MONDOVI — With their legacies in the annals of Mondovi High School football already more than secured, Jess Cole and Tim Krumrie will get the ultimate team honor when their jerseys are retired Friday night.
Both Mondovi legends will be at the Buffaloes’ gridiron home opener against Osceola and will be honored at halftime where the school will be retiring their jerseys as part of its now-annual alumni night festivities. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. Their head coach from the late 70s, Jim Rose, will be there to present the jerseys to both former MHS standouts.
This honor is just the latest in a long line of accolades bestowed upon the two Mondovi graduates and longtime area high school football fans might actually be asking the question as to what took so long?
Mondovi’s current head football coach Craig Loscheider can answer that question rather easily.
“We have had an alumni night for three years now. We have picked past players and coaches to recognize each year, but have not retired jerseys before. The only jersey that was ever retired was Randy Krumrie (Tim’s older brother) in 1975 or 76 (not sure). The coach during the 70’s was Jim Rose, and he chose to retire Randy’s number. I’m not sure exactly how it went down, but from what I understand, Coach Rose intended to retire Tim’s jersey, but officially, it never happened. After we do the two jersey retirements on Friday, I don’t intend to do any more, so we will have three in our program’s history (10 — Jess Cole, 33 — Randy Krumrie, and 44 — Tim Krumrie),” Loscheider explained to the Leader-Telegram.
Asked to describe the criteria needed to have the jersey retired and the symbolism of it for the players and the school, Loscheider said
“There is no criteria for retiring the jerseys. Coach Rose made the decision as the Mondovi coach to do it when he was here, and we just felt like it was right to honor two other great players from that era with the same level of recognition and appreciation,” Loscheider said.
The current head coach explained that The Mondovi Football Booster Club coordinates with the football coaching staff to make these decisions.
“We do our best to teach the players about the proud history of our program. Our team room at the field is filled with pictures and stories of great teams, players, and coaches in Mondovi football history, and we make sure the kids know they are part of it and responsible for building it,” Loscheider said.
BY THE NUMBERSFor those who don’t know the backgrounds of the two players, their accomplishments at Mondovi were just the beginning of the legacies they would both leave to the game of football upon their graduation from the hallowed halls of Mondovi High School.
Krumrie (Class of 1979) was a multiple-time all-pro for the Cincinnati Bengals and is still the leading tackler in Wisconsin Badger history. Cole (Class of 1980) was a four-year starter at quarterback for Mondovi and started as a true freshman as the signal caller for the Badgers.
But those achievements are only the tip of the iceberg for both players.
Selected to the 1978 All-Wisconsin state football team, Krumrie was an All-America choice as a sophomore for the Badgers and again in 1982. He was also a 1981 finalist for the Lombardi Award, named after the legendary former Green Bay Packers coach and awarded annually to the college player “who best embodies the values and spirit of the late coach. He completed his four years with the Badgers with 444 tackles, the most by a defenseman in Wisconsin Badgers’ history.
Krumrie was named co-captain of the 1982 Badgers’ football team after establishing a school season mark for tackles by a lineman — 135 in 1981. A participant in three holiday bowl games while at Wisconsin, he was named defensive MVP of the 1982 Independence Bowl after UW held Kansas State to just three points on the way to the Badgers’ football program’s first-ever bowl win.
And that’s just skimming the surface of Krumrie’s accomplishments, an exhaustive list of his honors and awards would likely fill an entire page — or more — of the Leader-Telegram.
With a storied college career behind him, Krumrie was chosen with the 247th pick of the 1983 NFL draft by the Cincinnati Bengals. And his career in the NFL was as legendary — if not more so — than his pristine college career.
Krumrie was selected to the Pro Bowl twice, in 1987 and 1988, and made one Super Bowl appearance.
He finished his career with 34.5 sacks and 13 fumble recoveries, 11 forced fumbles and 10 passes defensed are the stats legends are made of. At the time of his retirement, his 34 sacks were the fourth highest in franchise history.
Krumrie is perhaps remembered most for the severely broken leg he suffered during Super Bowl XXIII where the Bengals played the San Francisco 49ers. Despite his injury, he refused to go to the hospital, insisting on staying in the locker room and watching the game on television, only leaving when the paramedics told him he might go into shock. After a 15-inch steel rod was surgically implanted to stabilize the leg, Krumrie was ready by the start of the 1989 regular season. That injury — and his subsequent recovery from it — contributed to his being named the recipient of the George Halas Award, given annually by the Pro football Writers of America to the NFl player, coach or staff member who overcomes the most adversity to succeed.
