Class of 2021

John Pat Kennedy is a 1979 graduate of Lincoln High School where he was a multi-sport standout leading the football team to the State Semifinals, the Basketball team to consecutive State titles and competing in the State Track & Field meet. Pat was All-Conference multiple times in all 3 sports. Kennedy also made his mark at the College level as a 4-year starting point guard for Mankato State University.

John Blondell, a 1978 grad, resides in Santa Barbara, California where he has taught, professed and directed for Westmont College since 1988. In 1992, John co-founded the Lit Moon Theater Company, and developed a signature, visual theatrical form that has been seen on three continents in over 90 full productions. Since 2000, John has enjoyed an international directing career and has developed a specialty for directing in languages he does not speak and most recently pioneered a new form of live, international theater, networked in real time over the internet.

Paul Holland served as the Band Director at Lincoln High from 2001 to 2020. Paul had an appreciation for all forms of music and was “at home” on stage whether conducting the Concert Band at Lincoln or playing guitar and singing for local bands, Revenge, Cadillac Ranch or Backlash. He was a true showman and loved entertaining. Mr. Holland also had a passion for the Marching Band and the Tiger Band was regularly at the top of their class and always a fan favorite. Paul was also committed to serving the community and was honored to receive the key to the City of Lake City in 2020.

Shawn Sweeney arrived in Lake City in 1979 when he accepted a job teaching English. Shawn taught full-time English for the first 8 years , and one class of English in his final 6 years. In 1987 he joined the Physical Education department and retired in 2012. Sweeney also served the school as Head Girls Basketball Coach from 1979-2000 and led the Boys Basketball program from 2005-2013. His teams accumulated over 400 victories. Coach Sweeney was also the Head Football coach from 1984-1988 along with lower level coaching positions through the years in the basketball and football programs. Shawn has also found time to officiate boys and girls basketball. Sweeney was also the Lake City Recreation Director for 35 years and manager of the swimming pool where he was a mentor to numerous young people. 

Jack Powers, a 1947 graduate of Lincoln High School, continued his education at Moorhead State University. After college Jack enlisted in the Navy followed by earning his Master’s Degree from Iowa State University. The family then moved to Berkley, California where Jack studied at California Berkeley. In 1960 he accepted a teaching position at Concordia College in Moorhead where the family permanently settled. Jack taught in the Biology department for 38 years where he taught Entomology and continued as a life long insect collector.

1983 Girls Basketball Team was inducted in the team category. Team Co-Captains Lisa Christians and Shannon Springer spoke on behalf of the team. In the Region 1A semifinal game the Girls defeated Austin Pacelli 46-45 then in the Region Finals knocked off Zumbrota 36-34 avenging two regular season losses. At State the team opened with a 50-49 victory over Benson followed by a 44-38 win over Janesville. The Tigers dropped the title game to Henderson by the score of 52-31 to earn the Class A Runner up trophy. The team finished with a season record of 21-5. 

Class of 2018

Brian Sprout is a 1998 graduate of Lincoln High School where he was a 3-year starter in football, 2-year starter in basketball and 3 years on the varsity baseball team. As a football player Brian lead the team to the State playoffs his senior year and was area Player of the Year and was selected to play in the State All-Star game. Sprout also made his mark at the College level as a 2 time All-American in baseball at St. Olaf and also played at the professional level with the Dodger minor league system and with the St. Paul Saints where he was a 2 time All-Star.

Bob Ruberto was the Lincoln High School Choir director for 25 years. During his time at Lincoln Bob instilled his passion for music to nearly 4000 students. Lake City Choirs and Soloists routinely brought home top sectional honors. Bob’s love of theatre and the opera saw him to bring Handel’s Messiah and musicals such as Les Miserables and Phantom of the Opera to the Lincoln stage. After retirement Bob gave private voice lessons and formed the professional singing group, “Quintessence”.

