Mark Frodesen, Class of 1971
Mark Frodesen was an unlikely track star and basketball player.
For one thing, his high school, Superior (Wis.) Cathedral, did not have a varsity track team. For another, he stood only 5 feet, 9 inches, tall.
A self-taught jumper, Frodesen went on to have a tremendous track career at Lawrence, and he also starred for two seasons on the basketball team.
He was a four-time Midwest Conference track champion, and he continues to hold the school records in the long jump and triple jump. In an era when freshmen were not eligible for varsity sports, Frodesen got his Lawrence track career off to a good start by placing in three events, including a first in the long jump, at the Midwest Conference Freshmen Telegraphic Meet in 1968.
Frodesen had a huge track season in 1969 and capped it by winning the long jump and triple jump and placing fourth in the 100-yard dash at the Midwest Conference Championships. He set the school record in the long jump with a leap of 23-9.5 and set the school and conference records of 47-4 in the triple jump. To show he was more than a jumper, he won the 100-yard dash at the 1970 conference meet. He also took first place in the triple jump (45-11) and was second in the long jump (22-0.75).
A three-time winner of the school’s A.C. Denney Award, which goes to the track man who scores the most points during the season, he finished his career by taking second in the triple jump (44-10.5) and fourth in long jump (21-7.75) at the 1971 Midwest Conference Championships.
Frodesen played basketball as a sophomore and junior and would sometimes surprise opposing centers when he would step forward for the opening jump ball. Little did they know the little man could easily dunk a basketball with both hands.
His most memorable basketball highlight came on January 31, 1970, when Lawrence handed St. Olaf a 67-65 defeat. It was the Oles’ first loss ever at their new arena, the Skoglund Center, and Frodesen accounted for the winning hoop in the final seconds.
Mark Frodesen lives in his hometown of Superior and works as the conductor of road freight for the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway.
Steve Jung, Class of 1990
Steve Jung was the perfect balance of raw speed and pure power.
As a defensive back on the football team, Jung combined bone-crunching hits with closing speed. On the track, he sprinted to four school records, three of which still stand.
A native of Neenah, Jung was honored on four different All-America football teams and was a three-time first-team All-Midwest Conference selection. As a junior in 1987, he was named to three All-America teams (Don Hansen’s Football Gazette second team, Associated Press honorable mention, and Pizza Hut honorable mention), and he was a second-team Pizza Hut All-American as a senior in 1988.
As a 6-foot, 185-pound dynamo, he played defensive back, mostly cornerback, and piled up 305 tackles, which was third on the school’s career list. He is tied for fifth, with 11 career interceptions.
Jung, who frequently won the team’s “Hammer” award for delivering devastating hits in games, served as team captain as a senior and helped the team win the 1986 Midwest Conference championship as a freshman.
He ran distances as long as 800 meters on the track, and he set two individual records and was a part of two relay records. He owns the indoor record in the 600 meters of 1 minute, 26.31 seconds. Jung will permanently hold the record in the 600 yards at 1:15.8. He combined with Steve Dobbe, Ray Ramsey, and Jeff Campbell for the 1,600-meter relay record of 3:23.80, which still stands.
Jung, who placed in events at the Midwest Conference Championships 11 times during his career, also set the 800-meter relay record of 1:35.0 with Dobbe, Ramsey, and Tim Van Wyk.
A chemistry major, Steve Jung now teaches chemistry at Appleton East High School, where he serves as the football team’s defensive coordinator under head coach Pat Schwanke, ’83. He is married to Wendy Hill, ’90, and the couple has three sons, Joe, Sam, and Matt.
Joseph Lamers, Class of 1961
Joe Lamers was a force on both sides of the football during his career at Lawrence.
A 60-minute man who starred at end on both offense and defense, the Kaukauna native was an Associated Press All-American and two-time All-Midwest Conference selection. He also won three letters in basketball and took two more in track and field.
