UWEC Athletics Hall of Fame
Ken Cychosz is the only men’s tennis player in Blugold history to win three conference singles titles, taking the No. 2 crown in 1980 and 1981 and the No. 1 title in 1982. He was one of two Blugold players to win an NAIA District 14 singles title, doing that in 1982 just days after his father died. The only other player to win an open flight district championship was John Christopher, another Blugold Hall of Famer. Cychosz was the winningest player on the team as both a junior and senior when he fashioned 22-5 and 21-8 season records. He concluded his career with a 77-30 singles mark and a 66-34 doubles record. He played on three consecutive conference and district championship teams and played in the NAIA nationals four straight years. He was a member of Blugold teams that were involved in a 47-match conference dual meet victory streak.
Cychosz has continued to excel in the sport of tennis since leaving Eau Claire. At the time of his induction, in the Northern Section of the USTA, he held the No. 1 ranking in Men's Open Doubles four times and the No. 1 ranking in Men's 35 Doubles eight times. Nationally, he had earned 10 team/doubles championship or runner-up titles. In 2001, he reached the round of 16 in the National 40 Grass Courts tournament. Cychosz, who attended Wisconsin Rapids Assumption as a prep athlete, graduated from UWEC in 1983. At the time of his induction, he was the International eCommerce Manager for GMAC-RFC (General Motors Acceptance Corporation-Residential Funding Corporation) in Bloomington, Minnesota. He had been with GMAC-RFC since 1995 after spending nine years with Prudential Home Mortgage as a senior underwriter. Cychosz began his career as assistant manager at Wisconsin Finance Company in Chippewa Falls. He became branch manager at Community Credit Company in Edina and then moved on to his position at Prudential in 1986.
