4 coaches being inducted into Shawano Athletic Hall of Fame

Shawano Community High School will induct four players into its Athletic Hall of Fame on Sept. 25. The Class of 2021 induction lines up with the school’s homecoming events and takes place the day the football team hosts Xavier. The Athletic Hall of Fame induction is set for 12:30 p.m. before the 1 p.m. game.

This is the inaugural class of coaches being inducted.

“Matty” Janis Mathison

“Matty” Janis Mathison was a successful coach and pioneer for women’s athletics at Shawano High School. Her passion for women’s sport is captured in her statement, “God Bless Title IX.”

Mathison grew up in Winchester and graduated from Winneconne High School. She attended Augsburg College in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and played collegiate athletics. She brought her love for sports to Shawano when she joined the staff at Shawano High School in 1969 as a health and physical education teacher.

She was driven to provide opportunities for young women to grow and develop through high school sports. She advocated, lobbied and fought, and she deserves credit for the initiation of the entire women’s interscholastic athletic program at SCHS.

Mathison established and coached track and field for 12 seasons and had 16 athletes qualify for state competition. She also established and coached the volleyball team for 25 seasons. In that tenure, her teams won seven conference championships.

She led Shawano to appearances in five state tournaments, including a state championship in the first-ever women’s volleyball state tournament in 1974, a second state championship in 1988 and a state runner-up finish in 1987. She finished with more than 1,000 career volleyball wins and a .700 winning percentage. She served on the WIAA Volleyball Advisory Committee from 1987-89, and she was selected by the Wisconsin Volleyball Coaches Association to coach the first all-state volleyball team in 1987. In 1991, she was inducted into the Augsburg College Athletic Hall of Fame, and in 2012 she was inducted into the WVCA Hall of Fame.

Mathison’s positive influence on young people extended beyond athletics. She earned the Herb Kohl Teacher of the Year award in 1993 and Disney’s American Teacher Award Top 12 in 1998. In 2000, she was recognized as the Shawano Distinguished Citizen of the Year. Mathison continues to be a community leader and volunteer through numerous projects and initiatives today.

Rudolph “Rudy” Ellis

Rudy Ellis spent six years in the U.S. Navy serving as a medic in the South Pacific Theatre of Operations. After the war, he earned his teaching degree from Winona State University and joined the staff at Shawano High School in 1957 as a social studies teacher.

During his 28 years at Shawano High School, Ellis served as an athletic trainer and an assistant football and baseball coach. He was the boys varsity basketball head coach from 1958-1969. Under his leadership, the boys basketball team made two state tournament appearances in 1958 and 1961. Ellis coached three all-state players and was inducted into the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1988.

After stepping away from the basketball program after the 1969 season, Ellis served as the athletic director for 15 years until his retirement in 1985. He oversaw the formation of the women’s athletic programs in the early 1970s. He is remembered for taking care of and standing up for his coaches. He was selected as the District 2 Athletic Director of the Year in 1981 and 1982.

Ellis and his wife, Marion, had three children. Ellis passed away in 2003 at the age of 87.

Norman “Woody” Davis

In 1964, Norman “Woody” Davis accepted a middle school physical education teaching position in Shawano. For Davis and his wife, Donna, this would be the beginning of a 57-year legacy of passion and dedication to teaching and promoting athletics in Shawano.

His passion for athletics was displayed through his commitment to coaching. His first coaching job was as the freshman football coach, a position he held for 25 years.

Davis also accepted the freshman boys basketball coaching position in 1964. He paid his dues and worked his way up the ranks in the boys basketball program until he became the varsity head coach in 1978. Davis led a highly successful basketball program for 13 years until retiring from coaching basketball in 1991.

The pinnacle of his 27 years of coaching Shawano basketball was his team’s appearance in the 1982 State Class A Tournament semifinal. His legacy as a coach was forged in his belief in drilling the fundamentals. The success of his teams was driven by his players doing the little things right.

His love of athletics led him to become the athletic director in 1985. As athletic director, Davis continued his work as an advocate of sports until he retired from the Shawano School District in 1998. About that time, Davis also found time to coach boys golf in the spring.

Davis ran the community recreation summer programs from A-ball and T-ball to Saturday morning basketball. Davis not only has had a lasting impact on his sons, Scott and Todd, but also on multiple generations of Shawano children whom he continued to coach long after his sons’ playing careers had ended.

The love and dedication that Woody and Donna have for Shawano athletics continues to this day. It is hard to imagine a basketball game without seeing Woody wearing his red Shawano sport coat and Donna in her red Shawano letterman’s sweater. Norman “Woody” Davis left a legacy of passion and dedication to Shawano athletics.

Walter “Walt” Hein

Walter Hein came to Shawano in 1941 and began his career with the Shawano School District teaching industrial arts and coaching freshman football and freshman basketball. He continued as an assistant football and basketball coach at various levels for the next 18 years, highlighted by being part of the 1956 and 1957 Wisconsin state basketball championship teams as an assistant coach to John Kenney.

Coach Hein was most noted for his initiation and development of the baseball program at Shawano High School. He started the varsity baseball program in 1948 and was the varsity coach for the next 34 years. During his tenure, he led the team to more than 250 wins, earning a Wisconsin state baseball berth in 1964 and winning conference championships in the Mid-Eastern Conference in 1968 and Wisconsin Valley Conference in 1971.

Hein was inducted into the Wisconsin High School Baseball Coaches Association Coaches’ Hall of Fame as part of the inaugural class in 1979.