part of St. Thomas More H.S). The football team was 5-2-0 in 1947 and finished second in the Catholic Conference. Then, the spot at Racine St. Catherine’s opened up and Ed was offered the job as head football and baseball coach and assistant to the legendary basketball coach, John McGuire. Ed would stay at the school from 1948-61 and post an 80-31-6 record with two mythical Catholic state football titles, six Catholic Conference titles and six second place finishes in 14 years. His 1955 and 1957 teams were undefeated and the Angels posted a 24 consecutive conference win streak during the 1954-57 seasons while earning the 1955 and 1957 mythical Catholic state titles.

Under Ed Race’s tutelage, 1948 had been a very exciting season for the Angels as they posted a 6-1-0 record and shared the Catholic Conference title with Milwaukee Marquette after a 13-20 loss to the Junior Hilltoppers. There was a lot of talented juniors on that team and they would mature even more in 1949, even with losing 20 lettermen from the ’48 squad. Future WFCA Hall of Fame coach Eddie Race worked his team hard in the late summer to erase the memory of the 1947 season. They were ready for their opponents. Fullback Jim Feest had been the main star as a junior in 1948, leading the Catholic Conference in scoring and totaling 102 total points (15 touchdowns and 12 extra points). Somehow, in the final game of the 1948, a 31-6 win over St. John Cathedral, he was still able to score three touchdowns but the Racine Journal Times reported that his right ankle was so hurting that he couldn’t kick extra points. The team's 1948 opener against Waukesha Industrial School was cancelled by the schools governing body when they banned all sports for that school year so St. Catherine’s only played a seven-game season.

As a side note, did you read my blog about “Early Scoring Records”? Well, alumnus Bill Angel from the 1930 St. Catherine’s team was featured at the top of the Journal Times sports page on the day that St. Catherine’s second game story appeared (Which was way down at the bottom of the page). Bill had given up football for golf and he was the 1948 County Golf Champion. The football game story mentioned that Jim Feest had scored three touchdowns and kicked two extra points in a 41-19 win over Don Bosco. Angel would later be in the stands (As mentioned by the newspaper) to see Feest break his, Angel’s, conference single season scoring record of 85 points set in four games with Feest scoring 87 points in six games.

Now, 1949 rolled around and Feest and his returning teammates were ready to take the title outright. Beside Feest (5’9, 187), other returning stars were seniors quarterback Jim Haluska (5’11, 170), End Don Penza (6’1, 188), tackle Mark Koleske (6’1, 180), guard Paul Verway (5’10, 80), who started at halfback in 1948 but was moved to the line for this year, and junior center Ed Jarosz (5’11,170). End Dick Bebow, guard Gerald, wingback Joe Cucanato, tackle John Penza and tackle Joe Sodomka all contributed greatly to the team’s success. How talented were these players? Well, Feest, Haluska, Don Penza, Koleske, Verway and Jarosz all made Journal Times sports writer Keith Brehm’s unofficial All-City team. That’s six first team players on Brehm’s 13-member squad as he added two positions for extra linebackers but six stars are a lot as the team covered St. Catherine’s and the two larger city public schools. Four players (Feest, Haluska, Penza and Verway would earn All-Catholic first team mention and Koleske, along with Jarosz would make the second team. Feest would be named to the AP First Team All-State squad as he rushed for 1,017 yards and scored 115 points (18 touchdowns and seven extra points). Jim Haluska made the third team AP squad as he was 108-48-6-1,031-13 passing on the year. Don Penza would get honorable mention for hauling in 28 passes for 502 yards and scoring nine touchdowns and two extra points. They made spectacular plays throughout the season. On one passing play Jim Haluska tossed the ball to Jim Feest who caught the ball in-bounds, along the sideline. Feest then passed the ball backwards to end Dick Bebow who was wide open and he ran the final 15-yards for the score.

Playing at the Marquette Stadium before 7,000 fans the Angles posted a 12-6 win over Marquette that ended in spectacular fashion. With five seconds left in the game, Jim Haluska passed from the 11-yard line to the endzone where Don Penza outjumped a Junior Hilltopper defensive back for the winning score. Penza missed the extra point kick but it didn’t matter. They were undefeated, conference champions and earned the Wisconsin Catholic mythical state title. The team stars and coach Race were carried off the field on the shoulders of their teammates.

In 1993, Milwaukee Journal writer Cliff Christl created the “Team of the Century” encompassing the years 1893-1993. There were a lot of contributors to the article, coaches, newspaper people and a few former players. Of the 130+ players on the honorable mention list, Jim Haluska was mentioned at the quarterback position (along with 17 other players) while Jim Feest was also named to the list (along with 365 others). People came to recognize just how good Don Penza was as an offensive end and on defense. Penza was named to the second team as an end.

