Elk Mound High School inducts five into Hall of Fame

By LeAnn R. Ralph

ELK MOUND — Four former Elk Mound athletes and one coach, along with one football team, were inducted into the Elk Mound High School Hall of Fame April 9.

The event included a reception in the afternoon for the inductees and their families at Elk Mound High School and a banquet that evening at Whitetail Golf Course.

Eisenhuth

While growing up, Jim Eisenhuth watched his older three brothers, Ken, Chuck and Don excel in athletics with attending Elk Mound High School.

Jim lettered several times in basketball, baseball and track and helped direct the Mounders to conference basketball championships in 1955 and 1956.

In track, Jim and his teammate, Dave Brice, scored 29 out of 30 possible points in their events and won the 1956 Dunn-St. Croix Conference Track and Field Championship. Jim also participated in hurdles in the state track meet that year.

After graduation, Jim attended UW-River Falls and played on the freshman basketball team for one year. After one year of college, Jim went to work for Waldorf Paper Products in St. Paul. He retired from Waldorf in 2012 after 52 years.

Rhude

Patrick Rhude graduated from Elk Mound High School in 1992. He played football, basketball and baseball.

Patrick was an All-Conference Defensive Back and Kicker in football and also received Honorable Mention as quarterback. The high school teams on which Patrick played won the conference championship three straight years and made the playoffs each season. He was part of the state Runner-Up teams in 1989 and 1990 and started as a receiver on the 1990 team.

During his senior year of basketball, Patrick was First Team All Conference, selected to the Second Team All Northwest and was named team MVP. His most memorable game was the overtime win against Thorp in the Sectionals semi-final game when Patrick’s final shot put the game into overtime. During overtime, he made three free throws, and with no time remaining on the clock, brought the team to a one-point victory.

Patrick ended his high school sports career as a First Team All-Conference catcher in baseball. He had a batting average of .550 and a .98 ERA. He also was am assistant coach for the state baseball championship team.

Patrick returned to Elk Mound in 2001. He and his wife, Lani, have three children, Austin, Alexis and Kalley. He is employed by Dunn Energy. He has also served as the Elk Mound High School Booster Club president and currently serves on the Elk Mound Board of Education.

Rhude-Knudson

Renae Rhude-Knudson is the youngest of four children. The Julian and Jeannette Rhude family was a devoted sports family, and all four children were varsity letter winners in Elk Mound High School sports, including baseball, football, basketball, volleyball and softball.

Renae graduated from EMHS in 1990 after receiving four Varsity letters in basketball and softball, three Varsity letters in volleyball, and the Senior Athlete Award.

She attended the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities and graduated in 1993 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Accounting.

As a member of the EMHS softball team, Renae was a pitcher and outfielder on all three state  tournament teams. She was named First Team All-Conference three times.

As a member of the EMHS girls’ basketball teams in 1987-88, Renae was part of the team that participated in the WIAA Girls’ State Basketball Tournament. Renae was named to the All-Conference team three times (1987-88; 1988-89; and 1989-90), third team All-Northwest (1988-89); First Team All-Northwest (1989-90), Honorable Mention All-State Team (1989-90); and a member of the North All Star team (1989-90).

In addition, during the 1989-1990 season, Renae reached 1,000 points. She finished her high school career with 1,092 points.

Renae also played AAU Basketball with Keith Noll’s Vikings Club team during her sophomore and junior years and in the summer before her senior year. She was named a Second Team AAU Pre-Season All State selection her senior year by the Wisconsin AAU Basketball magazine.

Renae resides in Corcoran, Minnesota, with her husband, Brian, and three children, Julian, Loren and Lucas. While supporting her children she also supports and organizes youth sports in Orono, Minnesota. She is president of the Orono Youth Basketball Association and actively supports youth softball and baseball. She also is on the Board of Directors for the Orono Foundation for Education.

Curtis

Jack Curtis began teaching in Elk Mound in August of 1973.

Originally from Viroqua, he is a graduate of UW-River Falls.

