By MIKE BEACOM
of The Gazette
This is the last installment of our Portage County's Most Memorable Athletes series which began last July. We would like to thank our panelists for supplying their nominations and the readers that sent in nominations.
The following group of Portage County athletes received considerable recognition from our group of panelists.
John Bandow - Bandow was one of the area's best in baseball and basketball during the 1970s. After helping the Pacelli basketball team to an undefeated season as a freshman, Bandow transferred to Stevens Point Area Senior High School (SPASH).
Kathi Bennett - Bennett was an important part of SPASH's 1980 state title girl's basketball team. Bennett has become a successful collegiate basketball coach and currently serves as the head women's basketball coach at Indiana University.
Doug Berry - Berry left Almond-Bancroft High School as the all-time leading scorer in basketball. He was also an excellent baseball player and was named to a Legion all-star team.
Kyle Bohm- Bohm was a three-sport athlete at SPASH in football, basketball and baseball and earned a scholarship to play baseball at Division 1 Auburn.
Brad Brekke - Brekke played quarterback for Pacelli and punted for the Wisconsin Badgers football team prior to the Barry Alvarez coaching days of the program.
Matt Buss - As a senior, Buss made an all-state team year round. Buss was a standout in football as wide receiver, hockey as the team's center and also played second base in baseball. He represented Wisconsin on the USA junior hockey team and played the sport at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Curt Clausen - As a racewalker, Clausen made the 1996 and 2000 Olympic teams. Clausen excelled at cross country and track when he attended SPASH and Duke University.
Keith Hanson - Was an exceptional runner in cross country and track and went on to attend Marquette University where he won a national title in 1986 in the 10,000 meters. Hanson still holds SPASH records in the 1,600- and 3,200-meter runs.
Bob Litzow - Litzow led the P.J. Jacobs' basketball team to a state title in 1954 and a second-place finish in 1952. He set a state title game record with 32 points. Litzow went on to play four years of basketball at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Scott May - The Almond-Bancroft three-sport athlete pitched in the big leagues for the Texas Rangers in the late 1980s. He also pitched for the Chicago Cubs and Milwaukee Brewer organizations.
Janel McCarville - McCarville left SPASH last year as the all-time leading girl's basketball scorer. As a freshman at the University of Minnesota this year, she is third in scoring (12.6 points per game) and leads the team in rebounding (7.2 per game) as the team's starting center.
Jim Shuda- Shuda had an outstanding baseball career at Pacelli as a pitcher and played for three years in the Chicago White Sox organization.
Ed Slotwinski - The P.J. Jacobs standout was named to three All-Wisconsin Valley Conference football teams and played guard for the varsity basketball for three years.
Kevin Sullivan - Was a successful catcher at Pacelli and Carthage College before he was drafted by the Philadelphia Phillies in the 2000 Major League Baseball draft. Sullivan is currently with the Colorado Rockies organization.
Other names submitted by our panelists and readers included the following:
Dean Adamczak, Nick Bandow, Todd Barnes, Dennis Bohm, Bob Bostad, Mike Brekke, Sean Cashin, Tom Cashin, Don Ceplina, Earl Cooper, Jack Dana, Jerry Dernbach, Joe Dernbach, Ken Fishleigh, Dave Fix, Shorty Flees, Cory Flisakowski, Mike Fortune.
Julie Garski, Loren Giese, Tim Glodowsky, Jim Graboski, Owen Glodowski, Pat Hedquest, Mike Higgins, Ken Hoerter, Dan Houlihan, Phil Huebner, John Jakusz, Tom Jensen, Wayne Jinske, Ben Johnson, Neil Jurgella, John Kardach, John Kedrowski, Bill Knoedler, Phyllis Koehn, Dick "Rufus" Konopacki, Don Kottke, Al Kruzicki, Ron Kutella.
Jay Laszewski, Bernie Landerman, Jim Marko, Brian McCarthy, Scotty McDonald, Exner Menzel, Roy Menzel, Steve Menzel, Ted Menzel, Mike Meteer, Jerry Miller, Marcy Mirman, Kevin Mlodik, Jim Moore, Marie Muhvic, Jill Murray, Chuck Nason, Bill Nelson, Brian Nelson, Ollie Neuberger, Ray Nugent, Henry Olson, Ray Orlikowski, Craig Paulson, Chet Polka.
Bob Razner, Cindy Richter, Chet Rinka, Jack Roberts, Harley Robinson, Dave Roman, Fran Roman, George Roman, Michelle Rosicky, Al Rutta, Joe Sanks, Tom Saxelby, Bob Schroeder, Jeff Shopinski, Joe Siebert, Chris Simonson, Pete Sippel, Harvey Slack, Butch Sorenson, John Steckel, Gary Stoltenberg, Shaun Sullivan, John Toepel, Rhody Tuszka, Don Unferth, Carl Wiemann, Don White, Laine Willkom, Jim Witkowski, Ed Worzalla and Hank Yetter.