The 56th Hall of Fame inductee class of the Madison Sports Hall of Fame Club features a curler, a wrestling coach, a baseball guy and a high school tournament director. The dinner and enshrinement ceremony will take place at the Monona Terrace Community and Convention Center on May 30th . You can listen to our interviews of each Hall of Fame member below.
Erika Brown is an accomplished curler and golfer. In addition to participating in the 1988, 1998 and 2014 winter Olympics, her curling legacy includes six junior national titles, nine national championships and two runner-up awards at the world championships. Erika has won the Continental Cup, curling’s equivalent of golf’s Ryder Cup, five times and has been chosen USA Curling’s Athlete of the Year four times and her teams have been Team of the Year three times.
As a golfer, Brown won the WIAA state tournament twice, the Madison junior championship three times and the Wisconsin PGA juniors four times. While at the UWMadison, Erika was on the Big Ten all-academic team three years and on the National Golf Coaches Association all-scholar team once. During her college years, she won the Badger State Games four times, the Madison City Women’s tournament once and the Western Wisconsin Amateur once.
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Bernard “Bernie” Kane was a Madison Central athlete in football, track and wrestling. After college he returned home to coach football and wrestling while teaching Applied Technology at Madison East. During his twenty-seven years as head wrestling coach, his teams won 158 dual meets, were Madison city champions fourteen times and the Big Eight conference champions once. Individually his twelve WIAA state tournament wrestlers placed five times and were champions twice. Kane was also the East athletic director for twelve years.
In addition, Bernie was a youth, high school and college wrestling official for forty-two years, President of the Southern Wisconsin Wrestling Officials Association for sixteen years and coordinated the MSCR middle school wrestling program for twelve years. For his contributions to the sport he loves, Kane was awarded the National Wrestling Coaches Lifetime Service award and was inducted into Eastside High’s Hall of Fame inaugural class.
Ron Krohn is the epitome of a “baseball guy”. At Reedsburg High School, he played football, baseball and basketball. After being named to the WIAA all-tournament in baseball during his senior year, Ron went on to distinguish himself as a pitcher for UWMadison. His career highlights include being named to the All-Big Ten’s 2nd team as a sophomore and the team’s most valuable player as a senior.
For more than thirty-five years Krohn umpired all levels of baseball from Little League to college. The Wisconsin Baseball Coaches Association awarded him its distinguished service award and its umpire of the year award while the Madison Mallards put him on their Wall of Fame for his efforts. Ron was an essential force behind the Madison Dugout Club for over thirty years, twenty as its President, helping to raise over $400,000 to assist community baseball organizations. For this the club presented him with its Gus Burwell Distinguished Service Award.
In high school Paul Swanson actively participated in sports as the manager and statistician for many times and as a reporter for the weekly village newspaper. Later as a math teacher at Madison LaFollette he coached football for twenty-four years as well as led the tennis and swim programs at various times. After the legendary Otto Breitenbach left for the UW, Swanson took over the reins as athletic director to manage the tremendous growth in female sports as well as to do all the things necessary to free “coaches to coach.” He was very active in the Wisconsin Athletic Directors Association serving on its executive board and as its President, twice being named district AD of the year.
For forty-one years Paul was the on-site coordinator for 135 WIAA state tournaments in golf, tennis and swimming as well as a worker for over fifty tournaments in nine additional sports. He also was a co-coordinator for Badger State Games in track and field for nine years organizing over two thousand competitors and 150 volunteers each summer.
These sport names will join the more than 200 individuals already in the Madison Sports Hall of Fame. Tickets for the event are $50 and they will be sold until May 24th. The event is open to the public and everyone is encouraged to attend and salute this exceptional group of inductees. Contact Peg Mueller (238-5907) for tickets.
The Madison Sports Hall of Fame Club began in 1963 to recognize and honor great athletes and sports figures from Madison. The group hosts weekly luncheon meetings from August through May and holds the induction ceremony every year. Go to http://www.madisonsportshalloffame.org to find out other information about the club.
via Press Release