Other notable NFL numbers include Krumrie’s 1,017 tackles (700 of which were solo tackles), which are the most ever by a DT in the league, and his 659 tackles are the seventh most in the 1980s, making Krumrie the only defensive lineman in the 600-club.
Krumrie played with the Bengals until 1994 and eventually turned to coaching for several NFL teams, which he successfully continued for almost two decades. He was inducted into the Badgers’ Athletic Hall of Fame in 1999, the College Football Hall of Fame in 2016 and on Sept. 23 he will be inducted into the Cincinnati Bengals’ Ring of Honor.
Cole’s achievements are just as storied.
He received multiple all-conference awards during his four years at quarterback for Mondovi, where he compiled an overall 30-7 record as a starter for the team. He received the high school All-American award in both academics and athletics in 1979 and then attended the University of Wisconsin, where he started 15 games as quarterback before transferring to the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, where he continued to awe and punish with his signal calling.
According to a biography on the UW-Eau Claire athletic website that honored his induction into that school’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 2015, Cole quarterbacked the Blugolds to a Wisconsin State University Conference championship in 1983 after a much-publicized transfer from the University of Wisconsin where the Mondovi native started for two years and led the Badgers to their first bowl game in 20 years.
During his two seasons directing Link Walker’s run-oriented offense, Cole led the Blugolds to a 16-5 overall mark and a 12-4 conference record. He accounted for 40 touchdowns during the two campaigns, rushing for 15 and passing for 25. During his Blugold career, he completed 244 of 473 passes for 3,463 yards and amassed 4,078 yards of total offense. Despite playing just two seasons, Cole still ranks eighth in career passing yards and TD passes.
Cole was the All-Conference quarterback in 1983 and a Blugold team captain in 1984. For his 1983 performance against UW-River Falls, Cole was tabbed the NAIA National Player of the Week. He also led UWEC to a conference championship in that 1983 season. He received his bachelor’s degree in business administration in 1985.
Both Krumrie and Cole were part of the 1976 Mondovi team that qualified for the first-ever Wisconsin state high school football playoffs and the 1978 squad that finished ranked No. 5 in the state.
THE DUO’S CONTRIBUTION TO MONDOVI HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL HISTORYThese above-mentioned achievements — along with those not listed here — help tell the players’ stories and all played a role in leading to what will be their deserving moment in Mondovi High School football history that will take place Friday. Even so, Loscheider pointed out exactly what the duo mean to the Buffaloes’ faithful and why they have their place in team history.
“Tim’s accomplishments speak for themselves. He’s one of the best football players our state has ever produced. We’re proud that he played for Mondovi, and we want to make sure he knows that and make sure he is recognized with the highest honor we can, which we feel is retiring his jersey in our program,” the Mondovi head coach told the Leader-Telegram.
Loscheider heaped equal praise on Cole with his comments about the quarterback’s accomplishments while at Mondovi.
“Jess is objectively the best quarterback to ever play for Mondovi. He started (all) four years. He may have won the Middle Border title every year... I know we won five in a row about that time. He went on to a great collegiate career and again, he’s one of the greats. We want him to understand how much we appreciate him and what he gave to our program,” Loscheider said.
The head coach added that both are planning to attend. Krumrie now lives back in Cincinnati after spending several years in Colorado.
“Jess lives in the Twin Cities somewhere. Jess usually comes to our annual fundraiser, so I’ve met him several times over the past eight years coaching here. Tim has not been to Mondovi in some time. I’m not sure exactly how long it has been since he has been in town or attended a Mondovi football game, but it’s been a significant amount of time.”
As for the schedule of events for Friday, Loscheider explained both what will happen during the game and explained that there will be no formal reception following the contest against Osceola, but his staff and the Boosters hope the two can join them in their usual post-game ritual.
“We go to a local establishment after home games and I imagine this one will be no different. We’ll have a display near the concessions to help fans learn about these guys and the team will meet them before the game. At halftime, we’ll present their jerseys and have a little presentation... that’s the plan,” the head coach said.
Sounds like a good plan, indeed to celebrate the achievements of two Mondovi football heroes whose accomplishments have stood the test of time.
Note: Special thanks to Larry Winsand, a 1973 Mondovi High School graduate and Booster Club committee member, for supplying the Leader-Telegram with many of the statistics — and numerous others that space prevented us from using — in this article.
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