An athletic and rangy 6-foot-3 and 195 pounds, big No. 82 earned honorable mention all-conference honors in 1959 before picking up first-team honors in 1960. Also that year, Lamers became only the fourth player in Lawrence history to be named to the Associated Press Little All-America Team.
On the defensive side, Lamers made his living stuffing running backs and chasing quarterbacks around the backfield. He led the defense that held Ripon scoreless and never past midfield in a 13-0 victory at Whiting Field in 1960. The following week, he led the defensive charge against defending conference champion Coe and sent the Kohawks back to Iowa on the short end of an 18-2 score.
On offense, his size made him an inviting target for quarterbacks like Jim Schulze, ’61, and Bob Landis, ’62. One of Lamers’ finest moments on offense came in the final game of his career, a 20-16 win over St. Olaf at Whiting Field. In what the Milwaukee Journal called “the Midwest Conference’s upset of the year,” Lamers sparked the defense and caught an 18-yard touchdown pass that put the Vikings ahead for good. To add insult to injury, he dragged several defenders the final five yards across the goal line.
Lamers, who won the Iden Charles Champion Cup during his time at Lawrence, also spent three seasons as a center and forward for the Vikings’ basketball team. An outstanding rebounder, he was second on the career rebounding list when he graduated. He helped Lawrence break a 13-game losing streak during the 1958-59 season with a 79-56 rout of Ripon. He also helped the Vikings defeat Ripon twice during the 1959-60 campaign.
As a sophomore and junior, Lamers competed for the track team in the high jump, javelin, pole vault, and shot put.
Upon graduation from Lawrence, he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the United States Air Force. He worked in intelligence for most of his career and had two tours of duty in Vietnam.
Joe Lamers retired as a lieutenant colonel in 1984 and works today as the communications manager for Brevard County, Fla. He and his wife, Helen Edelhofer Lamers, ’61, live in Satellite Beach, Fla., and have four children and nine grandchildren.
William Lawson, Class of 1947
Bill Lawson is unique in the history of Lawrence athletics. It’s likely he is the only Lawrence athlete to have won both a Midwest Conference championship and a Big Ten title during his career.
The native of Neenah attended Lawrence for two years during World War II. As a part of the Navy’s V-12 program, he attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison for one year before returning to Lawrence to earn his degree. Wherever Lawson ran, he was one of the best on the cross country course or on the track.
During the war years at Lawrence, athletics was curtailed so Lawson didn’t compete in cross country in 1942 or 1943, but the Vikings did field a track team in those years.
Lawson, who says he never ran farther than a half-mile in competition before coming to Lawrence, emerged as one of the finest distance runners in the Midwest. The two-mile became his specialty, and he took second at the 1943 Midwest Conference track meet, where Lawrence won the team title. A conference meet wasn’t held in 1944, but Lawson made a splash at the prestigious Central College Track Meet. As team captain, he took second in the two-mile in 10 minutes, 1.5 seconds, breaking the Lawrence record that had stood since 1907.
Lawson spent the 1944-45 school year at Wisconsin, where he competed in cross country and track. He led the Badgers to the Big Nine (the predecessor to the Big Ten) conference title by winning the four-mile race in 21:16 and was named the team’s Most Valuable Runner.
Lawson finally returned to Lawrence in the fall of 1946 and served as cross country team captain. He led Lawrence to second place at the Midwest Conference Championships and won the individual title by finishing the three-mile course in 16:39.
He helped Lawrence cap the most successful era in the history of the track program, as the Vikings won their third consecutive Midwest Conference title in the spring of 1947. Lawson placed second in the two-mile run.
Bill Lawson worked at the Marathon Corporation throughout his career, until his retirement in 1980. He and his wife, Jean, live in Oakdale, Calif., and have five children, ten grandchildren, and four great grandchildren.
Robin Chapman Linnemanstons, Class of 1983
Robin Chapman is one of the finest women’s basketball players ever to take the court at Lawrence University — not bad for an athlete given only a 50-50 chance of playing college sports due to a knee injury in high school.
