Hall of Fame

1975-76 Tigers were first New Richmond girls team to reach state

The first New Richmond girls varsity sport to qualify for the WIAA State Championships was the 1975-76 Tiger girls basketball team. They are being inducted into the Hall of Fame in recognition of the 50th anniversary of their feat.

The first year the WIAA held a state tournament for girls basketball was in 1976, when the Tigers qualified in Class B. The Tigers were defeated by Clinton, 42-33, in a state semifinal game. The Tigers finished the season with an 18-3 record. Pat “Bucky” McNamara was selected for the all-state tournament team.

The Tigers were coached that season by Polly Simpson and Judy Weiss. The team’s starting five included Pat McNamara, Linda (Kunz) Gibson, Lisa (Drill) Cichy, Nancy Breymeier and Kathy (Campbell) Gleason. Other girls on the team were DeeDee Swanson, Betsy (Spencer) Slater, Gretchen (Demulling) Frank, Diane (Demulling) Krumm, Shelly Ryan, Beth (DeRosier) Hurtis, Janet (Gillis) Sachse, Georgine Kay and Cindy Shea. 

After starting the season at 2-2, the Tigers went on an incredible winning streak. They won their 16th straight game when they defeated Ladysmith 41-39 in the sectional championship game, qualifying the Tigers for the first WIAA state tournament ever held for girls basketball.

Tom Hansen was one of the most successful athletes at New Richmond High School in the 1970s and he carried that success to UW-River Falls, where he was a four-year starter for the Falcon men’s basketball team.

Hansen’s best sport was basketball, where he was part of three Middle Border Conference championship teams with the Tigers. Hansen was New Richmond’s leading scorer for two of those seasons, averaging more than 15 points per game.

His exploits twice earned him All-Conference honors and once he was named to the All-District team.

Hansen was a key component in the Tigers’ advancing to the 1973 WIAA State Championships, when there was only two divisions. The Tigers gave a strong effort at state, but lost in the opening round to eventual state champion Beloit Memorial, 73-60. Hansen was the Tigers’ leading scorer in that state tournament game, finishing with 18 points. The Tigers entered the state tournament with a 22-1 record, the most wins among Division 1 teams at the time.

AT the end of his senior year, Hansen was awarded the National “W” Club Award for Outstanding Leadership, Scholarship and Athletic Ability.

Hansen was also one of the Tigers’ best baseball players at the time. He was a two-year starter on the varsity baseball team, hitting .365 as a senior.

Hansen then attended the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, where he was an instant success in basketball. He was a four-year starter on the Falcon men’s basketball team, leading the team in scoring during his sophomore, junior and senior seasons. Twice he finished among the top 10 scorers in the Wisconsin State University Conference and he was a two-time All-WSUC selection.

Hansen ranks among the top five scorers and top five rebounders in UW-River Falls men’s basketball history.

After graduating, Hansen became a teacher and school principal. He coached five different youth sports. He also became a writer, publishing four novels.

Warren Irle was one of New Richmond’s top scholar-athletes of the 1960s. He was a basketball standout for the Tigers. He then played two years of collegiate basketball at UW-Superior, before a back injury forced him to give up the sport.

Irle was a two-time All-Middle Border Conference basketball player for the Tigers. Irle was limited to 11 games in his senior basketball season, due to a back injury suffered while he was playing quarterback on the Tiger football team earlier that year. Irle was able to play in 11 games his senior season, scoring 199 points. Irle helped the Tigers to secure a second place tie in the MBC that season with an 84-59 win over Hudson in the season finale. Hudson was led by Jim Bertelsen, who went on to play football at the University of Texas and in the NFL for the Los Angeles Rams.

Irle was a captain for the Tigers as a junior, when he was one of the team’s starting guards, but was known for his strong all-around play. During his senior season, the Tigers put together a 12-game winning streak.

Irle was a two-year letterman in football, leading the Tigers to a 6-2 record as a senior, when he was a team captain and an all-conference selection. 

In baseball, Irle helped the Tigers to win the conference title with his play in centerfield and and first base.

With all of his successes, Irle received the Athlete of the Year from the Kiwanis for the 1967 graduating class. He earned a total of seven letters during his high school career. 

Irle was selected to attend Badger Boys State as a junior, being named Mayor at Badger State. Irle served as the N Club President in his senior year.

To New Richmond sports fans, Bob Johnson is simply known as Bubba.

He has worked without recognition or fanfare, at the scorer’s table for New Richmond football and basketball games, working the game clock.

Johnson has worked the clock for hundreds of games and there’s never been a complaint or questioning of his work. He alertly stays on top of the action, never missing an official’s cue.

Johnson was recruited in 1982 by New Richmond Athletic Director Stan Barr to work at the scorer’s table. After some thought, Johnson agreed. Ever since then, the 1979 NRHS graduate has been a fixture at the scorer’s table for varsity football and varsity and junior varsity boys and girls basketball games.

Johnson said he has no plans to retire from the position. He said serving in the role for 50 years is a milestone he’d like to reach.

Johnson said it’s been a treat as a sports fan to see the great New Richmond teams and athletes who’ve competed, along with the top athletes from other schools.

