Five inducted into athletics HOF

Five more Marathon High School alumni on Sunday were inducted into the Marathon Red Raider Hall of Fame for their high school athletic accomplishments.

Edwin J. Szymanski

Jeff Reiche introduced the late Edwin J. Szymanski as a 2022 Marathon Red Raider Hall of Fame inductee to the large crowd seated in Marathon High School’s auditorium. Szymanski grew up on his family’s town of Cassel farm and he graduated from Marathon High School in 1940.

He spent two years studying at UWStevens Point and then enlisted in the United States Navy during World War II. He returned to UW-Stevens Point where he earned his teaching degree in the spring of 1947. Szymanski was hired at Marathon High School as a teacher, and baseball and basketball coach that same year.

His best year coaching basketball was 1951 when he led Marathon to an 11-1 record. Marathon’s basketball squad advanced to sectionals that season, where it lost to Rhinelander by two points when there was only a single division of teams, regardless of their school’s student enrollment, in the playoffs. He retired from coaching in 1960 when he became Marathon High School’s principal and athletic director.

Szymanski was athletic director in the 1970s when Marathon’s athletic teams had a lot of success. For example, the 1973 Red Raiders football team was undefeated and ranked No. 1 in the state among small schools; there were no playoffs back then. Marathon’s boys basketball squad won three straight Class C state championships in 1975, 1976 and 1977.

Reiche shared the story about how Szmanski was uneasy at first about Marathon hiring a 23-year-old at the time who was from Edgar as a teacher and boys basketball coach.

“I’ve never seen someone so passionate about the Edgar against Marathon boys basketball rivalry,” Reiche said. “Ed said to me, ‘hey kid do you got a plan for this team because this is my last year working at school and I need to get back to the state boys basketball tournament.’” Reiche’s 1983-84 Marathon squad started the season with an 8-0 record before losing to No. 1 ranked Edgar. Reiche was teaching his junior and senior high school health class on a Monday morning when Szymanski called him over the public address system to come into his office.

“Ed said to me, ‘sit down kid, I just want to make sure you are are alright and you are going to beat Edgar next time.’ He made certain we weren’t going to lose to Edgar again.”

Ed Szymanski retired as Marathon High School principal following the 1984 school year.

Ed Szymanski’s son, Rodney Szymanski, accepted his father’s hall of fame plaque in his honor. Ed Szymanski passed away on Nov. 28, 2011, months after watching the 2011 Marathon boys basketball team win the state championship on television in the nursing home. Rodney Szymanski couldn’t help but shed some tears while describing his father’s athletic accomplishments to the crowd watching the hall of fame ceremony.

“I am very humbled and honored to accept this award for my father,” he said. “For 37 years, Ed was the face, heart and soul of Marathon High in both athletics and academics.”

Frank Seubert

Tom Weinkauf introduced Frank Seubert as a 2022 Marathon Red Raider Hall of Fame inductee. Weinkauf recalls Seubert was a five foot, eightinch sophomore on the junior varsity team that had large feet and great hands, but he didn’t think he’d be a good basketball player.

“The next year he came back at six feet, five inches tall and was a heck of a basketball player,” Weinkauf said. “When he was a senior in 1973, we had a 23-1 record and we lost in the Class C state semifinals. I still cry about that loss today because we should’ve won that game. I would never blame an official for a loss but let’s just say there were two crucial plays there.”

Seubert broke the Marawood Conference all-time rebounding record with 299 during the 1973-74 season.

“Frank’s work ethic and leadership not only made him a great athlete but it made his teammates better players and also his team better,” Weinkauf said. “He started the winning tradition in Marathon.”

Frank Seubert said receiving the Marathon Red Raider Hall of Fame plaque has a special meaning for him.

“To me it’s not an individual award but it represents having great coaches and teammates that started a winning tradition,” he said.

Frank Seubert recalled how Marathon’s football and boys basketball team nearly both went undefeated during his senior year.

“The winning started in the fall of 1973 when football coach Gary Raether set some high expectations for our team with two practices each day and running up and down that godforsaken hill, and we started winning games,” he said. “By the time the football season ended, we were 9-0 Marawood Conference champions and the No. 1 ranked small school team in the state.

“Heading into the basketball season we hadn’t faced defeat and coach Weinkauf wasn’t going to let us lose either, so the winning continued as we were Marawood Conference, regional and sectional champions. We now had a 23-0 record heading to the state tournament for the first time in school history to face No. 1 ranked McFarland in Class C, which was the defending state champion. McFarland gave us our first loss of the season in the state semifinals, which still leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I don’t think the underclassmen wanted to have that bad feeling again, and coach Weinkauf made sure of that by leading Marathon to three straight state championships.”

Randy Krautkramer

Larry Heindl introduced his good friend, Randy Krautkramer, as a 2022 Marathon Red Raider Hall of Fame inductee. They have been friends since they were fourth graders living in Marathon. Randy Krautkramer broke Frank Seubert’s conference rebounding record with 309 during his 197475 senior basketball season, in which Marathon went undefeated while wining its first basketball state championship in school history. He was awarded to the 1975 state basketball all-tourney team and he received third team allstate honors.

