With a chance to bring in some homegrown talent in last week’s NBA draft, the Milwaukee Bucks passed on Sam Dekker, selecting instead Rashad Vaughn of the University of Nevada-Las Vegas with their first pick, the 17th selection overall.
Dekker, the pride of Sheboygan Lutheran High School, was scooped up on the very next pick by the Houston Rockets.
Wisconsin center Frank Kaminsky – taken at No. 9 overall by Charlotte – was indispensable in the Badgers’ drive to the 2014 semifinals and last April’s championship game.
But Wisconsin couldn’t have got there without Dekker, the 6-foot-8 forward whose inspired play helped the Badgers get past previously undefeated Kentucky, among others. The Bucks evidently felt they needed help at point guard more than the marketing boost and small forward depth that Dekker would have brought.
No sooner had the news been reported on the radio that a BoDeans (from Waukesha) song was played, prompting a surge of on-air, hometown-boys-in-the-big-time banter. Guitar legend Les Paul (Waukesha), Gangster of Love Steve Miller (Milwaukee) and garish piano virtuoso Liberace (West Allis) were among the Wisconsin-born luminaries mentioned in the segment.
In that vein, here is an incomplete addendum to the list of higher-profile sports figures who at one time called Wisconsin home.
Jim Otto – Undrafted by any NFL team, the Wausau native was not “old school,” per se, but more so from the school they tore down to build the old school. Seventy-four surgeries would not derail his 15-year, Hall of Fame career as a center with the Oakland Raiders, during which he was a three-time All-Pro, the No. 63rd-ranked player of all time by the NFL Network, and the most accomplished player in history with a name that is also a palindrome.
Elroy Hirsch – Another Wausau native, Hirsch caught 17 touchdown passes and averaged 125 yards receiving over a 12-game season with the L.A. Rams in 1951. Sound of mind, torso and upper extremities, he was the first and only professional football player characterized as clinically insane from the waist down.
Bud Selig – As owner of Major League Baseball’s newest American League franchise in 1969, Selig bolted Seattle and in 1970 brought major league baseball back to Milwaukee, his hometown, after a four-year absence. Later, as commissioner, he brought major league embarrassment to baseball by declaring a tie in an all-star game.
Dick Trickle – Hailing from Wisconsin Rapids, the 1989 NASCAR Rookie of the Year left his mark on the short tracks, posting more than 1,200 auto racing victories at various venues around the country.
Latrell Sprewell – An all-NBA first-teamer and four-time all-star, the Milwaukee native averaged 18 points per game over a 13-year career. Sprewell was widely regarded as the guy in most dire need of the coupon section of the paper after he turned down a $27-million, three-year contract offer because that amount was insufficient to feed his children.
Bruce Weber – The all-time most successful college basketball coach to share a surname with an outdoor grill, the Milwaukee-born Weber led the University of Illinois to the 2005 NCAA championship game, where the Illini were lightly seasoned, marinated and charred by North Carolina.
Bob Uecker – He rode self-deprecation to nosebleed-level heights, notching almost as many appearances on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson as he did base hits over his six-year major league career. Shilling for beer in a television advertisement, Uecker’s name eventually became synonymous with stratospheric seating at sports venues. The Milwaukee native, who was named Sportscaster of the Year five times, appeared in the “Major League” motion picture trilogy, and numerous other films and television sitcoms.
Good work, if you can get it.
