Gone, Lost & Forgotten: Their Best = Wisconsin Stout

The Blue Devils of Wisconsin Stout an NCAA Division III institution competed at both the NAIA level & the NCAA Division III levels during their time in wrestling.  They were also members of the Wisconsin State Universities Conference (WSUC).  Ironically enough when the WSUC came to an end in 1997, Wisconsin-Stout joined the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC).  This was at the same time the Blue Devils discontinued wrestling. 

Leon Stephenson
177 lbs 

A four time WSUC conference finalist & later an assistant coach at Wisconsin Stout, Stephenson took fourth place NAIA All American honors in 1961. 

Glenn Hardy
177 lbs 

Hardy took fourth place NAIA All American honors in 1964.  To this day there is a Memorial Scholarship Fund in his name at Wisconsin Stout. 

Tom Ott

A place kicker on the football team & a third basemen on the baseball team,  Tom Ott earned NAIA All American honors twice for the Blue Devils while going 59-28.  He placed fourth in 1966 & fifth in 1967. 

Hector Cruz
115 lbs 

Cruz won WSUC titles for the Blue Devils as a sophomore & junior, finishing as the runner up his freshman & senior seasons.  Going 67-16 during his career, he placed sixth at the 1969 NAIA championships.  He was also a member of the cross country team. 

John Peterson
167 lbs 

John Peterson is one of the greatest stories that the sport of wrestling knows.  He never made it to the state tournament in high school.  Yet enrolling at Wisconsin-Stout he kept getting better & better as he won three WSUC titles & made the Midlands finals before taking fifth place at the NAIA championships as a senior in 1971.   A year after graduating he would win the Midlands titles & then go on to an outstanding international career.  Olympic Gold & Olympic Silver with World Bronze & World Silver. 

Dale Evans
134, 142 lbs 

A graduate of DeForest High School where he went 88-21 taking fourth at the state championships, Dale Evans became the first wrestler in the WSUC to win a conference title as a freshman.  During his career he would go 101-16 earning NAIA All American honors twice for the Blue Devils.  Fourth in 1972 & third in 1973. 

Post college he had a short stint coaching at Wisconsin before serving as the assistant coach at DeForest for 38 years. 

Jerry Klonowski
 

Klonowski too seventh place honors at the 1979 NAIA championships.  He later taught Special Ed at Lake Mills Middle School. 

Corey McCauley
158 lbs 

Going 144-26 during his career for the Blue Devils, McCauley won three WSUC titles, finishing as the NCAA Division III runner up in 1993 & as a national champion in 1994.  

He later taught Technical Education at Hartford Union High school. 

Jeremy "Ponch" Krings
142 lbs 

Going 125-33, Ponch Krings had a great career for the Blue Devils.  He placed eighth as a sophomore in 1995 at the NCAA Division III championships & fifth as a junior in 1996.  He was seeded to once again finish high in 1997 but was upset in the first round. 

Post College Krings owns & operates Krings Motor Sports, a vehicle repair & auto body shop.