About De Pere Legion Baseball
The De Pere American Legion baseball program, as it is known today, has been in existence since 1975. Steve Wilmet, with support from the De Pere Jaycees, resurrected the program after about a decade-long hiatus of Legion baseball in the community.
Wilmet, with current major financial backing coming from the De Pere Kiwanis, has been the program’s business manager since its inception. De Pere draws from De Pere and West De Pere High Schools, with occasional De Pere residents who attend Green Bay Notre Dame Academy. It is the only high school athletic program that represents the entire De Pere community.
In the early 1950s, the De Pere Legion program finished in the top three in the state tournament twice. The current program has gone on to establish itself as one of the most competitive programs in Wisconsin and in the Upper Midwest.
Wilmet was the team’s first field manager, serving in that capacity until 1990. With longtime assistant coaches Tom Chopin and Bob Geurts, De Pere grew into a competitive program immediately, narrowly missing out on regional championships during the program’s first decade.
De Pere broke through to the Class AA (there were only two classes in Wisconsin until 1988) State Tournament in 1985. De Pere beat host Sturgeon Bay the first day of the regional tournament, and following a loss to Manitowoc defeated Kewaunee County and then Manitowoc twice on the last day to qualify for its first state meet. The locals went two-and-out at Beloit, losing to Beloit and eventual state champion Oconomowoc.
In 1991, former player Andy Conard began a 10-year stint as field manager. Conard guided De Pere to its first 30-win season in 1994, when it posted a 32-9 record and finished as regional runner-up to Marinette, which finished third at the state tournament.
De Pere enjoyed a banner season in 1995, finishing 34-11. De Pere swept through the regional at Manitowoc, finishing 4-0, to advance to its first state tournament since its 1985 run. Following a crushing 5-4 10-inning loss to host Wisconsin Rapids, De Pere rebounded the second day with a 5-1 win over a solid Oconomowoc club. Wausau, the eventual runner-up to champion Wisconsin Rapids, eliminated De Pere on the third day with a controversial 4-3 decision. De Pere also claimed its first Fox River Valley American Legion Baseball League championship that summer.
A third-straight 30-win season was in the cards for 1996, with De Pere finishing 30-10. De Pere advanced to the Class AAA State Tournament in Stevens Point, defeating Janesville 10-1 the first day before dropping a 3-2 game to Watertown and an 8-3 contest to Appleton Legion. The 1998 season marked the first year De Pere was invited to the prestigious Stevens Point Firecracker Classic, finishing 1-4 against a four-state field.
All that set up an impressive five-year run from 1999 to 2003, when De Pere established itself as the most dominant Legion program in Wisconsin with a pair of Class AAA State Championships in 1999 and 2003. The Panthers, as they became known in 1999, averaged nearly a staggering 40 wins per year during that run, going 198-61.
De Pere cruised to the state tournament in Green Bay in 1999, bludgeoning its three regional opponents by a 48-17 combined score. The Panthers dispatched the host Green Bay Shockers 12-2 in the first round, setting up a big second-round clash with Plover. De Pere ground out a tough 4-1 win, and used three opposite-field home runs on the third day to beat La Crosse 9-5 to guarantee a championship game appearance. Following a 15-9 loss to Janesville, the two met again for the state title.
Janesville held a 2-0 lead into the sixth inning before De Pere answered with three runs in the bottom of the sixth, the go-ahead hit coming from Mario Bilotti. The Panthers added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth and held off Janesville in the ninth for a 4-2 win and their first state championship. It was only the second state title for a Metro team since 1960.
At the Central Plains Regional in Dickinson, N.D., De Pere was not as fortunate, finishing 0-3. The Panthers had a tough draw in their pool, facing Omaha, Neb., Millard West in the opener and took a 6-0 loss. De Pere, which ended the year 40-10, then lost to eventual national champion Tri-City Red of New Brighton, Minn., 14-1 to knock it out of semifinal contention.
