CLARION STAFF REPORT
A former baseball player and a long-time cross country coach were inducted into the Madison College WolfPack Athletic Hall of Fame during the annual athletic awards banquet held on April 24.
The inductees were Scott Whitrock, who played baseball at Madison College in 2000-01, and Bill Hausler, who coached men’s and women’s cross country from 1984 to 2002.
Former Madison College baseball coach Leo Kalinowski called Whitrock “the most talented baseball player that has stepped onto our baseball field at Madison College.”
“Scott was an ultimate competitor and made everything he did on the field look easy,” Kalinowski said.
Whitrock had a strong freshman season, hitting .378 with 45 RBIs and a team-high 11 home runs. He helped lead his team to conference, state and regional titles.
His sophomore season was even better. He batted .456 and had an incredible .850 slugging percentage. In the 61-game season, he had 103 hits, scored 100 runs, had 20 home runs, four triples and 21 doubles.
Whitrock’s name can be found throughout the WolfPack record book. He is best all-time in single season hits, home runs, runs scored, stolen bases and slugging percentage. His career batting average remains second all time for the team.
After being drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 19th round of the Major League Baseball Draft, Whitrock played six seasons in the minor leagues. He graduated from Madison College with a Fire Protection Technician Degree and is currently employed as a firefighter and paramedic in Wisconsin Rapids.
Hausler, who was hired to teach chemistry at Madison College in 1972, began coaching in 1984 when he became an assistant cross country coach under former coach Fred Williams. When Williams retired in 1993, Hausler took over as head coach.
In his first season as head coach, Hauler’s teams won the state tile and qualified four runners for the national championships. During his 10-year career, Hausler’s teams combined for 11 state titles and 35 national qualifiers. Four of his runners earned All-American honors.
Hausler retired from coaching in 2002 and continued to teach at the college for five more years.
“If you have an excellent teacher who has a passion for coaching, you are going to have an excellent coach,” said Steve Hauser, director of athletics at Madison College. “If you have a great person on top of this – you are blessed. Bill touched thousands of student lives in the classroom and as a Madison College coach.”