Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame class of 2026 includes Ryan Braun, Mark Murphy

Bob Gansler, born in Hungary and a refugee from Germany after World War II, grew the sport of soccer in Wisconsin and then brought America back to the World Cup after a 40-year drought.

Ryan Braun, a Californian with a perfect swing, became a Brewer For life.

Mark Murphy, an East Coast lawyer, transformed Green Bay with a Titletown and modern Lambeau Field.

And John Boie, a farm kid in overalls, worked his way through a powerhouse program at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater to become a two-time gold-medal Paralympian.

Their stories, as pioneers, visionaries and competitors, filled a four-hour evening of reminiscing and celebration when they were inducted into the Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame at its 76th annual ceremony July 8 at the Marcus Performing Arts Center in Milwaukee.

And if that wasn’t enough star power, the WHOF also recognized hockey standout defender Caroline Harvey and speed-skating phenom Jordan Stolz as the athletes of the year.

The WHOF also awarded high schoolers Ella Zutz of Manitowoc, Beau Veit of Waterford, Emersyn Miller of Poynette and Diego Loeza of West Allis with scholarships for their athletic, academic and extracurricular excellence.

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Gansler is a big reason why Wisconsin’s lively soccer scene – youth programs, high schools like Homestead, colleges like Marquette and the UW-Milwaukee, club teams like Bavarian, and the pro team – all have a rich and proud history.

Before Gansler took the men of Team USA to the World Cup in 1990, its first appearance in 40 years, he coached at all of these local programs.

But his story starts at home and a bold move by his parents, Adam and Elisabeth.

Gansler was born in Hungary and lived in Germany until the age of 10, when his parents decided to emigrate to the U.S. and Milwaukee, specifically. Gansler’s father was a bricklayer who also worked several jobs on the side and his mother was a cleaning professional in Whitefish Bay and Shorewood.

They really didn’t see much value in sports. If someone had free time, why wouldn’t they work another job to make a little more money?

But Gansler was a good baseball and basketball player at Marquette High school, class of 1959. He went on to play soccer at Marquette University when it was just a club sport in the 1960s.

But coaching – or as he told his mother, “coaching is just teaching in short pants” – was his calling. He coached Marquette University’s club team, and then he coached at UWM in the 1980s.

Before that, he coached at Homestead and, before that, the Bavarian soccer club to championships. Those Bavarian teams were such a big story, the German language newspapers in the 1960s covered matches.

But it was at UWM, where the Panthers were successful right away, where he caused a splash around Milwaukee’s sports scene and gained his pre-national team fame. UWM was more of a baseball school then, or a commuter college for future teachers, but he made it a soccer school.

“I believe that when you scout for a player, you look not only at the technical talent, the physical wherewithal, right? You look at the personality, the individual,” Gansler said. “My first year at UWM, I started seven freshmen. Six were from Milwaukee-area high schools, and the seventh was from Madison. I think that the passion is so important.

“The way it works for me, first of all, you take care of your neighborhood. I had to make sure I was better than Marquette. We played them five times. We never lost. And they were rated higher than we were.

“And then you got to beat Green Bay, and you got to beat Madison. OK. And so once you do that, then you go from there. There’s talent in the kids here. And, by the way, they kind of play with a little more heart than a kid that I get out of Sweden.”

He coached the professional Milwaukee Rampage soccer club that won the A League title in 1997.

Gansler coached Team USA in the World Cup-qualifying upset victory in Trinidad and Tobago on Nov. 19, 1989, that boosted the Americans and a soccer wave of interest and participation that swept across the country.

But he started with soccer at every level right here in Wisconsin and did it without any of the financial resources we have now.

While Gansler coached Kansas City for eight Major League Soccer seasons, won a title in 2000 and was named the MLS coach of the year, he and wife Nancy otherwise always made the Milwaukee area their home in Glendale, where they raised their four sons and now enjoy 11 grandchildren, who live all over the country.

“I’m German, born in Hungary, who has been in America for 70 years,” Gansler said, “so I’m more American than anything else.”

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Television host Brian Anderson remarked that Braun ushered in golden age of baseball that the Brewers are still in. The Brewers hadn’t been part of the postseason for 26 years (although the postseason back then included fewer teams) and Braun helped change that.

“It’s a group effort,” Braun said. “The current team is so much fun to watch and I am a fan like a lot of you. This year’s team has as good [a chance] as a team as any in the last 20 years to make a deep run.”

When Braun signed his 10-year contract, he was one of the first superstars to commit to Milwaukee for an entire career.

“I loved it here. What’s not to like about the Brewers organization, the city of Milwaukee, the fan base here?” Braun said. “They meaningfully contribute to the team success. I recognized early that I wanted to be one of the unique players to potentially have the opportunity to spend their entire career in one city.

“I’ve never regretted it a moment. So grateful I was one of the very few athletes to spend entire career in one city. I really believe that things work the way they’re supposed to.”

Boie overcame adversity – starting out as a bench player – to become a star for the UW-Whitewater wheelchair men’s basketball program and then a 2021 Paralympian. Now, Boie travels internationally for competition.

Boie is the first adaptive athlete in the Hall of Fame, and he even commented that on a court of players in chairs, “I’m the smallest person out there.”

“As a small farm kid growing up, wanting to play for the Packers, starting my career and then going on to college, I wasn’t the top guy there when I started my paralympic career,” Boie said. “This is surreal. This means a lot more than I can say.”

When asked what other teams from other countries he doesn’t necessarily look forward to facing because they’re so good, Boie’s clapback was perfect:

“A lot of other countries don’t want to play against us.”

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Murphy followed Bob Harlan to serve as chairman, president and CEO of the Packers from 2008-24. In that time, Green Bay made the playoffs 13 times and won a Super Bowl.

His final big task was bringing the NFL draft an expected crowd of 600,000 to Green Bay despite the league’s concerns that there wouldn’t be enough hotels in the small market.

Murphy went off script on draft day and began announcing the Packers first-round draft pick by saying, “for the first time since 2002 …”

“And every Packers fan knew that we were going to draft a wide receiver. They follow it that closely,” Murphy said. 

And then he added, with dry humor over the pick, Matthew Golden: “I really hope he ends up being a good player.”

He reminded the audience where he stood on certain things: “And don’t sell the naming rights to Lambeau Field.”

And confessed that there was one draft that holds a little bit of regret: “T.J. Watt was on the board and I remember when we were about to pick. He was available …”

Instead, Green Bay’s staff took Kevin King.

He said that the biggest lesson he learned in the Brett Favre saga? “If you’re going to move on from a legendary quarterback, its really good to have Aaron Rodgers.”

And, “the best time to draft a quarterback is when you don’t need him.” Both Rodgers and Jordan Love were able to develop on the bench for years before they became starters.

And then, a funny comment: “The Bears still suck,” from Murphy, which drew a roar from the audience.

Murphy was just an ordinary fan at the Packers playoff game at Chicago when, he said, a 13-year-old dumped a beer on him in Chicago’s big victory. Murphy wanted to say something to the kid and his family – like, do you know I’m the former president – but Murphy said the child’s father disciplined him immediately.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame class of 2026 includes Ryan Braun, Mark Murphy

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