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THE MONROE EVENING TIMES, Saturday, October 13, 1973 PAGE 6Joe Keegan, Hilfikers were GolcThe boxing careers of three Monroe youths, John Prien. Carl Disch and Joe Keegan, began in the fall of 1957All were seniors at Monroe High School and none of them had any previous boxing experience.The nearest club was in Madison — at the Blessed Martin House on South Park Street where the Madison Golden Gloves club met.George Holmes of Holmes Tire Co. was the organizer. Andy Hollybush was the trainer and the coach was John Walsh.Keegan was an All-State football player at MHS and was a heavyweight. John and Carl were welterweights (147 pound maximum). They attended the practice sessions as often as they could during a six-week period and then opened their careers against the Golden Gloves from Rockford, 111 . the Booker T Washington club.Fights lasted three rounds of two-minutes each. Boxers were divided into two classes — Novice and Open. The Novice was for those fighters with less than six fights experience and who were under 25 years old.“We fought lubs in Rockford, Freeport and Fond du Lac, Prien remembers. “Our club would match up Novice vs. Noviceand Open vs. open in each of the w eight classes When w e couldn’t get matched we often fought other Madison club members. Disch quit boxing a year later when he went to Los Angeles. In 1965 Disch was at Bvrd Station. Antarctica, where he was regarded as one of the most brilliant scientists ever to visit the ice. On May 7, 1965, Disch mysteriously disappeared — apparently in good health and without a trace — from Marie Byrd land He was never found and his disappearance remains one of the most fascinating legends of modern Antarctica explorers.In 1957 Keegan won the heavyweight title in the Novice class He went on to Colorado A M to play three years of varsity football. He is presently the superintendent of schools at Belle Fourche. South Dakota.Prien continued boxing until 1962 — infrequently toward the end of his four-year career. He is presently a grade school teacher in Monroe“After 1960 when the colleges quit their boxing programs many collegiate boxers went into Golden Gloves, Prien said recently “But amateur boxing was never the same after Charlie Mohr was killed ’’“It was a lot of fun, Prien recalled “We learned quite a bit about boxing and had some great times.Forbes co-captained UW's championsAfter a distinguished career at MHS. golfer Dave Forbes, son of MCC pro Jim Forbes, attended the University of Wisconsin where he and Roger Rubendall, son of the Freeport Country Club professional, led the Badgers to the school’s only championship in Big Ten golf history.The two wrere co-captains in 1957 when Wisconsin won the meet by eight strokes. Individually, Rubendall was second by a shot to Purdue’s Joe Campbell. Dave was fourth. It was Wisconsin’s only victory in SI Big Tea meetsFirst MCC acesMert Place, prime instigator of the Monroe Country Club, had the first hole-in-one at the course on July 25, 1925.Playing with Brooks Dun widdie, F.B. Luchsinger and Dr B.R Bennett, Place hit a tee shot on the 203-yard No. 3 which hit the flagstick and dropped into the hole.The second ace was recordedMADISON GOLDEN GLOVES — This picture shows the Hilfiker brothers before a fight in 1961; from left, Bobby Christopherson, Jabo Hill, Pat Kelly, Gene Hilfiker, Gerry Hilfiker and coach George Holmes.
Newspaper Details
Monroe Evening Times
Monroe, Wisconsin, US
Sat, Oct 13, 1973
Page 75
Full Page
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WI, USA 02 Apr 2024
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