In 1925, at the age of 16, my grandfather, Robert H. (Bob) Sternitzky, graduated from Wausau High School, Wausau, Marathon, Wisconsin. 

An all-around athlete, Bob “Butts” played football and basketball and was on the swim team during his high school career. He also participated in events sponsored by the local YMCA.

Swimming

This team photo, dated 1924, was published in the 1925 Wahiscan. It was common to publish spring sports in the following year’s book. The high school swim team was a new addition to the sports program at the high school. The team was coached by Kurt Fox, the “boys’ secretary of the Wausau Y. M. C. A.” Young Men’s Christian Association.” The first interscholastic high school swim meet in the state of Wisconsin was held Friday, May 16, 1924, in Eau Claire, Eau Claire, Wisconsin, at the Y. M. C. A. pool. The evening events began at 7:30 p.m.: Diving, the 40-yard/Free Style, the 40-yard Backstroke, the Four-Man Relay, the Plunge for Distance, and the Breast Stroke. 

Bob participated in the 40-yard Back Stroke, the Plunge for Distance, and the Four Men Relay. The Four Men Relay is a race “eight times around the tank, each man swimming twice around tank.”¹

“The 100 yard relay race was the most exciting event of the evening when Eau Claire slightly outdistanced their opponents and in a flashy swim [Fred] Hilyer went ahead to the finish line a half-stroke ahead of his opponent. The 40 yard backstroke was another event filled with thrilling amazement when Sherman Olson remained a half head behind Sternitzky at the finish line when the two raced almost even on the last lap.”² Bob’s winning time was 37 seconds. 

The evening ended with Wausau being awarded 31 1/2 points to Eau Claire’s 29 1/2 points. Wausau took home second in Diving, first in the 40-yard Free Style, first and third in the 40-yard Backstroke, first and third in the Four-Man Relay, second in the Plunge for Distance, and second in the breaststroke. 

The second and final meet was held the following week, on Saturday, May 24th, at Wausau’s Y. M. C. A. pool. More than 100 students were there to witness the first home interscholastic aquatic meet. Bob again competed in the 40-yard Backstroke, the Plunge for Distance, and the Four Men Relay. The 40-yard Backstroke was his strongest event, as he easily took first place with a time of 33 4-5 seconds. While it was not reported how he did in the Plunge for Distance, the Four Men Relay team took first with a time of “one minute flat.” The “Local Swimmers Repeat Victory Over Eau Claire. Aquatic Meet in Y Pool is Won by Score off 36 to 25 Saturday Night.”³

Football

The schedule for the 1924 Football Season included eight games. It was a highly anticipated season as the team had participated in the newly inaugurated spring football training “previous to the summer vacation. It was thought in some quarters that this would lead to a general improvement in play.” Bob was one of only five returning players. 

His yearbook entry reads: “Robert ‘Butts’ Sternitzky played the whole season at half-back. Until the introduction of the ‘huddle system of signals,’ ‘Butts’ called the plays. Sternitzky could plunge and many of his passes to team-mates resulted in good gains. This is Sternitzky’s last year.”

The season roster:

1. vs Tomahawk 14-7
2. vs Marshfield 7-7
3. vs Stevens Point 7-7 “Butts Sternitzky scored the lone touchdown on a plunge through the line after a sensational fifteen yard sprint by Kieffer to the enemy’s four yard line. The men in line played a fine contest, opening many holes for the backs, while the ends and tackles were down the field fast on the punts”
4. vs Eau Claire 15-7
5. vs Rhinelander 14-7
6. vs Antigo 0-0
7. vs Merrill 7-0 Homecoming

The season’s final game was the championship game against Shawano High School. The 2:15 p.m. game was a home game played at Recreation Park in Wausau. In preparation for this game, Coach Ewers moved some players around, one of them being Bob. “He [Coach Ewers] will start Archie at right end instead of Swan, and Stone will begin at left half instead of Sternitzky. The latter is an aggressive player, but not as speedy as Stone…”⁴ Although favored to win, the team lost the game 20-0.

Basketball

The basketball season started immediately following the football season and spanned the first and second semesters. During this time, a school career was counted in semesters; eight semesters concluded your high school career. Two members of the 1924 team completed their eight semesters at the end of 1924, so they were ineligible to finish the season; these players were Ralph Patterson and Bob’s brother, Arthur. The yearbook states: “The players deserve more than passing mention for their splendid playing during the season…Robert Sternitzky showed up well when he was given the opportunity. Had Ralph Patterson and Arthur Sternitzky stayed with the team throughout the year, the outcome might have been different.”

On Friday, December 12, 1924, Wausau defeated Tomahawk High School in the first conference basketball game at the Y. M. C. A. The final score was 24-21. Bob, a left guard, scored 4 points during the game. The newspaper reported: “Sternitzky was the only Wausau player to attempt shots from the floor. He registered two, both in the second quarter for the only points made by his team in that period.”⁵

Hexalthon Meet

In early March Bob participated in a national Hexathlon meet held at the Wausau Y. M. C. A., where over 200 young men participated. “The boys’ hexathlon meet starts this week and continues throughout the month. There are five divisions, according to weight, 80, 95, 110 and 125 pounds and over.”⁶ In a hexathlon meet [a Greek word, hexa = 6, athlon = contest] there are traditionally six different track and field contests: 75m hurdles, long jump, javelin, high jump, shot put, and 800 meters. Lampert Ruffing (any relation to the Calumet County Ruffings?) took first place in five of the six events. In May the honor ribbons were awarded, and the newspaper reported that he had taken “fifth in the unlimited class.”⁷

Bob was awarded the “coveted” “W” for his participation in Swimming, Football, and Basketball. His older brother Arthur also received a “W” in Basketball.⁸

Arthur Sternitzky graduated from Wausau High School on June 4, 1925. Bob was just one credit shy of graduating and completed this credit during summer school. While attending summer school, he worked as a house painter. 

