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The winningest men's basketball coach in Wisconsin Junior College history calls Dodgeville his home town.
Neal Nelson, son of Russell and Lois Nelson, has taken part in over 500 wins while coaching UW-Waukesha in a career that started in 1983.
Nelson, a 1973 graduate of Dodgeville High School, has joined three other coaches with local ties, as a member of the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame. He joins former Dodgeville coaches John "Weenie" Wilson and Bob Buck along with former Dodgeville graduate and Baraboo Girls Basketball Coach Jim Stephens.
During his 30 year career, Nelson's teams have won five Wisconsin Junior College state championships and have been runners up five times. They have won 10 Wisconsin Collegiate conference championships and 16 Eastern Division titles. His record going into this season is 520-192.
His WBCA introduction stated, "His tremendous passion, enthusiasm, competitiveness and ability to bond with his players fueled the success. His teams were always known for an excellent fast break and mixing strong man-to-man and 1-3-1 zone defenses."
Nelson has also served UW-W as athletic director, associate professor of physical education along with head golf and head tennis coach.
He is a 1973 graduate of Dodgeville high school where he was the starting quarterback on the football team, a pure shooter on the basketball team and a lefthanded pitcher for the baseball team. He later attended UW-La Crosse where he played baseball and basketball, later serving as a student basketball coach.
He later received a Masters Degree in physical education from Adams State College in Alamosa, Colorado in 1982. While in Colorado he coached basketball at Otis and Arapahoe High Schools, with his teams earning a 45-15 record. He was also an assistant basketball coach at Adams State.
Neal and is wife, Kari (the former Kari Cooksey) have two daughthers, Laura and Krista.
OTHER HONOREES
The Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association also recognized threes others with local ties.
Dick Rundle, who grew up in Dodgeville and is in the Dodgeville Athletic Hall of Fame as a charter member, received the Tribute Award from the WBCA. A successful coach at Monona Grove High School and long-time Executive Director of the Wisconsin Football Hall of Fame, Rundle was honored for his years of service, working with WBCA Executive Director Jerry Petitgoue. With his guidance, both organizations have earned recognition at the national level.
James "Louie" Lawinger, Platteville, was named to the 2012 Hall of Fame as a player. He lists one of his coaches having an impact on his career as Ross Vivian of Dodgeville.
Louie won 14 letters at Platteville High School in football, basketball, track and baseball. He led his team to the WIAA state tournament then went on to play football and basketball at UW-Platteville along with taking part in track. He was all-conference all three sports and later had a tryout as a safety with the Dallas Cowboys.
He has been involved in coaching basketball, track and softball the past 32 years.
Jane (Lobenstein) Boller, a graduate of Portage High School, was inducted in the 2012 Hall of Fame class as a player. She is the sister of Gary Lobenstein, Dodgeville.
After high school she went on to be the starting point guard for four seasons at Iowa State University.
Jane coached at Kansas State and Marquette for four years before getting married to Craig Boller, a standout football player at Iowa State who later coached with the Dallas Cowboys.
Another award with local ties, the Steve Randall Coaching Award, went to Ted Voigt of Lakeland for integrity, passion and professionalism.
Randall coached at Iowa-Grant and took them to the WIAA state tournament twice. He later coached at Oshkosh West.
His son, Lance, is coaching in college and took his St. Leo's team to the NCAA tournament last season.
Also honored for excellence in coaching is Jim Myers, girls coach at Barneveld and member of the WBCA executive board.
MYERS NAMED NFHS
COACH OF THE YEAR
Jim Myers, who has been at Barneveld for 35 years and whose teams have won 617 games, has been selected by the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association as the recipient of the 2011-12 NFHS Coaches Association Girls Basketball Coach of the Year Award for Wisconsin.
Annually, the NFHS identifies and recognizes a coach from each state for significant achievement in their sport. State level recipients are considered for NFHS Sectional recognition. National Coaches of the Year are then chosen from the sectional winners.
Award recipients are selected based upon a variety of criteria including their coaching record, background, coaching honors, and involvement in community and school organizations.
Each year approximately 1000 coaches are recognized at the state level, 168 coaches are recognized at the sectional level and 21 coaches are recognized at the national level.
Wisconsin coaches are members of Section 4, which represents the states of Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, and Wisconsin.
The mission of the NFHS Coaches Association is to enhance the professional development of all high school sports in America.