A visit with Lou Hastert, a Glenwood City High School graduate and four sport athlete

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by A. Ghost

Looking back on my life I realize there are some people that I met, made friends with that were a positive influence in my life. One of the best guys I met was Lou Hastert. Lou, a 1955 graduate of Glenwood City High School, played four sports and was easy to visit with because he had a sports background. Once or twice a month Lou and I, possibly one other person, will meet at the North Pole restaurant in Saint Paul Park. The North Pole is the best little place to have breakfast and visit with friends. At 86 Lou is quite popular as he will have as many as 4 phone calls interrupting breakfast. Denny, his car guy mechanic or Tom Rather, the former sports broadcaster, will call and talk with Lou. Lou was a diehard fan of Glenwood City sports.

Lou would take trips with a friend once or twice a year from his Roseville home to watch the blue and white Hilltoppers participate in an athletic game. The Glenwood City vs Elmwood basketball game was a favorite of Lou’s to watch. Visiting with old friends from both communities was an enjoyable time for Lou. A special friend was Jerry Cognetta who taught at Elmwood. A teacher/coach at Elmwood, Jerry was a softball player with Lou for Maplewood Plumbing. Jerry was a favorite teacher of the Elmwood students and coached two softball teams to a state championship.

Lou is a first cousin to Fran Klatt. When Dan Klatt (class of 91), Tom Klatt (93) and Jim Klatt (97) were playing for the Hilltoppers Lou made sure he watched his cousin’s son’s play. All of Fran and Sue Klatt’s children were respectable athletes for Glenwood City.

Lou Hastert was a “Country Boy” raised 2 miles West of Emerald. Lou attended the Emerald school grades 1-3. Mother Lena and father Leo raised strawberries and cabbage for the folks nearby to pick on their own. Leo raised a few Herefords for family meat. Tragedy struck the family when Lou’s mother Lena became ill and died. Lou was only 10. Leo moved his two sons to River Falls where Lou attended the fourth grade. After one year Leo brought his sons (Bill and Lou) back to the 80-acre farm West of Emerald. Lou attended the two-room country school in Cylon until he entered Glenwood City in the 9th grade.

It was in the summer as a boy that Lou would take his broken short ball bat and walk up and down the gravel road hitting rocks in the air. Lou was probably in a state of grief after the loss of his mother. Each day he would hit the rocks with the bat (like in the movie of the Texas youngster with a back injury) until Lou had a keen eye for hitting the rocks. The keen eye and natural swing developed Lou as quite a batter in the game of baseball/softball. Hitting the little rocks helped build Lou’s eye/hand coordination.

Lou always likes to tell how he graduated from the State Graded School of Cylon with the Eliason’s, Halverson’s and Mcnamara’s. All of these Ceylon students rode Wally ‘Cassellius’s school bus. As a Freshman at G.C.H.S. Lou was a three-sport athlete. A strong country boy, Lou caught the coach’s eyes with his raw athleticism. Coach Marv Berg was an Iowa plow boy who became the football coach.

Berg said when we get 60 boys out for football, we’ll be competitive in the Middle Border conference, when we get 100 boys playing football, we’ll win the league. Glenwood City did win the league in the Middle Border under Coach Berg in 1958 with 100 boys participating in football. Coach Berg doubled as the basketball coach. Mr. Milo Anderson was the baseball coach for the Hilltoppers.

Glenwood City played in the Middle Border conference and had between 350-375 students. The conference consisted of Colfax, Spring Valley, Baldwin, Hudson, New Richmond, Ellsworth and River Falls. New Richmond was the largest school followed by Ellsworth, River Falls and Hudson had about 450 students. About 75 more students than Glenwood City.

Menomonie was in the MB League until 1953, football games were played downtown at the St. Croix County fairgrounds. After school the boys would dress at the Hill School and walk Oak or Pine Street to the fairgrounds for practice. This was a daily ritual for the football players grades 9-12. After practicing it was not uncommon for players wearing their gear to stop at Myron Lee’s Drug store and purchase a cherry coke or a green river (lime drink). 

Football was always a struggle to have a winning team because having large numbers to participate was a problem. The fairgrounds field set low in a valley and wet, muddy games were common. Mick and John Lauber were the mainstays of the Toppers football team. Mick Lauber could do it all as he played quarterback, ran, and caught passes. Mick started at UWRF as a receiver for the Falcons. Mick was drafted by the Detroit Lions. Lauber spent time in the Lions training camp in ‘59, made the team, but didn’t like the atmosphere of professional football. Fran Polesfoot was the coach at River Falls while Mick played football. Later Polesfoot became the coach of the Kansas City Chiefs.

