There were few in Trempealeau County who didn’t know him, or know of him. Residents of Whitehall, Wisconsin, remember the basketball coach and teacher well. Basketball players throughout the Dairyland Conference remember him. Referees from decades of games probably feared him, or at least his temper when calls didn’t go his way. His name was Ken Stellpflug. He passed away in July.

Can you imagine coaching a high school football team to a 14-0 conference record and still not be illegible to make the playoffs? That’s exactly what happened to the Whitehall (Memorial) High School Norsemen football team in 1979, my junior year.

That’s no Gatorade or Powerade recipe for a sports drink. I’m sure my coaches weren’t thinking of e-coli bacteria, deadly viruses or poisoning when my teammates and I at Whitehall High School in Wisconsin, had to chug water during a break from football practice using an outdoor hose faucet and our football helmets. Looking back [...]

No, I didn’t grow up in the “Wild, wild west,” or a third world nation - just a small town in Wisconsin, where nobody thought twice when seeing a teenager carrying a cased rifle to school. I will always be an athlete of the woods, weather carrying a gun, or a camera.

Do you remember your Pop Warner football days, Little League moments or Biddy Basketball games long ago?
I have many memories of my games as a child, and others I covered as a photographer for The Telegraph. Some are good ones, and others I’d rather forget, if I could. For me, it’s not the games themselves that stick in my head, but the events surrounding them. Unfortunately, we don’t get to choose which memories to keep, or forget.

There are many positives to growing up in a small town. The opportunities are more plentiful for athletes where the populations are larger, but the sense of community and closeness of friendships is stronger where I grew up, in Whitehall, Wisconsin.