December 24, 2013 at 2:17 p.m.
Best Years: Remembering the origins of the RHS gym
Best Years: Remembering the origins of the RHS gym
As Kris Gilbertson wrote in an "I Recall" column in the Daily News in 1979 marking the 20-year anniversary of the gymnasium, the facility was the first to be finished at the new high school and it was "dedicated in spectacular style." The Hodags beat the Lumberjacks 65-63 on a last-second layup in front of a crowd of about 1,600. It was the ninth win a row for Rhinelander which went on to a perfect 12-0 record in the Wisconsin Valley Conference that season.
University of Wisconsin football coach Milt Bruhn even toured the new gymnasium the weekend before when he was in town speaking at a winter athletic banquet at Trinity Lutheran Church. According to Gilbertson's column, Bruhn was impressed by the new facility.
Flash forward to the present and the RHS gymnasium is nearing another birthday. Jan. 20 will mark two years since the gym was renovated and rededicated in honor of Jim Miazga, a 1970 RHS grad, who along with his wife, Jean, donated $250,000 toward the school district's remodeling efforts that occurred over the course of 2011.
Nearly two years after voters approved a $13.7 million construction referendum (which was further bolstered by significant donations like the one the Miazgas made), the public finally had an opportunity to tour the high school, which was the recipient of the most significant upgrades, on Jan. 20, 2012. That meant people flocked to the high school well before tip-off of a boys' and girls' basketball doubleheader against rival Lakeland Union High School.
There were no buzzer-beating finishes like in the very first game in the gym in 1959, but there was a standing-room only crowd of more than 1,000 and the Hodags did not disappoint in the newly-christened Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium. Trailing by three early in the third quarter, Shane White scored 13 points as part of a 15-0 Hodag run which eventually resulted in a 50-42 victory for the boys' team. The girls' team didn't fare as well that night but still put up a fight.
Despite committing 25 turnovers, the Hodags were within three points with just over a minute to play. They ended up losing 34-28.
Still, it marked the beginning of a new era for the gym just as Jan. 23, 1959 did a half century earlier. The similarities between the two dedication games are striking. The atmosphere and standing-room-only crowd Gilbertson depicts in his column captures the same energy that was on display two years ago when the Jim Miazga Community Gymnasium was dedicated.
What is equally as striking are the differences that capture the societal shifts that can occur over several decades. Take the warning signs fans had to abide by in 1959. "Construction materials still were stored in hallways and classrooms, so 'no smoking' was the order of the day, and the fans observed the warnings signs," Gilbertson wrote in his column.
Whether or not to post "no smoking" signs was something school officials did not have to worry about on the night of Jan. 20, 2012.
Kyle Rogers may be reached at [email protected].
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