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.
by Layne Pitt
UW-Stout Sports Information Director
Stout State University middle linebacker Roger Zell set a single season interception record in 1969 with 11 thefts on the year, a Wisconsin State University Conference (WSUC) mark that would not be matched until four years later.
But it was how the two-time Stout State most valuable player reached 11 interceptions, which is still Stout's single season record. In two separate games during the 1969 season, Zell intercepted four passes in each game.
In the second game of the season, a 13-0 win at Oshkosh State, September 27, Zell achieved the first of his four-theft games. In the first quarter, Zell picked off a Jim Gockerman pass and returned it 24 yards to set up Stout's first score.
Throughout the game, Zell would make Stout's score stand-up, recovering a fumble and making 12 tackles.
Zell repeated the four-pick day on November 8 against River Falls as the Blue Devils won 15-6 to close out the season. Zell would have had five picks in the contest, but had another nullified when he was ruled out of bounds.
Zell dominated the defensive side of the field. In addition to the four interceptions, Zell had nine solo tackles and eight assisted tackles.
Zell, an industrial education major from Walworth, was a first team all-WSUC selection and received inquiries from several NFL teams.
Despite a 3-6 overall record, and a 3-5 WSUC sixth place finish, the Blue Devils' defense, anchored by Zell and defensive lineman Gary Inskeep, who would go on to have a long career in the Canadian Football League, finished second in the league in defense. The Blue Devils allowed 227 total yards, 120 passing, 105 rushing.
Zell's 11 interceptions were matched in 1973 by UW-Platteville's Guy Nelson and were topped in 1975 by UW-River Falls' Mike Wills' 15.
The 1969 season also marked the final season for head coach Max Sparger, who assumed Stout's athletic director duties fulltime for the next two years. Sparger went on to become the commissioner of the WSUC from 1971 to 1993.
