Dave Crotteau:  Dave graduated from RLHS in 1973 as a three-sport athlete, earning 8 letters. The defensive tackle was named to the 1972 All Northwest Football team and the 1972 First Team UPI All-State Football Team. He led the 1972 Warriors to the conference championship and anchored a defense that allowed 7 opponents only 131 rushing yards the entire season, a school record. Crotteau never left the playing field his entire senior year. He received a football scholarship to UW-Madison but suffered a career ending injury while playing for the varsity team as a freshman. In basketball, the 6’ 2” three-year letterman was 1st Team All Conference and named to the All Northwest 2nd Team, leading the Warriors to the conference co-championship. As a baseball player, Crotteau pitched and batted his team to the conference championship in 1973 going 12 and 2 overall. As a pitcher he won 9 games, lost 1 and batted .497 his senior year. From 1973 to 1983 he played Slowpitch for Rice Lake that included touring the US on 5 national tournament teams.

Dean Currier:  Kenneth Dean (Beanie) Currier graduated from RLHS in 1940. He captained the 1939 team as an offensive guard and linebacker. At UW-Madison he made All Big 10 as a sophomore in 1942. After military duty in WWII he co-captained the Badgers in 1947 where they compiled a 5-3-1 record that senior season. Beanie was destined for the Packers on Curly Lambeau’s personal, written invitation, but he injured his knee against Northwestern on the next to last game that year, ending his playing career. He went on to coach football at Beloit High School and later became athletic director. He is now deceased.

*An unusual football footnote: RLHS teammates Currier and Bob Sandberg captained the Badgers and Gophers, respectively, and played against one another.

William "Lone Star" Dietz:  Lone Star was born in 1884 and attended elementary school in Rice Lake. He then left Rice Lake with his uncle to learn about his heritage. They traveled with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show in the U.S. and Europe. He attended school at Carlisle Indian Institute in Pennsylvania first as a student and football player and then he taught classes there and took over as head football coach, succeeding the legendary Glenn “Pop” Warner. Warner got him a head coaching job at Washington State University and in 1916 they defeated Brown University in the very first Rose Bowl Game. In 1919 he coached at Mare Island Naval Station and again he went to the Rose Bowl, losing to Great Lakes. In 1921 he coached the Purdue Boilermakers. In 1933 the Boston Braves football team moved to Washington. The team was renamed the “Redskins” in honor of their coach, Wm. “Lone Star” Dietz. During the first half of the 20th century, a week seldom went by when Lone Star’s name didn’t appear in the nation’s newspapers. He was inducted into the Pennsylvania Sports Hall of Fame in 1997 and also into the Spokane Sports Hall of Fame.

Dietz was also an accomplished artist. He drew illustrations for Walt Disney and painted many murals all over the nation. His art still adorns the walls of several east coast universities. He was elected into several Indian Hall of Fames for his artwork and illustrations. Lone Star died in 1964 in Reading, PA.

William “Lone Star” Dietz was recently nominated for consideration for induction into the 2003 College Football Hall of Fame.

Warren Leary:  Nominated as a Friend of Sports, Leary has been president of the Hockey Association, Red Cedar Development and the Rotary Club. He has served on countless civic, fraternal, church, youth, charitable and historical bodies locally, and as a speaker and toastmaster throughout the state. Warren was instrumental in the dedication of “Pug” Lund field, and “Ole” Olsen gymnasium. Following college at Notre Dame and Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in New York, he worked as a reporter for the Milwaukee Journal. In 1948 he returned to Rice Lake and began a 39-year career with the Chronotype Publishing Company. During this span he wrote over 4,000 editorials and countless stories, many of which pertained to sports. He retired on December 29, 1986.

Harold Shudlick:  Harold graduated from RLHS in 1961 as a three sport athlete. In basketball, he went to State two years in a row. He scored 406 points as a junior forward with a RL record of 20-4, 4th in State. He was named 2nd team all state. As a 6’ 3” center his senior year he played on the 24-1 state runner-up team with an average of 20.4, scoring 511 points, a record at that time. He was named 1st team All-Conference, 1st Team All-Northwest, 1st team WIAA All- Tournament, 1st Team All-State Milw. Journal, 3rd Team All-State API, and 4th Team All- State UPI.

In football, he was a defensive end on the H.O.N. champion 7-0 team. As a senior he was a two-way starter. In track, he was a 3 year letterman, leading the team to 3 consecutive HON championships. He set two school records in the half mile and high hurdles, placing 7th at State. He graduated from Wartburg College in Waverly Iowa in 1965 as a 4 year letterman in basketball and track there. He set school records in high hurdles, 440 yd. dash and mile relay. He received the Hertel medal for outstanding athletic achievement during his 4 years. He was a US Army Viet Nam vet, then attended seminary school, receiving a degree in theology. He was a minister in Kiester, MN and a Chaplain at Fort Snelling. He is now retired and lives in Apple Valley.