Jim Klennert has spent the last 30 plus years as Building and Grounds Supervisor at Lincoln High School. Jim’s dedication to the District, it’s employees and the community knows no bounds, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Jim’s diversification is evident when he puts on his hat as; a mechanical engineer; construction worker (Built the New Greenhouse) and the multitude of other tasks he is charged with. Jim works “behind the scenes” to make Lake City Schools the best they can be.

Lorne McDonald graduated from Lincoln High School in 1952. While in High School Lorne held leadership roles in many groups, student council president, senior class president and in Athletics and Fine Arts programs. Lorne was inducted into the 2010 Hall of Fame as a member of the undefeated 1949 football team. His career involved fiscal responsibility for the DIACRO company and Meyer Industries in Red Wing leading Lorne to serve and an ISD 813 School Board member for 6 terms (18 years).

Ron Schrimpf, a 1977 graduate of Lincoln High School, attended the University of Minnesota and obtained his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering in 1986. Ron was a Professor of Electrical and Computer Science at the University of Arizona from 1986 to 1996. Ron is currently the Director of the Institute for Space and Defense Electronics at Vanderbilt University. The Institute currently has a satellite in orbit and works with companies like SpaceX and OneWeb. Ron has authored nearly 500 publications and given roughly 200 presentations in the field of Electrical Engineering.

The 1972 Baseball team was inducted in the team category. Team Captain Dave Tackmann spoke on behalf of the team. The team finished the season with a 17-3 record.  In the single class days small schools had to beat the big schools from Rochester and the perennial powerhouse team from Austin, the Packers. But 1972 saw the Tigers beat the Packers in the Regional final 3-2. After losing their first game 9-2 to eventual champ Richfield, the Tigers beat Marshall 5-3 and Luverne 5-1 to claim the Consolation Championship.  Team members included: Kevin Corrigan, Dan Coyle, Pete Coyle, Rick Dison, Tom Eggenberger, Scott Moe, Tom Hasse, Al Harteneck, Don McNee, Steve Preble, Steve Prigge, Terry Steffenhagen, Dave Tackmann, Jim Tackmann, Manager Ted Johnson, Statistician Dan Neubert, Assistant Coach Jerry Snyder and Head Coach Bill Kieffer.

Class of 2016

​Lance Meincke is a 1996 graduate of Lincoln High School where he still holds the Boys Basketball scoring record of 1852 points.  Upon graduation from High School Lance enrolled at Winona State where he was a 4-year starter while earning first team All-Conference and All-American honors his junior and senior seasons.
           
Leo Fausch was a long-time High School teacher and assistant coach in the Boys Basketball program serving under 4 head coaches over 42 years.  Leo’s “B”/”JV” teams accumulated over 500 victories in that span. Fausch played a vital role as a loyal assistant and preparing players for the Varsity level in a program that earned 4 State tournament appearances and 3 Championships.

Howie Cook served as an elementary school teacher for 40 years and is currently in his 38^th season as Head Coach for Cross Country and 30^th season at various levels with the Track and Field program. Under Coach Cook’s guidance the Cross Country program has had a representative (individual or team) at the State meet each year since 1984.  In that time Lake City has had 25 boys and/or girls teams qualify with 7 of those teams placing in the top 3. Between Cross Country and Track & Field Coach Cook has coached well over 100 All-State athletes. 

Gordy Hinck, a 1960 graduate of Lincoln, attended Brown Institute in Minneapolis then went on to Grinnell, Iowa in 1963 to start his nearly 50 year career in radio.  Gordy was the voice for KDHL radio for the majority of those years as he became one of the most recognizable figures in southeast Minnesota through his support and commitment to the high school sports community.

Carole Haessig-Mutzebaugh graduated from Lincoln in 1955. Carole received her BS in Nursing from the University of Colorado in 1967 followed by her MS in 1969 and Ed.D. in Administration, Curriculum and Evaluation in 1980. Carole has served the Nursing profession in many roles including Professor and Chair of Nursing at Colorado State University.  Mutzebaugh has also been cited in countless publications and research work.

