OSHKOSH, Wis.- Edward Boguski, Edward Hall, Robert Kolf, Robert "Bobbie" Williams and Burton Karges were the initial members inducted into the UW-Oshkosh Athletics Hall of Fame, April 28 at the Titan Booster Club's Annual Spring Banquet.
 
Lee Remmel, Publicity Director of the Green Bay Packers, made the presentations.
 
Robert Kolf of Oshkosh was associated with Titan athletics for more than 45 years as a player, coach and athletic director.
 
Edward Boguski of Green Bay was a track star for the Titans, qualifying for the 1928 Olympics. He set a Wisconsin State University Conference record in the 220 that still stands, the oldest mark on the books.
 
Edward Hall of Green Bay starred in three sports, captained the football team and was an all-conference tackle for three years. Hall also coached at UW-O.
 
Robert "Bobbie" Williams of Rhinelander earned ten letters in three years with the Titans in the early 1920s. Oshkosh won championships in basketball and baseball with Williams as the star performer.
 
Burton Karges will receive an honorary membership (posthumously) in the Hall of Fame. Karges was the faculty representative of the Titans for 35 years before his death last year.
 
The inductions at the banquet climaxed a three-year search for nominations, the writing of by-laws by the committee and the setting up of criteria for the Hall of Fame.
 
The UW-O Athletics Hall of Fame plaques will be displayed at Kolf Sports Center and the recipient will also receive an identical plaque.
 
Robert Kolf was on the Titan athletic scene from the year 1919.  He lettered in three sports while at Oshkosh. Kolf was a three letterman in football and basketball and earned two in baseball.
 
Kolf captained the 1920 championship football team and the 1919 basketball squad. When Kolf enrolled at Oshkosh as an undergraduate, there were 580 students.
 
In 1922, Kolf was a history teacher and coach at Shawano High School and it began a long and successful career as a successful builder of teams. His basketball team at Shawano won the 1923 consolation championship at the state tournament.
 
He returned to Oshkosh Normal School as a teacher and assistant coach, took a year off to attend Ripon College. He resumed coaching and teaching at Oshkosh in 1927.
 
Kolf's success as a coach is attested to by the many championships won by his teams. In basketball, there were Titan championships in 1938, 1939, 1947 and 1948, while Titan football teams won crowns in 1928 and 1935.
 
Track championships were won in 1932 and 1949 in golf, Oshkosh counted titles in 1948, 1955 1965 and 1967. In 1924, the Titans won the baseball title, and ten times Kolf's tennis teams won crowns, 1932-33-34-39-42-46-47-48-49-50.
 
Kolf took a leave of absence while he earned his master's degree in 1930 at the University of Wisconsin, but Oshkosh was delighted to have him back the following year.
 
Upon his return, Kolf was named athletic director as well as coach, the only coach the Titans had. He continued in the AD-coach capacity until 1956, with the time out for the Second World War. Kolf spent three years with the Navy but returned to Oshkosh and his family in 1946.
 
By the time Kolf retired from the University, there were 16 members on the athletic department staff, and there were almost 10,000 students.
 
The Kolf Sports Center was dedicated in February 1972 and the program closed with – "Sports fans' memories of most coaches quickly recede as the years pass but it is doubtful in if time will ever dim the fond memories of 45 years of dedicated coaching and guidance to the athletes at Oshkosh".
 
Edward Boguski was one of the greatest track athletes in the history of the WSUC and Oshkosh.
 
The man with the friendly smile and a gaite that still is brisk in spite of his years qualified for the 1928 Olympics but did not make the trip because of illness. It was his biggest disappointment in sports.
 
Boguski had set a conference record in the 220 and 100 yard dashes in 1927 and the 21.6 in the 220 was not equaled until 1963 and is still on the books of the conference. It has never been surpassed.
 
Boguski turned in a 9.8 in the century and in the 1920s there weren't many athletes who could equal that time. The 100 mark stood for some 40 years. He lost two races in the conference as a freshman and never was beaten again as a collegian.
 
In later years Boguski turned to coaching and his team at Thorp High School was the school's first Cloverbelt League Championship in basketball and his teams twice won district titles.
 
At Green Bay West High School Boguski coached for 27 years. He was coach of everything – cross country, track, football, wrestling and boxing. One year he took five men to the state track meet and returned with the championship.
 
Boguski was an industrial arts teacher at Franklin Junior High School in Green Bay for many years.
 
Retirement finds Boguski in Green Bay at his Lakewood cottage or in the winters at Tucson, Arizona.
 
Edward Hall was one of the finest all-around athletes the Titans have ever had. Hall played football, track and baseball and coached all sports.
 
Hall was captain of the Titan football team in 1922, captained the team again the following year as the Titans won the championship. He was an all-conference tackle in 1921-22-23 and lettered in the same campaigns.
 
The Oconto native lettered in track in 1922-23-24 and captained the team in 1924. He threw the hammer and discus, ran on the 880 relay, ran the low and high hurdles and put the shot.
 
Hall showed his versatility in 1922 when he lettered in baseball. Hall says he was a relief pitcher when track did not interfere.
 
The biggest thrill for Hall was coaching at Two Rivers. His basketball team was the State champion in 1941. He played football with the Oshkosh All-Stars in 1930 and his team played a tough schedule including the Green Bay Packers.
 
Hall also coached at Fond du Lac and Oshkosh high schools in addition to his stint at Two Rivers. At Oshkosh, he was an assistant coach in the 1950s as the Indians compiled one of the state's finest winning traditions.
 
At Oshkosh he was also a coach and one of Hall's proudest moments came as Titan coach Howard Hancock named Hall as his most outstanding tackle. Hall played with and under Kolf and was a member of the 1923 undefeated football team that Hancock listed as his best team.
 
Hall lives in Green Bay after retirement from the public schools he taught at Green Bay Premontre High School.
 
Robert "Bobbie" Williams probably holds the Titan record for letters earned in three years. Williams earned ten letters in his three years at Oshkosh, 1922-23, 1923-24, 1924-25.
 
Williams had three letters in football, basketball and baseball and earned one in track. The football team won a title in 1923 an Oshkosh's baseball team went undefeated all three seasons.
 
At New Richmond High School, Williams won 14 letters, four in football and basketball and three in baseball and track. His biggest thrill came in 1922 as New Richmond finished second in the state basketball tournament and he was named to the to the all-state team. He was named the outstanding forward in the tournament.
 
Williams coached for 23 years. He was at Spring Valley, North St. Paul and concluded his career with 32 years at Joliet, Illinois High School, 17 as coach.
 
For 35 years, Dr. Burton Karges held the UW-Oshkosh vote at the WSUC Conference as the faculty representative. He was also a member of the Intercollegiate Athletic Committee.
 
Titan athletics lost a friend and booster in November, 1972 when death took Karges, professor of Geology at UW-O.
 
Director of Athletics Eric Kitzman said, "Dr. Karges was a friend to all in intercollegiate athletics. He fought for what he believed was best for our school and the conference his position of faculty representative".
 
Karges received his bachelor's degree and Doctorate from the University of Wisconsin and joined the Oshkosh State Teacher's College in 1934. He served as chairman of the Geology Department until 1970.
 
Dr. James McKee, chairman of the Geology department, said, "Karges always made the students the center of his attention. During the helter-skelter years of explosive growth and widely held visions of becoming a Ph.D.-granting institution, he never lost sight of the fact that good, solid undergraduate education was the primary mission of this university".