Published: March 6, 2018
Rohlinger headlines WBBA WOF class
By NICHOLAS DETTMANN
ndettmann@conleynet.com 262-306-5043
When Adam Rohlinger got the call he was going to be inducted
onto the West Bend Baseball Association’s Wall of Fame, his initial thought was,
“Wait a minute. I’m still playing.”
“I’m supposed to be old and retired, probably 10-15 years by
then,” Rohlinger added.
That’s not how the West Bend Baseball Association saw it.
“He went through four or five surgeries with his legs,” said
WBBA president Willie Mueller. “In our baseball family, we had Mike Mueller who
played for the (Atlanta) Braves, we had Ryan Rohlinger; you had me.
“Adam Rohlinger, if he wouldn’t have gotten hurt, he
would’ve been right with us, if not more.”
On Saturday night in front of an estimated 250 guests at The
Columbian in West Bend, Rohlinger, was part of the eighth class of the WBBA’s
Wall of Fame along with TJ Fischer, Bob Kissinger, Bob Meyer and the late Mark
Scholz.
“It means everything to me,” Rohlinger said. “Playing
30-plus years in West Bend, that’s all I know; born and raised in West Bend.
I’ve been playing baseball for 30-plus years in West Bend. This is truly an
honor for me. I can’t be happier.”
In addition to the five inductees, several members were
given postseason awards.
Longtime WBKV radio personality Bob Bonefant received the
President’s Award; Johnny Arnold of the Brookfield Blue Sox and Travis Thompson
of the Sussex Cardinals were selected as the recipients of the George “Doc”
Kraemer Man of the Year Award; and Brad Rindfleisch received the Mark Scholz
Award of Merit Scholarship.
Jed Justman received the inaugural Prudence Pick Hway
Philanthropy Award; and the West Bend West baseball team received the WBBA
Special Achievement Award in recognition of its state championship season.
Matt Schubert and Rohlinger were honored as the Washington
County Daily News Amateur Baseball Player of the Year and Manager of the Year,
respectively.
It was also an emotional night as memories of three people
who were well known for their generosity and zest for helping people were
recalled — all of whom died in the past year.
Thompson’s acceptance speech was moving, often stopping to
stay strong as he talked about his late wife, Kate, who died of brain cancer
May 31. Scholz died in February 2017, and he was remembered for his
contributions to the community. And the memory of Bob Pick II, who died Feb. 16
and was inducted onto the Wall of Fame in 2017, wasn’t far from many attendees’
minds.
Mueller, a man known for his role as the mean New York
Yankees pitcher “The Duke” from the 1989 film “Major League,” admittedly cried
several times throughout the evening.
There were also plenty of laughs.
While Rohlinger, who plays for and manages the West Bend 7
UP, picked up two honors, he may have gotten the unofficial joke of the night
award. During his acceptance speech, he thanked several of the coaches he’s had
along the way. His final thank you went to another coach, his mom.
He thanked her for being there for him for his first pair of
cleats and his first cup.
Rohlinger was honored to go in with a class of people who
did what they did for baseball on and off the field, including Fischer, who
played six years of baseball with the Boston Red Sox organization.
Rohlinger was previously inducted into Concordia University’s
Hall of Fame. Mueller said Rohlinger was as gifted as any of the professional
baseball players before him to come from West Bend.
“Doug Gonring would tell you that, physically gifted, Adam
Rohlinger was the best,” Mueller said. “Adam had surgery after surgery after
surgery. Look at Concordia. The stats he put up at Concordia University. He’s
in the Hall of Fame there. That’s how good he was.”
When he was told why he was being inducted,
Rohlinger understood and graciously accepted it.
“I don’t feel out of place,” he said. “It’s truly an honor.
It’s a little different that I’m still playing the game and be on the Wall of
Fame. But I can get used to them saying, ‘Adam Rohlinger. Wall of Fame.’” Also
Saturday, Rohlinger found out Justman — one of his veteran teammates with the 7
UP — might retire.
“I heard it through the grapevine; he never told me
officially,” Rohlinger smiled.
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