All Milwaukee Metro Area MU Team

Over the years, an awful lot of players from the five area counties - Milwaukee, Ozaukee, Waukesha, Racine, and Washington - have worn the MU jersey. My fandom only goes back to the late 50s, so I am only including in the following list players I am either sure or fairly certain were from the metro area, but I am limiting the list to players who became regular starters during the career (with at least one exception).

I was thinking about what an all-Milwaukee area all-MU roster might look like for the past 60 years or so. I am not certain of all of the high schools associated with the listed players, so maybe some with better memories than mine can fill in a few of the gaps.

So, if posters had to select a five-member first team and a five-member second team, which players would posters select? Instead of doing just the top five players and the next five players, I tried to do create the teams by position: point guard, off guard, small forward, power forward, and center. Some players had to play "out of position" for part or all of their MU careers, while some were associated with two, or even three, positions.

Here is the list I've come up with. I'm sure I missed some players. Please point out any other players from the Milwaukee area who became regular starters at MU. And if you can fill in any omissions in terms of school, or at least county, that would be appreciated as well.

Odell Ball - King ('78-'79)
Lee Borowski - Custer - (61-'63)
Gary Brell - Pius - ? ('70-'71)
Dwight Buycks - Bay View ('10-'11)
Rocke Calvelli - Racine ('63-'65)
Jim Chones - Racine St. Catherine ('71-'72)
Dave Delsman - Waukesha ('73-'75) - Not sure if DD ever became a starter.
Tom Flynn - Messmer - ? ('64-'66)
John Glaser - MUHS - ? ('56 - '58) - Before my time but still included him. How could I not?
Ron Glaser - Washington ('61-'63)
Jerry Homan - ? - ('73-'75)
Bob Hornak - Notre Dame - ? ('61-'63)
Robert Jackson - Washington - '03
Kevin Johnson - Marshall or Madison - ('86-'87)
James Kersten - Racine - ? ('58-'60) Not sure if he ever became a starter or if he was even from the area, but I think so.
Damon Key - MUHS - ('91-'94)
Don Kojis - Notre Dame - ('59-'61)
Brad Luchini - West Allis Central - ('66-'68)
Dean Marquardt - Washington - ('79-'82)
Allie McGuire - MUHS - ('71-'73)
Jim McIlvaine - Racine St. Catherine - ('91-'94)
Scott Merritt - Tosa East - ('01-'04)
John Mueller - MUHS - ? - ('98-'01) I believe Mueller started as a senior when Merritt was a freshman.
Steve Novak - Brown Deer - (''03-'06)
Trevor Powell - Washington - ('88-'91)
Gary Rosenberger - MUHS - ('75-'78) "Rosey" was never a regular starter but he was invaluable, so what the hell.
Jeff Sewell - Grafton - ('68-'70)
Blanton Simmons - North Division - ('66 - '68)
Shannon Smith - Dominican - ('92-'93) Not sure Shannon ever became a starter. He may have started a few games as a frosh, but played behind Eford as a soph.
Tony Smith - Tosa East - ('87-'90)
John Stone - Whitefish Bay - ('63-'64)
Jake Thomas - Racine - ('13 - '14)
Jamil Wilson - Racine - ('12 - '13)
Bob Wolf - Menomonee Falls (('65-'67)

Not a whole lot of point guards in this list. Tony Smith played point as a senior. Kevin Johnson was a point guard. And Buycks played point his two years at MU. Decent numbers at the other positions. My first team and second team - including a few "no brainers."

First Team:

Point Guard - Tony Smith
Off Guard - Bob Wolf
Small Forward - Don Kojis
Power Forward - Steve Novak
Center - Jim Chones

Second Team:

Point Guard - Kevin Johnson
Off Guard - Ron Glaser
Small Forward - Tom Flynn
Power Forward - Damon Key
Center - Jim McIlvaine

Note: tough decision between Damon Key and Trevor Powell. Also tough keeping Gary Brell from making the second team, but I had to put Flynn ahead of him.

Curious to see how others would choose.

Not a first or second teamer, but Pat Foley - MUHS - ('84-'88)

I agree that Key should be ahead of Powell. Back then I thought that Powell benefitted from playing with Tony Smith. Smith made Powell good. When Smith graduated it was time for Powell to step up and be the man. He did well, but stats dropped from previous year when he had Smith.

89-90 16.7 pts, 7.8 rebs per game
90-91 12.2 pts, 7.3 rebs per game

IWB,

I wasn't sure if Foley ever started for MU. I just went back and checked and found that he averaged 11.7 ppg on the '87-'88 team.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jim Ganzer, "IWB"

I agree that Key should be ahead of Powell. Back then I thought that Powell benefitted from playing with Tony Smith. Smith made Powell good. When Smith graduated it was time for Powell to step up and be the man. He did well, but stats dropped from previous year when he had Smith.

89-90 16.7 pts, 7.8 rebs per game
90-91 12.2 pts, 7.3 rebs per game

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To be fair, Trevor did have injury issues as a senior.

Some additions to your list ...

Bill Neary, MUHS

Pat Foley, MUHS

Jim Paulsen, Racine St. Catherine's

Keith Stewart, Messmer (ever so briefly zzzzzz)

Joe Krysiak, Milwaukee Thomas More

Charles Luter, Watertown NW Prep (Milwaukee kid)

Marcus West, Racine St. Catherine's

Greg Johnson, Milwaukee Pius XI

Greg Shimon, Milwaukee Marquette

Bob Steber, Milwaukee Pius XI

Gary Grzesk Sr., Milwaukee Don Bosco

Some clarifications ...

