The line at Schneider’s Funeral Home in Janesville snaked from the viewing room out around a large foyer down an entrance hallway and into the parking lot.
It was 5 p.m., only an hour into the planned four-hour visitation last Thursday. This was not going to finish on time. This was not a normal visitation.
This was a visitation for Gerald “Schleprock” McCann—a man known as “Schlepi” — who was at least an acquaintance to hundreds of people in Milton and Janesville and good friends with hundreds more.
McCann died of a brain aneurism Tuesday, Feb. 6. He was 64.
His wife, Judy, and daughter, Lindsay, accepted hugs and condolences from the hundreds of people who waited up to 2½ hours to deliver them.
John Roherty, an associate at the funeral home, said it was the largest visitation crowd he’d seen going back to last spring’s visitation for another popular Milton resident, Dennis Campion.
McCann was best friends with Roherty’s cousin, Bob Roherty. McCann drove Bob Roherty to his treatments in Naperville, Illinois while Roherty was battling cancer.
John Roherty also knew McCann well.
“Every time you saw him, he’d take over the room,” John Roherty said.
“He’d decide what to call you that day,” Roherty said. “It might not be your first name. Everybody loved him.”
Brotherly love was tough
Schlepi’s brother, Steve McCann, was the youngest of five McCann brothers with Wayne, Dennis, Bob and Gerald coming before him. Bob died before Gerald. Gerald has one sister, Patti.
Robert McCann, the father, was a hard-working carpenter. June, the mother, died early in Gerald’s life.
Steve said it was “tough” growing up as the youngest brother in a houseful of siblings.
“He beat the hell out of me,” he said. “He was 185 pounds as a freshman.
“He didn’t wrestle until 7th grade,” Steve said. “But in the house he did with all my brothers. We tore the house apart.”
Strong as concrete
His good friend, John “Turk” Turkowski, met Schlepi after enrolling at Milton College in 1979. Schlepi and Turkowski were introduced while they both worked on an Ivan Rice & Sons construction crew.
Turkowski said he called McCann “Rock” for his build. He recounted one day when one of the other workers had a few too many beers and decided to make a “snow angel” in a bed of newly laid concrete.
“Did you ever see Hulk?” Turkowski said of the size of the worker who did the angel work. “I mean this guy was a giant.”
But McCann, who was a concrete finisher, did not find the incident on his finished work funny.
“He picked him right up,” Turkowski said. “He threw him in a truck. He said, ‘I don’t need this.’”
Friends for life
Tammy Anderson was one of the people who patiently waited in the visitation line Thursday. She said as a sophomore at Milton High, she was mistakenly placed in an algebra class with juniors.
The boy sitting behind her kept drumming his pencil on his desk. That boy was Jerry McCann.
That was the start of a friendship that lasted to this day. Anderson said Schlepi had called her on a regular basis throughout the years. The final one of those came just three weeks ago.
Anderson said she was going through some tough times in 2016. Schlepi knew she loved photography and took her to a 200-acre private property near Milton owned by one of his friends. She kept going back.
While in the woods, she saw ospreys and discovered an eagles’ nest. Taking photos and being among nature got her through her tough time.
Robert Benway of Janesville met McCann in 1977, and they were friends since that time.
“He was one tough character,” Benway said while waiting outside on the windy Thursday afternoon. “He was one of a kind, ol’ Schlepi.”
Milton High’s ‘Crusher’
As a freshman at Milton High, Schlepi was the first freshman to start for the then Redmen under coach Jerry Schliem at nose tackle.
McCann also starred on the Milton High wrestling team at 185 pounds even though his style would be termed “raw.” He basically used the strength gained by working with concrete during his high school days to punish his opponents.
Another longtime friend, Russ O’Leary, was three years older than McCann, and he remembers that every fan and wrestler awaited the 185-pound match during Milton meets.
“Everyone wanted to see his match,” O’Leary said. “The whole gym.”
Longtime friend Doug Welch said McCann’s wrestling style was “unorthodox.”
“He was strong as a bull,” Welch said. “He got disqualified more than once for slamming a guy. He was the closest thing to “The Crusher” as Milton has ever had.”
His love of wrestling—especially Milton High wrestling--continued throughout his life. He was a regular poster on the Wisconsin Wrestling website, and several fellow posters expressed their condolences when a message about his death was posted.
McCann’s poster name was “Maggie”
“So sorry to hear this sad news,” poster “Imnofish” wrote. “I never met him in person but enjoyed private and public discussions with Maggie online. What a great guy. His presence on this forum was a blessing and he will certainly be missed.”
Softball escapades
Welch laughs when asked about McCann. Welch played on The Cove’s softball team in the 1980s which included McCann, Turkowski and Mike “Caveman” Ballmer.
“They were probably the three highest-strung people I’ve ever met in my life,” Welch said. “I’d be sitting on the bench with Schlepi on one side of me and Turk on the other, and they’d be yelling over my head, arguing about something that didn’t matter about anything. Meanwhile, Caveman is pacing back and forth like a caged animal in front of us, cursing at the umpire.”
Bob Roach of Janesville met McCann playing softball. Roach was one of the early arrivals for the visitation.
“I knew him as the “Rock”, Roach said. “We went on fishing trips, and I drank with him. Hell of a man. He had a heart of gold. He gave me rides for my cancer treatments. He’d do anything for you.”
East Point tributes
The past few years, Schlepi was a weekday regular at the East Point Sportz Pub in Janesville.
The East Point bar manager, Kendra Hoskins, typically worked the late morning/early afternoon shift. They developed a love/hate relationship that really was nothing but love.
“At about 11 o’clock every day, he’d come in and slam his wallet and everything down,” Hoskins said.
Usually there were two or three other people with him. He’d drink Pabst Blue Ribbon and hold court with many stories and laughs.
While his East Point visits would sometimes last until 6 o’clock, Hoskins never had to worry about things getting out of control.
“He’d get loud, and I’d tell him to calm it down,” Hoskins said.
A small medal plaque was made with Schlepi’s name on it. It was screwed into the bar rail where Schlepi usually sat. A baseball cap that Hoskins purchased and had Schlepi’s name sewed in it will be placed in a small case and displayed at the bar.
When Schlepi died, the staff put an unopened can of Pabst on the bar in front of Schlepi’s usual seat.
That can of Pabst remains on the bar.
On Friday, East Point held an informal celebration of life after the funeral ceremony at Schneiders. Hoskins ordered 30 extra 12-packs of Pabst, anticipating patrons would want to drink one in honor of Schlepi.
The Scoreboard Bar in Milton had a similar event Saturday.
There were salutes to Schlepi during both events.
Hoskins says she made so many new friends through afternoons with Schlepi.
“I tell them, ‘you still have to come in and see me,’” Hoskins said of the various acquaintances. “It’s going to be so weird without him.”
Schlepi being Schlepi
Welch was one of the people standing in the visitation line. Welch has been to more and more visitations in recent years and spends time observing who is in line with him.
He usually speculates why they are in attendance—if it is a former teacher, he sees many of their students. If it was a public official, there would be fellow public officials in attendance.
“You look at faces and wonder, ‘why is that person here?’” Welch said. “You try to make the connections.”
Welch had a long time to study the crowd Thursday.
“I came to the realization that all those people were there because Schlepi was just being Schlepi his entire life,” Welch said. “If he met you, he was loyal to you. He always saw the good in people.
“He had an orbit of his own, and people were drawn to him. It was his personality.”
That orbit will continue. The main star just won’t be there.
Most Popular
Comments / 0