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Congrats to the 2022 Rock River Hall of Fame inductees shown below. They were honored at this year's Oldtimers Banquet on Saturday, October 29th at the Lions Hall in Clyman.
Back Row; Craig Semler HOF, Dave Donath HOF, Tim Fitzsimmons Rock Diamond Award, Tom Theusch HOF
Front Row: Ron Bartels VP, Bob Schulz Secretary/Treasurer, Matt O'Rourke HOF, Steve Lehman President
2022 Hall of Fame Inductees
Dave Donath - Kewaskum
Matt O'Rourke - Neosho
Craig Semler - Rubicon
Tom Theusch - Slinger
Rock Diamond Award Winner
Tim Fitzsimmons - Clyman
Hall of Fame Bios
Dave Donath- 57, has owned L. K. Heating and Air Conditioning for 30 years and lives in Kewaskum. His nickname was 4’s but other teams had more creative nicknames for him. Dave played shortstop and 2nd base for Kewaskum for 9 years and managed the team for another 8 years. Dave was a 4 time All Star selection. He homered in a playoff game against Madison Laurel tavern to help Kewaskum win 2-1. Dave was also named Manager of the Year in the Northern Division in 1996. “The rivalries in the North were great! Games against the Slingers, Husty, Rubicon, Oakfield – You had to be ready to play!” “We. As a team, enjoyed closing down the beer stands, ours or the opponents. It made for some long work days
on Mondays. Doug Gonring and I were at a local establishment on a game day Sunday night. We were talking about the game that day. The bartender finally asked - How bad did you lose Doug? Doug and I looked at him and said – Lose! We won 12-6! We were rehashing the game as to how we should have won 15-2. We always had to replay the game, win or lose”. Dave’s top opponents were Craig Semler – Rubicon, Tom Cole – Brownsville and Dale Nehls – Hustisford.
Matt O’Rourke, 44, is a land surveyor and lives in Neosho. Matt played outfield for Hartford in 1997 and for Neosho from 1998-2017.” Playing in the RRL for over 20 years is something I have been blessed to be able to do. The outstanding achievement was winning the Grand Championship in 2016 against Hustisford. Catching the final out in centerfield after our centerfielder had to exit with an injury, was quite the turn of events for me. I hot dogged the catch a bit, apparently rattling the nerves of some of my teammates in the dugout. That was definitely the highlight of on field memories. The later years of my career, our team really took off. Having been one of the “core guys” of the group that stuck together on
and off the field was really special! One of my favorite things was to hear opponents complaining about a nice catch I made, robbing them of hits. Mixing in a couple of All Star appearances, an All-League Award and Player of Merit rounds out the tangibles. Most of all, having my wife and children, so many friends and acquaintances all coming from playing in the RRL. Humorous incident: Playing Madison LT at MATC Truax Field in some obscure game during our core group’s “formative years”, we had played the day before and had hit up a picnic somewhere. A few guys were missing with miscellaneous ailments and disappearing acts. We scraped together a team and it was like 120 degrees at the field that day (which it seemed was always the case there). We were getting stroked; our manager Wes Braunschweig spent the first couple of innings in the dugout in his boxers and we waived the white flag in the 7th. Matt’s top opponents were Mike Finnigan of Madison Senators, Joe Shere of Milton and Andy Schwantes of Watertown
Craig Semler – is 55 and lives in Hartford. Craig is President of R. S. Semler & Associates Insurance, Inc. Craig caught for Rubicon from 1988 to 1994. Some of his memorable achievements include winning the Rock River League Grand Championship in 1994, Southern Division MVP and batting title with a .542 batting average in 1988 and Northern Division MVP and batting Champ with a .540 batting average in 1992. Craig appeared in multiple RRL All Star games and enjoyed playing with and against many talented ballplayers. “Winning the RRL Championship in 1994, driving my truck on the field and popping bottling of champagne was special. Rubicon hadn’t won a championship since 1966 when my dad played for them”. Craig also remembers playing in a game the day after his wedding in front of the bridal party,
family and friends and hitting a home run. And, of course, enjoying $1.00 beers after the game. For his humorous incident, Craig remembers enjoying listening to Mark Robel tell stories about “dumpster diving” while in college at UWWhitewater. Craig’s top opponents were Doug Gonring of Kewaskum, Kirk Kaul of Hustisford and Ken Vlasak of Slinger.
Tom Theusch – 66, is a retired insurance claims adjustor and lives in Slinger. Tom pitched and played outfield for Slinger from 1980-1988. Tom was a member of two RRL Grand Championship teams and the team that beat Lebanon twice in a row at Lebanon to end their championship run. Tom played all positions but catcher at one time or another. Tom was a junk ball pitcher, throwing lots of curveballs and change-ups. In a playoff game in Slinger in the mid 1980’s against Hustisford, he struck out Randy Kuehl swinging on what might have been the 3rd change-up of the at bat. As he was walking off the field, Randy turned and yelled, “why don’t you just roll it up there?”. Tom’s top opponents were Kirk Kaul – Hustisford, Mike Zimmerman – Oakfield and Mark Bunkoske – Horicon.
Tim Fitzsimmons – 64, works construction and lives in the Iron Ridge area. Tim pitched and played outfield for Clyman from 1975-2005 and was also the manager from 1995-2005. Tim’s top achievements were being Pitcher of the Year in 1982-83, Manager of the Year in 2004, multiple All-Star Game appearances and to be able to keep the Clyman team going as a successful member of the RRL. Tim’s humorous incident was anything to do with Larry Von Rueden screaming in pain before getting hit by a pitch. Tim’s top opponents were Steve Lehmann – Juneau, Randy Kuehl – Hustisford and Wes Braunschweig – Ashippun.
