UWEC Athletics Hall of Fame
Dick Emanuel was a three-sport star at UWEC, playing football, basketball and baseball, but he is remembered most for his basketball accomplishments. Emanuel was the first player in Blugold history to score over 1,000 career points and his basketball jersey was retired after his graduation. He averaged over 15 points a game for his career, finishing with 1,228. He captained the team in 1951 and was All-Conference two years. Emanuel was also a member of the 1948 conference championship football team on which he played end. He graduated cum laude in 1951.
Emanuel's first position was as a math teacher and physical education instructor in Mondovi. He coached football, basketball and baseball and won a football co-championship in one of his two years there. One of his student-athletes was fellow Hall of Famer Jim Bollinger. At the time of his induction in 1976, Emanuel had been in the Appleton school system since 1953 where his duties had included mathematics teacher, head basketball coach and head golf coach. He had been the Assistant Principal at Appleton High School West since 1971. As of 1976, Emanuel had taken Terror basketball teams to the state tournament five times, winning the state WIAA title in 1970 with a 26-0 record when one of his star performers was Rich Reitzner who enjoyed a brilliant college career at UWEC. His teams are 10-5 in state tourney play and have a second, third and consolation title to their credit in addition to the one state crown. Emanuel has earned conference Coach of the Year honors four times and was state Coach of the Year in 1970. His golf team qualified for the state meet 10 times in the 12 years he was coach.
