August 4, 2011 at 10:23 a.m.
Belmas inducted into Ironwood HOF
Former Rhinelander principal, coach recognized for high school success
Belmas inducted into Ironwood HOF
By Jonathan Bailey-
On July 17, Belmas was welcomed into the Ironwood Hall of Fame, where he was a three-year letter winner in football, track and skiing. He was nominated by his brother Paul and former teammate John McFaul.
"Ironwood High School was my start," Belmas said. "I had an excellent group of coaches. They got me on the straight and narrow. In 1959, I was going to join the Navy and my Ironwood coaches got the call from Superior asking me to come up there, which was really fortunate. Being in the hall of fame at Superior is very much an honor, but in Ironwood, that was my start."
Belmas, a member of the Ironwood High School Class of 1959, made a name for himself on the gridiron, receiving numerous accolades in his final two years as a Red Devil.
Among his accomplishments was being named an honorable mention on the All-U.P. team his junior season, a first-team All-U.P. Selection his senior year, a member of the U.P. Sports Writers' Association First Team and an honorable mention for the AP Class B All-State team.
He was a co-captain for the Devils his senior season, was voted by his teammates as the "Outstanding Lineman," despite being only 157 pounds, and that was soaking wet according to Belmas, and won the Kiwanis Club's "Lineman of the Week" award for all five home games as a senior.
Off the field, Belmas was active and popular. He was the vice-president of his class during his freshman and senior year and served as class president as a junior. He was voted as prom king and was a frequent part of the homecoming court. Belmas was also active in the Rotary Club.
Upon graduating from Ironwood in 1959, Belmas attended UW-Superior. In his sophomore season he was named to the first-team, all-conference team. He also achieved that honor as a senior in 1962.
On July 17, 2008, Belmas was inducted into the UW-Superior Hall of Fame, along with the rest of the 1962 football team, of which he was the team captain.
After completing college, Belmas moved to Rhinelander, where he has been ever since. He was an educator in the School District of Rhinelander (SDR) for the better part of four decades, coaching Hodag football and skiing in the process. Belmas credits his time at Ironwood High to much of his success.
"I attribute the successes that I had for the remainder of my life to being an athlete," he said. "Had I not gone into education it would have been a whole different life. Matter fact, I would have probably been hired in the mines."
Belmas began his career at SDR as a junior high physical education instructor at Curran School, which has long since closed. In 1973, he became the principal at Pine Lake.
Over the course of the next 25 years, he continued to serve in the capacity of a full-time principal, working at McCord and Crescent Lake Elementary Schools. For about the last decade of his tenure, Belmas was the head elementary school principal in the SDR.
In addition to being a principal, Belmas had a couple stints as a varsity football coach (1964-69 and 1993-1998). He also coached the RHS ski team to a Northern Ski League and State Championship in 1967.
The passion for athletics always burned strongly for Belmas, making time for it, however, was the challenge during his time at Rhinelander.
"There was a segment of time that the superintendent, which was Cedric Vig, said 'Gene, I know you like to coach, but being a football coach and a principal, there's not time enough to do it,'" Belmas said.
"I accepted that and went into officiating for that span of time and then a new superintendent, Bob Hanson, said to me after two or three years that he was here, that he had trouble getting football coaches," Belmas added. "He said 'Gene, do you want to coach football?' I said 'you got to be kidding me, absolutely.' So for the last six years, I was a defensive coordinator under Bill (Makris)."
Belmas coached a number of notable RHS graduates in his time with the district. Among them are Mike Webster (University of Wisconsin-Madison, Pittsburgh Steelers, NFL Hall of Fame recipient), Jason Doering (University of Wisconsin-Madison, Indianapolis Colts), Jim and Chris Makris (both three-year starters at Drake University) and Matt Huebner (All-American at St. Cloud State, Arena Football League).
While Belmas enjoyed a long, successful career in education and experienced his fair share of success in coaching, it all ties back for him to his time at Ironwood, something of which he was recently recognized for.
Comments:
You must login to comment.