ARCADIA RAIDERS…THE BILL CASHEN ERA INCLUDING A GREAT DECADE…1949-58 AND BEYOND

The “Great Decade” started in with Arcadia coming off a 4-2-1 year in 1948 (Two wins at the end of the season) Cashen directed his teams to a 20-0-1 record over the next three years.  His squad was 6-0-1 in 1949 before the school and Cashen turned the trick of going undefeated, untied and unscored upon in 1950 going 7-0-0.  1951 was a duplicate of 1950 as the team coasted to another 7-0-0 record.  They would win the 1952 opener then fall on bad times due to injuries that year, but they had put up a winning streak of 23-0-1 overall.  

1950 Arcadia 7-0-0

Coach Bill Cashen developed Arcadia into a small school powerhouse for the 39 years he was at the school. Posting a 172-70-18 record in football, Cashen also coached basketball for 27 years, winning 283 games as well as coaching baseball for 36 years.  The win over Mondovi was crucial as the two schools battled to a 12-122 tie in 1949 to share the MVC title. Mondovi had come into the game also undefeated in six games and had scored 142 points and allowed only 25. Led by George Galuska, a 180-pound fullback who scored 13 touchdowns and 14 extra points for a team leading total of 82 points. Halfback Dick Mettlack was second in the scoring with 78 points and junior Willie Berzinski followed with 51. David Wolfe and Gordon Schultz shared the quarterback choirs. Up front Aymarr Nelson and Robert Malesyteki were tough tackles. Jack Mettlach and Terry Gautsch were the starting guards. David Bohrnstedt held down the center position while Don Berzinski and Gerald Wolfe were the ends. Coach Cashen said the players had exceptional spirit and teamwork. That was the reason for their success. At the time Cashen had a soft spot for his 1950's team, stating that they had better balance than his 1939 and 1943 squads.

From the 1951 Arcadia “Arcadian Acorn” Yearbook

List of 1950 Wisconsin High School Football Undefeated Teams

Wisconsin State Journal Nov. 14, 1950

One of the top players on the 1950 team was junior Willie Berzinski, an outstanding halfback, who earned AP Third Team All-State in 1951. Many of the area coaches felt that if he had been on a larger school team, he would have earned first team honors. As it turned out, a few tears after Willie graduated from Arcadia a UW-Madison coach told Cashen that Berzinski was the best player for several years that the school failed to recruit.  Willie would attend UW-La Crosse where he started four years, setting school rushing and scoring records and was Small College All-America. In 1956, he played in the College All-Star game and then played a season with the Philadelphia Eagles and then Canadian football. Berzinski also lettered four years on the track team in college as a weight man, sprinter and long jumper. In 1993 he was named honorable mention to the Milwaukee Journal Team of the Century.

Another one of the 1949-51 stars was halfback Richard "Dick" Mettlach who attended UW-La Crosse with Berzinski and then became a Michigan Football Coaches Association HOF coach by directing Crystel Falls Forest Park to a 239-73-6 career record and two Class D State Titles.

As mentioned above Arcadia won the first two games in 1952 before ending the year with a 5-2-1 record.  Injuries in 1953 and 1954 also hindered their success but the opening win in 1955 started a 36-game unbeaten streak.  Both 1956 and 1958 seasons were 8-0-0, with a 7-0-1 1957 posting.  The 1959 team would then win three games and tie once before losing 7-0 to Black River Falls.  In that game with 83-yards to go for a score and little time on the clock it looked like the game would end in a tie. Arcadia had the ball on their own 17-yard line with a first and ten and then they fumbled.  Black River Falls recovered the lost fumble and scored with 10-seconds on the clock on a pass and kicked the extra point for the win.  The 36-game unbeaten streak ended.  The Raiders would have a 61-11-3 record during the 1949-1958 period with seven undefeated seasons.  Remarkable.

