Rick Birk

Dodgeville: Capturing Hearts Rick Birk

The year was 1963, and little Dodgeville High School captured the state of Wisconsin?s imagination with an improbable run to the state championship game under Coach John ?Weenie? Wilson. The hard-driving coach was on a mission to nurture and build a class of champions, building on his own background of being a highly accomplished athlete and motivator. Wilson took a group of gifted and dedicated student-athletes, indoctrinated with small-town values, and put them on a course that lifted the Dodgeville basketball program to undreamed-of heights. In an era when every school in Wisconsin competed in a single division, Dodgeville ? with just 400 students ? found itself matched up against schools more than four times its size as it made its state tournament run. Dodgeville would come up one victory short of the title in 1963, taking home the silver ball for the school?s trophy case. However, Wilson and his players had no intention of being a one-hit wonder, and when the 1963-64 basketball season began, they had only one goal in mind: getting that gold ball. The Dodgers cruised through the regular season unbeaten and incredibly found themselves as one of the tournament favorites when they returned to Madison for the state finals. This time, against a vaunted Milwaukee North squad, the Dodgers would not be denied. Wisconsin had its own, real version of the Hoosiers story, and the Dodgeville Dodgers of 1964 had staked their claim to history.