Hall of Fame
Coach Karl Schlademan knew how to teach men to compete and refined how a team won. Schlademan, the WSC track and field coach from 1927-1940, accumulated a 36-12 dual meet record for a .750 winning percentage. He coached four undefeated Cougar track teams (1933, 1934, 1937, and 1939) and in his 14 years his teams won seven consecutive Northern Division titles. Among the Cougar track greats he coached at WSC were Lee and Jack Orr, Loren Benke, Dixie Garner, Paul Swift, and Larry Nettleton. He also coached the Cougars’ freshman football team for the first 10 years then was an assistant varsity coach for three years before returning to the freshman team in 1939. Schlademan had a distinguished coaching career of 46 years with stops at Missouri Wesleyan (1912-14), Arizona (1914-16), Baker University (1916-19) and the University of Kansas (1920-26), where he established the Kansas Relays and was a one-game interim basketball coach for the Jayhawks. Schlademan left WSC and coached at Michigan State from 1941-58 where his teams won cross country titles in IC4A, Big 10 and NCAA prior to his retirement from coaching. He was inducted into the United States Track & Field/Cross Country Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2007, and into the Drake Relays Hall of Fame and the Michigan State Hall of Fame.