All three had a short profile in my book but I will cover Haluska, Penza and coach Race more here as well as reproduce the post on Feest. Haluska and Penza are profiled with Feest in my book but I have additions to their profiles below. First, Jim Feest.

Jim Feest:

“As a junior, set a conference record 87 points scored on an average St. Catherine’s team. Playing on the same team as quarterback Jim Haluska, Feest rushed for 1,017 yards in eight games and scored 89 points in six conference games as a senior. Standing 5’9”, and weighing 198 pounds, Feest was a hard-hitting fullback. His career was often compared to Ameche’s and many thought he was the equal of the “Horse”. St. Catherine’s was state Catholic high school co-champion, with La Crosse Aquinas, going 8-0-0.

The team had lots of talent besides Feest, including quarterback Jim Haluska who would go on to Madison and lead, along with Alan Ameche, the Badgers to the school’s first Rose Bowl. St Catherine’s Don Penza would go on to be a team captain at Notre Dame while lineman Ed Jarosz played at Marquette. Jim Feest dropped out of high school while just a half-credit short of graduation. He joined the Army and earned his diploma but never went to college. Playing for the semi-pro Racine Raiders in 1953, he hurt his knee and never played football again.

At age 48, after playing squash at the local YMCA, Jim Feest suffered a heart attack and died. He earned honorable mention on the 1993 Milwaukee Journal All-Century Team.”

Jim Huluska:

After graduating in 1950. Jim first attended The University of Michigan but then transferred to Wisconsin where ha stared with Kenosha’s Alan Ameche and led the Badgers to the 1952 Big 10 championship and the 1953 Rose Bowl, a 7-0 loss to Southern California. He set season passing records in Madison and was drafted by the Chicago Bears and played in just five games his rookie season before retiring and took up coaching. He went to Don Bosco in 1960 where he taught and coached for 12 years. He then took over the St. Thomas More program after Don Bosco and Pio Nono merged and was the school’s athletic director as well as football coach. Haluska move to Pius XI as a teacher while coaching at Waukesha Memorial before the Jim Young era. Overall he posted a 206-60-4 coaching record with 12 conference titles and one state title in 1976. He was named to the St. Catherine’s, Don Bosco, St. Thomas More halls of fame, the UW Athletic Hall of Fame and the WFCA Hall of Fame. Jim passed in 2012.

Don Penza:

Like Alan Ameche, Don was born in Kenosha and moved with his family to Racine. After graduation he attended Notre Dame where he was the team captain in 1953. Coach Frank Leahy called him “the best team captain I’ve ever had”. Don was listed on the 1953 All-America team and was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers. Playing in only two exhibition games, he hurt his knee and was forced to retire. From 1954-56 Don was a first Lieutenant in the Marines and played “service” football while at Quantico.

Following his time in the service Don Penza went on to coach at Wisconsin Rapids Assumption from 1957-1967 where he compiled a 68-18-2 record with five conference championships. In 1968 he retired at age 35 from coaching to enter politics and was mayor of Wisconsin Rapids until 1978. Returning to coaching in 1981, Penza was hired at Woodstock (IL) Marion Central Catholic and would go on to compile a 90-18 record with three Illinois Class 2A state titles in eight seasons. Don died at age 57 in 1989.

Eddie Race:

I mentioned a lot about Eddie but what happened after he left St. Catherine’s? He and his family lived on the south side of Milwaukee and he commuted every day to Racine to teach and coach. He decided that he needed a change so he took the head coaching job in 1961 at Milwaukee Pulaski where he directed the Ram’s to an 8-0-0 record. In 1962 he moved to Cudahy where he coached football and volleyball until 1969 and continued teaching until he retired in 1983. While at Cudahy he posted a 27-25-4 record and his career coaching totals were 161-70-14 and he earned many awards. Named to the WFCA Hall of Fame in 1996 as well being named to the Loyola Marymount University Hall of Fame in 1993. He earned two honors at St. Thomas More with the Alumni Hall of fame in 1996 and the school Athletic Hall of Fame in 1997. The following year, 1998, he was inducted into the St. Catherine’s High School Hall of Fame. Prior to that, in 1985 he was named “One of the Most Interesting People in Town” by Milwaukee Magazine. At the age of 90, Eddie passed but his coaching career and how he molded students and players can not be forgotten.

Correction (10/26/2021) - the original article had a typo stating Jim Haluska had won "1 conference title". That should have said "12 conference titles".