From Waupaca to Hall of Fame

EAGLE RIVER - Carl Eggebrecht had no idea what to expect when he and his family moved to Waupaca 40 years ago. He had spent the previous eight years as a social studies teacher and football, baseball and basketball coach at Rhinelander High School and headed south in 1985 to accept the position of Waupaca High School’s athletic director and associate principal. It was a job he would hold until he retired 33 years later.
During his time in Waupaca, Eggebrecht was an active member of the Wisconsin Athletic Directors Association, a statewide organization that inspires its members to lead in their school communities, promote education-based athletics and provide professional growth opportunities.
The association inducted Eggebrecht, along with retired Reedsburg Area High School athletic director Bryan Yager, into its Hall of Fame in November during WADA’s annual conference in Wisconsin Dells.
“I was notified by the retired athletic director at Wausau East (High School), who I had as an athlete when I was coaching in Rhinelander,” said Eggebrecht, who now lives in Eagle River. “I thought he was kidding. You get pretty humbled about it because you start wondering, ‘What caused you to deserve something like this?’ I had excellent secretaries that did the work for the athletic programs and school. It wasn’t just me. There were other people that made things happen.”
Eggebrecht helped get several sports programs off the ground during his time in Waupaca, including boys’ and girls’ hockey and girls’ golf.

“When I got to Waupaca, I was transitioning from being a teacher into administration,” he said. “There was a willingness for things to grow and get better. From a school standpoint, we had growth with a lot of positive feelings around the community.”
Eggebrecht said one of his major accomplishments in Waupaca was his role in opening a new high school in 2000.
The school, at the intersection of State Highway 22 and King Road, included Comet field, an artificial turf football and soccer field; and new baseball and softball diamonds.
Before the school opened, varsity, junior varsity and freshman football games were played at Haberkorn Field; baseball games were played at Lakemen Field; and softball games were played on a diamond next to Haberkorn Field.
“It was a big safety benefit rather than students having to transport themselves many times to practices,” Eggebrecht said. “It was all-inclusive.”
The Waupaca Ice & Expo Center, where the high school boys’ hockey teams and local youth hockey teams play home games, was also built after Eggebrecht arrived in Waupaca.
“We had an outdoor (hockey) team for two or three years before the Expo was built,” he said. “Back in the ‘50s, they played by South Park. It was tough to get teams to come and play outdoors. Lakeland in Minocqua also had an outdoor rink for a few years when they were developing their program.”
The new high school had a big impact on the community with a field house that included two gyms, according to Eggebrecht.
“That attracted more youth programs and offering tournaments on weekends,” he said. “That just attracted more interest from kids wanting to be part of the high school program.”
A referendum to build the school passed on the first attempt in the late 1990s. Although Waupaca School District taxpayers approved the project, the community stepped forward to help pay for amenities such as Comet Field.
“We had a lot of financial contributions from businesses and individuals to help support athletics,” Eggebrecht said.
Although he’s not working full-time anymore, Eggebrecht said the role of an athletic director has changed over the years. Several positions, including Waupaca’s, are now called activities director. In addition to overseeing athletics, they also schedule everything from prom to Madrigal dinners.
“It probably helps when you develop an activities director because you’re coordinating everything within the school district and even some things outside the district,” Eggebrecht said. “We’d try to accommodate church activities going on and that type of thing. We’d keep Saturdays free for certain events that they may have.”
Eggebrecht also had to deal with rescheduled athletic competitions during the fall, winter and spring seasons. It’s easy to reschedule games and meets these days through emails and texts, but that wasn’t always the case.
“A lot of phone tag and phone calls,” Eggebrecht said. “At that time, athletic directors were more confined in their office to be able to communicate back and forth. Now, they’re out and about getting fields and courts ready and doing a lot of planning around the building.”
Eggebrecht may be retired, but he still works part-time at the Pines Community Wellness Center, a fitness facility at Northland Pines High School in Eagle River.
In some ways, it’s like he never left Waupaca, he said.
“Eagle River’s high school looks just like Waupaca High School,” he said. “The same contractor built it two years after Waupaca’s was built.”