Albrightson, others to be inducted into Bay Hall of Fame this weekend

Bob Albrightson will be a busy man on Saturday.

But if it costs the retired Whitefish Bay educator and coach a few miles on his car, then so be it.

Albrightson will be one of the headliners of a six-person class to be inducted into the Whitefish Bay Athletic Hall of Fame at 2 p.m. in the LINK by the field house in the high school. Then he will hustle out to Middleton in the evening to see his old football coaching comrade for the Blue Dukes Dick Baer be inducted into the Wisconsin Football Coaches' Association Hall of Fame.

"It'll be something," said Albrightson, "but I told Dick that I would get there. He and I just got along very well together. He was a very dedicated coach." Albrightson himself was inducted into the WFCA Hall of Fame in 2006 after a 27-year career where he served as a guidance counselor and a teacher of business and social studies.

He will be joined in the Bay Hall of Fame by legendary 1940s-athlete Glen "Buzz" Wilson (class of 1950), all-around star and former basketball coach John Stone (1959), women's coaching pioneer Lois Wolf, swim coach great Morgan Byers and distance running all-star Todd Wienke (1983).

Albrightson was head football coach for 14 years where he led the Blue Dukes to the co-championship in the old Suburban Conference in 1972 and was named District VII coach of the year in 1978. He also served as a freshman and junior varsity basketball coach and also helped out with the baseball team.

He is a noted public speaker and has taught coaching classes at Marquette University, earning the "Outstanding Lecturer Award" in 2011.

Albrightson is happy for the honor, but more pleased for Baer, who was first an assistant under him and then when Albrightson stepped down, he switched roles and worked for Baer as an assistant.

"He was a dedicated and loyal assistant and was also a good man to work for," Albrightson said.

Capsule biographies of the other honorees include the following:

WILSON: A nine-letter winner in football, basketball and track he played on three conference championship football teams including his senior year when he was named Milwaukee Area Player of the Year and earned all-state recognition.

He played football at Wisconsin and quarterbacked his Marine Base team to two Corps championships. He was also a two-time state champion in the high jump as the track team won state titles all four years he was involved in the program. He was named junior class president and has remained a resident of Bay for more than 60 years with children and grandchildren also graduating from the school.

STONE: Was a basketball, baseball and track man at Bay and in his senior year, he earned first-team all-state in basketball after averaging 32.8 ppg., including a 53-point effort as he led the team to a 20-1 record and a No. 2 ranking in the state.

He was also Milwaukee County Trackman of the Year and earned first-team all-conference honors in baseball as a pitcher and first baseman. He was captain of the 1963-64 Marquette University basketball team and was also named to the Wisconsin Softball Hall of Fame.

He went on to coach the girls basketball team for three years and led the team to the state tournament in 1997.

WOLF: Started as a physical education teacher in 1958 before moving to the high school in 1972. She was active in promoting girls sports long before the passage of the groundbreaking Title IX. She organized sports' days to provide girls with opportunities to compete against girls from other schools. She was considered a master at recruiting prospective athletes and created role models for future generations.

She coached the girls track team from its inception in 1972 until 1988. She also served as assistant athletic director and is credited with starting the Wisconsin State Girls Track and Field Honor Roll. She has remained active serving as an official for both volleyball and track meets. The Lois Wolf Invitational is a girls only track meet held every spring in her honor.

BYERS: A former All-American swimmer at Purdue University in the 1940s, Byers coached the boys swim team from 1951 to 70 and then remained on as an assistant until 1986. He coached WIAA state championship squads in 1953, 1954 and 1957 as well as three state runner-up squads, four conference titles and six WIAA sectional crowns.

He was inducted into the National Interscholastic Swim Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1987. He founded the Bay Swim Club in 1951, helped in the start of girls high school swimming, published a state "Top 10" weekly listing during the season and has remained a top-level masters' swimmer, winning the US title in the 100-meter individual medley in 2009 at the age of 82.

WIENKE: Arguably the best distance runner in school history, Wienke finished third in the WIAA state cross country meet his senior year and qualified for the Kinney National meet where he took 21st.

He still holds both the indoor and outdoor school records in the 1,600 (4:15.1 best time) and in the 3,200 (9:11.1). He also anchored school record teams for the distance medley and four-mile relays. He finished second in the mile and third in the two-mile in the state meet in 1983 and was named Bay's "Sportsman of the Year".

At Colorado University, he was a two-time cross country team captain who helped teams take third in 1985 and fifth in 1986 at the NCAA championships. He had lifetime bests of 4:02 in the mile and 13:52 for 5,000 meters. He was always known as a man who took far greater pride in team rather than individual achievements.