UWEC Athletics Hall of Fame
Wayne Osness, an Antigo native, started 32 consecutive games for Ade 0lson's football Blugolds from 1952 through 1955, playing both ways at end. He co-captained the 1952 team and was also named to the All-Conference team that year. The Blugolds were 18-13-1 during the years Osness played. At the time of his induction, Osness served as the Chairman of the Department of Health, Physical Education and Recreation and a Professor of Physical Education and Physiology and Cell Biology at the University of Kansas. He is nationally recognized as a leader in education. Osness began at Kansas in 1966 after teaching and coaching at Marion and Madison West high schools and coaching while working on his doctorate at the University of Wisconsin. Osness worked with state champion shot putter Stu Voigt, who became a Minnesota Viking, while in Madison. At Kansas he worked with world class shot putters Carl Salb, Steve Wilhelm and Doug Kropp who one year took the top three places in the NCAA indoor and outdoor finals. He gave one of the main addresses at the Scientific Congress at the World University Games in Sophia, Bulgaria in August, 1977. He was President of the National Association for Sport and Physical Education and was chairman of the AAHPER Sports Development Committee, a sub-committee of the Olympic Committee. A physical science, math and physical education major at Eau Claire, Osness was the outstanding graduate in the School of Education in 1956. He has been a Fellow in several scientific groups and carried out research through numerous grants and fellowships. He has published articles and made presentations of research findings, many in the area of exercise physiology.
