Fred S. Norcross Jr.

Fred Norcross, a 1902 graduate of Menominee High School, was the quarterback on young Fielding H. Yost’s Michigan Wolverines from 1903 through 1905. During that time the Wolverines were 33-1-1, winning national championships in 1903 and 1904, and outscoring their opponents 1,627 to 30 during the ‘03-’04-‘05 seasons. “Norky”, as was his nickname, served as team captain in 1904 and also participated in spring track from 1904-1906.

He received a BS in engineering from Michigan in 1906, and served as president of the engineering class. He graduated from the Michigan School of Mines in 1908. He also coached at Oregon Agricultural College (later Oregon State University), from 1906 through 1908 where his teams finished with a combined 14-4-3 record, winning the unofficial Western United States Championship in 1907. He served in World War I as a major in the U.S. Army 27th Engineers. Norcross had a successful career as a mining engineer in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Cuba. He was an inaugural inductee into the U.P. Sports Hall of Fame in 1972.

Francis Tallent

Francis Tallent grew up during the early years of high school football. He watched, as a boy, those players who performed gridiron feats in primitive uniforms and shabby equipment. He was a member of the 1929 “Point a Minute” football squad, one of the greatest teams in school history and the leader on an 8-0 team that averaged 50.5 points per game. The Barney McCann coached Maroons scored 404 points while giving up only 12 during the eight-game season. He scored 27 touchdowns that year, scoring 54 points in one game. In a 150-0 victory over Kingsford, he scored nine touchdowns and ran for 588 yards, doing this in only two quarters. In an Armistice day M&M game, he scored four touchdowns and gained 280 yards in a lopsided 49-0 victory.

Following his high school career, Tallent worked as a surveyor and then entered Jordan College in Menominee on a football scholarship. Because of a knee injury, he never played college ball. He worked his way up the ladder at Lloyd Manufacturing Company beginning in 1935, becoming the mail order department foreman in 1960. He was active in community organizations and served as president of the Menominee Recreation Department, running the city’s summer and winter recreation programs. He went on to coach youth football and was a longtime member of the Walton Blesch Field chain gang, serving in that position for many years. He is a member of the U.P. Sports Hall of Fame.

Richard Deschaine

Dick was a three-sport athlete at Menominee High School, excelling in football, basketball, and baseball. He played in the M&M Industrial Basketball League and M&M Fastpitch softball. Following graduation in 1949, he joined the Marines rather than entering college and later worked for the Ansul Company. Deschaine was a pass receiver and punter for the M&M Hornets of the Wisconsin State Football League.

In 1955 his punting skills drew the attention of then Green Bay Packers head coach Lyle Blackbourn, who signed Deschaine to a contract following a brief workout. It was rare to be a specialist in the NFL during the middle 50’s. He averaged 43.2 yards per punt in 1955. His longest punt measured 73 yards, which was a long-standing Packers record. During his NFL career he played with some league notables, including Bart Starr, Billy Howton, Al Carmichael, Fred Cone, Forrest Gregg, and others.

In Cleveland, he played with the great Jim Brown and Lou Groza. During his years in the NFL, he punted 231 times for 9,777 yards-nearly six miles. He finished 2nd in the league in punting in 1956, averaging over 40 yards per punt. He often came back to Menominee to appear at local functions. In 1976 Green Bay fans voted Deschaine as the punter on the all-time modern era team, which included several Packers stars of the 50’s and 60’s. Dick Deschaine was inducted into the U.P. Sports Hall of Fame in 1976.

Richard "Red" Lacousiere

Richard “Red” Lacousiere was a lifelong resident of Menominee. A bachelor, he devoted his entire life serving the children of the area as both coach and friend. A devout Catholic, he attended mass regularly and deferred from being in the spotlight. He played basketball in high school for Coach Mickey McCormick and was also active in weight team football. He was a successful pitcher in the Twin Cities Softball League during the summer. He coached grade school football and basketball in the late 1940’s, a program started by McCormick and one that is still flourishing today. Red spent 60 years coaching and volunteering with area youth. He built the American Legion Baseball program from the ground up, spending countless hours grooming Spies Field for play.

For many years he also served as a major league baseball scout. Red, along with Baltimore Orioles scout Lou D’Annunzio and Detroit Tiger hall of fame pitcher Hal Newhouser held free baseball schools in Menominee for a few years. Red coached basketball as early as the 1940’s and was an assistant coach for the Maroons during the early 1980’s. For many of his players, he was a father figure. He was generous to a fault, often times buying balls, bats, and gloves for his players, and taking them for ice cream after games. True to his nature, Red was a very tolerant man and a mentor to many up until the last years of his life. Red is enshrined in the U.P. Sports Hall of Fame.

