September 15, 2014 at 4:19 p.m.
Blumerich, Strong look back on state golf championship 45 years later
Blumerich, Strong look back on state golf championship 45 years later
There was plenty of potential to go around, but with only one senior set to play an important role for the Hodags, and several freshmen making early waves, there was no telling exactly what head coach Jerry Ditter had.
Ditter was entering his 17th year coaching in the district and had taken eight golf teams to the state tournament in his career.
When his '69 squad first took to the course, banks of snow still lining a fairway or two, he couldn't have known it was this group, with so few upperclassmen and so many questions marks, that would finally take him to the mountaintop.
It's one of the most compelling stories in school history. In fact, its ending is almost too unbelievable and too Hollywood to be real. According to Gary Blumerich, one of the team's key golfers down the stretch that year, the group began with little ambition. They just liked to play golf together.
"As a team goes, we were fairly young," he said. "There was only one senior on the team and that was Dick Mason. Dennis Strong was a junior and I was a sophomore. Bill Karnosky and Jim McDonald were freshmen. We were able to play together all summer too. We didn't just play together during our spring season. We spent a lot of our time golfing together in the summer. The spring season can be only a month or two long depending on when the snow leaves, so we had to get together and play in the summer as much as we could."
That laidback attitude meshed well with Ditter's coaching philosophy. He'd been at it for awhile by then and understood golf was as much a mental game as it is about technique. He wanted his guys to relax.
"The late Jerry Ditter was a very good coach," Blumerich said. "His coaching theory wasn't about giving speeches. He just wanted us to go out and be ourselves, but the most important part was he always wanted us to have fun."
One thing was for sure though. As the season started, everyone would have a lot more fun if they could just beat Wisconsin Rapids, the Wisconsin Valley Conference's resident bully.
"Back then, our main goal was to beat Wisconsin Rapids," Blumerich said. "That was the team to beat. In football, Rhinelander has Antigo. For us, it was Wisconsin Rapids. It was back and forth every time we played. They were always good matches. Most of the time there were four-team matches from the Wisconsin Valley Conference. You met some of the teams three times and some of the teams twice. It all came down to the conference meet though and there, it was winner takes all."
The regular season was rather uneventful. The stakes were relatively low and the group focused on preparing for the more meaningful postseason matches. That's when things really got fun.
In the WVC meet, Rhinelander blew an 11-stroke lead to place second. It was good enough though to advance to the WIAA regional meet. There, the young Hodags refused to be denied and left the weekend with a regional crown to their credit.
At the sectional meet, Rhinelander finished the final 18 holes in a tie for second with Oconto Falls. A sudden death playoff ensued, with the winner advancing to the state tournament. The Hodags came out on top and Blumerich said as soon as they knew they were in, they knew they could make some noise.
"I truly think we all knew we had a chance to win the tournament," he said. "We were capable of shooting the scores. We knew everyone was thinking the same thing though. We wanted to go out and beat Wisconsin Rapids because they were also representing the Wisconsin Valley Conference. Other than that, we wanted to go out, enjoy the scenery and the course, and just be ourselves. Lo and behold, after the first day at Cherokee (Country Club in Madison), we came in with the lowest team score that registered, which was actually the lowest team score in course history, including collegiate play."
Blumerich and Strong shot matching 74s, helping Rhinelander take an early lead. Defending state champion Racine Park had long since finished and assumed they held the tournament lead with a 309 team score. The Hodags loudly announced their intentions later that night, checking in with a cool 303.
Glenn Miller of the Wisconsin State Journal was covering the state tournament at the time and had an appropriate description of the upstart Hodags after day one.
"Some unheralded young men from Rhinelander blew down out of the north to take the team lead Friday in the first day of play in the state high school golf tournament."
Ditter remarked to the Rhinelander Daily News he was a little surprised at how well his team played.
"They are so young," he said. "but they hit the ball real well."
In between rounds, the teams had some down time and Strong said the WVC representatives actually did a little bonding.
"Wisconsin Rapids was a good team," he said. "We even spent some time with the Wisconsin Rapids guys when we were down at state. During the evening we spent some time together. Our rooms were nearby. Even though we were competitors, we enjoyed spending time with them."
On the final day of the tournament, play moved from Cherokee Country Club to Yahara Hills, a course which presented a much different set of challenges.
"Cherokee had small cricks with a lot of water running through the course," Blumerich said. "There were maple trees around the outside. Yahara on the other hand was a fairly new course. There were a few trees, but for the most part it was wide open and hilly. If you had wind, it would affect the ball much more than on an average course and that was there."
It wasn't just the terrain that affected play throughout the day. The weather also played a part, and may have actually helped the Hodags.
"We came in with a small lead," Blumerich said. "Coach Ditter called us together and told us the same thing he always told us. He wanted us to go out and have fun. It was not your typical nice, spring day though. It was rainy and cold, and that may have played to our advantage. We were more accustomed to that type of weather. Our spring is shorter than down in the southern part of the state like Madison and Milwaukee. They have that summer weather coming in a lot sooner."
It became clear early on that the weather was affecting Rhinelander as well, and it wasn't until the scores started coming in that they knew they still had a chance.
"The day went on and at the turn we were close, but our scores weren't that good," Blumerich said. "People were posting 80s and that was about the best score because of the weather. We were right there with them and that might have been surprising to some people."
Eventually, the only thing standing between the Hodags and a state championship was defending kings Racine Park, who held a small lead. That's when things got very interesting.
"We had five players, but you had to take the top four scores," Strong said. "We counted our four best scores and the guy whose score we didn't count was Jim McDonald's. It was the highest score, but it was very close to the fourth guy. He ended up calling a two stroke penalty on the Racine Park though, so it was a really good team effort all around. We ended up winning by a single stroke."
Rhinelander won the 1969 state golf championship by a score of 632-633. Their rivals, Wisconsin Rapids, finished a distant sixth.
It was the school's first state championship in golf, but Blumerich said the accomplishment didn't really register with him right away.
"We didn't realize what had happened until we were packed up and ready to go home," he said. "It sunk in for Coach Ditter right away. He was well aware what had happened, but we were a really young team. That kind of thing doesn't really sink in until later on when things settle down."
It became crystal clear when the team arrived back in Rhinelander though. Strong said it was a scene he'll never forget.
"They gave us a big celebration heading into Rhinelander which was a great blessing," he said. "Fire trucks and police cars escorted us, and we went up to the high school. There was a line of cars. Our parents were there cheering us on. It was great."
Now, 45 years later, the championship and its incredible ending are a memory. For the players who were there though, that day serves as a constant reminder about what's possible, not only in sports, but in life.
"I do still think about it from time to time," Strong said. "I see it as a great team effort. I look at it as something I learned from and it's something any team can learn from. When you pull together and do something as a team, you can win, no matter what you're trying to accomplish. That's encouraging to everyone. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses. We were able to work toward a common goal and did the best we could. We came away with the victory."
A team with only one senior and two freshmen was able to climb the hill and take the crown. They weren't the favorites, but for a group of guys who simply loved to play golf together, none of that mattered.
"To me, it shows that no matter what people say, whether they're telling you you can't do it or it's not possible, it's really within your grasp if you really want it," Blumerich said. "Whether that's in sports or your job or your personal life, you can go out and do it if you want it."
Andy Hildebrand may be reached at [email protected].
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