UWEC Athletics Hall of Fame
Riff Yeager was a three-year member of the powerhouse Blugold swim teams from 1973 through 1976. The Blugolds won conference championships every year he swam and finished fifth once and fourth once in the NAIA Nationals. A three-time NAIA All-American, Yeager was team Most Valuable in 1976 and also earned team Most Inspirational, NAIA All-District 14 and NAIA Academic All-American awards. Yeager set school records and finished third at the NAIA Nationals in the 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle and 400 freestyle relay in 1976. A 1977 graduate of UWEC,
Yeager began his career as a high school English teacher and a swim coach. He did graduate work in journalism and mass communications at the University of Minnesota from 1980-83 during which time he assisted with the Gopher swim team. Yeager became involved in public relations as a Senior Account Executive with Brum & Anderson/Padilla Speer & Beardsley in Minneapolis. He later became President and Chief Executive Officer of his own company Yeager Pine and Mundale Public Relations. During that time he personally supervised the Koch Industries account and in 1992 joined Koch as Director of Corporate Communications in Wichita, Kansas. At the time of his induction, Yeager oversaw all Koch corporate communications activities for this $20-plus billion privately-held company. Yeager is involved on the Board of Directors of the Saint Francis Regional Medical Center and the National Conference of Christians and Jews in Wichita and the Kansas Special Olympics. He is a past member of the St. Paul (MN) Red Cross Board of Directors.
