Lawrence Today magazine, Summer 2009
BY JOE VANDEN ACKER
They were dubbed “the greatest generation.”
They won the war that shaped the 20th century and built the economy that made the United States the envy of the rest of the world.
These men, children of the Great Depression and heroes of World War II, also played a starring role as athletes at Lawrence College, as it was then known, in the 1940s. This was a “golden age” of Lawrence athletics, with the Vikings winning 16 Midwest Conference championships during the decade.
“I knew there were lots of athletes who were a lot better than I was,” said Appleton native Don Strutz ’49, who played football, basketball and golf for the Vikings. “There were some good names, Miller, Giordana, Fieweger. It was impressive to be part of that group.”
It was an extraordinary time, both before and after the war, for Lawrence athletics. A number of talented athletes started a run of success before the Pacific War got into full swing. Many of those same men, along with impressive newcomers, kept it going after V-E and V-J Day.
The Vikings started their run of league championships by winning the 1941 tennis title. Lawrence would win three more titles in 1942 (football, golf, and swimming and diving) and two more in 1943 (basketball and track and field) before league play was suspended by the war.
“There were outstanding athletes across the campus,” said Claude Radtke ’50, Lawrence’s first All-American in football. “There were some really great athletes at that time. A lot of recruiting at the time was done in the Fox Valley.”
Radtke, an Appleton native who starred in football, basketball, and track, was part of a large group of local athletes who competed for Lawrence. Men like Radtke, Strutz, Carl Giordana ’48, Jim Fieweger ’43, and Don Boya ’50, who lived just miles from the campus, became key players in a variety of sports.
That local connection coupled with a contingent of men recruited from the Racine and Kenosha areas by the legendary George Walter ’36. Lawrence Hall of Famer Bruce Larson ’49 and standout halfback Al Zupek ’44 were both Racine natives.
“George Walter did some recruiting of people from Racine and Kenosha, and we had some wonderful guys from that area,” said Ralph Buesing ’49, another Appleton native who was a standout football player for the Vikings. “They really filled out our team.”
When the men of Lawrence went to war, they served in various capacities around the globe. Buesing was in the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps in Europe, while two of his brothers, standout Lawrence athletes Ken Buesing ’40 and Warren Buesing ’43, also were in the military. Ken was a “dogface” in the Army infantry, and Warren was a U.S. Marine Corps instructor at Parris Island, S.C. Ralph Buesing had eight brothers and sisters — with seven graduating from Lawrence.
Strutz was one of many Lawrence men who became fliers. He was in the U.S. Army Air Corps, piloting a four-engine B-24 “Liberator” bomber on missions across Eastern Europe.
“We had a couple of missions that were tough,” said Strutz, a Lawrence Hall of Famer who continues to serve as an assistant golf coach for the Vikings. “We had two engines out on the left side. It’s almost impossible to fly a B-24 that way, but my co-pilot and I did it, and that got us all back OK.”
Every member of Strutz’s crew survived and returned home to their families.
“It was simple,” Strutz said. “Hitler was in charge of an evil group over there. There was no question of wanting to do it. It wasn’t a question of being a hero. It was a question of it had to be done. I don’t think anyone thought anything of going and doing what you had to do.”
The job was finally done when the Japanese surrender was signed on the deck of the U.S.S. Missouri on Sept. 2, 1945. Men came flooding back, supported by the G.I. Bill, and many came back to start, or finish, their educations at Lawrence. “These veterans had already served and were coming back to play,” said Radtke, who was in the U.S. Naval Reserve when the war ended. “There was a real mix of guys coming in at that time.”
Because of his reservist status, Radtke was discharged and got a call from his old high school coach, Ade Dillon, who wanted to know what Radtke’s plans were. “I hadn’t really decided where I was going to school,” Radtke said. Dillon filled out an application for Radtke, and he stayed home in Appleton to attend Lawrence, along with Boya, his lifelong friend and another Lawrence Hall of Famer.
“Boya and I wouldn’t have hooked up again if it hadn’t been for that unusual turn of events with my enlistment,” Radtke said. “I think the good Lord was looking out for me.”
Buesing was part of the “52-20 club,” where G.I.s received $20 a week for 52 weeks. “With your 20 dollars you could survive until you found a job or you went back to school,” said Buesing, who pooled his money with others to rent a cottage near Waupaca. “We met some girls up there and eventually got married.”
The fall of 1946 restarted the run of athletic success for the Vikings. Lawrence won 10 Midwest Conference championships over the next four years, including three apiece in football and golf.
“There were a number of all-state football players that came to Lawrence at that time and there was a real battle for positions,” said Radtke, who played end. “As far as my own personal challenge was concerned, I only played four games as a senior in high school. I never had a ball thrown to me in high school. I was thinking this is going to be a tough situation.” Radtke ended up being a two-time all-conference selection and earned All-America honors in 1949.
Buesing, who played fullback and linebacker on the Lawrence football squad, said it was an interesting mix of athletes because of the disparity in age between the returning players and the young men coming right from high school.
