Here is coach Haege with Tom Silbersack, the center on the 1968 Two Rivers football team. Coach Haege says Tom was a very good center, and rarely ever made a mistake. "The other team would line some great big guy on defensive up against him, coach Haege says, and Tom would block him every time."

Here is coach Haege with his all state defensive back and running back at Two Rivers in 1968, Craig Strohm. Craig Strohm was named the high school girls basketball coach of the year in the state of California in 1998.

The Two Rivers' Purple Raiders 1968 football team reunion in Two Rivers, Wisconsin.

On the left is Randy Ammerman, all state first team offensive tackle on the1968 Two Rivers football team. He is now the police chief in Two Rivers. Going left to right from Randy Ammerman are assistant coach John Martell, Craig Strohm is sitting down, behind him is Dennis Brescoll, and to the far right is Leon Halverson. Leon was the kicker for kickoffs only. Coach Haege tells me that Leon once grabbed the Kaukana High Schools' mascot, pulled the mascot off of the horse that he was riding and threw him to the ground. I am pretty sure that he was just obeying coach Haege's orders!

Here is coach Haege with Dennis Brescoll. Dennis started at offensive guard and defensive end for Two Rivers in 1968. Dennis is now a successful attorney in Detroit, Michigan.

Here is coach Haege with some of the very proud members of the 1968 Two Rivers Wisconsin football team. They knew what the real meaning of "team" is, and more importantly they knew how to "win."

The 1968 Two Rivers Wisconsin football team was a perfect 8 and 0 and conference champions. It was Two Rivers' first conference championship in 17 years. Two Rivers had not won more then 2 games per season in the previous10 years before coach Haege became their head coach in 1967. The 1967 team was 6 and 1 with 1 tie, and the 1968 team had a record of 8 and 0 and finished the season ranked #3 in the state of Wisconsin in the big school's division. They did not have state playoffs back then. Back then in the state of Wisconsin their were only two divisions, the big schools and the small schools. Below are pictures from the 1968 Two Rivers football team reunion that was held on August 6th and 7th 2004 in Two Rivers Wisconsin. The two pictures below were taken where the old football field they played on use to be. The field is hardly recognizable now, but the team will never forget where it is.

Here is Dennis Brescoll and his beautiful wife of 29 years, Mary Brescoll.

Here is coach Haege pretending to give one of his famous pre-game speeches. Coach Haege would say "make sure you wrap up, gang tackle and strip the football on defense. I want you to punish that quarterback and somebody better hit someone out there, dam it!  Execute your plays on offense, and no turnovers. Play fundamentally sound, disciplined football and give 110% on every play. Now lets have a moment of silence."  Then coach Haege's team would go roaring out on to the field!.

From left to right: Craig Strohm, fullback and linebacker John Hoffman, Randy Ammerman and team manager Tom Schiman.

From left to right: All conference tackle Dennis Taddy, Dennis Brescoll, Craig Strohm, starting linebacker and tight end Barry Dennis, and Tom Silbersack..

From left to right: Dennis Taddy, starting wide reciever Reid Stangel, and Leon Halverson.

From left to right: Tom Schiman, starting quarterback Jeff Peterson, and starting long snapper for punts and kicks Bill Bero.

From left to right: John Hoffman, all state kicker Tom Geodjen, and assistant coach John Martell. Tom Geodjen went on to be an all american kicker at Iowa State.

Here are members of "the team" from Two Rivers in 1968. Coach Haege went on to be the offensive line coach for the Wisconsin Badgers in 1969 and he had a long, successful, and story filled career as a coach at every level of the game of football. This team will always be coach Haege's favorite.

One of coach Haege's favorite memories is how he talked a small, thin cross country runner named Tim Schmitt in to playing football his senior year in 1968. There were 2 minutes left to play in a game against Kimberly High School in Kimberly Wisconsin in the middle of the season. Two Rivers had the ball on their own 30 yard line. It was 4th down and 12 and coach Haege called a 91 slant pass to his split end Tim Schmitt. Tim caught the pass from QB Jeff Peterson on the dead run and ran it all the way down to the 18 yard line to set up the winning field goal, and Two Rivers won 16 to 15. Coach Haege always took great pride in making sure that evey person in the school who was a potential football player played for his team, and this is one of his favorite memories that he tells from back in his coaching days at Two Rivers High School.

Two Rivers High School- The 1968 Mideastern Conference Champions in football and ranked #3 in the big school division in the state of Wisconsin at the end of the season. What if there were state playoffs back in 1968? Coach Haege says " I can guarantee you that we would have won the state championship, nobody would have beat this team."  We will never know for sure who would have won the state championship in 1968. One thing is for sure- Coach Haege would have had his team very well prepared to play and they would have given any team a run for their money!

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Here is Coach Haege at home in Iowa in the fall of 2004. Coach Haege passed away on March 5th, 2007. He was born on September 29th, 1937 in Canton Ilinois. Coach Haege dedicated his life to coaching football, and in to making the hundreds of football players that he has coached through out his coaching career in to better human beings both on and off the football field. Coach Haege took great pride in taking a group of individuals, and making them in to a winning team every where that he coached.

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