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WisSports.net's Mark Miller to be inducted into WBCA Hall of Fame on Saturday, September 27th

09/19/2014, 6:00am CDT
By WSN

WisSports.net boys basketball editor Mark Miller will be one of 32 people to receive induction into the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame at the WBCA Hall of Fame Banquet on Saturday, September 27th at the Wilderness Resort in Wisconsin Dells.

Mark will be inducted as a "Friend of the Game", and joins a prestigious Hall of Fame class that also includes legendary coaches Bob Haffele (Randolph) and Tom Desotell (Sheboygan North), girls players Anna DeForge (Niagara) and Jennah (Burkholder) Hartwig (Janesville Parker), and longtime WBCA Executive Secretary Joan Petitgoue amongst others. The full list of inductees can be found below. 

Mark's love affair with basketball began during the 1971-72 season when he, his three siblings and his parents attended home and away basketball games for Xavier High School. His father, Richard, was a freshman coach at Xavier at the time and the family made annual treks to the old WISAA State Tournament in Milwaukee from the early 1970s until WISAA’s final year in 2000.

Mark continued to follow the Hawks through his senior year of high school, and then started following the UW-Oshkosh Titans as well as the high school teams in the area. He regularly covered Lourdes Academy, Oshkosh North and Oshkosh West for the Appleton Post-Crescent while attending college.

Mark’s first full-time job in journalism came in the spring of 1985 at the Marshfield News-Herald. It was during this time that he also began the Wisconsin Basketball Yearbook, the state annual previewing the high school and college basketball season.

The Wisconsin Basketball Yearbook has become a staple on the high school scene in Wisconsin and will enter its 30th year of publication this fall.

Mark also worked at newspapers in Oshkosh, Waukesha and Sheboygan and thoroughly enjoyed covering high school sports, especially basketball. 

For the past decade or so, Mark has also worked with WisSports.net. Together with Nicholas Kartos, Rick Hamilton, Travis Wilson and Norbert Durst, WisSports.net has become THE source for high school sports in Wisconsin.

As boys’ basketball editor for WisSports.net, Mark covers the sport 12 months of the year, writing on high school and AAU teams as well as standout players. 

Nine years ago, Mark also helped the start the WBY Shootout, an annual Christmas basketball event that attracts some of the top teams and players in the state each season. Summer tournaments and a camp at Viterbo have also evolved for WisSports.net and Mark. 

"By far the most enjoyable experience in covering high school basketball in Wisconsin for the past 30-plus years is the relationships I've developed with coaches, players and parents," Miller said. "Many of those relationships have developed into life-long friendships."

Mark would like to thank his family, including his wife, Pat, and daughters, Gwen and Sonia, along with his parents, Richard and Lynn Miller. He would also like to thank the WBCA and each and every coach over the past 30 years who has helped to make WisSports.net and the Wisconsin Basketball Yearbook a success.

"Induction into the WBCA Hall of Fame is truly an honor I will savor for the rest of his life."

For more information on the WBCA Hall of Fame, please see the WBCA site here.

2014 WBCA Hall of Fame Class

The following honorees will be inducted into the WBCA Hall of Fame on September 27th at the annual Hall of Fame Banquet.

HIGH SCHOOL COACHES
John Bradley, Markesan
Tom Desotell, Sheboygan North
Greg Gaulke, River Falls
Bob Haffele, Randolph
Gary Hines, North Crawford
Gregg Jensen, Amherst
Kirk Kaul, Hustisford
John Klein, Southwestern
Rod Kowalczyk, De Pere
Jeff Reiche, Marathon
Robert Wolfe, Florence
Dan Zoeller, Florence

HIGH SCHOOL ASSISTANT COACHES
Denny Burich, River Falls
Ken Macheel, Randolph
Claude Seubert, Marathon

PLAYERS - GIRLS
Karen (O’Malley) Crowley, Madison East
Anna DeForge, Niagara
Jackie Glosson, Milwaukee Washington
Jennah (Burkholder) Hartwig, Janesville Parker
Ann Kattreh, Kohler
Ann Klapperich, Fond du Lac

PLAYERS - BOYS
Rick Brown, Dodgeville
Todd Eisner, Chilton
Jeff Jonas, Milwaukee Marquette
Terry Rand, Green Bay
Frank Seckar, Oshkosh North
Kip Whitlinger, Appleton Xavier

FRIENDS OF THE GAME
Gene Delisio, Marshfield
Mark Miller, Madison
Joan Petitgoue, Cuba City
Larry Wieland, Lodi

REFEREES
John Page, River Falls

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