Port High honors its sports legends

By MITCH MAERSCH

Ozaukee Press Staff

History was made and celebrated Saturday night as Port Washington High School inducted the first class into its Athletic Hall of Fame.

Local legends who went on to set NFL records, win the World Series and lead a performance at the Super Bowl were among those honored.

“Our Hall of Fame is more than a tribute to personal success. It’s a celebration of values and the spirit that define our school,” Athletic Director and Assistant Principal John Bunyan said.

The plaques were put up on a high school wall Thursday. Students already began checking them out.

Urness developed teenagers

One of Al Urness’ former football players Tim Setzer, a member of the Class of 1992, bumped into a former teammate not long ago. Setzer described him as a big burly guy in his late 40s with a raspy voice who was rough around the edges and didn’t have a great home life but turned out to be one of the nicest guys in the world.

Setzer mentioned that Urness was being inducted into the Hall of Fame.

“He looked at me. He smiled and said, ‘Setz, do you have any idea how many lives he changed? Do you have any idea how many people would run through a wall for him?

‘If I saw him right now, I’d just give him a big hug.’”

“I know there are hundreds of these stories,” Setzer said.

Urness, Port’s football coach from 1969 to 1999, amassed a 224-75-2 record with 10 conference titles, four state title game appearances and the 1985 championship. He coached boys’ basketball from 1963 to 1981.

Basketball star Beth Huston, a member of the Class of 1998, flew from Denver for the event and said she was more nervous talking to Port’s current players than at the banquet.

She remembers coach Dave Ross letting her attend camps when her family didn’t have money for them, along with other coaches and mentors helping her along the way.

“He took down boundaries for me to be able to participate and be successful, and there are more kids who need that in our community who can’t afford it,” Huston said. “They saw something in me and I am grateful forever.”

Huston is Port’s leading female scorer of all time with 1,555 points. She led Port to state twice and had a decorated career with 11 varsity letters. She played college ball at Illinois State for four years.

Huston lives in Denver, where she trains salespeople to be successful, but her passion is in the nonprofit Rise Above, which helps inspire Native youths to lead healthy lives.

State title by one minute and one point

Former high school wrestler Jake Maechtle said former coach Duffy Brelsford’s name is so synonymous with Port wrestling “that we quite literally just put his name on our shirts and we sell them for $20. He’s our brand.”

Brelsford, an accomplished wrestler in high school who earned a college scholarship, began coaching for Port in 1976. His teams won seven Braveland and North Shore Conference championships. Brelsford compiled a 130-67 dual-meet conference record and a 201-118 overall record. The Pirates won the state title in 1984 on two close calls.

Port beat Merrill by one point but made the match by one minute.

While at a coaches’ meeting, Ozaukee coach Steve Paulus asked Brelsford if his wrestlers made weight. Brelsford had forgotten about the weigh-in and only had 45 minutes left.

He got in his orange Volkswagon bus with a retractable roof and sped to the hotel on the outskirts of Madison where his team was waiting.

“I didn’t take my car out of gear. They jumped in the van. I made every green light in Madison. The last 100 yards they ran like hell to get up the steps to weigh in, and they made it by one minute,” Brelsford said.

“Being lucky is better than being good.”

Brelsford is still part of Port’s wrestling program and can often be seen in the room.

World Series champion

John DeMerit signed with the Milwaukee Braves when he was 21 in 1957. That team won the World Series over the New York Yankees, four games to three.

DeMerit’s baseball career included a homer off legendary Sandy Koufax.

At Port High, DeMerit still holds the record for long jump at 22 feet, 10 inches. He earned 16 varsity letters in football, basketball, baseball and track and field.

DeMerit’s son Steve got some of his father’s memorabilia out for Saturday’s event, including his heavy Louisville Slugger that says “powerized” on it. Upon handing it to him, Steve and his mother slowly left the room.

“While he adjusted his grip on the handle, the walls slowly melted away,” his son said. “Though my dad continued to examine his old baseball bat in his kitchen in his bathrobe, John DeMerit was many years away.”

He served as Port’s recreation director from 1969 to 1995.

A coach, father and a father figure

John’s father Samuel R. DeMerit was the athletic director and coached football at Port High from 1926 to 1962, amassing a record of 99-42-18. His team went undefeated three times from 1930 to 1932. He also coached five state championship track and field teams and compiled a record of 255-115 as basketball coach from 1926 to 1947, winning a state title in 1936.

His players and students called him Sam, his granddaughter Kathy DeMerit said.

His son said he didn’t appreciate what it took to coach until later in life when his father’s former players talked to him.

“‘Well, you know he was a second father figure for me,’” John DeMerit was told. “The next guy would come in and say ‘he was my only father figure.’”

A longtime supporter

Shirli and her late husband Jack founded Allied Insulation Supply Co. in 1969, and it continues to be a family run company operating throughout the Midwest.

Shirli continued to donate to local causes after Jack’s passing in 2003.

The Port High soccer field is named the Jack and Shirli Flack Field in honor of their donation to build it.

“Her dedication to enhance the quality of life in our community is evident in her ongoing involvement and generosity,” Port dance team coach Hannah Maechtle said.

Flack thanked everyone for the honor of being inducted.

“It was such a surprise because I’m not a Port Washington athlete, but I really appreciate it,” she said.

V-A-R-S-I-T-Y

Carol Goeden, known as Mrs. G. to her dancers, started the Port High dance program in 1966.

Principal John Walstra asked Goeden to start the squad. There was room for 25 girls.

“The first day of tryouts came and it ended up being 150 girls standing in front of me,” Goeden said.

She chose 75 girls evenly split between freshman, junior varsity and varsity teams.

“The first years when we started, the mothers made jumpers. Big difference from what you see now,” Goeden said.

The team got to perform in Super Bowl XXXI in 1997 in New Orleans — the Green Bay Packers beat the New England Patriots, 35-21 — because the halftime organizer was one of Goeden’s friends. The team raised $20,000 to go.

The team became more valuable than Goeden knew.

“One girl told me, ‘The most important thing I ever learned in high school was that I could stand out in front of other people and not be afraid,’” Goeden said.

The team won a state title in 1993 and placed in the top five in national competitions three times. Goeden ended every performance with “And that, ladies and gentlemen, was varsity!”

NFL record-holder

Ray “Buzz” Buivid was the quarterback during Port’s 1930-32 undefeated seasons and was the basketball team’s leading scorer in his three seasons at Port. He led Port to the 1932 state track and field title while winning shot put and discus.

At Marquette University, Buivid led the Golden Avalanche to the first Cotton Bowl, and was third in the Heisman Trophy voting as a senior.

In 1937 as a Chicago Bear, Buivid set the record for most touchdowns thrown in a game by a rookie with five and most touchdowns thrown in a game by a rookie without throwing an interception.

Buivid later worked in insurance and joined the Navy after the attack on Pearl Harbor. He died in 1972.