Beth Kelly didn’t get into competitive running until she was an adult. After she got involved, she had a long career in coaching the New Richmond High School cross country team and the distance runners in the New Richmond High School track team.

Kelly graduated from NRHS She attended UW-Stout, earning degrees in Vocational Rehabilitation and Special Education, later earning her master’s degree. She taught for 10 years at two Minnesota school districts before returning to New Richmond in 1996. In Minnesota her position was a Special Needs Vocational Coordinator and in Wisconsin her title is a Transition Coordinator.

Kelly first started coaching in 2001, working with the distance runners on the Tiger track teams. She took over the reins of the Tiger cross country team in 2005.

Kelly’s teams had an incredible run of success. Her Tiger girls cross country teams won 11 conference championships in her 16 years as coach, including nine straight from 2006 to 2014. The Tiger boys won nine Middle Border Conference titles under Kelly’s leadership.

The MBC had schools with strong individuals in those years, but none of those teams could match the depth that Kelly developed in the Tiger program. She did have six runners win individual titles in her tenure.

The Tiger boys team qualified for the WIAA state championships four times under Kelly’s coaching (in 2007, 2014, 2019 and 2020). The Tiger girls team reached state twice (in 2007 and 2008). Kelly also had nine runners qualify as individuals for the state meet. The 2007 season was the only time New Richmond has sent a boys and girls team to state in the same year.

In track, there were Tigers who qualified for the state meet in 23 individual distance events under Kelly’s coaching, with three relays making it to the state meet.

Kelly’s four daughters (McKenzie, Morgan, Maddie and Mallory) all went on to successful running careers at NRHS. McKenzie was also a top collegiate runner at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. Beth and McKenzie are the first mother-daughter members of the Hall of Fame.

Bill Knutson was one of the finest hitters and outfielders ever produced in the New Richmond baseball program. He went on to become part of the NRHS baseball coaching staff.

Knutson was a driving force in the New Richmond baseball team reaching the WIAA Summer State Championships in 1988 and 1989. As a junior, Knutson hit .458 while leading the Tigers with 44 hits and 46 runs batted in.

The 1989 season was a great one for Knutson and the Tigers. New Richmond finished the season with a 25-2 record and were semifinalists at the WIAA State Championships. Knutson led the Tigers with a .413 batting average as a senior and his 34 RBI and five homers were also tops on the team.

Knutson was an All-Middle Border Conference selection both seasons, and was named an honorable mention All-State Player.

Knutson then played baseball at UW-River Falls. He was a three-year letterwinner for the Falcons and each time he was named an All-WIAC selection. Knutson was team captain his junior and senior seasons and team MVP as a junior.

In high school, Knutson was a nine-time letterwinner, earning three in football, basketball and baseball. As a senior, Knutson was the Tigers’ Most Valuable Player ranking second in the conference in scoring, earning him all-conference and all-district honors. He was part of two Middle Border Conference championship teams that both finished as sectional runners-up.

Knutson began his teaching and coaching career in Somerset. He coached baseball in Somerset 1993-2000 as an assistant and head coach. Their most successful season was 1999, when they were Lakeland Conference champs with a conference record of 14-1 and an overall record of 16-5.

After teaching and coaching in Somerset, in 2000, Knutson’s heart brought him home to New Richmond as an elementary teacher. In addition to his teaching duties in New Richmond, he taught adjunct for Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota for 22 years. (2001-2023). In 2013, he was awarded the Winkler Award. This award is given to an adjunct professor(s) who demonstrate excellence in teaching and demonstrates high integrity and is based on learner evaluations and student work. 

Knutson returned to coaching in 2021 as part of the Tiger varsity baseball coaching staff and the Tigers won their first Big Rivers Conference title in 2025.

“Better golf through science” might be an accurate way to describe Neal Ziller’s coaching style.

Ziller was hired as a physics and chemistry teacher at New Richmond High School for the 1994-95 school year. The following year, the girls golf program was begun at NRHS and Ziller was hired as the head coach after one year as a club team. It was a position he held for 28 years. Ziller graduated from UW-Eau Claire in 1987.

Ziller is a 1981 graduate of NRHS. He played on the boys golf team, qualifying for state in his junior and senior season. He was the number three player in the Tigers’ lineup. The top two players, Joe Swanda and Brent Johnson, both became golf professionals.

Under Ziller’s analytical coaching style, the girls team was a force in every season as he became one of the most respected golf coaches in the area. The Tigers won 13 conference championships in Ziller’s 28 years as a coach. Eight times, the Tigers produced the individual conference champion.

The Tigers were also a force in WIAA tournament play under Ziller. He led the Tigers to state six times as a team. In five other seasons, he had individual players qualify for the state tournament.

The best team finish for the Tigers at state under Ziller came in 2018 when the Tigers placed fifth in Division 1. Maggie Veenendall tied for sixth place in the final state tournament results to lead the Tigers to that fifth place finish.

Near the end of his teaching career, Ziller took over as coach of the New Richmond boys golf program. In 2018, he coached Owen Covey to the state tournament as an individual from the boys team.

Ziller retired from teaching and coaching following the 2022-23 school year.