William Prescott Wells

Billy Wells is probably the most widely known and famous athlete to graduate from Menominee High School. He played halfback on the 1947 and ’48 football teams that finished 14-2 and won mythical U.P. championships. In 1948 season he scored nine touchdowns including a 60 yard catch for a score in a 34-7 Maroon victory in the M&M game. He also played basketball on a 1948-49 team that tied a school record ten consecutive wins. He was also a sprinter on the Maroon track team. After graduation in 1949 he became a three-year starter in the “Pony Backfield” on Coach Clarence “Biggie” Munn’s Michigan State Spartans, tops in the Big Ten that year. He led the underdog Spartans to a 28-20 victory in the 1954 Rose Bowl where he scored two touchdowns, including a 62 yard punt return, earning him the title of the game’s most valuable player.

This parlayed Wells several dates with movie star Debbie Reynolds as well as an appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show in New York City. Selected in the 5th round of the 1954 NFL draft by the Washington Redskins, he also played for the Pittsburg Steelers, the Philadelphia Eagles, and ended his career with a one-year stay on the Boston Patriots in 1960. He still holds the Redskins team record with the longest run from scrimmage at 88 yards. Billy had over 2100 combined rushing and receiving yards in the NFL. After football, Billy formed a Dixieland band, “Billy’s Bachelors”, and enjoyed a brief acting career. Billy is a member of the U.P. Sports Hall of Fame.

Lawrence "Larry" Ebsch

Larry Ebsch is a life long resident of the city of Menominee, save for the 14 months he served as an Army medic during the Korean War. He was a 1949 graduate of Menominee High School, participating in football, basketball, and track through the junior varsity programs until health issues put an end to his playing days. He became the team statistician in football and basketball, also serving as the sports editor of the Maroon News, a weekly student publication, and wrote about his beloved Maroons. He was an unpaid news correspondent for the Menominee Herald-Leader for four years covering the original M&M Hornets in the Wisconsin State Football League, the M&M Fast-Pitch Softball League and the M&M Industrial Basketball League.

His newspaper career began as a sports editor of the Herald-Leader in 1955, continued with the Eagle-Star in 1961 and continues today with the Eagle-Herald, a run of 63 years. He was president of the former Upper Peninsula Sportswriters Association and President of the U.P. Sports Hall of Fame Council. Larry served as president of the Menominee baseball Indians, the Babe Ruth League in Menominee, the Menominee City Recreation Commission, the DAR Boys’ (now Boys’ and Girls’) club, and the Menominee Boxing Club. He, along with Red Lacousiere, promoted Silver Sluggers baseball schools with Milwaukee Braves scouts in the late 1950’s. Larry is a weekly-featured writer with his historical “Bye-Lines” column in the Eagle-Herald.

Kenneth W. Hofer

Ken Hofer spent 41 years as the head coach of the Menominee football Maroons. A native of Stephenson, Ken played football at the University of Wisconsin, graduating in 1957. A stint in the Army took him to Germany where he met his wife, Millie. In 1959 he worked as an export representative for Wilson Sporting goods. In 1964 he returned to the United States where he began his teaching and coaching career in his hometown of Stephenson. He began his coaching career in Menominee in 1966. In 1971 he relinquished his coaching duties to become an administrator. He returned to coaching in 1975. As principal, athletic director, and coach, he made the best of declining enrollment by scheduling and competing with some of the toughest schools in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota.

Ken retired as principal in 1996 but went on to coach the Maroons for another 15 years. In that time span his teams won the Division V State Championship three times. Ken retired from coaching in 2011. He has amassed quite a list of accomplishments, including a record of 320 wins to 129 losses, 22 playoff appearances, the three state titles, eight regional titles, 15 Barber Trophies symbolic of the top U.P. football team, and has been inducted into the U. P. Sports Hall of Fame, the Michigan High School Coaches Hall of Fame, and the National Single Wing Hall of Fame. He also received the prestigious Duffy Daugherty Award.

William Stiles Rademacher

Bill Rademacher is arguably one of the greatest athletes to compete at Menominee High School. Graduating in 1960, he was the quarterback on Coach John Knispel’s Maroons. He earned 12 major letters and was the recipient of the Barbara Silverthorn award. He was a walk-on at Northern Michigan University and through hard work earned a spot on the team. He won four letters under Coach F.L. Ferzacca, receiving the MVP award in 1963. He caught 29 passes for 572 yards while setting a school record that year, breaking all pass receiving records for the Wildcats.

Bill signed with the New York Jets as a free agent and won a backup spot as a receiver, but gained much notoriety as a member of the special teams. Bill played in the famous 1969 Super Bowl III, making the very first tackle on the opening kickoff of the game. Bill played five seasons with the Jets and three with the Patriots.