With most everyone back the next season, De Pere put together an amazing 45-8 record. The Panthers won the Green Bay and Marinette tournaments, sweeping a tripleheader on the last day to win the latter tourney. De Pere narrowly avoided elimination in the regional, beating Sheboygan in a heart-stopping 6-5 affair to qualify for the state meet in Sturgeon Bay. De Pere opened with wins over Oconomowoc 8-4 and La Crosse 11-6, but fell into the loser’s bracket with a 10-3 setback to the Appleton Rebels. Following a pulsating 8-7 win over Sturgeon Bay in the semifinals, capped off by a J.P. Zvesper walk-off home run to finish De Pere’s fourth comeback of the game, De Pere was eliminated by eventual champion Beloit 7-1.
The 2001 season brought a new look to the program, with only three returnees from 2000 along with a new coach. Dan Lukes was promoted from his assistant’s post to work with the newcomers. The Panthers got off to a slow 13-8 start, but blossomed in July to win 17 consecutive games. De Pere also moved its home winning streak to 29 games, a doubleheader split with Wausau ending that run. The Panthers claimed the Eau Claire River City Classic Tournament championship, but lost two one-run games in the regional. De Pere, 5-3 in league play at one point, won its last 10 league games to win the North Division crown and then went on to win the league title in August. The regular-season finale, in front of a large partisan crowd in Sturgeon Bay for a winner-take-all affair, saw Jason Berken outduel the Bays’ Jeff Sperber for a 2-1, nine-inning triumph and the division championship.
Following a 37-16 season in 2002, but again no state tournament berth, 2003 proved to be a pivotal one for the program. It was the first year in a new national rule that allowed 19-year-olds a potential extra year of Legion eligibility. The rule provided much needed depth to the varsity and junior varsity ranks, depth that proved crucial as the season wore on. De Pere coasted to a 14-0 record in league play and also won the Stevens Point Firecracker for the first time. Ending the regular season ranked No. 1 in Class AAA, De Pere defeated the Green Bay Shockers twice on the final day of the regional to advance to State in Stevens Point. The day after the varsity’s sweep, the junior varsity won its first state title with a 6-0 win over Eau Claire in Marinette.
The onus to finish off the double play for state championships in the same year then fell to the varsity, which survived a tough 5-2 opening-day win over Stevens Point. Following a day off thanks to persistent rain, De Pere faced No. 2-rated Plover in the second round. After falling behind 2-0 in the first inning, the Panthers answered with four runs in their half of the frame to take control of the game and went on to handle the Black Sox 11-2. De Pere then beat Watertown 7-2 and Beloit 13-5 to give Plover a rematch in the state championship tilt. The Panthers used first-inning magic again, scoring three times to take the early lead. With ace Curt Hendricks on the hill, De Pere held off a Plover ninth-inning rally to again win the state championship contest with a 4-2 score. The varsity and junior varsity state championships in the same year marked the first time in Wisconsin history a program won both its state tournaments in the same season.
De Pere again advanced to national play, this time in New Ulm, Minn. Battling 90-degree temperatures, the Panthers put on a show the first two days that had the baseball-crazy hotbed of New Ulm buzzing. De Pere faced Lawrence, Kan., and its 20-game winning streak in the opening game. The Panthers scratched across one run in the seventh inning, and Hendricks took a 1-hitter and a 1-0 lead to the ninth. But Lawrence tied it with two out in the ninth. De Pere worked out of a jam in the 10th and took the lead in the top of the 12th on a Rick Berken infield single. Hendricks fanned the last two batters of the game to seal the 2-1 win and De Pere’s first national tournament victory.
The Panthers faced an even tougher opponent the next day - Minnesota champion Rochester - with the A’s carrying a 27-game winning streak and a 45-3 record into the game. A see-saw battle found the score tied 4-4 after nine innings, and each team scored in the 11th. Nick Instefjord’s bases-loaded single with one out in the bottom of the 13th - at 12:08 a.m. - pushed across the decisive run in an exhausting 6-5 affair. Rick Berken and Kevin Albers combined to work the game, scattering 14 hits and stranding 14 Rochester runners to pull off the upset.