Bill Cashon said later, after the streak, that the 1958 team was, overall, his finest squad.  It was hard to argue the point as the team was full of stars.  Six players made the All-Mississippi Valley Conference first team squad made up of 12 members (Normally made up of 11 but there was a three-way tie at the guard position).  The first teamers were end Gary Pahl, tackle Gene Comero, guard David Pleerzina, center Ed Fernholz, quarterback Gary Luethl and back Dan Sobotta.  Tackle Darrell Lerch and guard Duane Guenther made the second team.  There were four other players, Wayne Killian, LeRoy Korpal, Jim Sobotta and Albin Slaby who made honorable mention.  All these honors in an eight-team league.

After the opening trouncing of Winona Cotter in 1958, the Raiders never looked back as they swept through their conference schedule.

Team picture and schedule from the 1959 Arcadia “Arcadian Acorn” yearbook

There were more honors to come for the players.  The Eau Claire Leader-Telegram’s regional reach covered many counties as well as 70+ schools.  Annually the Leader-Telegram posts their All-North West team and end Gary Pahl was named to the first team while quarterback Gary Luethl earned a spot on the second team.  Center Ed Fernholz, tackle Gene Cornero, fullback Dan Sabotta, a junior and junior guard David Plerzina each made honorable mention.  On December 6 the banner on the sports page announced that Pahl was named to the first team Associated Press All-State team.  Pahl, 6’2, 168, had hauled in 26 receptions that year for 418 yards and 10 touchdowns an added two extra points and one safety.  His 64 points led the conference. 

Luethl earned honorable mention on the All-State listings.  He tossed 18 touchdowns along with 700+ yards in 1958 while also scoring four rushing touchdowns.  

Another standout was Dan Sobotta who led the team in rushing 106 times for 932 yards and 12 touchdowns (Eight in conference play).

The end of the 1958 season saw a big change to the Mississippi Valley Conference.  Three teams announced that they were leaving the conference…Augusta, Osseo and Whitehall while three were joining…Menomonie, Chippewa Falls and Cochrane-Fountain City.

A three-way-tie for the conference title in 1959 occurred.  Arcadia (5-2-1) downed Chippewa Falls 13-6, Black River Falls defeated Arcadia 7-0 and CF beat BRF 6-0.  Now a senior, halfback Dan Sobotta completed a fine career as the schools all-time rusher.  Playing on four championship teams he gained 114 yards on 21 carries and one point as a freshman, 536 yards on 109 carries and 76 points as a sophomore (Earning 2^nd team MVC), 932 yards on 106 carries and 76 points as a junior and finally as a senior he gained 800 yards on 111 carries and 64 points.  His career totals were very good for the 1950’s as he ended with 2,382 yards on 347 carries and 172 points.

There would be a couple of good seasons (1961 and 1962) but after three teams leaving the conference and a number of injuries in 1963(1-5-0 record) Bill Cashen decided that 39-years of coaching was enough.  He would stay on as a teacher and then retire in 1973 but stay on for several years teaching part-time.  His reason for leaving sports so he could spend more time on learning the new methods of mathematics so he could do a better job of teaching his students.  One of things that endured the students to Bill was the extra time he spent with tutoring them in the off hours, even on Saturday mornings.  He was considered the kid’s best friend.

Blessed with good talent, Cashen preferred to stay in the background and let his players take the glory.  In the Mississippi Valley Conference Cashen’s opponents used a modified phrase taken from the MLB saying, “Break up the Yankees” and changed it to “Break up Arcadia”.

Bill Cashen would be part of the first class of 26 members in the WFCA Hall of Fame in 1980.  His career record is most impressive:

172-70-18 in 39-seasons

12 undefeated seasons

15 conference championships

A park in Arcadia was named for “Mr. Sports” in 1967 with a formal plaque installed in 1984.

La Crosse Tribune April 4, 1984

Bill’s wife Zeida preceded him in death in 1978 after 50-years of marriage and he passed in July 1986.  He truly was a great coach but even more a greatly beloved person.  

With 172 career wins, Bill Cashen is Arcadia’s winningest coach.  Current coach, Derek Updike has 139 career wins and Richard Fredrickson, who coached before Updike, had 135 victories.  From what I can track, since 1923 schools record is 503-321-21.

Thanks to Nancy and Grant Hanson as well as Bob Davis for suggesting that I look further into Arcadia football.  It is long overdue.

Thanks to Christine Pyka at the Arcadia High School Library for her help.