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Congrats to the 2024 Rock River Hall of Fame inductees shown below. They were honored at this year's Oldtimers Banquet on Saturday, October 19th at the Lions Hall in Clyman.
Back Row; Jami Kaul HOF, Kevin Schultz HOF, Dusty Jacobson HOF
Front Row: Steve Lehman President, Ron Bartels VP, Wes Braunschweig Rock Diamond Award, Tom Nickel HOF, Bob Schulz Secretary/Treasurer
2024 Hall of Fame Inductees
Dusty Jacobson - Neosho
Jami Kaul - Hustisford
Tom Nickel - Waupun
Kevin Schultz - Juneau, Mayville, Neosho, Horicon, Rubicon
Rock Diamond Award Winner
Wes Braunschweig
Hall of Fame Bios
Dusty Jacobson – 43, is an engineer and lives in Fort Atkinson. Dusty was a pitcher/First baseman for the Neosho Rockets from 2004/2017.Dusty was named League MVP in 2014 and 2017 and was a six time All Leage Award winner. He was named to numerous All-Star teams both as a pitcher and position player. Dusty was also a member of the 2016 RRL Championship team with Neosho. Dusty’s humorous incident went as follows.: I was only ejected from one game in my career and it only lasted 30 seconds. Neosho had a night game against Lannon and there was some early chirping. Carl Schwarze umpired the plate that night and after he called a Lannon hit fair when we thought it was at least 5 feet foul, Warren Braunschweig yelled aa few superlatives towards Carl’s direction. Carl yelled that’s it numbers 6, you are outta here. Number 6 was my number, yet I had not been engaged in the colorful exchange. Warren yelled “Carl, I’m number 8!” to which Carl replied, oh hell, I can’t see that far! He was maybe 20 feet from Warren. In the end, I got to stay in the game.” Dusty’s top opponents included; Josh and Joe Shere – Milton, Shaun Wegner – Clyman, Zach Lauersdorf – Lebanon, Andy Schwantes – Watertown, Aaron Braund – Rubicon and Jason Wesemann – Clyman.
Jamison Kaul – 42, is a Mortgage Loan Officer with Fairway Mortgage Company and lives in Hartford. Jamison played right field and 1st base for the Hustisford Astros from 2000/2021.Jami was a member o the 2015 & 2017 RRL Grand Championship teams with Hustisford, 2004 and 2011 RRL North Batting Champ, 2013 Tri-County Nite League MVP, 2011 RRL All Star Game MVP, 2011 RRL All Star Game Home Run Derby Champ as well as many All-Star game appearances. Jami’s humorous incident went as follows. “Every year, it seemed like it was 90 degrees when Husty played at Slinger. We were in a high scoring affair and my cousin, Casey Simon had at least 3 hits going into the 7th inning, when wouldn’t ya know it, he had to take a poop. He pulled himself from the game to do his duty. We won the game but I felt sorry for whoever went into that porta potty next! Jami’s top opponents were Lee Kaul – Rubicon, Shane O’Hagan – Rubicon and EJ Dornfeldt – Brownsville/Rubicon.
Tom Nickel – 68, is retired and lives in Waupun. “Buzz” played shortstop, 2nd base and left field for Waupun from 1972-1985. “It’s now been about 37 years since I last played in the RRL, and I would now say what I treasure the most of those days was being part of the team and the long-lasting friendships that developed with teammates and opponents that are still viable today. Second to that, personally speaking, I consider my outstanding achievements of my playing career to being in the top of the league in batting average, RBI’s and home runs most of the years that I played.” For his humorous incident, Tom’s recalls a game against Leroy. “We were up a few runs and the coach let us pick a position we wanted to play. I ended up in right field. A can of corn pop up came off the bat of a right-handed hitter and I started moving to my left to get under it. As some of you know, I was never known for my blazing speed. In fact, when I was timed in the 40-yard dash, they used a sun dial. The more I moved to my left, the faster the ball seemed to slice away from me. (It’s like one of my golf shots) As I picked up my speed to try to catch up with the ball, I tripped over my feet. As I fell down, the ball hit me on the back of my head and proceeded to go over the fence. The umpire said the ball hit the ground so it was ruled a double, but that has not stopped this incident from being brought up every time the guys get together”. Tom’s top opponents were Mike Urban of Oakfield, Dan McGurk of Slinger and Fritz Goebel of Long Lake.
Kevin Schultz – 47, is a Manufacturing Engineer and lives in Juneau. “Shotz” played for Horicon in 1997-1998, Neosho in 1999, Juneau from 2001-2008, Mayville from 2009-2010, Juneau from 2014-2016 and Rubicon in 2017. Kevin was a catcher, 1st baseman, 3rd baseman and pitcher. In 2006, he was voted catcher of the year and MVP of the Southern Division. In 2013. Kevin received the Player of Merit Award in the Northern Division. Kevin hit at least 1 home run in every year that he played. For his memorable incident, Shotz tells this story. “In 2017, I had the worst season of my life at the plate. Before our last game, of the season in Rubicon vs Oakfield, Nubby Dornfeld came up to me and said” Shotzy, I know this season hasn’t gone the way you wanted, but how great would it be if you came up in your last at bat and knocked one out of here”. In the 7ht inning, Oakfield scored 2 runs to go up 2-0. I was due up 5th that inning and told the guys that the pitcher had been hanging curve balls all day. If I get up, I am sitting on that thing. I came up with 2 outs and 2 men on base. With a 1-1 count, the pitcher hung the curve ball I was looking for. As I rounded first, I see Chris Immel jumping over the left field fence as the ball bounced in the Grande Cheese parking lot. That was the last swing of my career. We won the game, 3-2. Kevin’s top opponents were Travis Steger of Neosho and Casey Powell of Madison Laurel tavern.
Wes Braunschweig – Wes started playing baseball when he was 10 years old for Ashippun Little League in the Oconomowoc Little League System For the next three years, Wes played for the Neosho Little League, winning the Dodge County Colt League Championship in the 3rd year. After his sophomore year of high school, Wes joined the Ashippun Lakers in the Land of Lakes League. He played for the Hustisford American Legion team at age 16 and the Rubicon American Legion team at age 17. In 1969, Wes joined the Ashippun Platers team of the Rock River League. He played there for 14 years, managing the team the last 4 years. Wes then moved on to play for the Clyman Canners for 6 years. At this time, Wes’ first wife, Brenda sadly passed away and he took 2 years off of baseball. Then his children, Carla and Warren, talked him into managing the Neosho Rockets Baseball team. And here he is, 32 years later. Wes’ greatest baseball excitement was winning the 2016 RRL Grand Championship against Hustisford. His proudest achievement is that the Rockets have been in the RRL Playoffs since 2010. The toughest4 pitchers Wes batted against were Dan Hintzman – Johnson Creek, Kirk Kaul – Hustisford and Don Held – Lebanon. Wes played against a lot of good players, names too many to mention. He has won several Manager of the Year Awards. One of Wes’ most satisfying moments was in 2020, when he assisted the Rubicon Little League by allowing numerous teams to play in Neosho as they could not play in Rubicon due to COVID. He allowed the kids to play when most of the world was afraid. Wes has been involved in the RRL for 55 years and made numerous friendships with players, families and fans. Wes would like to thank the late Elmer Marks for giving him the chance to play. They can say what they want about football and basketball, baseball is still the number one sport. AMEN!
