There was been an ongoing love affair in Kenosha that appears to be getting stronger as the years pass. The City of Kenosha and the sports programs at Carthage College have always taken part in a perfect mutual admiration society with the students and the city residents reaping the rewards. With all due respect to Parkside and Gateway, when it comes to college sports, Kenosha is a Carthage town.
In order to sustain a long-term love affair, there are certain that are “musts”, with the biggest one being you must be competitive. It is extremely difficult to sustain a fan base worthy of mention if the school is not consistently at or near the top of their conference. NCAA Division III sports do not have huge television audiences, they are not allowed to give scholarships and are not littered with household names. Simply stated, you have to make the locals want to root for you. The Red Men and Lady Reds are always competitive and are well represented in many conference championship series.
Another “must” is you must have coaching personality. Yes, you read that right personality. At the D3 level, the likelihood of the names of the players carrying the day is much lower than the personalities of the coaches. Carthage boasts big-time coaches like Bosko Djurickovich (men’s basketball), Augie Schmidt III (men’s baseball), Leanne Ulmer (women’s volleyball), Tim Bernero (women’s basketball) and Amy Gillmore (women’s softball). They also have rising stars in Lauren Hein (women’s Lacrosse) and LJ Marx (men’s volleyball).
And perhaps the one true “must” that makes all of it possible is you must have the support of the school and the administration. It is safe to say that the Carthage hierarchy is absolutely “all-in” when it comes to athletics. Names like Dr. Bob Bonn and F. Gregory Campbell will always be a huge part of Carthage Athletics and therefore forever etched into to foundation of the sports landscape of Kenosha. The Tarble Arena, Augie Schmidt Field and Art Keller Field are local landmarks and the shores of Lake Michigan is the permanent home of a true NCAA “class act”. Kenosha will forever consider herself lucky for having a Grade A institution like Carthage call her home.