Unfortunately for De Pere, the Panthers were the victims of leaving runners on base in a 6-3 loss to Minot, N.D., on the tournament’s third day. De Pere left 11 runners on base to suffer the setback. More painful, the Panthers found themselves as the odd-man out in a three-way tie atop their pool with Rochester and Minot, being eliminated with a 2-1 tournament record and a final 41-16 ledger. Rochester went on to win the regional and the American Legion World Series in Bartlesville, Okla.
With most everyone graduating from the 2003 squad, that left members of the state champion junior varsity team to fill most of the spots. Following a spring that saw both city high schools advance to the state tournament, De Pere was ranked No. 1 the entire regular season until the final poll, when it entered regional play rated No. 2.
De Pere, facing a four-team regional in Marinette, lost its first game rather convincingly to rival Bay Port 8-3. Following a 12-0 win over Marinette, De Pere trailed 7-0 to Bay Port in a losers’ bracket game, but scored six runs in the eighth to win 10-8. The Panthers then had to beat Oconto twice to steal the regional crown. With the game tied 4-4 entering the ninth, Oconto scored four in the top half to seemingly take control of the game. But De Pere responded with an improbable five-run rally in the bottom of the ninth to pull off a 9-8 stunner. Returning the next day, De Pere took control early to beat Oconto 15-1 and advance to the state tournament.
Entering the state tournament in Eau Claire, De Pere was one of the tournament favorites along with Wisconsin Rapids and the Appleton Rebels. Host Eau Claire beat De Pere 6-1 on the first day, forcing a matchup of De Pere and Wisconsin Rapids in a two-and-out game. De Pere scored two runs in each of the first three innings to oust Wisconsin Rapids, then rallied the third day three different times to eliminate Beloit. On the tournament’s fourth day, Marshfield was the opponent. Scoring single runs throughout and with a key double play in the top of the ninth, De Pere pulled out a 4-3 win to advance to the tournament’s final day. In the championship round, it was all De Pere as Erik Olson gutted out a complete-game effort on short rest for a 6-3 win over Eau Claire. An all-time barrage of 18 hits led to De Pere scoring in six of eight innings en route to an 11-1 rout of the Appleton Rebels in the state championship game to finish the journey along an improbable road to a state championship.
The 2005 season brought a year of high expectations after De Pere and West De Pere high schools shared the Bay Conference championship in the spring. The campaign didn’t disappoint, as De Pere placed highly in three top-notch regular-season tournaments against a schedule laden with several past state champions and two teams that ended up qualifying for the 2005 American Legion World Series.
De Pere dropped a tight 6-5 game with Northbrook, Ill., in the championship of the Wilmette Wood Bat Invitational at Northwestern University. Following a week of league games, De Pere swept the Rochester A’s in a doubleheader at Mayo Field en route to the Rapid City Elks Firecracker tournament, regarded as the top regular-season tournament in the country. De Pere went 6-2 in the Elks Firecracker, good for third but in most years would have put it in title contention, and allowed just 24 runs in the tournament. De Pere hammered defending Nevada champion Las Vegas Durango 11-3 before dropping games 8-1 to Woodbury, Minn., and a 5-4 heartbreaker to host Rapid City in front of 3,300 fans. Woodbury and Rapid City both qualified for the ALWS in August.
De Pere survived a grueling pool at the Gopher Classic in mid-July in 90-degree temperatures, going unbeaten at 5-0 against the likes of Apple Valley, Omaha Roncalli and Hopkins. The Panthers made a run at playing in the championship game at the Metrodome after defeating Bloomington Blue 6-3 in the quarterfinals of the 48-team tournament, but lost in the semifinals to the rival Rochester A’s.
