By Sherrie Benes
Whitewater Banner volunteer staff
whitewaterbanner@gmail.com

Acknowledgement: “I would acknowledge and dedicate my story to my college basketball coach, John Barth, who truly impressed me as a person, along with my parents. I would also like to say that I really appreciate all the guys who played basketball for me over the years. I appreciate the effort that they all gave, and I am proud of all the players I had…”

Introduction: When visiting with Ken, I was anxious to hear and write about his younger years and growing up! But the love he has for basketball and his players has been his life story, so this seemed like the perfect quote to introduce The Coach: ‘Basketball is life, the rest is just details’ …enjoy!

Ken Nehring was born on November 9, 1929 to Matie (Siegmier) Nehring and Leonard Nehring, of Crystal Lake, Illinois. His mother stayed at home to care for Ken and his older sister Jane, while his dad sold cars and drove cabs. But with the stock market crash in October of 1929, times were tough for everyone, including the Nehring family.

In 1935, when the family lost their home to foreclosure, they decided to move to Chicago. Ken said he could still recall the address of their apartment in Chicago (1380 Lunt Avenue), because his mom had drilled this address into him for fear he would get lost in the big city! His dad continued to sell cars, but they didn’t like living in Chicago. So his dad, along with another salesperson, got together and somehow got connected with someone in Watertown, Wisconsin. In 1937 they moved to Watertown and his dad, along with his sales partner, started a used car business. After about two years of selling used cars, his dad ventured out on his own and began to sell new Hudson and Studebaker automobiles.

Things were going well for his father, until December 7, 1941 when the United States entered WW II. This is when they stopped making new cars, in order to make war equipment. At this time, the family was still living in an apartment above the dealership, and although they weren’t selling cars, his father still managed to keep the mechanic on to do miscellaneous repair work. Around this time, his father decided to purchase a thoroughbred race horse! The horse trained and raced in Chicago at the Hawthorne Race Course. This horse actually did quite well for him, Ken recalled, and his father also bought another racehorse that did even better, Ken added!

(Back row) Left to right: Horse trainer Roy Selden, friend Lou Sulugi, father Leo Nehring, (Front row) Ken Nehring age 14, Jockey J.W. Martin, race horse ‘Tusco’ #2 finishing in 1st place

In 1946, when the automobile industry started up production again, his father was able to go back to selling new Hudson cars. He did very well since people had not been able to get a new car in four years, and he even had a waiting list!

When Ken was in 7th grade he started playing basketball on the 7th and 8th grade team. When I asked if he played basketball often in the parks, he said at that time there weren’t that many parks with basketball hoops like there are today. But when Ken took some shop classes in the 7th and 8th grade, he decided to make his own basket! He then described how the place where they lived used to be a livery stable! The dealership and repair shop were on the first level and above that, in the front of the building, they had a very nice, 9 room apartment. In the back of the building on the second floor, there was also a place where the hay was stored when it was a livery stable. This is where Ken put up the basket he had made in shop class! (He said the ceilings were a little short for him, but it worked!)

His freshman year he found himself playing as part of the starting five on the freshman team, with a very nice coach, he said. The coach took him under his wing and worked with him quite a bit on how to play underneath the basket, since he was such a tall player! As a sophomore, he progressed on the sophomore basketball team, which with this hard work, found himself on the varsity team his junior year in high school. His senior year he had the misfortune of having an appendectomy, causing him to miss the last five games of the season. “They didn’t do too well in the tournament, even with a good team,” he informed me. “But back then, there was only one high school basketball tournament, and all the teams in the state were in the same tournament!”

Near the end of his senior year, his freshman basketball coach came to him and asked him what he was going to do after he graduated. He responded that he was planning on going into the car business with his father. The coach asked him if he thought about going to college and playing basketball, which Ken hadn’t given that much thought, even though he loved playing. After the coach told him his story, about how he went to Platteville, he gave Ken the name of the Platteville University coach. Ken found himself writing to this basketball coach in Platteville, and got a response inviting him to come visit! “To tell you the truth, I didn’t even know where Platteville was! My mother and father had to get out a map to locate it!” Both of his parents thought Ken should give it a try, and if it didn’t work out, he could always come back to the car business.

In the fall of 1948, he started his college education in Platteville. Ken of course went out for basketball and ‘things went pretty well,’ he said. They only had a varsity team, and although he practiced every day with them, there was a limit on taking the freshman players to the out-of-town games. (Back then they traveled in cars, so there was limited space with only four or five cars.) There was one other freshman besides himself, so they would have to take turns going to the out-of-town games. This was the year he also called himself the ‘20 point man’ …“If we were 20 points ahead or 20 points behind, I might get in for 20 seconds!” he exclaimed, laughing!

His sophomore year, he found himself playing more, and his junior year he became a starter. During this time, he had also met his future wife, Janice (Jan) Rosa, who was also attending Platteville.

Between his junior year and senior year, Ken found himself drafted. “Not the NBA, but the USA!” he clarified, laughing. “President Truman sent me a letter and said he wanted me to join his team! So I went into the Army!”

