The following is part of a 10-week series on the history of UW-Stout football. The series, which will run every Wednesday in The Dunn County News, is a collaboration with the The News, the Dunn County Historical Society and UW-Stout Athletics. The Stout football program will mark the centennial with a reunion celebration on Homecoming, Saturday, Oct. 1. For more information about the reunion, call the UW-Stout athletic office at 715-232-2224. Check out the
Centennial video at the bottom of this page.
By Jim Gorecki
Former UW-Stout Football Player
Stout State University as the school was known until 1971, was not a football factory in the decade of the 70's. It was, and still is, a school rich in tradition, strong academics, and the ability to get graduates
employed in their field of choice. Stout does give all its student-athletes the opportunity to compete in a conference that is one of the top ranked Division III leagues in the country. The Stout football player has always been a student first, and a guy that just loves the game of football. The common link between the players from the 1970's and today - students first, football players second.
Because Stout was drawing students, and not athletes only, the Blue Devils were not always the biggest, the strongest or the fastest, but they were competitors. The school compiled a record of 38 wins and 61 losses for the decade from 1971-1980.
Three coaches led the charge during the decade. From 1971-1976 Sten Pierce was the head coach. A member of the Stout Athletic Hall of Fame, Pierce came to Stout in 1965 as the head wrestling coach and an assistant football coach. During Pierce's tenure as wrestling coach from 1965-72, the Blue Devils won two conference championships (1966 and 1970) and produced 10 conference champions, five national qualifiers and five All-Americans. Pierce was named the WSUC and NAIA District 14 wrestling coach of the year in 1966 and 1970 and also helped in the development of John Peterson, who went on to win an Olympic gold and silver medal.
Pierce took over as head football coach in 1970, instructing the Blue Devils until 1976. He produced two All-Americans and five first team all-conference picks. Pierce retired as a full-time professor in the UW-Stout physical education department in 1995, but continued to teach on a part-time basis up until his death in February 1999.
After leading St. Peter, Minn., High School to a State title in 1976, Lyle Eidsness was named the Blue Devil head coach, and brought to Menomonie, a defense called the RADAR, and went from a passing attack to the wishbone formation, a primarily triple option running game.
Eidsness had some outstanding athletes in his short tenure including running backs Steve Burr and Bob Johnson, and defensive tackle Joe Bullis and linebacker Tom Paulus. All are members of the UW-Stout Athletic Hall of Fame. His 1978 team, averaged a still standing school record of 227.6 rushing yards per game.
The RADAR defense, featured no down lineman, all defenders on the line were in a two-point stance. It was effective against the run, and according to assistant coach, (1970-1985) Terry Petrie, “It gave us the opportunity for smaller, quicker players to compete at a high level verses larger offensive lineman. It really confused some teams, and we had great success against River Falls, who at the time was racking up 400 yards rushing in some games. And we could hold them to around 130 to 140 yards per game.”
To round out the decade, long time assistant coach, Bob Kamish was named the head coach in 1980. Kamish was twice named the NAIA District 14 Track Coach of the Year, in 1972 and again in 1980 and was named the Area IV Coach of the Year in 1972, when the Blue Devils won the conference title at Nelson Field. Kamish, who coached at Stout from 1968-86, is a member of the UW-Stout Athletic Hall of Fame (1996). He joined athletes he coached including track stars Jules Butcher, Dennis Fechelm, Barney Klecker and Mark Overgard and football players Johnson, Bullis, Burr and Tom Paulus in the Hall of Fame. Kamish's football defensive units ranked in the top 10 in the country and two of his teams played before national television audiences.
The 1980 team compiled a record of 6-4, and set the tone for the next few years of winning seasons.