“We had gone through the war so we were three or four years older than the student coming in,” Buesing said. “We were probably a little tougher to handle. We were a little more daring.”
Buesing also became a pioneer during his football days at Lawrence in the late 1940s. “George Banta Jr., knew that I had sight problems and he bought me a set of contact lenses,” Buesing said. “The story was that I was the first person in the Fox Valley that had contact lenses. They were about half the size of a ping-pong ball. I could stand them about two hours, the length of a football game.”
The success built on itself, and athletes across the range of teams became accustomed to winning. “I think you just expected everyone on all the teams to do well. It pulled everyone in, whether you ran track or played tennis. If you knew the local guys, it gave them a reason to consider going to Lawrence,” Radtke said. “I have such a great feeling for the guys I played with. I always felt like I was a part of a group of guys who were willing to work hard to accomplish something. That’s just fantastic when you think about it. It’s going to be pretty hard to match up with something like that.”
That’s an opinion shared by Strutz.
“The chances are small that it will ever happen again,” Strutz said of the convergence of athletes in the 1940s. “It was a coincidence that you had newcomers entering the scene. You had the cream of the crop from different years. I don’t see how that could ever happen again.”
DECADE OF DOMINANCE LAWRENCE’S MIDWEST CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS IN THE 1940S
1941 Tennis
1942 Football, swimming and diving, golf
1943 Basketball, track and field
1946 Football, golf, track and field
1947 Football, track and field
1948 Golf
1949 Cross country, football, golf, tennis
FAMOUS FACES OF THE FORTIES
Some of the prominent athletes from various sports of the 1940s
Jim Fieweger ’43, track and field and basketball Fieweger was Lawrence’s first track All-American and the finest track athlete in school history. The Kimberly native dominated the 1942 and ’43 Midwest Conference Championships, winning five individual titles each season and leading the Vikings to the 1943 team crown. He earned All-America honors when he competed at the national Amateur Athletic Union (A.A.U.) meet in New York. A charter member of the Lawrence Hall of Fame, Fieweger also won three letters in basketball.
Dick Flicker ’49, golf Flicker was one of Lawrence’s “big three” on the golf course. In the pro game, those legends were Nicklaus, Palmer and Player. For the Vikings, it was Flicker, Carl Laumann and Don Strutz. Flicker won the 1946 Midwest Conference title and also placed in the top eight in three other league championship meets. He took third in 1949, fourth in ’47 and eighth in ’48. Strutz was the 1949 champion, and Laumann won in ’48. All three golfers took part in the 1949 NCAA Championships, and among the notables in that tournament was Wake Forest University’s Arnold Palmer.
Carl Giordana ’48, football and basketball Carl Giordana stands as one of the greatest running backs in Lawrence history, tearing up the gridiron and serving a stint in the military in between his days at Lawrence. A two-time All-Midwest Conference selection in 1942 and 1946, Giordana saw his career cut short by a knee injury in 1947. Giordana, who served in the United States Army Air Corps, helped the Vikings to football titles in 1942 and ’46. He also starred on Lawrence’s 1943 conference championship basketball team. The “Kaukauna Klassic,” as he was dubbed by the Appleton Post-Crescent, was inducted into the Lawrence Hall of Fame in 2000.
Bruce Larson ’49, football and basketball Bruce Larson was in the middle of the Lawrence football and basketball teams in the late 1940s. A Racine native, Larson played center and linebacker for the football team and was a forward on the basketball squad. A two-time All-Midwest Conference selection in football, Larson led the Vikings to consecutive conference championships in 1946 and ’47. He also helped the basketball team to three consecutive winning seasons. Larson was inducted into the Lawrence Hall of Fame in 2004.
Bill Lawson ’47, cross country and track and field As a part of the U.S. Navy’s V-12 program, Lawson split his time during the war between Lawrence and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He stands as the only runner to ever take both Midwest Conference and Big Nine (the predecessor to the Big Ten) conference titles in cross country. The Neenah native led Lawrence to conference team titles in track in 1943, ’46 and ’47 and won individual titles in both track and field and cross country. He was inducted into the Lawrence Hall of Fame in 2005.
Dick Miller ’47, football and basketball Dick Miller earned All-Midwest Conference honors five times and led his teams to three league championships. A native of Evanston, Ill., Miller starred at tackle and kicker for the Vikings football team. He led the football team to league titles in 1942 and ’46 and was an all-conference pick both seasons. He was away from Lawrence from 1943–45, piloting torpedo bombers for the U.S. Marine Corps. A three-time all-conference selection in basketball, Miller led the Vikings to the 1943 league title. He was chosen for the Lawrence Hall of Fame in 2002.
Everett Turley ’43, swimming
Ev Turley was one of the stars of the Lawrence swim team during the early 1940s. His specialty was the 100-yard backstroke, and he dominated in that event at virtually every meet in which he competed. He won the title in the 100 backstroke at the Midwest Conference Championships in 1941 and ’42. Turley was one of three individuals who won conference titles for the Vikings on their way to the team championship in 1942.
