I’m not a fool, at least when it comes to Bay sports history.
I would never argue that there has been a better Bay athlete than the great Tom Jankowski, class of 1963. Some on the same level? Sure, but not that many and you can count them on one hand. Better? Nope.
I’m not going to go into the minutiae on this one, just giving some highlights.
Three year starter in football, two-time All-Suburban, two-time All-State, Scholastic Magazine All-American and Milwaukee-Area Scholar-Athlete of the Year. The Bay went 7-1 in 1961 and 8-0 in 1962. Tom left the Bay with a staggering 21 individual records.
Two year starter in basketball on Suburban Conference championship teams in 1962 and 1963 that were led by Tom’s Holy Family classmate Dennis Berkholtz. He was the sixth man as a sophomore on a fine 1961 team.
Three year letterman in track and field, placing in the Discus in several Suburban Conference meets.
Three year starting catcher in baseball, hitting well over .300 in those years.
Prom King.
National Honor Society and top 10% in his class academically.
Tom did the whole high school thing. No crumbs left. It’s very annoying now that I think about it.
Then a three year letterman at Wisconsin, including leading the team in rushing in 1965, only adds to it.
Bad night for Tosa West’s Chet Durham in 1961 (from the Tosa West 1962 Yearbook).
In 1992 Milwaukee Sentinel reporter Bud Lea wrote an article about the 1962 Bay football team, which he remembered from having covered them. Bud was with the Sentinel from the 1950s to the 1990s and was best known for covering the Lombardi Packers. But he also covered high school football for most of that time. He told one of the 1962 Bay players that Tom Jankowski was the best high school running back he’d ever seen.
That story about the Waukesha coaches taping 38 to the practices dummies is epic. The Bay had a lot of success with one particular running play. Waukesha simply couldn’t stop it. The play was then called the Waukesha Special in the huddle for the rest of the season.
The Whitefish Bay class of 1963 is, without question, the greatest class in Bay athletics history. The number of top quality guys is staggering.
Dennis Berkholtz, four-year starter in basketball on top quality teams (44-12 in Suburban play), three-time All-Suburban, All-State and a great golfer who placed in the top ten at State. Three-year starter at Kansas State where he would have been even more lethal with the 3-point line and a future Olympian and head coach in Team Handball. He averaged 10 points a game as a freshman on the 1960 team that advanced to the Sectionals. Think that one through. Carefully.
Bill Hilgendorf, where do I even begin? Eight time letterman at the Bay. Two-time All-Suburban in football, key basketball player, 150+ in the Discus, still an elite high school mark. Valedictorian, three year starter at Yale at linebacker, All-Ivy, named the outstanding student in the Yale senior class, turned down NFL tryouts because he was focused on the Yale In China program and had a tragic death at age 22 in 1967. And in 1965 he spent the summer in Mississippi working on a voting drive, which took immense courage. We all know that three civil rights workers had been brutally murdered in Mississippi the summer before.
Here’s a first person account of the circumstances surrounding Bill’s death. Be forewarned, it’s a tough read.
An astute observer might notice Tom Leiser in those pictures. Tom was the Salutatorian and a great football and track athlete. He set the Bay school record in the 440 as a junior, bettered it as a senior (50.5 converted), finished 6th at State twice, went to Navy, scored a touchdown in the Army-Navy game when that game was a huge deal, served two tours in Vietnam with over 150 helicopter recon missions, survived a helicopter crash in the Mekong Delta, had a successful business career and died of Agent Orange-induced blood cancer at age 80 in early 2025. That is a military death and Tom should absolutely have a plaque with the other military plaques in the hallway south of the Memorial Gym.
Here’s a fun video of Tom’s son on Antiques Roadshow.
Ron Vick was a great football and track athlete. He finished second at State in the 220 as a junior in 1962 on the Bay State title team and almost caught the great Aquine Jackson of Milwaukee Boys Tech for the win. His 22.0 (21.9 converted) school record time in the 220 at the Bay was not conclusively bettered until 2024. That’s over 60 years.
I’ve already talked about cross country and track star Dave McDermott.
Dick Todd was yet another great football player and an accomplished wrestler. Along with Dave Katz, he led the Bay to a Suburban championship in wrestling and qualified for state as an individual.
Steve Noffsinger was a depth basketball player and a great hurdler who was key to the Bay winning the Suburban Outdoor in 1963.
Bill Durr, Dave Katz, Tom Lindemann, Guy Morrison and Cary Nusslock were All-Suburban lineman in football. That team was extraordinary.
In both 1961 and 1962 (Suburban champions) the Bay basketball team lost to eventual State champions Milwaukee Lincoln in the Regionals, with the 1962 loss being a heart-breaking, close loss. In 1963 the Bay beat Lincoln in the Regionals and lost to Milwaukee North by one point in OT at the Sectionals. Key starter Bill Durr badly sprained his ankle in the last practice prior to the game against North. They already were missing Bill Hilgendorf for the season because of torn ligaments in his knee suffered in the last football game of the season.
In those years, the Bay was in by far the toughest basketball Regional and Sectional in the state.
This picture is from 1963.
So here is the complete roll call of the class of 1963 team athletics accomplishments.
Cross Country: Won the Suburban title, the State title and Dave McDermott was the individual State champion.
