Ron Kind: “a person once told me that only silly people have heroes in their lives. If that is true, then this silly person rises…”

“a person once told me that only silly people have heroes in their lives. If that is true, then this silly person rises today to congratulate and thank a hero in my life, my high school basketball coach, Tom Manchester, who is being inducted into the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame. Coach Manchester is a native of Racine, Wisconsin, and played basketball and baseball at Wartburg College, Iowa. Fortunately, for many of us northsiders, kids who grew up on the northside of La Crosse, Wisconsin, Coach Manchester accepted a teaching position at Logan High School and became the head basketball coach in 1977. He coached from 1977 to 1997, and finished with a 224-209 record and many city titles and Big Rivers Conference Championships. I had the pleasure of playing for him starting in my sophomore year in high school in 1978 and finishing in 1981. I was a member of his team when we struggled to be competitive my sophomore year, and then saw the remarkable transformation the next 2 years when we won back-to-back city championships, and also won our conference and became one of the top-ranked teams in the State of Wisconsin.”