top of page

Inductees

The Rice Lake Sports Hall of Fame recognizes athletes, coaches, and contributors who have continued the tradition of athletic excellence in the Rice Lake community and Rice Lake Area School District.

5.jpg

The extraordinary individuals who are inducted into the Rice Lake Sports Hall of Fame are selected based on their noteworthy athletic achievements or contributions to athletics in Rice Lake.

Each year nominees are considered by the organization membership with a select few being chosen for induction.

To date, over 80 athletes, coaches, and contributors have been bestowed this honor. Their stories are told below...

HINT: Click on an individual to view their full profile. Click on a year to see all inductees honored in that class.

Anthony is a 2006 graduate of Rice Lake High School. He was a standout Three-Sport athlete participating in Wrestling, Football, and Track, earning 11 varsity letters. He is Rice Lake’s most successful wrestler,

Anthony Loew

Inducted In

Anthony Loew

A 1951 graduate of Rice Lake High School, Bob was one of the original founders of the Rice Lake Hockey Association. In 1969, he served on the first board of directors, then held several office positions on the board and was an officer of the Wisconsin

Bob Buergi

Inducted In

Bob Buergi

Dan graduated from Rice Lake High School in 2007 following an exceptional career marked by athletic excellence and academic achievement.

Dan Culy

Inducted In

Dan Culy

Jenna is a 2013 graduate of Rice Lake High School. Her achievements as a Scholar and an Athlete are virtually unmatched. She excelled as a 3 Sport Athlete and 4 year starter in Basketball, Softball, and

Jenna (Orr) Robach

Inducted In

Jenna (Orr) Robach

Bob Heffner came to Rice Lake in 1960 to become the Rice Lake Chronotype’s first sports editor. He recorded all the sports in Rice Lake for the first 20 years of his 33-year newspaper career.

Bob Heffner

Inducted In

Bob Heffner

Katie graduated from Rice Lake High School in 2005. She won 53 games for the Warriors as a sophomore through senior. In 2005, she was 22-2 with an ERA of 0.73 and 144 K's and her 2004 record was 22-4 with an ERA of 1.27 and 109 K’s

Katie (Hanson) Novak

Inducted In

Katie (Hanson) Novak

Kody graduated in 2012 from Rice Lake High School. He received nine letters in three sports, which included four in hockey. He was chosen by the WHCA as the 2012 Wisconsin High School Player of the Year, also known as 'Mr Hockey'.

Kody Novinska

Inducted In

Kody Novinska

Lexi is a 2008 graduate of Rice Lake High School. She was a 3 Sport Athlete participating in Volleyball, Basketball, and Track and Field, earning seven varsity letters. She went on to the University of Minnesota Duluth where she

Lexi (Williams) Olinske

Inducted In

Lexi (Williams) Olinske

The youngest of 12 children, Pat grew up on a dairy farm and graduated22 from RLHS in 1972. He is one of the most dominant drivers in the history of snowmobile racing.

Pat Hauck

Inducted In

Pat Hauck

Dale Crisler was an athlete, coach and sports leader in Rice Lake and Barron County for more than a half century.

Dale Crisler

Inducted In

Dale Crisler

Sharon Peterson added the passion of a “Warriors Super Fan” plus the math skills of a high school calculus teacher to make a positive contribution to the Rice Lake sports community that is difficult to compute.

Sharon Peterson

Inducted In

Sharon Peterson

Steve came to the Rice Lake School District from Elgin, Ill., in 1995, taking over the twin position of athletics director/high school assistant principal. By the time he retired in 2016, he had filled his 21-year tenure with remarkable accomplishments...

Steve Salisbury

Inducted In

Steve Salisbury

As a play-by-play announcer on WJMC Tom Koser has called over 600 RLHS football, basketball and baseball games over a 15 year period. From 1992-2006 he coached youth football, basketball and baseball with many traveling teams...

Tom Koser

Inducted In

Tom Koser

Dave became the Chronotype's Sports Editor in 1978 and during his tenure received 20 first place State awards from the Wisconsin Newspaper Assn. for sports writing, outdoors reporting, feature writing and photography...

Dave Greschner

Inducted In

Dave Greschner

John graduated from Rice Lake High School in 1961 and had a very distinguished athletic high school career, competing in wrestling, football, and track.

John R. Drost

Inducted In

John R. Drost

Tolly has often been called one of Rice Lake’s all-time top sports boosters.

Tolstoi “Tolly” Steinert

Inducted In

Tolstoi “Tolly” Steinert

Wally attended Rice Lake High School for 3 years, graduating in 2012. During those 3 years he excelled in basketball and track & field.

Wally Ellenson

Inducted In

Wally Ellenson

In the 1950’s, Bud started working with harness horses in Rice Lake. He was an owner, trainer, driver and advisor to anyone that needed his help.

Bud Epp

Inducted In

Bud Epp

bottom of page