The 1955 football team will be inducted in the team category.  This team finished the season with a perfect 8-0 record while outscoring opponents 294 to 33.  The Tigers finished the season ranked 18^th in the state out of 292 teams. Team Members included: 

Seniors Lynn Bronkhurst, Larry Geisler, Jim Goihl, Dick Bronkhorst, Bill Beck, Gene Wiebusch, Ron McGrath, Vic Bouquet, and Dick Butler;  juniors Rod Peterson, Bill Behrens, Norm Bussian, John Bayley, Jim Beck, Pat Wise, Gene Tushaus, and George Barnum; and sophomores Jim Anderson, Jim Brusehaver,  Jerry Wiebusch, and Dennis Anderson.  Team manager was Allan Peterson. Members of the Junior Varsity team were juniors Curt Peters, Wayne Hawkins, Don Butler, and Chuck Kriett;  sophomores Dave Britton, Byron Peterson, Jim Behrens, Bill Berg,  Pat Maloy,  Mike Sweeney,  Andru Peters, Tom Brasseur, Bob Pearson, Peter Luikart, and Jerry Berg; and freshmen Joe Wise, Tom Klindworth, Wayne Steffenhagen, Eugene Becker, Paul Vining, Carl Moechnig and Marvin Howatt. Head Coach Tom Mahoney, Assistant Coaches Stan Peterson, Walt Williams, Bob Sershen.

Class of 2014

Jenny Dittfach is a 1991 graduate of Lincoln High School where she was an outstanding basketball player.  Upon graduation from High School Jenny enrolled at Anoka Ramsey Community College where she earned a full scholarship to the University of Indiana. Today she resides in Bloomington, Indiana where she operates a home child care business and stays active with youth sports organizations.

Jim Sprout is a 1975 graduate of Lincoln High and still resides in Lake City as an employee of the Lake City Nursing Home/Hospital. Since 1988 Jim has repeatedly and unselfishly gone out of his way to promote Lake City schools. Through his efforts as a football and basketball official, baseball umpire, volunteer coach of several youth teams and active member of multiple school organizations Sprout has demonstrated his long standing commitment to our community.

Lisa M. Tillmann Ph. D. graduated from Lincoln in 1989. Lisa enrolled at Marquette University and graduated in 1993 with a double major in Communications and Rhetorical Studies along with double minor degrees in Philosophy and Sociology. She followed these degrees by earning her Ph.D. from the University of South Florida in 1998. Today Lisa is the Associate Professor of Communication at Rollins College in Orlando, Florida.

The 1997 Girls Cross Country team was dominating at the State competition with 5 runners in the top 22 of the team portion of the meet.  To date, this is the single Girls Team State Championship for Lincoln High.  Team Members include: Katie Fuhrman, Ashli Miller, Amanda Ostgulen, Beth Sexton, Tessa Pierson, Deanna Harvey, Ryan DeRoos, Carie Fuhrman, Marsha Thoe, Sarah Schmidt, Sandy Moyer. Head Coach Howie Cook,  Assistant Coaches Jim Anderson and Kristen LaPlante.

Class of 2012

William Beck is a 1956 graduate of Lincoln High School where he was an outstanding football player. William was an all-conference fullback and captain of the squad.  He took his talents to the collegiate level at Gustavus Adolphus College where he earned all-conference and was selected to the NAIA Little All-American Team. After college he was drafted into the NFL and AFL.  Beck was inducted into the Gustavus Adolphus Hall of Fame in 1989.

George Olson is a 1954 Lincoln High graduate. George received his B.A. degree from Augustana College in Rock Island, Illinois.  Olson taught at the prestigious College of Wooster in Ohio for 37 years before his retirement in 2000.  George served six educational sabbaticals, four of which were in London at the Chelsea Physic Garden and the British Museum which qualified him to conduct exhibitions and illustrated lectures.