Jack taught fifth and sixth grade for 37 years at Elk Mound and retired in 2010. For 33 out of 37 years, he coached at the middle and high school. Jack coached basketball as an assistant for 33 years, football for 30 years and softball for seven years and spent one year each coaching baseball and middle school track.

Most of Coach Curtis’s time at Elk Mound was spent with Dan Pederson — 26 years in football and 22 years in basketball. As assistant football coach, Jack was part of ten conference championships, 12 playoff appearances, and runner-up state qualifying teams in 1989, 1990 and 1992.

He also was also a defensive back coach for the 1995 winning North team in the Wisconsin High School All-Star Shrine game. The team was coached by Dan Pedersen and featured Elk Mound graduate Steve Kopp.

Coach Curtis joined Coach Pedersen in the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association hall of Fame in 2012.

In basketball, Coach Curtis served as a freshmen coach one year, and 21 years as the JV coach. His JV record was 255-151. While Curtis served on Coach Pedersen’s staff, Elk Mound won ten conference championships and finished runner-up in the state championship in both 1987 and 1994. He also coached one year as the JV girls coach under the direction of Coach Fredrickson.

In his last seven years at Elk Mound, Jack served as an assistant coach in the girls’ softball program. Serving as an assistant to head coach Kari Kallio, the team won the conference championship in 2006 as well as three regional championships.

Jack Curtis retired from coaching in 2010.

Miller 

Scot Miller, the son Don and Bede Miller, graduated from Elk Mound High School in 1980.

He was All Conference in four sports and Senior Athlete of the Year.

Scot earned 11 varsity letters in his high school years. In football, he was one of the leading rushers in the conference and a defensive back. In basketball, he was a two-time MVP point guard. In track, he led the team in points scored and was the school record holder in hurdles on a team that won the Dunn St. Croix Conference title.

In baseball, Scot was the team’s leading hitter and posted a 24-1 career pitching record on the first Mounder team to advance to the state tournament.

Scot later went on to coach the Elk Mound baseball team to a state championship.

1989 football team 

The 1989 Elk Mound football also was inducted into the Hall of Fame.

The team was a state finalist and was the first team to reach the state finals.

The team finished the regular season as the undefeated champions of the Dunn-St.Croix Conference. On November 9, 1989, the Elk Mound football team made their debut in the state finals at Camp Randall. The Mounders lost the state championship to Hilbert by a score of 14-6.

Team members included T. Galde (manager); T. Hestiken; J. Halverson; K. LaRock; J. Saxton;. J. Halverson; J. Morris; J. Reiten; C. Smigla; L. Cooksey; M. Christner (manager); M. Jess; G. Jensen; J. Hemenway; B. Bauman; J. Svihovec; J. Silvernail; R. Paulsen; J. Zurbuchen; J. Maes; B. Rhodes; W. Gullickson; M. Peterson; J. Stangel; J. Caturia; D. Horel; D. Gundlach; Coaches Jack Curtis, Mark Traun, Dan Pederson, Jeff Mack; S. Johnson; A. Reinholt; J. Welke; J. Simon; T. Price; R. Rajotte; J. Koller; Z. Dodge; A. Gullickson; S. Wolfe; B. Freeland; T. Linberg; J. Truog; A. Stamm; C. Storing; R. Rhodes; K. Jenson; L. Puzio; P. Rhude; T.J. Zimbauer; W.J. Vincent; M. Hanson.

Mounder Moment

The 1954 Elk Mound basketball team was recognized as a “Mounder Moment” recipient.

The 1954 Elk Mound Basketball team was the first team in Elk Mound history to win the district title and advance to the district level tournament.

Coached by Bob Bredesen, the team won the Dunn St. Croix Conference and finished with an overall record of 18-5. Members of the team were Ray Lindberg Jr.; Dave Beguhn; Jim Schrantz; Don Eisenhuth; Ron Moltzan; Ron Johnson; Dave Brice; Joe Brice; Jim Carlson; Jack Timm; and Roger Smith.