Football: Won the Suburban title and seven guys were named All-Suburban in the Milwaukee Journal, Milwaukee Sentinel or both.
Volleyball: Second in the Suburban, beat nemesis South Milwaukee in the Sectionals and finished second at State.
Swimming: Third in the Suburban and third at State.
Basketball: Won the Suburban and made it to the Sectionals by beating two-time defending State champions Milwaukee Lincoln in the Regionals.
Indoor Track: Second in the Suburban to Waukesha, which had the immense advantage of a fieldhouse while the Bay practiced sprints and hurdles in the hallways. Dave McDermott won the Mile and junior Dan Begel won the Pole Vault
Track Relays: Won the Suburban in a rout, letting Waukesha know who was boss. Wins in the 440, Mile and Two-Mile Relays, along with individual wins by Dan Begel in the Pole Vault and John Seefeld in the Discus, while Bill Hilgendorf and Tom Jankowski also placed.
Golf: Third in the Suburban and seventh at State. Dennis Berkholtz finished seventh at State as an individual.
Tennis: Won the Suburban and fourth at state.
Outdoor Track: Won the Suburban and 11th at State. Dave McDermott, Ron Vick and Tom Leiser were key guys on the 1962 State title team.
And it wasn’t just 1963 in this era. The Bay had great athletes Brian Bergemann and Tom Dakin in the class of 1962 and John Seefeld in the class of 1964.
Here are the 1963 cheerleaders. Many of them would have liked to compete in athletics on their own, but the times simply didn’t allow it. It’s a shame.
A picture from the class of 1963 5oth reunion. Tom Leiser, Tom Jankowski, Ron Vick, Dennis Berkholtz.
Here are some things that are interesting to me.
As with any Bay class, there are many career successes. One is Jennifer Dohrn, co-Valedictorian with Bill Hilgendorf. Jennifer’s older sister Bernardine graduated in 1959 and has led an eventful life.
In an 8th grade football game in the fall of 1958 Cumberland’s Ron Vick tackled Richards’ Tom Leiser. Both suffered broken bones on the play. Leiser a broken wrist and Vick a broken sternum.
The 1959 Holy Family basketball team won the inaugural Milwaukee Catholic Diocese 8th grade basketball title. 100+ teams were eligible. Three starters were Dennis Berkholtz, Bill Durr and Tom Jankowski. Dave McDermott was the 6th man.
As good as the 1962 football team was, they did have one tough moment where they had to gut it out. South Milwaukee had beaten the Bay in 1961 and won the title at 8-0 over the Bays 7-1 and was sporting a 10 game Suburban Conference winning streak. In the second game of the season the Bay hosted South Milwaukee and the Red Rockets scored on a 36 yard run on the first drive of the game and converted the point. The Bay countered in the second quarter, but didn’t convert the point. The whole third quarter the Bay moved the ball, but shot itself in the foot and didn’t score while South Milwaukee had done nothing offensively since the first drive.
Early in the 4th quarter, Bill Hilgendorf drilled the ball carrier in the backfield — same guy who had scored the earlier touchdown. The ball popped into the air, lineman Tom Lindemann caught it and rumbled 34 yards for the go-ahead score. Bay leads 13-7.
South Milwaukee punted on the next possession after making one first down. Tom Leiser caught the punt at the Bay 10 and scampered 90 yards for the score. Bay wins 20-7.
I’ve mentioned that Ron Vick and Tom Leiser held the Bay 220 and 440 records — Vick 220 and Leiser 440. At the Suburban Outdoor Bay coach Bill Cross had Leiser run the 100 and 220 and Vick the 440 and 880 Relay. Just two running events allowed back then. Leiser finished 2nd in the 100 and won the 220 in 22.2, not far off Vick’s 22.0 school record. Vick won the 440 in 51.1, not far off Leiser’s 50.8 school record. Here is a picture of Ron winning the 440 while Tom was standing near the finish line.
The Bay won the meet 63-61 over Waukesha, with Steve Noffsinger providing key points in the hurdles and Ron Vick anchoring the 880 Relay into second to preserve the team win.
Those single points from Cary Nusslock in the Shot Put and sophomore Paul Priebe in the Broad Jump mattered.
Here is a tribute video to Tom Leiser posted by his son. It’s Tom singing and there is some video of him during his service in Vietnam. Tom adapted the 1959 Lefty Frizell song Long Black Veil to show his conflicted feelings about Vietnam. At least that’s my interpretation.
Tom Jankowski was inducted into the Bay Athletics Hall of Fame this year.
Some 1963 classmates who attended. Cary Nusslock, Dick Todd, Karen (Uhle) Greer, Tom Lindemann and Dennis Berkholtz.
Here are the induction speeches from Bruce Gilbert, a great athlete in the Class of 1972 who nominated Tom, and from Dennis Berkholtz. Tom passed away in 2015.
There was a reception the next day at Randy Dean’s house (Class of 1973 and Bay Hall of Fame Inductee) that was attended by many great Bay athletes, some Bay coaches and others. It was a great time.
Perhaps the highlight was coach Dick Baer making a huge effort to be there.
Something I realized later is that the Bay starting QBs from 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1971 and 1972 are in that picture. Those teams went 46-10-2, won three Suburban titles, finished second once and third three times.
Whitefish Bay Track and Field History 