Chapman, who wore a heavy brace on her left knee throughout her career, left Lawrence as the school’s career leader in scoring and rebounding. In addition, she competed in track for four years and won conference titles in the shot put and discus.
The native of Dalton, Mass., scored 18 points in her final game, to finish her career with 833 points, three better than Vicki Corbeil, ’79. She didn’t wait as long to break the career rebounding record, smashing that mark during her junior season before finishing with 861 rebounds, which remains the record today.
A four-year starter who stood “barely 5-10,” Chapman was a superlative post player and rebounder. In addition to her career marks in scoring and rebounding, she set game records with 36 points and 18 field goals, which still stand today, vs. Edgewood College in 1981. She remains second with 25 rebounds in a game and first with eight blocked shots.
Chapman averaged a double-double for her career with 13.2 points and 13.7 rebounds per game and led the team in scoring and rebounding in three of her four seasons. A team captain and three-time Most Valuable Player, she was among the nation’s rebounding leaders throughout her career, finishing sixth in that category as a junior.
The Vikings, competing in the Wisconsin Independent Colleges-Women’s Athletic Conference (WIC-WAC), compiled a 34-32 record and three winning seasons during Chapman’s tenure.
She also threw the shot put and discus for the track squad and was a four-year letter winner. She won both events at numerous meets during her career, but one day in 1982 stands out, when she won the shot put and discus at the WIC-WAC Championships. She set the school record with a toss of 35 feet, 9.5 inches in the shot put and won the discus with a throw of 104-6.
Robin Chapman, a psychology major, lives in Mequon and is married to John Linnemanstons, ’83. She is a substitute teacher and stay-at-home mother to the couple’s three children, John, Katherine, and Elizabeth.
George Walter, Class of 1936
Before he was a Lawrence legend, George Walter was a legendary Lawrence football player.
Walter was a star in the Vikings’ backfield in the 1930s, and he returned to his alma mater in 1946 and remained at Lawrence until his retirement in 1975. He taught English and teacher education, coached freshman football, and served as the dean of men. His impact went beyond the classroom, as he was both mentor and inspiration to generations of Lawrence students.
Born in Merrill in 1910, Walter was a star on the collegiate gridiron for three seasons (freshmen couldn’t play varsity sports). He played fullback, halfback and quarterback in Lawrence’s single-wing attack and earned All-Big Four honors three times (this was before the Midwest Conference selected all-league squads).
After a successful 1932 season as fullback, he switched to halfback in 1933 and scored the winning touchdowns in back-to-back weeks against Lake Forest and Carleton. On the latter occasion, the football squad sent a famous telegram to President Henry Merritt Wriston: “DEAR PREXY / VENIMUS VIDIMUS VICIMUS / LAWRENCE 13 CARLETON 7 / THE TEAM.”
In his final season, he led Lawrence to the prized mythical state title with wins over St. Norbert, Ripon, Carroll, and Beloit. In the 15-9 win at Ripon, Walter started a fourth-quarter rally with a touchdown pass to Tom Leech, ’36, and then led the game-winning drive, capped by a nine-yard touchdown run by Hans Hartwig, ’35. Walter, who was named the poet laureate of his class, served as an assistant coach for the 1935 season before he graduated and went on to earn his master’s degree from the Ohio State University.
His contributions to Lawrence off the field were greater than the touchdowns scored and games won. He received the college’s Excellence in Teaching Award and Distinguished Service Award. The Lawrence University Alumni Association’s George B. Walter Service to Society Award was named in his honor.
He led Lawrence’s highly successful Upward Bound program for disadvantaged Wisconsin youth. A renowned public speaker, he acted in community theatre and his declamatory rendition of “Casey at the Bat” is the stuff of legend.
George Walter and his wife, Dorothy, moved to Helena, Mont., in 1989, and he died at his home on March 18, 1996. Dorothy passed away in 1994, and the Walters are survived by their two sons, David and Peter, and five grandchildren.