“Marathon had the best fans around because even when we traveled, it seems like we had more fans in attendance than the home teams,” Krautkramer said. “I was so excited that I was being inducted into the Marathon Red Raider Hall of Fame that I got the old scrapbook out of the shed and looked at some of the stuff my mother helped save for me. I found a picture from the 1974-75 state tournament season of Larry Heindl and his parents with my parents and I standing together by the sign down by the bridge that said ‘The last one out of town turn off the lights,’ and that was pretty representative of what was going on at the time because everybody went to the games.”

Tony Lang

Gary Raether introduced Tony Lang as a 2022 Marathon Red Raider Hall of Fame inductee. He said Marathon’s football team would lose bad to powerhouses Auburndale and Stratford in previous seasons leading up to Lang’s junior season in 1972. Raether noted Marathon closed the gap against those opponents by only losing to Auburndale, 8-0, and to Stratford, 10-0, in the 1972 football season.

“Tony was an all-conference defensive end on the 1973 team that went undefeated,” he said. “After wrestling season, Tony competed in track and field in which he won the state shot put championship with 52 feet, 1-3/4 inches; it was the first state championship won by any individual athlete in Marathon school history. Tony took second place at state in the discus with a distance of 163 feet, 10 inches which is still the longest throw of any Marathon boys track and field athlete to this day.”

Lang credits his high school accomplishments to having good coaches like Raether in football and Dick Helling in track and field.

“I came into high school throwing around the weight lifting equipment and I’m lucky I didn’t injure myself,” Lang said. “I benefited from coach Raether starting the weight lifting program, which I know made a difference for me in any success I had in sports here.”

Lang won sectional track and field championships in the 100-meter dash, shot put and discus during his 1973 senior season. He recalls a neat story about how he won the 100-meter dash, which wasn’t his strongest event because he was a thrower.

“I always wore my glasses but I didn’t have my glasses on during this race, so I couldn’t see the finish line,” he said. “I just kept running past the finish line until coach Helling yelled at me to stop; it was the best 130-meter race I ever ran.”

Maryann Witberler

Joanie Witberler introduced her sister, Maryann (Witberler) Hegemann, as a 2022 Marathon Red Raider Hall of Fame inductee. Joanie Witberler spoke to her sister’s former Marathon coaches, including Bill Knetter, who had this to say about her: “Her diligence to work hard, do the right things and be consistent led her to become a scholarship athlete.” Joanie and Maryann were teammates on the Marathon girls basketball team’s historic 1991-92 season, in which the Red Raiders won their first girls basketball Marawood Conference championship in school history. Marathon shared the conference title with Prentice that season.

Coach Knetter named Maryann Witberler the girls basketball team’s starting guard as a freshman.

“Her first-game jitters against Rib Lake turned into panic as she realized she was going to be in the starting lineup, but once the ball was tossed into the air she called plays and led our team like she was a seasoned veteran,” Joanie Witberler said.

Maryann Witberler sank the gamewinning three pointer to beat conference rival Prentice in double overtime during the regular season, which led to the Red Raiders sharing the conference championship with the Buccaneers.

She was a pitcher on Marathon’s inaugural varsity softball team in 1993.

“I had the opportunity to play basketball and softball with her in high school and I witnessed firsthand her drive to always get better,” Joanie said about Maryann.

Maryann Witberler was awarded a college basketball scholarship to play for Division 2 Winona St. She was a two-time team captain for her college squad. Maryann (Witberler) Hegemann told the audience at Sunday’s hall of fame ceremony that student athletes need three things: Support, strength and self.

“People always need a support system and my mother introduced me to playing sports,” Maryann said. “My mother taught me how to do a hook shot in basketball; she taught me how to be tough because she ran the ginseng farm herself. I received support from both of my older sisters, Maria and Joanie. Maria was the caretaker who nurtured me along and Joanie showed me more basketball skills like how to pass and dribble the ball and throw the ball off an opponent’s leg out of bounds. My mother always told me I was lucky to play WIAA sports because all she had growing up was the GAA (Girls Athletic Association).

“You need strength to lift up your teammates and allow them to lift you up too. Regarding self, I understood who I was; sports showed me to not only respect myself but my teammates. Sometimes you need to be humble and it’s a necessary experience to congratulate opponents after they beat you.”

Maryann (Witberler) Hegemann lives in Waterford with her husband, Craig, and their three children Theresa, Craig Jr. and John.

Joining good company

The five 2022 inductees into the Marathon Red Raider Hall of Fame join the following other recipients from previous years: Inaugural Class of 2019 Hall of Famers Tom Weinkauf, Pat Buchberger, Bill Fischer, Larry Heindl and Cindy Lensmire; Class of 2020 Hall of Famers Bill Knetter, Nicole (Reisner) Myszka, Gary Raether, Claude Seubert and Tim Sonnentag and Class of 2021 Hall of Famers Dennis Cramer, John Westfall, Carla Elliott, Joe Westfall and Cody Hanke.