Don Falstad
No other golfer in Rice Lake has ever created the
excitement that Don did when he emerged onto the golf scene at the Hi-Dale
Golf Course (now Turtleback) when he was only 15 years old. Golfing
against men of all ages, the freshman won the “Short-Stop” Golf Tournament
and the Junior Division of the Presidents Cup at Hi-Dale. He finished
13 strokes off the winning score in the WI State Amateur Tournament and 15
strokes off the winning score in the State Jaycee’s Junior Golf Tournament.
As a sophomore Don repeated as champion of the “Short-Stop”
Tournament and as champion of the Junior Division of the Presidents Cup.
As a 16-year-old he finished 2nd in
the WI State Amateur Junior Bracket and was ranked 5th among Wisconsin’s
Amateur Golfers. As a 17-year-old Don tied for top honors in the State
Jaycees Golf Tournament and was invited to golf in the International
Jaycee’s Golf Tournament. In 1965 he repeated as champion of the Rice
Lake Open Tournament.
Don
graduated from Rice Lake High School in 1965. He finished high school
with 15 medalist honors and on May 26, 1965 he shot a 4 under par “31” at
Hi-Dale for a school record that still stands today after 49 years. The
Warrior golf team went to State all four years where they finished 12th in
1964 and 20th in
1965 when all teams were in one class. As an individual, Don finished
3rd at
State as a junior, 4 strokes behind the leader and as a senior he placed 6th overall.
In 1964 the Warriors finished 10 and 0 in dual competition and were the Ho’N
Champions. In 1966 Don competed in 10 golf tournaments, winning 5 of
them. In back-to-back weeks, Don won the prestigious Chippewa Valley
Golf Association (CVGA), Ladysmith Open and the Wissota Open in Chippewa
Falls. After serving 4 years in the U.S. Air Force, Don returned to
Rice Lake. In 1972 he led the UW-BC Chargers to the Collegiate Golf
Conference State Championship.
Don retired in 2002 after 25 years of service with the Rice Lake School
District. Don and his wife Judy reside in Rice Lake.
Katy Olsen Gilles
Katy is a 1995 graduate of Rice Lake High School. She ran both Track and
Cross-Country,
lettering all 4 years in Cross-Country. She qualified for the state
cross-country competition as a sophomore in 1992 and was selected to the Big
Rivers All Conference 1st Team
three times. She was Team Captain for two years and the Warrior’s MVP her
senior year. Katy graduated from UW-Stout in 1999 and was inducted into the
UW-Stout Athletic Hall of Fame in September of 2010 for achievements in
Track and Cross Country. While at Stout, she dominated the long distance
runs in races between 3,000 and 10,000 meters in both the indoor and outdoor
track seasons for four years. Katy was one of the top 2 women’s distance
runners in the school’s history. She qualified 5 times for the NCAA
Division III track championship. In 1998 she ran in the indoor 5000- and
10,000- meter runs and in 1999, the indoor 3000- and 5000-meter runs. Katy
placed 10 times at the WIAC track championships, earning All-America honors
in 1997 and 1998. Katy is the great, great niece of Rice Lake Sports Hall
of Fame Inductee Harold “Ole” Olsen and lives in Minnetonka, MN with her
husband Paul and their three children.
Terry Olson
Terry earned 8 varsity letters in 4 sports before
graduating with the class of 1959. He played quarterback and defensive back
in football, forward in basketball, and ran sprints in track; however,
baseball was and remains his favorite sport. One of his most memorable high
school games was a 1-0 loss to Chetek, behind Dennis Overby, in the regional
finals of 1959. In addition, Terry played 5 years of American Legion
ball for Rice Lake. His combined high
school/Legion record in 1959 was only 9-5, but in 100 innings he had 185
strikeouts while yielding only 39 hits and 11 earned runs. In addition he
posted a .523 batting average.Late in the summer of 1959, Terry attended the
Milwaukee Braves Silver Sluggers School in Eau Claire. He was selected to be
the school’s representative to the all-star game at Milwaukee County
Stadium. Two players from the game, Terry being one, were chosen to
represent the state of Wisconsin at the National Hearst All Star game at
Yankee Stadium in New York City. When the U.S. team practiced, it was at old
Ebbitts Field in Brooklyn, New York, before it was razed. In the spring of
1960 Terry signed a contract with the Braves. The next 4 years were spent
playing minor league baseball in Eau Claire and Davenport (1960), Palatka FL
(1961), Cedar Rapids (1962) and Billings (1963). 1962 was his best year in
the minors. Terry pitched over 190 innings with 205 strikeouts, a 2.80 era
and a 12-10 record. 1962 was also the year he was reunited with Dennis
Overby, this time as a teammate and friend instead of a rival. At the end of
the year they both enrolled at Stout State University where they were
roommates. Following graduation from Stout, Terry entered the Marine Corps.
After commissioning and flight school he spent 4 years as a Naval Flight
Officer flying F-4 Phantom fighters. Terry and his wife Diana reside in
Wheat Ridge, Colorado. He is retired from a long career in the construction
industry