The Thorp Courier

Thorp High School Alumni Letter

March 14, 2007

Greetings to Thorp Alumni

25 YEARS AGO – THORP AT STATE BASKETBALL TOURNAMENT

March of 1982 was a memorable time for Thorp High School, the city of Thorp, the parents and fans of THS basketball, and the many alumni who each year follow the accomplishments of THS teams and organizations. The first and only Thorp High School boys’ basketball team to make it to the Wisconsin State Tournament in Madison did so 25 years ago.

Members of that team included seniors Bob Kotecki, Dennis Postler, Rich Sonnentag, Bill Rademaker and Gary Pszeniczny. Juniors were Jay Stuttgen, Hans Hallanger, Steve Merlak, Kert Boie, Eric Zoromski, Bob Czech and Managers, Gary Konieczny and Scott Hubbard. Head Coach was Jack Tetzner, Assistant Coach, Roger Moe. In the semi-finals, the Cardinals beat Eleva-Strum but lost in the finals to Kohler High School.

An ice storm in Madison did not keep the throng of Thorp fans from attending. Nor did it keep hundreds of Thorp alumni away. It truly resembled a huge Thorp Alumni reunion. It was a weekend in which anyone associated with Thorp and Thorp High School was extremely proud.

Captain of the team, Gary Pszeniczny, said, “It was a remarkable experience for me, my teammates, our families, the school and the entire community. If there is one thing that I remember most about that experience it was how the town and alumni came together. We were all one community literally. All the pettiness that often times divides people and communities seemed to cease during that run. We had a special group of student athletes on that team.”

THREE 1957 GRADUATES SHARE SOME OF THEIR HIGH SCHOOL MEMORIES

Dave Teclaw said, “The memories I have are of the great high school friendships that I have developed while at Thorp and are considered real good friends today. The coaches who made us work hard for a common cause, WINNING and SPORTSMANSHIP, the teachers who tried so hard to control us country kids and still were able to teach us a thing or two. I could not single out any one teacher as they were all beneficial to me as I left Thorp and made my way to retirement. Those were the days.”

Jolanta Mikolainis Grzeszkowiak adds; “Remembering things about high school is special. As a freshman, I remember the Home Ec class was in a little house south of the school. Miss Ardis Olsen (later to marry Dale Amundson) was our teacher. We had our first hour class and it was so cold in the morning, the girls would gather and all run over together to keep warm. We also had General Math in the old high school (a two story white building west of the school). Again, we had to go outside and go to a classroom on the second floor. Joe Gaffney was our teacher. As a sophomore, we had Shirley Brasek as our Home Ec Teacher. The girls swapped classes for six weeks with the Shop classes. Floyd Hanley was our Shop teacher. Our class made lamps out of bottles. We leaned how to drill the hole in glass and wire them. My son still has it. The boys learned cooking and sewing. I loved playing basketball during the noon hour with Mrs. Leona Mehls as our teacher. I remember the Girl’s Prom. It was popular then. We went all out decorating the gym, preparing dresses, tuxes, etc. Roy Brede was our chorus director. I loved being involved, especially singing in concerts.”

Don Papierniak, in remembering his teachers said, “I was always fond of Mr. Dale Amundson. Many teachers stand out in my memory, but he was especially noteworthy. It was our sophomore year and in biology, we were scheduled to dissect worms and frogs. Mr. Amundson knew I was fond of fishing and hunting and wanted to know if I knew where we could get some night crawlers. Our Principal, Mr. Qualle, had a large hedge in front of his house and the humus underneath made for excellent ‘shining for night crawlers’. I am not sure if Mr. Amundson ever participated in this activity but he soon mastered the technique and we supplied the class with more than enough. His next question, ‘Do you know where we can get some frogs?’ With large containers in hand, it was out to Goggle-Eye, and soon had an adequate supply. Then there was the episode of the donated cats, I believe there were three. I will not go into the details but, after the necessary preparations, we both decided there would be no more cats. Lord knows what the animal rights people would do to us today.”

Don also reminds us of some terms from those years: “Freshman initiation, snake dance, homecoming bonfire, Sadie Hawkins, the White building, penny loafers, saddle shoes, lyceum numbers, sock hops, crinolines, butch wax, D.A.’s, flat tops, hitch hiking to North Fork for swimming (believe it or not, both boys and girls did it), iron lung, the scourge of polio, classes dismissed for Catholics on Friday afternoons during lent for Stations of the Cross, etc.”

PLEASE NOTE: The class of 1957 is looking for Ralph Sherberg….if anyone knows a relative; please call 715-669-3698.

DO THORP ALUMNI GIVE BACK TO THEIR SCHOOL AND COMMUNITY?

In May 2007, the Thorp Alumni Association will present five $500 scholarships to 2007 THS graduates who are going on to higher education. Thorp alumni contribute to the TAA Scholarship Fund. The interest from this fund is used to fund these scholarships.

The five recipients this year will be announced in May and will bring the total to 80 students who will have received scholarships from the TAA to continue their education.

If you are interested in contributing to this scholarship fund, you can do so by sending your check to: TAA Scholarship Fund, P.O. Box 75, Thorp, WI 54771

 

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