By GEORGE ROGERS
of the Gazette
Basketball: A game, yes, but more than that for Don Friday and Ed Poock. It was a big part of their lives, and their contributions to the sport have been recognized by their induction into the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association's Hall of Fame.
Friday was a sports writer in Stevens Point for four decades, and Poock, of Almond, was a winning basketball coach at five high schools over an 18-year span.
They were among 15 who entered the Hall Saturday, Oct. 13, at the Madison Marriott West in Middleton.
Friday was cited in the "Friends of Basketball" category. He covered sports for the Stevens Point Journal from 1960 to 1999, and then wrote for the Portage County Gazette. Among the accolades on the plaque accompanying his award was this quote from Dick Bennett, former coach at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point and UW-Madison:
"They simply don't come any better than Don. He is a coach's dream because he's not afraid to support the team he is covering, yet he describes the game properly and well. He just simply understood his role in the entire process. He was just a delight to work with."
For Friday, it went beyond reporting. He played a major role in creating the Sentry Classic Basketball tournament, served three times as president of the Associated Press Sports Editor Association and, in 1998, was presented the Tom Butler Media Award from the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
On Feb. 26, 2000, during the halftime of a UW-SP basketball game, he suffered a stroke and is still feeling its effects. But with the help of friends, he still attends many games - in all sports, not just basketball.
On Tuesday, Oct. 16, as a follow-up to the ceremony in Middleton, a Hall of Fame reception was held for Friday at UW-SP's Quandt Fieldhouse.
Poock was admitted to the Hall of Fame in the high school category. He concluded his career in education as administrator in the Almond-Bancroft School District, and before that was a successful head coach.
He coached in Montello, Wittenberg-Birnamwood, Green Bay East, Schofield D.C. Everest and Almond-Bancroft, had a 237-138 won-lost record and won seven conference championships.
At Wittenberg-Birnamwood his teams captured four conference titles and his last four teams there went 80-9. Twice his squads were ranked No. 1 at the end of the season in AP and UPI polls, and in 1974-75 his team finished second in the WIAA Class B state tournament.
He came to Almond-Bancroft as principal and also coached a team that won the conference championship in the 1979-80 season. He left to coach at Everest, returned to Almond-Bancroft as district administrator and coached for two more seasons, winning another conference title in 1988-89. He retired in 1996.
The citation on his plaque calls him "one of the innovators of the motion-passing game of the seventies," and says, "Hard-nosed defense and unselfish offense was a trademark of a Coach Poock team. ... Warmly regarded by his players, he had a profound influence on the lives of the many students he coached and taught."
Many relatives and friends of Friday and Poock were present for the Hall of Fame ceremony.
Among the others inducted were Rick Majerus, former basketball coach at Marquette University and now head coach at Utah University, and Don Lindstrom, a retired sports writer for the Wisconsin Rapids Tribune and the Wisconsin State Journal of Madison.
Also recognized by the association was Kraig Terpstra of the Stevens Point Area Senior High School girls basketball team for exceeding 100 wins in his career. Terpstra has 102.
Besides Friday and Poock, seven men with past or present Portage County connections are members of the Hall of Fame: Les Ansorge, Bill Knapton, Gordon Lewison, LaVerne Luebstorf, Hale Quandt, Don Soderberg and Doug Chickering.