Kevin Johnson went to Milwaukee Madison, not Milwaukee Marshall

Tom Flynn is indeed a Messmer grad

Rocke Calvelli went to Racine St. Catherine's

John Mueller is indeed a MUHS grad

James Kersten went to Menasha St. Mary and later coached at Racine St. Catherine's and Manitowoc Roncalli

Bob Hornak went to MUHS, not Milwaukee Notre Dame

Jerry Homan is a graduate of MUHS

John Glaser is indeed a MUHS graduate

Oh if only ....

The 1995 WISAA State Tournament included the following and MU did not get any of them ... Mike Kelley (Pius XI/Wisconsin), Andy Kowski (Dominican/Wisconsin), Terry Black (Messmer/Baylor), Alex Scales (Racine Lutheran/Oregon).

Doesn't there have to be a spot for Tony Smith on at least the second team? Prolific scorer on some historically bad MU teams. He scored even when other coaches game planned to stop him.

I'd put Key on the first team and Novak on the second team. Key was a 4 year starter on a team that took its lumps for two years. He was our leading scorer for 3 of his 4 years, played in fewer games than Novak and scored more - remember KO's teams played in the 50's so to have scored more than Novak in fewer games was a big deal. Plus, he wasn't taking 3's on that team so he had to earn his points in the paint or at the line. Id also argue he was a better rebounder (10th all time). Novak is more in our memory and had a long career in the NBA but in college Key was the more valuable player.

He's my first team point guard.

Mark,

I didn't include most of those players you mentioned because they were not starters. Neary was, of course, but....I never viewed him as a true starter. (Just my view.)

I never heard of Bob Steber.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Phantom Warrior

Mark,

I didn't include most of those players you mentioned because they were not starters. Neary was, of course, but....I never viewed him as a true starter. (Just my view.)

I never heard of Bob Steber.

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Steber was good at Pius. And Neary...have to agree there.

Randy Buchmann 1971-75 ?? Milw Hamilton

Buchman is another guy who never started at MU. If memory serves, didn't he transfer to another school? I have a vague recollection of RB transferring. Did he come in with Tatum's class or Luke's class?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by MulliganMusings

Doesn't there have to be a spot for Tony Smith on at least the second team? Prolific scorer on some historically bad MU teams. He scored even when other coaches game planned to stop him.

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I remember Al Maguire night Tony's senior year against DePaul. At one point, Pat Kennedy had 3 guys on Tony and he still scored on them. He ended up with 41 or 44 and willed us to win. I also saw go against a ranked Fordham team at MSG. The Piano Man at one point posts him up against Fordham's two bigs and has someone throw lobs to Tony who got up and scored over them. It only lasted a few trips before Fordham adjusted but is showed how athletic he was. Tony was scary good in college and to think that he was a casual pick up by Majerus with no story or accolades ('biggest sleeper' anyone).

Tony Smioth was one of the best players in the state. He and Robert Berryhill from Racine. All knew Tony would be good. The question was who would be better, Smith or Berryhill?

Tony Smith is terribly underrated. He was a gem on teams filled mostly with crap. Doesn't get nearly the recognition he deserves.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Phantom Warrior

Buchman is another guy who never started at MU. If memory serves, didn't he transfer to another school? I have a vague recollection of RB transferring. Did he come in with Tatum's class or Luke's class?

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Academics were an issue and he ended up at Oshkosh or Whitewater.

RB is listed attending MU '71-75 and as a 3 year letter winner... Dont recall him transferring...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Gato78

Tony Smioth was one of the best players in the state. He and Robert Berryhill from Racine. All knew Tony would be good. The question was who would be better, Smith or Berryhill?

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Dick Bennett was recruiting Tony really hard and thought he was going to commit to UWSP. He saw in him what he had in Terry Porter and was telling Tony that. Dick felt that Majerus recruited Tony due to his recruiting of Smith.

I remember watching Tony Smith play in the State Tournament - I'm pretty sure it was his senior year. It was obvious he was a terrific athlete, but he couldn't shoot a lick outside of five feet. He could get to the hoop and score, but he didn't have even a decent mid-range shot. I recall thinking, "I really hope MU doesn't recruit him." But they did, and, of course, the rest is history.

I'm not sure any MU player, at least in the last 40 years or so, improved as much over his four years at MU as TS did. The fact that he became such a good three-point shooter by his senior season was astonishing, but equally impressive, his ball handling also improved dramatically. He evolved into a more than serviceable point guard his senior year after having never played the position at any level.

It's hard to imagine to what depths - or should I say greater depths - the program would have sunk to without Tony. We could have ended up like Detroit and Loyola. We came pretty close to that even with him.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Phantom Warrior

I remember watching Tony Smith play in the State Tournament - I'm pretty sure it was his senior year. It was obvious he was a terrific athlete, but he couldn't shoot a lick outside of five feet. He could get to the hoop and score, but he didn't have even a decent mid-range shot. I recall thinking, "I really hope MU doesn't recruit him." But they did, and, of course, the rest is history.

I'm not sure any MU player, at least in the last 40 years or so, improved as much over his four years at MU as TS did. The fact that he became such a good three-point shooter by his senior season was astonishing, but equally impressive, his ball handling also improved dramatically. He evolved into a more than serviceable point guard his senior year after having never played the position at any level.

It's hard to imagine to what depths - or should I say greater depths - the program would have sunk to without Tony. We could have ended up like Detroit and Loyola. We came pretty close to that even with him.

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Smith's Tosa East team lost in the semis his senior year to eventual champion Sheboygan North.