Craig Anderson, Rich Cleveland and Jeffrey Kaleas are among those who will be inducted into the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame Sept. 24 in Wisconsin Dells.
The induction will be at Glacier Canyon Lodge of the Wilderness Resort, starting at 4:30 p.m.
Dinner will be at 5:30 p.m. and a program and video presentation will follow.
More information about the banquet is available by calling banquet and program chairwoman Joan Petigoue at 608-744-2585 or 608-778-2524 or email at joanpetitgoue@icloud.com.
The State Journal reported the list of inductees in February. Anderson, Cleveland and Kaleas are among the inductees with area ties (whose induction information was recently released by the WBCA).
Craig Anderson
People are also reading…
Anderson will be inducted in the “Boy Player” category.
Anderson, who grew up on Madison’s east side, was the youngest of four brothers and one sister. Anderson led the Madison La Follette freshman boys basketball team to an 11-0 record and was named as a reserve by varsity coach Pete Olson on the WIAA Class A state championship team in 1977. La Follette defeated Eau Claire Memorial.
As a sophomore, he was a starter on a senior-laden team that lost in a sectional final.
Anderson was named to the Wisconsin State Journal’s first-team all-city squad, only the second sophomore to be selected at that time, and he also received all-Big Eight Conference honors.
Anderson was first-team all-city, first-team all-Big Eight and second-team all-state as a junior. He was the leading scorer in the city and second in the Big Eight that year, including scoring a personal-high 44 points against Janesville Craig.
As a senior, Anderson was first-team all-city and first-team all-Big Eight, finishing as the leading scorer in the city and second leading scorer in the Big Eight. He scored 41 points against Madison East, including making all 17 of his free throws.
His efforts led him to be named first-team all-state and a Converse National High School All-American. He also was chosen for the Shrine all-star game.
La Follette was the Big Eight champion and lost in the state tournament semifinals that season. La Follette defeated Oak Creek in the quarterfinals before falling to Janesville Craig in the semifinals.
Anderson finished his La Follette career as the all-time leading scorer with 1,268 points and top rebounder with 903. At the time, he also was the second leading scorer in the Big Eight.
He holds the Lancers’ record for rebounds in a game with 27, which he accomplished twice.
He was voted to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel all-time state high school team.
He also played varsity volleyball for three years, leading La Follette to state each season.
Anderson received a basketball scholarship to the University of Iowa and was a four-year letterwinner. He played three seasons for coach Lute Olson, competing in NCAA tournaments those years, and played one season for George Raveling. He was a captain as a senior.
Anderson and his wife, Jan, have three children — Marie, Thomas and Monica.
Anderson is in his 20th year as a contractor sales representative for Hallman Lindsay Paints in Sun Prairie. He has coached, including coaching the JV boys basketball team at Monona Grove for 10 years.
Rich Cleveland
Cleveland will be inducted in the “High School Coach” category.
Cleveland is a 1978 graduate of Madison East, where he was coached by Hall of Fame coach John Boyle.
Cleveland also lettered in football and baseball, coached by Hall of Famer Wayne “Knobby” Kelliher.
Cleveland began coaching at age 20, coaching freshman boys basketball at Madison East.
His father, Robert — who was athletic director at East — coached Rich and was a coaching mentor for Rich.
Cleveland, a University of Wisconsin graduate (1983), coached boys and girls basketball, football and baseball at East while serving as a substitute teacher for three years.
His first full-time teaching job was in 1986 in Durand, Illinois, where he coached boys basketball.
He was hired as boys basketball coach and physical education teacher in 1988 at Madison East.
He coached 22 years at East, leading the Purgolders to the state tournament in 1990. Appleton East defeated Madison East in the 1990 Class A state quarterfinals.
Madison East won eight regional championships and reached the sectional finals five times.
Cleveland married his wife, Tami, a Stoughton native, in 1987. Their sons, Tyler and Ben, excelled in academics and athletics in Stoughton.
Jeffrey Kaleas
Kaleas will be inducted posthumously as a “Friend.”
Kaleas, born in 1949, was the third of four children for Richard and Helen Kaleas.
Jeffrey Kaleas grew up in Wisconsin Dells, playing basketball from seventh grade through high school. He attended UW-La Crosse, where he earned a bachelor of science degree that certified him to teach mathematics and computer science, making him among the first teachers in the state to be certified in computer science.
He began teaching mathematics and computer science in 1972 at Wisconsin Rapids Assumption. He also was the JV boys basketball coach, head tennis coach for the boys and girls and the chess club adviser. He also was the cheerleading team adviser for one year.
He became the girls basketball coach at Mount Horeb in 1978.
Kaleas was the girls varsity basketball coach for 20 years until his death May 8, 1998.
For the last 11 of those years, Mount Horeb was 112-40, including winning four Capitol Conference titles and finishing second in WIAA Division 3 at the state tournament in 1995. Mount Horeb defeated Reedsville in the state semifinals, before falling to Park Falls in the title game.
Kaleas worked hard to promote girls basketball. In 1983, he and West Bend’s Rick Riehl founded the Wisconsin Coaches Scouting Service. The service helped female athletes get scholarships as it aided college scouts, who were recruiting for players. In 1984, that service developed into weeklong summer camps.
In 1989, Kaleas coached in the Wisconsin all-star game. He also coached teams in the World Youth Basketball Festival in the 1990s.
About team interaction, he said: “You become successful by helping others become successful.”
He married his wife, Patricia, in 1971 and their children are Aaron and Kim.
2016 WBCA Hall of Fame Inductees
Referee — Tom Frieder, Manitowoc.
Friend — Marvin Fuller, Milwaukee; Jeff Kaleas, Mount Horeb; Rick Riehl, West Bend.
Girl player — Amy (Bauer) Rohrscheid, Durand; Laura (Coenan) Ryan, Neenah; Kathy Hagerstrom, Neenah; Katrina (Hannaford) Christie, Eau Claire Memorial; Dee Dee Pate, Milwaukee Washington; Kelley (Paulus) Baer, La Crosse Central.
Boy player — Craig Anderson, Madison La Follette; Brian Garner, Milwaukee Washington; Chris Jones, Milwaukee Hamilton; Trevor Powell, Milwaukee Washington; Kevin Rankin, De Pere Abbott Pennings; David Tucker, Superior Cathedral.
Assistant coach — Dick Luther, UW-Waukesha.
High school coach — Rob Bosshart, Spring Valley; Rich Cleveland, Madison East; Jewel Henke, Lancaster; Saint Jimenez, Kenosha Tremper; Tom Klawitter, Janesville Parker; Brad Minter, McFarland/Oregon; Jim Myers, Barneveld; Bob Neja, Messmer/West Bend East; Tim Reuter, Pewaukee; Darwin Schramm, Kettle Moraine Lutheran; Terri Schumacher, Oshkosh West.