Henry Dison, a long-time Math Teacher and Coach for the Tigers, started the Lake City Tennis programs for both the boys and girl back in 1980 and still remains on the coaching staff today.  Henry was a graduate of Rochester High School where he was a State Champion doubles player in 1950 and 1951.  At the collegiate level Coach Dison played two years at the University of Minnesota and two years at Mankato State University.

Dr. Gene Hunder, a 1950 graduate of Lincoln High School, continued his education at St. Olaf college and then on to the University of Minnesota for pre-med. Dr. Hunder finished #3 in a class of 120 doctors graduating from the University of Minnesota Medical School.  Gene completed his residencies at the University of Rochester and at Mayo in internal medicine and Rheumatology before joining the staff of the Mayo Clinic where he served for 48 years.

The 1989-90 Boys Basketball team is our inductee for the team category.  This State Championship team captured Lincoln High School’s third Boys Basketball title finishing with a season record of 26-2. Speaking on behalf of the team was Brent Meincke.  Other team members in attendance included Erik Brunkow, Gary Brown, Tony Wise, Paul Schad, Erik Sievers, Tony Heise, Brett Stolzenberg, Chris Sommerfield, Cris Gastner, Trent Sanders and Keith Zanto.  Head Coach Jerry Snyder and Assistant Coach Leo Fausch were also there for the celebration.  Team members not in attendance but still recognized included Brock Lortscher, Troy Diepenbrock, Jason Oeltjen, Duren Moses and Terry Walker.

Class of 2010

Eugene "Gene" Wiebusch graduated from Lincoln High School in 1956 where he was an outstanding all-around athlete.  Gene excelled in football, basketball, baseball and track & field while earning all-conference in 3 sports and all -state football.  After high school he attended Mankato State College where he continued to participate in three sports.  Following his high school mentor, Arlan Johnson, Gene continued is leadership, team play and determination into the teaching and coaching field.  Gene spent 37 years teaching Industrial Technology and coaching during his tenure in Janesville, Minnesota.

Robert Olson is a 1951 Lincoln High graduate.  He received his BA Degree in music from the University of Minnesota and accomplished a career as both a professional musician and a teacher.  Bob's early years found him playing orchestras of the University of Minnesota, Rochester, Duluth and St. Paul Pops.  He has been a member of several professional orchestras; Kansas City Symphony, Minneapolis Symphony, Santa Fe Opera and Boston Symphony Orchestra from 1967 until his retirement in 2003.

Barbara "Barb" Knutson graduated from Lincoln High School in 1962. Barb attended Winona State College and received degrees in Physical Education and Art while participating in several interscholastic and intramural sports.   Barb's first three years of teaching were at Winona Senior High School and then for 30 years at Mankato West/ Mankato High School where she was involved in a myriad of activities.  Barb has received many honors including induction into the Winona State Athletic Hall of Fame in 1992 and into the Minnesota State High School League Hall of Fame in 1998 along with receiving a Distinguished Alumni Award from Winona State University.

Bill Kieffer a Vermillion, Minnesota native and graduate of Hastings High School, arrived in Lake City to teach Industrial Arts and coach in the fall of 1956 after graduating from the University of Wisconsin-Stout and also having taught from 3 years in Breckinridge, Minnesota.  Kieffer whose son Todd accepted the award on behalf of the family was long time teacher and coach for Tigers working with football, golf and baseball programs from 1957-1981.  Coach Kieffer made his most notable mark in the baseball program where he led Lake City to several championships including a State Consolation Title in 1972.  Kieffer has also been inducted into the UW Stout Athletic Hall of Fame and the Minnesota State High School Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.  The local varsity baseball field was named "Bill Kieffer Field" in the Spring of 2008.  Bill passed away in 2002.

The newest category is the Team.  The undefeated 1949 Football Team is the inaugural inductee for this category.  Speaking on behalf of the team was all-conference player Gene Hunder.  Hunder, along with teammates Duane Schafer, Walter Sprick, Loren McDonald and Rod Eggenberger were honored at the ceremony.  This team has the distinction of being the first undefeated football team for Lake City finishing 8-0 on for the season including 4 shutout victories.  They totaled 199 points while giving up only 37.  Victories for the team include wins over Stewartville, St. Felix of Wabasha, Kenyon, Zumbrota, Pine Island, Farmington, Cannon Falls and Plainview.
 

