PdC High School Hall of Fame honors 2023 inductees
By Derick Kelly
The Prairie du Chien High School Athletic Hall of Fame held its twenty-third induction ceremony at halftime of the PdC Football home game vs. Lancaster on Friday, Sept. 1 by honoring four new inductees into the group. Inducted at the ceremony were Larry Yeomans, Terry Kramer, Matt Lenz, and the 1959 Boys’ Track Team.
Larry Yeomans is a 1955 graduate of Prairie du Chien High School. He was a varsity letter winner twelve times in four years of football, basketball, baseball, and track. As a senior he was co-captain of several of these teams.
Larry’s baseball career consisted of him holding the school record for most wins in a single-season for thirty-three years which he set as a senior. He also pitched a no-hitter against Boscobel in the first game of the 1955 WIAA playoffs. He also led the baseball team to the 1955 sectional final game, the first time PdC baseball had ever reached that level.
As a track athlete at Prairie, Larry placed second in the discus and first in the 100-yard hurdles race at the SWAL Conference meet his senior year. At the sectional meet that same season, Larry placed fourth in the discus and second in the 880-yard relay. He was also a member of the 880-yard relay team which qualified for the state meet that year.
As a football player, Larry scored five career touchdows, including one on a 70-yard interception return as a senior. He also threw two touchdown passes.
In basketball, Larry was the fourth leading scoring on the team as a junior, and the second leading scorer as a senior.
Larry joined the Army National Guard at age eighteen, and served for eight years. He worked part-time in his family’s store, and then full-time after graduation. In the 1980s, he became full owner of the family business, Sports World. His three children then came into the business and helped expand the company into many different areas. Larry was a member of the Prairie du Chien Fire Department for twenty-five years, serving as fire chief for two years. He has enjoyed watching his children, grandchildren, and now his great-grandchildren in sports.
Terry Kramer, a 1966 graduate, was an accomplished individual in his years at Prairie du Chien High School. He participated in intramurals; ran cross country and track; played football and baseball; was Homecoming King his senior year and Prom King his junior year. He was Junior Class President and Student of the Month for September his senior year.
Terry lettered all four years of high school. He was co-captain of track his junior and senior year; Cross Country captain his sophomore and junior year, and was voted the baseball team’s Most Valuable Player his senior year.
Terry’s memorable highlights include breaking a school record in Cross Country in a race at the Prairie du Chien Country Club in 10:13; placing second in the mile run for track at the Peacock Relays in La Crosse with a time of 4:39. He was the only athlete from Prairie to gain a first-place medal in the mile run with a time of 4:43.
Terry Kramer is a United States Army Veteran, serving in Vietnam from 1967 to 1968, and was a POW. He also graduated with a degree in Engineering from the Chicago Institute of Technology.
Matt Lenz is a 1990 graduate of Riverdale High School in Muscoda, Wisconsin before going on to study music at the University of Wisconsin-Richland, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Upon graduating with a Bachelor of Music-Instrumental Education degree in 1995, he began his first teaching position as band director with the Wonewoc-Union Center School District before joining the Prairie du Chien School District in August 2000. His responsibilities include leading the concert, pep, and marching bands, along with other music courses and ensembles. In November of 2021, he was recognized as the WKBT’s “Top-Notch Teacher”.
The Prairie du Chien Pep Band has been a strong, and positive presence at many athletic events each year under Lenz’s leadership. Highlights for the pep band have included trips to the state tournament to support the wrestling and boys and girls basketball teams, following the football and basketball teams through many playoff runs, and marching on the field at Camp Randall Stadium in support of the football team at the Badger Classic.
Beyond the bleachers, the PdC High School Band Department performs at numerous concerts, parades, and civic events each year to support the school and community. They have also performed on the USS Intrepid in New York City, and at Disney World in Orlando.
Matt would like to thank the many students over the years that have given their time and talents to support athletics, the school, and the city of Prairie du Chien.
The 1959 Boys Track team, coached by John C. Mulrooney, was one of the most successful track teams in program history. The Hawks only lost one dual meet while finishing first at seven of the nine meets they competed at during the season.
Early in the season, the Hawks placed first out of 36 teams in Class B at the Madison West Relays. The meet, which was held at the Camp Randall Stadium Memorial Building, was considered Wisconsin’s unofficial indoor state track meet. They were the first and only team in program history to do so.
PdC also won the Prairie Relays, Mineral Point Relays, the SWAL Conference Meet, and the WIAA Class B Sectional Meet at La Crosse before finishing tied for fourth place with Greendale with 15 points at the WIAA Class B State Meet in Hartford. Only the 1937 team, which took third in Class B, has finished higher at the state meet in program history.
The Hawks had two relays and two individuals in four different events qualify for the 1959 state meet. The sprint medley relay team of Bruce Kieser, Ron Herold, Clem Ryan, and Loral Hare placed second in a time of 3:44, and the 880-yard relay team of Gary Sedlmayr, Ryan, Kieser, and Herold took fifth place in 1:34. Jerry Fernette placed second in the pole vault with a height of 11’0, and fifth in the 180 yard hurdles, while also qualifying but not placing in the 120 yard hurdles. Carroll Paulson also qualified but did not place in the long jump.
The 1959 Boys Track team consisted of Francis Becwar, Arthur Bresnahan, Gary Bunders, Arthur Carl, Jerry Fernette, William Fritsche, Zonnie Fritsche, John Frydenlund, Max Gramling, Loral Hare, Jimmy Heisz, Ron Herold, Larry Kapinus, Kenneth Kavon, Bruce Kieser, Jim Kozelka, Charles Lang, Patrick Leamy, Richard Mezera, Carroll Paulson, Gary Paulson, Ed Pellock, Jim Pitzer, Robert Rand, Terry Remy, Clem Ryan, Michael Schloegl, Gary Sedlmayr, Richard Strauman, Samuel Tesar, Phillip Toberman, Stanley Toberman, John Wainwright, and Harold Welda.