That summer almost 100 years ago, a family story was born, and was told, and re-told. The first to tell the story to her grandson, Robert D. Sternitzky, was Verna Christine (Christine) Goerling Sternitzky, the mother of Bob. The story was then confirmed with the telling of the story by one of Bob’s high school friends. Robert D. (Bob) told the story to his grandchildren in 2004. 

As he told it that day, this is the story: “The summer Bob (Robert H. Sternitzky) graduated from high school in 1925, at the age of 16, he worked as a house painter.  He was still living at home. One day, his mother, Christine Goerling Sternitzky, answered the phone, and it was Curly Lambeau, coach of the Green Bay Packers, calling for Bob.  Bob was working, so Christine took a message. Curly wanted him to play for the Green Bay Packers. The terms were $1.00 a minute for every minute played; Bob would buy his own shoes and insurance and pay for gas from Wausau to Green Bay. Curly was interested in Bob because, when playing high school football, he could throw the “old punkin” (this was the old heavy pigskin ball) 50 yards.  He hurt his back playing football in high school, so he didn’t accept Curly’s offer.”

Instead of becoming a Green Bay Packer, Bob took the position of “office boy” at Marathon Corporation in Rothschild, Marathon, Wisconsin. “In 1928 he entered the firm’s accounting department cost section…He was named supervisor of the standard cost department of the firm in 1938.” “When [the] Marathon Corporation main office was shitted to Menasha in 1945, Mr. Sternitzky moved here with his family. From 1947 until several weeks ago he was manager of the manufacturing accounting department at the firm’s Menasha office.”⁹

In the late 1940s or early 1950s, Bob had his portrait taken by the Fabian Bachrach studio. Louis Fabian Bachrach, Jr. is the photographer best known for his portrait of Senator John F. Kennedy. His photo of Kennedy was used as the official photograph after Kennedy was elected President in 1960. I cannot tell if the photo was taken by Fabian Bachrach himself or by his studio, but I did find evidence of other Marathon Corp. executive’s photos being attributed to Fabian Bachrach. Did they travel to Massachusetts to be photographed? Did a representative of the company travel to Wisconsin at the request of Marathon? We may never know. 

I never knew my grandfather; he passed away from a heart attack on 14 Feb 1952 at the age of 43. This strong man, this amazing athlete, had developed a heart condition, “coronary sclerosis and angina,” that failed “to respond under medical care.” His doctor wrote on 14 Jan 1952: “I  feel it is imperative you be required to take a leave of absence from your present employment at Marathon Corporation. This leave of absence should be a period of at least three months.”¹⁰ He died in Long Beach, California, while he and my grandmother, Anola, were visiting her brother, Neal Cook. His body returned to Wisconsin via railway car, arriving in Wausau on February 19th, where he was met at the station by his father and his son. He was buried in Restlawn Memorial Park, Wausau. 

Sources:

1. “Local Swimmers Repeat Victory Over Eau Claire,” Wausau Daily Record-Herald, 20 May 1924, Monday Evening, p. 8, col. 5; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 5 Apr 2024). ↩︎
2. “Local High Tank Men Lost First Meet to Wausau,” The Eau Claire Leader, 17 May 1924, Saturday Morning, p. 2, col. 6; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 5 Apr 2024). ↩︎
3. “Local Swimmers Repeat Victory Over Eau Claire,” Monday Evening, p. 8, col. 5. ↩︎
4. “Favor Wausau to Win Game and the Title,” Wausau Daily Record-Herald, 22 Nov 1924, Saturday Evening, p. 1, col. 7; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 5 Apr 2024). ↩︎
5. “Wausau High Defeats Tomahawk at Basket Ball, 24-21,” Wausau Daily Record-Herald, 12 Dec 1924, Saturday Evening, p. 11, col. 1; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 5 Apr 2024). ↩︎
6. “Sport Chatter,” Wausau Daily Record-Herald, 03 Mar 1925, Tuesday Evening, p. 11, col. 2; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 6 Apr 2024). ↩︎
7. “Sport Chatter,” Wausau Daily Record-Herald, 13 May 1925, Wednesday Evening, p. 5, col. 3; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 5 Apr 2024). ↩︎
8. “Students Given Merit Emblems for School Work,” Wausau Daily Record-Herald, 23 May 1924, Friday Evening, p. 3, col. 1; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 5 Apr 2024). ↩︎
9. “R. Sternitzky Rites Thursday,” Obituary, Twin Cities News-Record, 18 Feb 1952, Monday, p. 3, col. 6; digital images, Newspapers.com (www.newspapers.com : accessed 8 Oct 2018). ↩︎
10. Letter, 14 Jan 1952, from David M. Regan, M.D. to Robert H. Sternitzky; Sternitzky Family Memorabilia; privately held by Susan Sternitzky Fassbender. Robert H. and Anola J. Sternitzky Family Archives, 1950. ↩︎