As a sophomore Lou Hastert recalls a day in the spring when school was let out at 1:00. Busloads of students were hauled to Boycevillle for a non-conference baseball game. Boyceville usually had a good baseball team. The spring of 1953, Glenwood City had a solid baseball team led by seniors Don James, John Bischel, and Jim Schillinger. Lou started at first base.

Boyceville played their high school games along highway 170 East of the Church. The first inning Glenwood had two runners on base. Coach Anderson told Lou, “show em how you can hit the ball!” Lou hit a homerun, not only over the fence, but over the highway and over the railroad tracks. A young crowd from Glenwood City who got out of school for the afternoon went jubilant. Little did anyone know that this was the start of Lou Hastert’s Hall of Fame career as a ball player. Glenwood City won the baseball game. Weather didn’t permit games in April so each school played about six games in May. The baseball season was short lived.

Coach Berg’s basketball team in 1953 was made up mostly of sophomores. A couple of seasons of losing games saw the Hilltoppers’s 54-55 season as a solid winning team. A highlight of the season was the boys in blue drubbed New Richmond on the road by 30 points and senior Mick Lauber scoring 44 points to set a school record for the most points by an individual in a game. The 1955 season saw the Hilltoppers play Clear Lake in a preliminary game to Eau Claire college at Zorn Arena in front of a large crowd. The G. C. boys came out on top in the contest. Clear Lake had Marlin Klatt, brother Wendall Klatt, Allen Wienke and Jim Gleboff. All of the Warriors of Clear Lake went on to play college football after their undefeated football season of 54 at Clear Lake.

Lou had really no formal training in track, but Coach Berg had Lou throw the shot put.

Lou, having quick feet and being country strong, won the little Olympics at Menomonie. Schools from Eau Clarie to Wausau participated in the Spring of 55 for the honor of seeing (who’s the best in their respective event.) Lou won the shot event over 30 + competitors. A school record that lasted for two decades until Doug Berends broke the mark in 1975. Glenwood was well represented at the track meet. An outstanding relay team of Ronnie Anderson, Dick Engum, Mick Lauber and Bill Halverson placed high in the contest. As a sophomore Bill Halverson was the second-best sprinter in the area behind Dennis Kuchenmeister of Barron. Mick Lauber high jumped, while Jerry Luepke was the pole vaulter.

Graduating in 1955 Lou worked at various jobs in the cities. In 1959 Lou joined the Army Reserve and spent six years training in the reserves. Lou wanted nothing to do with combat and signed up for KP, kitchen duty. Lou enjoyed cooking.

Looking through the Sunday paper for ads Lou noticed a job with the American Tobacco Company. Wanted Salesman? Lou called and was scheduled for an interview. When interviewed the man explained the position of the job was to drive around to various gas stations, restaurants and grocery stores distributing cigarettes. The man asked Lou, “Do you smoke?” Lou replied, “No.” “Would you start smoking because you sell cigarettes?” Lou said, “No.” Lou got the job because he didn’t smoke. He worked for the American Tobacco Company for 31 years. Lucky Strike was the big seller at the time. LSMFT was the ad used meaning Lucky Strike Means Fine Tobacco.

Lou liked to play cupid. Matching people up on dates was something Lou enjoyed. The

best match was introducing Ardis Kemling with Allen Warner. Not only did Ardis and Allen get married, but raised five great children and are still happily married.

The best match Lou made was meeting his future bride, Kathleen Dwyer. Kathleen was a sophomore at the U of Minnesota majoring in elementary education. Kathleen was the boss in the Hastert home. Raising three children Matt, Amy, and Jon. Kathleen held down a job teaching third grade in the Maplewood School District. Behind every successful man is a “Great Woman.”

While wife Kathleen was keeping the family in order, Lou with his easy style of communicating, traveled a long way from that gravel road in Emerald. Meeting, greeting, selling and hitting the long ball was just a natural skill for Lou. Enshrined in the Softball Hall of Fame for the state of Minnesota, Lou stood out not only on the ball field, but in everything he attempted.

Lou played softball for over 60 years with several outstanding teams. Maplewood Plumbing was a powerhouse and batting third in the lineup cracking out homeruns was Mr. Hastert. Hitting the long ball helped Lou’s team win league, state and national titles. The last title came on an 80 and over team playing in the National Tournament in Vegas!