Rademacher coached at Xavier of Ohio University in 1973 and returned to his alma mater, NMU, in 1974 as offensive coordinator. The Wildcats won the NCAA Division II Championship in 1975, and in 1978, Bill was named NMU head coach, racking up a 37-16 record and taking the team to two NCAA II quarterfinals and one semifinal game. Bill was hired by George Perles at Michigan State University in 1983 where he coached three positions. After winning the Big Ten Championship in 1987, the Spartans beat Southern California in the Rose Bowl, 20-17. Bill was inducted into the U.P. Sports Hall of Fame in 1983.

Patrick F. Miller

Without question, Pat Miller made his mark in local sports history as a standout basketball player, but was also an excellent football player. He was All-State in both sports, the all-time career scoring leader in basketball, and led the 1967 boys’ basketball team to the state championship. Miller lettered in both basketball and football at Michigan State University, where he was co-captain of the basketball team. He later played professionally for three years in the Continental Basketball Association and had a successful coaching career for over 40 years.

He was an assistant coach at MSU from 1972-76 and head coach and assistant athletic director at Northwood University from 1976-1991 where his 1987 team captured the District NAIA Champion and he was named coach of the year. From 1988 to 1989 he was a shooting coach for the Detroit Pistons. In 1992 through 1996 Pat was an assistant coach at Midland-Dow High School, from 1996-1997 an assistant coach at Eastern Michigan University, the head coach at Kirtland Community College from 1999-2000, and from 2006 through 2012 an assistant coach at Rufus King High School and Central Michigan University respectively. He currently owns a basketball consulting company where he conducts shooting clinics, camps, and individual instruction all over the country. Pat was inducted into the U.P. Sports Hall of Fame in 1988.

Sydney Wells

Syd Wells has come a long way from her first experiences as a young girl putting at Riverside Golf Club. Following her older brother Carter around the links at Riverside, her parents entered her into the Riverside Junior Golf Program. When Title IX came along, Syd played high school basketball and joined the Maroon golf team. Rising from these humble beginnings she became a fierce competitor, including a run at the LPGA tour.

Syd walked on to the golf program at Michigan State University, where she was honored as the Spartans’ Women’s Golfer of the Decade, 1982-92. The Spartans during her tenure won seven team titles including the 1982 Big Ten Championship. She is an 11-time Upper Peninsula Ladies Golf Association champion, including five title crowns from 1998 – 2002 and four straight championships from 2007 – 2010. She missed qualifying for the LPGA by one stroke, twice, back in the 1980’s.

Wells was named Wisconsin State Golf Association Player of the Year and Senior Player of the Year on two occasions. She also won the Women’s Senior U.P. championship in 2014, and she won the Wisconsin State match play championship in 2015. She was inducted into the Upper Peninsula Sports Hall of Fame in 2002.

Tiffany (Hodge) Gilbert

Tiffany (Hodge) Gilbert was a phenomenally gifted athlete on the track and field for Menominee High School. A 1995 graduate, Gilbert was a four-year letter winner in basketball, gymnastics and track. Her hurdle form was unforgettably smooth. She was a four-time U.P. champion in the 100 meter high hurdles and a three-time champ in the 300 meter low hurdles, setting records at the U.P. Finals in the 100 hurdles (15.2) and 300 hurdles (45.23). She was also an All-Great Northern Conference basketball player and a regular on the gymnastics team as well. After earning Most Valuable Female Athlete honors and receiving the Barbara Silverthorn Trophy, Gilbert graduated as the salutatorian of her class.

Gilbert was a four-year varsity letter winner at the University of Michigan where she competed in the 100 hurdles and the 400 hurdles as well as the long jump and heptathlon. Her teams won two Big Ten Indoor championships and one Big Ten Outdoor title. Her career-best time in the 100 hurdles was an amazing 14.2 seconds. She long jumped 18 ½ feet. She earned Academic All-Big Ten honors three times and was a member of the U of M Industrial Engineering Honor Society. She was on the Dean’s List and won Michigan’s Scholar-Athlete Award all four years. After college she moved to Vermont. She serves as an assistant track coach at Essex High School and has helped her team win six Division 1 boys’ state titles and nine girls’ state championships.

1967 Maroon Basketball Team

The Menominee High School varsity basketball team, led by young coach Bob Krysiak, did something in 1967 that no team in Menominee’s history had ever done: win a state championship. Going into the tournament, the Maroons record was 6-10. They suffered the loss of a starting forward midway through the season and had to forfeit games because of a rules violation and weren’t expected to garner any post- season accolades. Their line-up featured two sophomores and a junior, and they were the underdogs in all seven of the away tournament games.

Menominee began district play by defeating Kingsford and Iron Mountain. The Maroons won the regional crown after defeating Ironwood and Ishpeming at the Northern Michigan University Fieldhouse in Marquette, becoming the first Menominee team to win the U.P. honors in the then 54 year history of the tournament. In downstate action, Menominee went on to beat heavily favored Standish-Sterling, Lansing O’Rafferty, and Ypsilanti Willow Run to win the State Championship.