The regional tournament was held for the first time in De Pere at St. Norbert College’s Mel Nicks Field. De Pere, which ended the regular-season ranked No. 1, rolled through its three games by a combined score of 45-7 to qualify for state in Chippewa Falls. De Pere then faced Wisconsin Rapids in the state tournament’s first round in a much-ballyhooed No. 1 vs. No. 2 match-up. Scoreless through six innings, De Pere’s four runs in the seventh proved to be the difference in a 4-2 win. De Pere then beat Chippewa Falls 17-0 on Alex Byrne’s no-hitter – the Class AAA state tournament’s first since 1994 – and pummeled Racine 16-1. The hot bats cooled the next day in a 6-3 loss to Rothschild-Schofield-Weston. De Pere couldn’t snap out of the offense malaise in time during the state championship game, losing a 6-5 decision to Watertown on a controversial eighth-inning squeeze play to deny it a third consecutive state title.
Following a disappointing 2006 season when De Pere was bounced out of the regional tournament on the last day, the squad rebounded in 2007. De Pere had its share of ups and downs in the first half of the 2007 season. The Panthers placed third in the Green Bay Tournament and also qualified for the semifinals of the Escanaba Tournament. De Pere went just 2-6 in the Rapid City Elks Firecracker to return home 18-13 halfway through the season.
De Pere promptly went on an 11-game winning streak, sweeping a doubleheader from Janesville and rallying to beat longtime rival Sturgeon Bay 11-10. Following a six home run barrage at Denmark, De Pere ended up winning its pool in the Gopher Classic spurred on by a 6-0 win over Burnsville, Minn., which ended the regular season ranked No. 1 in Minnesota.
Following a second-place finish in the Plover Central Wisconsin Classic, De Pere hung on for a tense 4-3, 10-inning win over Marinette on the first day of regional play to avenge the sting of 2006’s post-season. De Pere then put up 55 runs in its last three regional games to capture the regional crown.
State was held at Plover for the first time, and De Pere made its sixth Final Four appearance in nine years. De Pere rallied for a 7-5 win over Sheboygan with six runs in the bottom of the eighth. Following a tough 10-9 loss to Neenah, De Pere blitzed No. 1 Eau Claire 16-5 in a loser-out game. The hosts eliminated De Pere on the fourth day with a 13-5 decision and a final record of 41-21, with the 62 games the most in program history.
De Pere followed its near-miss in 2007 with its fourth state championship in 2008. The squad placed second in two top-notch tournaments, the Escanaba Tournament and the Fargo-Moorhead Invitational. But De Pere almost didn’t make it to state, needing to sweep Marinette on the final day of the regional to advance to state at La Crosse.
Following a pair of 10-run victories over Janesville and La Crosse, second-ranked De Pere battled No. 1 Eau Claire in the winners’ bracket final. Despite holding a 6-1 lead, De Pere watched Eau Claire rally for an 8-7 win. Playing in 85-degree heat, De Pere had to turn around and face Madison in an elimination game immediately following the crushing loss. Trailing 5-4 with two outs in the top of the ninth inning, Bret Linssen’s grand slam lifted De Pere to an 8-5 win and a rematch with Eau Claire for the state championship.
Eau Claire held a 3-1 lead midway through the first game before De Pere tied it with two runs in the sixth. David Soderlund’s walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth gave De Pere a 4-3 win and forced a winner-take-all championship. De Pere never trailed in the decisive contest, posting a 6-3 win. Tony Cantalupo earned the win in relief in De Pere’s last three games of the tournament to be named tournament MVP.
From there it was off to the Great Lakes Regional in Chillicothe, Ohio. De Pere fell to Belleville, Ill., in the opener 4-3 before rebounding the next day with a 4-2 win over defending regional champion Rockport, Ind. With the bats heating up, De Pere smashed Bradford, Pa., 14-0 to qualify for its first regional Final Four. Getting a rematch with Belleville, De Pere scored five runs in the top of the first inning and cruised to a 12-2 win and a championship round date with Midland, Mich. De Pere edged out to an early 2-0 lead against Midland but couldn’t hold off the powerful Berryhill offense before losing 8-6 and finishing as the regional runner-up.
Now in its fourth decade, the De Pere American Legion Baseball program took plenty of baby steps before it blossomed into the envy of the area and one that is respected throughout the Midwest. The community with the river running through it has established itself as one of the biggest youth baseball hotbeds in Wisconsin through the hard work of many organizers, coaches, players and parents.