RELEASED: Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Six To Be Inducted Into UW-La Crosse Wall of Fame

La Crosse, Wis.--University of Wisconsin-La Crosse Gymnastics Coach Barb Gibson will join four former student-athletes and a local sports broadcaster as inductees into the university’s Wall of Fame. Gibson, who has coached the women’s gymnastics team since 1985, was a standout gymnast while a student at UW-L in the ’70s. She’ll enter the wall with four alumni — Ann Heaslett, class of ’86; Richard Heller, class of ’59; James Ingold, class of ’80 and ’88; and William Patza, class of ’82. Radio station WKTY sportscaster Mike Kearns will receive the Donald Gordon Merit Award.

The Wall of Fame pays tribute to former athletes and coaches for their exceptional ability and enhancement of school tradition. It also recognizes long-time supporters of UW-L athletics. This year’s inductees will be honored prior to the UW-L vs. UW-Oshkosh football game Saturday, October 20. The inductees will also be recognized during a brunch at 10:30 a.m. Sunday, October 21, in the Cleary Alumni & Friends Center.

Gibson has impacted UW-L women’s gymnastics for more than three decades — first as a student, then as a coach. Gibson was the 1975 conference champion on the balance beam, and the 1978 conference floor champion. When she returned as a coach in 1985, she began an extremely successful career. Through her first 22 years of coaching, Gibson has led the Eagles to 11 national championships and 15 conference titles. She has coached 26 individual national champions and 128 All-Americans. Gibson was named National Collegiate Gymnastics Association Coach of the Year three times, and conference Coach of the Year seven times. She has compiled a career record of 607-158 in her first 25 years as a collegiate coach, including a 575-154 mark at UW-L. Gibson earned a bachelor’s degree from UW-L in 1978 and a master’s degree from Southern Illinois University-Carbondale in 1981.

Heaslett ran to cross country and track success during the mid ’80s. Heaslett earned letters on both squads all four years. She helped the 1982 cross country team bring home a national championship, along with national titles for the track team in 1983 and 1984. She set a school record in the 10-K at 36:53 in 1983. She was selected by teammates to serve as captain of the cross country team in 1986. Heaslett says her biggest athletic accomplishment was being able to run on the varsity squads at a college with so many fine athletes. Heaslett graduated with highest honors in 1986. She earned a medical degree from UW-Madison in 1991. Heaslett continues to run. She has participated in numerous high-mile races worldwide. She works at Mendota Mental Health Institute in Madison.

Heller set school and conference records as a swimmer in the late ’50s. A football, basketball and track athlete at Elroy High School, Heller took to the pool when he arrived on campus in 1955. He set school records in the 220-yard and 440-yard freestyle events, earning the most points in a season. He captured all-conference titles and scored conference records in both, taking those with the team to its first-ever national meet. After teaching and coaching at two high schools in Michigan, Heller went to the State University of New York-Buffalo in 1965. He retired in 2001. In 12 years of coaching swimming at Buffalo, he compiled 116 wins and 38 losses, along with seven conference titles and 31 All-Americans. He was the state’s 1978 Swim Coach of the Year and served on the U.S. Men’s Olympics Swimming Committee from 1971-76. The 1959 graduate earned a master’s degree from Wayne State University in 1964.

Ingold has finished every one of the 300 races he has started. He gained speed for that accomplishment by running in cross country and track during college, following four years as a harrier at Monroe High School. At UW-L, Ingold ran to three All-American honors and three conference championships, including two conference records in the 3,000-meter steeplechase and 5,000-meter run. Ingold came within 12 seconds of qualifying for the Olympic Trials Marathon. Ingold earned two degrees from UW-L: a bachelor’s degree in 1980 and a master’s in 1988. He was an assistant men’s cross country and track coach at UW-L during the 1987-88 season. Ingold taught in Monticello and Fox Point-Bayside schools before becoming an elementary physical education teacher for Monroe Public Schools in 1991. He has coached cross country, wrestling, and track and field.

Patza set numerous records in football and track while a student in the late ’70s and early ’80s. The Seymour High School football and track standout continued those sports at La Crosse. Patza was a five-time All-American in track and field, setting long and triple jump records, along with being the first from La Crosse to reach 50 feet in a jump. He captured three indoor and outdoor triple jump conference championships. In football, Patza caught three touchdown passes in one game —UW-Whitewater in 1980 —a record that remained tied for third in school history going into the ’07 football season. He caught 11 touchdown passes and brought down 62 receptions during his collegiate career. Patza, a 1982 graduate, holds a fire science degree from Western Technical College. He is a captain with the La Crosse Fire Department.

He’s called more UW-La Crosse football and basketball games than anyone else. Mike Kearns has been the voice of the Eagles on La Crosse’s WKTY radio for more than two decades. Kearns, sports director at the station since 1972, says his most memorable broadcasts were the football national championships in 1992 and 1995. Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference sports information directors recognized Kearns when they gave him the Tom Butler Award. In the La Crosse community, Kearns served as the 2002 Maple Leaf Parade Marshal, and as Rex King of La Crosse’s Mardi Gras celebration. Kearns is a 1970 graduate of La Crescent (Minn.) High School.