A new royal blue scoreboard was dedicated Sunday at Don Jirschele Stadium in Clintonville.
The scoreboard, donated by Richard Koeppen, his wife, Nancy, and family, was installed Thursday. Koeppen is a former mayor, resident and businessman in Clintonville. He is chairman of the Waupaca County Board.
He also is a former member of the Clintonville A’s, of the Badger Amateur Baseball Association team. He joined the team, which uses W.A. Olen field at the stadium, after high school.
The scoreboard is 20 feet long by 6.5 feet tall and weighs 380 pounds. The aluminum sign has super bright, energy-efficient LED lighting. It was erected east of the old scoreboard.
The Clintonville Common Council accepted the donation of the new electronic scoreboard in July.
“Baseball has always been important to me and my family,” Koeppen told the Common Council.
Koeppen played on that field for more than 43 years both in high school and with the Clintonville A’s. Throughout his career, Koeppen appeared in 13 Grand Championship games, winning eight of them. He earned the home run title in 1965 and shared it again in 1976 with Mike Jirschele. He won the batting title in 1975, hitting a .465 and earned his last home run at the age of 49.
His sons, Jeff and Bob, also played on the field.
Don Jirschele said he was appreciative of the donation.
Including installation, the new scoreboard cost about $15,000. To supplement the Koeppen donation, the Clintonville Tourism, Marketing and Advertising Council voted to donate up to $4,000, and the A’s collected donations to help raise about $1,390.
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