Class of 2008

Holly Duncan Diepenbrock grew up in Lake City and after graduating in 1992 from Lincoln High School went on to furthered her education and compete at the collegiate level for Iowa State University from 1992-1996.  She received numerous awards for her golfing skills. Holly is a member of the Ladies Professional Golf Association and is Class A LPGA Certified. She has been both an Assistant Golf Professional and a Head Golf Professional. Holly was inducted in the category of Athletics.

Robert "Bob" Parrott was born and raised in Lake City graduating from Lincoln High School in 1959.    His accomplishments are countless and date back for over 20 years of service and commitments to not only Lake City Public School, but to the community of Lake City.  Bob will always be best known as the guy who takes pictures! Bob was inducted in the category of Outstanding Contribution.

Wayne Steffenhagen grew up on a farm in rural Lake City graduating from Lincoln High School in 1959. Wayne went on to graduate from the University of Minnesota. He begins his career in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, then moving to Coon Rapids, Minnesota.  From there it was Steven Point, Wisconsin and finally making his way to D.C. Everest High School in Scofield, Wisconsin where he has spent 30 years teaching and coaching. Coach Steffenhagen has coached teams to 5 State football championshis and earned many honors for his coaching accomplishments.  Wayne was inducted in the category of Outstanding Life's Work.
 

Class of 2007

Cole Black graduated from Lincoln in 1950. After graduation he joined the Navy. Seven days from the end of his second combat cruise during the Vietnam War, Capt. Black was shot down and captured, spending over 2,428 day as a POW. He served honorably on active duty for over 35 years. 3 weeks after the Hall of Fame induction ceremony Capt. Black was tragically killed in a plane crash in California.

David Danckwart graduated from Lincoln in 1966. In 1970 he graduated from Winona State with a bachelor's degree in art. He spent two years in the U.S. Army and then returned to Winona State and received a bachelors degree in science. He continued his education at De Paul University where he received his master's degree. He began his teaching career in Fennimore. Wisconsin and from there went to Joilet, Illinois and Richton, Illinois. The last 18 years years he was the choir director at Maine South High School Park, Ridge, Illinois. He is enjoying his retirement back home in Lake City not to mention is also a substitute teacher.

Terrence Kieffer graduated in 1971. Terrence continued his education at Indian Hills Community College, graduating in 1973 with an Associates Degree. After attending the University of New Orleans and Winona State University he received his Bachelor's of Science Degree in 1976. From there he received Master's Degree in 1984. Terry was a 3 sport athlete. He has spend the last 30 years teaching and coaching in Beaver Dam Wisconsin.

Steve Ritzenthaler taught band in Lake city from 1969-2000. He received his music education from the University of Northern Colorado and the University of Minnesota, Mankato. He began his career in Comfrey, Minnesota before coming to Lake City. At present Steve is lead tenor in the Lake city Choral Society and the Joy Singers Choral, and is the associate conductor and member of the Sheldon Brass Band. While in Arizona during the winter months, he performs with the Salt River Brass of Phoenix and the View Point Concert band in Mesa.

Jody Buck Stefonowicz is a 1989 graduate and was a three sport athlete in cross country, basketball, and track and field. Jody went on to play college basketball for North Dakota State University. Jody is an elementary physical education teacher and living in Hopkins, Minnesota.

Randy Breuer is a 1979 graduate and was member of the 1978 and 1979 state championship basketball teams. Randy went on to play college basketball at the University of Minnesota and was drafted by the Milwaukee Bucks in l983. Randy is retired from professional basketball and living in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.

Stephen Campion is a 1976 graduate and is currently an Associate Professor in Science and Math at Alvernia College in Reading, Pennsylvania. Stephen is a published author and lecturer in the field of science and scientific research. Stephen is currently living in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.