New Berlin Eisenhower Division II State Champs! Congrats, Gary!

The New Berlin Eisenhower girl's varsity basketball team defeated Winnecone Saturday in Madison, 59-50, to win the Division II State Championship. I don't follow basketball but this is a special win as the NB head coach is a family friend, Gary Schmidt (middle row, far right).

The team won their conference but wasn't a favorite to win all the marbles. I think Gary, who's been coaching for 9 years and won 5 conference titles, has taken them to Sectional finals once - one game away from state - but this is his first state championship. "We knew how physical it was going to be because of the style Winnecone plays," said Gary in a Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel article Sunday. "And I was really proud how we adjusted to it. We're lean and athletic, but we can mix it up, too.

Gary's known my brother and I since we were kids. He grew up with my Uncle Fran Ircink and Gary's parents drank and played cards with my grandparents. We're close to the Schmidt's (Gary's wife, Bev is a Nowak - another family I mention quite a bit on this blog) - we've been deer hunting and fishing with Gary for almost 30 years. He works his ass off during basketball season and this truly is a fitting reward for him and the team.

I just got off the phone with him to express my congratulations. He's still beaming - and rightly so. We're proud of you and we love you, Gary. (But no matter how great a coach you are, you're still in charge of bringing up Bev's lasagna for the May walleye fishing trip.) ;)