He left for basic training on August 31, 1951 and reported to Fort Sill, Oklahoma. While stationed there, Ken’s parents stopped to visit him in November, while passing through to see relatives in Houston, Texas, and for his father to check into another car business. About two weeks after their visit, Ken was notified that his parents were involved in a serious car accident just outside of Fort Worth, Texas, while on their way home. This fatal accident on November 23, 1951 unfortunately took his father’s life, and seriously injured his mother. “I was granted emergency leave from the Army and I accompanied my dad on the train back to Watertown, Wisconsin, while my mother was recovering from her severe injuries.” His mother remained in the hospital for approximately 10-15 days, during which time the funeral for his father took place in Watertown, Wisconsin. Ken was then granted another emergency leave from the Army to fly his mother back from Texas to Wisconsin, when she was released from the hospital. His sister Jane then stayed with their mother to care for her, while Ken reported back to Fort Sill.

Ken also shared how each time he took emergency leave, it would shift him back in his training, so instead of four months of basic training, he had six months of basic training. He said they must’ve gotten used to him being around, because they kept him there as a cadre. (Meaning he was responsible for training the newly drafted.)

In December of 1952, Ken got orders to go to Korea. But before leaving for Korea while home on leave, Jan Rosa and Ken Nehring were married on January 3, 1953. Jan graduated that year and went on to teach elementary school in Fennimore, Wisconsin, while Ken found himself ‘on a boat’ ….“I, along with 1500 other guys, had a nice boat ride across the Pacific,” he chuckled. He recalled their two week stop in Japan, and how the beds were awfully short! He spent the next eight months in Korea and was notified that he would be honorably discharged in November of 1953, after serving his two years of required draft time.

He returned to Platteville after his discharge to resume his last year of studies, while also being the starting center on the 1954 State College Champions under Coach John Barth. After graduating in June of 1954 with a major in industrial arts and a minor in biology, he applied through the state for teaching positions at Mineral Point, Dodgeville, and Brodhead. He ended up taking the position at Brodhead High School, teaching industrial arts and coaching basketball. Ken remembers that the coach he took over for, who had also gone to Platteville, had a 33 game win streak. With a chuckle he added, “then I came in there, and lost the first three games!”

While coaching at Brodhead in 1954, Ken remembers a person who officiated a couple of his games, who happened to be George Buckingham from Whitewater. In June, Mr. Buckingham reached out to Ken letting him know that Coach Crummey was quitting the basketball coaching position in Whitewater and was wondering if he would be interested in applying. After a few discussions, a couple of interviews, and speaking one on one with the school board, Ken Nehring was hired as the new industrial arts teacher and the new head coach for the Whitewater High School basketball and baseball team!

During the early years after moving to Whitewater, he and Jan welcomed three children into their lives, Scott (1956), Dan (1959) and Sally (1969). Their adventures led them also to be caretakers of the Racine County Girl Scout camp called Singing Hills Campground, on the north end of Lauderdale Lake in 1956. This position provided a new home on the property for their family, and it filled up the summer months when Ken wasn’t teaching. Ken kept this caretaker position for 23 years, until they moved into their newly built home near Whitewater Lake in 1979. Sadly, just eight short years later, Ken lost his wife Jan to cancer on December 6, 1987.

The Coach began his coaching and teaching career at Whitewater High School in September of 1955, where he coached WHS baseball for 10 years and basketball for 34 years, until his retirement in 1989. In those 34 years of coaching basketball, he won 470 games and lost 269 games in the Southern Lakes Conference. Whitewater was a very successful team in the conference, with 8 conference titles and 10 regional championships!

Here are just a few of his other recognitions throughout his story, with many thanks to those who assisted in the nominations for these recognitions:

1980– received the UW-Platteville Watch Award (Coach John Barth)
1989– Whitewater High School (now the Whitewater Middle School) was named after him with a plaque (WUSD and Mike Stuzman)
1990– inducted into the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame
2002– inducted into the UW-Platteville Athletic Hall of Fame (Forrest Perkins)
2019– Ken Nehring gym re-dedication with name painted on the court- Ken recalled this dedication with much fondness! “I would like to thank Mike Stutzman, who really started the naming of the gym after me. I would also like to thank the Whitewater School District for allowing my name to be painted on the gymnasium floor, along with all the people who made it possible! This was truly the highlight of my career! I am so glad that I came to Whitewater High School!

Ken now enjoys life with his wife Sandy of 32 years, and they have spent many hours in their retirement years making and selling items at craft fairs, traveling to visit their children and grandchildren, along with playing cards with family and friends!

I would like to thank Ken for sharing his incredible story! …and from all your past bleacher fans and team players:

WHITEWATER HIGH SCHOOL WE PRAISE THEE,
FOR ALL YOUR LOVE AND LOYALTY
WE’LL FIGHT IN EVERY GAME AND BOOST YOU ON TO FAME,
WIN OR LOSE WE’LL BACK YOU JUST THE SAME!
(YOU! RAH!! RAH!!)
WHITEWATER HIGH SCHOOL PLAY THIS GAME,
WITH ALL YOUR MIGHT AND MAY
WE’LL FIGHT AND FIGHT AND YELL AND YELL,
FOR WHITEWATER HIGH ALWAYS!!!

Well done Coach …

If you know of anyone who would like to share their story, or your own, please contact me at whitewaterbanner@gmail.com,
Subject line: Chapter Story
I would love to meet you!
Sherrie

Our thanks, also, to the sponsors of our chapter story: