Green Bay Press-Gazette from Green Bay, Wisconsin • Page 21

71 SECTION fjr vf ffittista. fcS) Check out the latest Packets news on our web site: www.greeribaypressgazette.packersriews.com Green Bay Press-Gazette Thursday, April 9,1998 Comments? Call Sports Editor John Morton, (920) 431-8222 1.. IkLA t4J mm it 1 i ma 1 JL. "9 Jtk. mm mm 999 v-.

Press-Gazette photos by Ken Wesely Gropp's gallery: Clockwise from top, Predator, a painting by SNC's Roby Gropp, a sculpture named Probed and an untitled drawing. PERE Walk into most hockey locker rooms and bring I up the subject of art and you By Kerry Litscher. Press-Gazette ASHWAUBENON Luxem-burg-Casco and Denmark are the latest area high schools to object to proposed athletic conference realignment proposals, the latest round of which were unveiled Wednesday morning. Under the two plans, developed by WIAA executive director Doug Chickering, L-C would be moved from the Packerland Conference into an eight-school league that is made up mostly of Fox Valley-area schools, in the 1999-2000 school year. While the groupings appear good fits on the basis of enrollment, they don't please L-C.

"We prefer to stay exactly where we are," L-C district administrator Ray Thillman said. "Moving doesn't make any sense. It would mean absolutely no natural rivalries." Travel also is a major concern, Thillman said, noting that L-C's shortest trip within one of the proposed groupings would be 50 miles to Little Chute. Chickering presented his proposals during a meeting at the Best Western Midway Hotel. It was his third such meeting since September with representatives from area athletic conferences.

Chickering has developed four different sets of proposals from the meetings. He intends to inform schools by Monday of his final realignment recommendation, which he will present to the WIAA Board of Control on Friday, April 17. One of Wednesday's proposals had Denmark grouped with L-C in a conference of primarily Fox Valley-area schools. "We don't support that," Denmark principal LeRoy Meles said. Denmark, a of the Olympian, would prefer being aligned with Packerland schools, he said.

"We feel very comfortable with that because of the geography and the fact that we've played many of them in non-conference and tour nament competition," Meles said. "Also, we have real good media coverage (in this area). When we-look at schools in the Fox Valley, they're tied with media in the Appleton area. "I don't think we'd get as much fan enthusiasm as we would if we were in the Packerland." Meanwhile, the new proposals were supported by smaller Packerland schools, such as Sevastopol, which had recommended moving L-C from the league because of its dominance of some sports and potential for growth. "I'm happy that (Chickering) is considering our concern," Sevastopol principal Randy Water-molen said.

NEW Lutheran, the small Green Bay school that will need a home after the WISAA disbands in 2000, was placed with Packerland schools in both proposals. "(Chickering) has a difficult task fitting us in," NEW Lutheran athletic director Mike Stock said, "because any conference we're placed in we'll be the smallest. I appreciate the fact that none of the Packerland schools spoke negatively about us being added." As expected, Wednesday's pro-, posals kept De Pere and West De Pere in the Bay. Those schools didn't like a February proposal that took them out of the league. Chickering reversed his decision in March.

"We were elated with that," West De Pere superintendent Lanny Tibaldo said. The Bay would remain a 10-school league with Waupaca replacing Clintonville, according to the latest alternatives. Chickering expects continue receiving feedback until he meets with the Board of Control, which can modify, accept or reject his recommendations. Schools and conferences then will have 40 days to appeal. "I'm not tied to any of these pro-posals," Chickering said.

"I'm going to do some soul-searching, some numbers searching and looking at maps. "No matter what is done, not everyone will be happy." risk getting strange looks, or worse. One exception would be if you happened to chat with St. Norbert College goaltender Roby Gropp. He is that rare athlete who is as gifted with a paint brush, pencil or chisel as he is with a catching glove, blocker or stick.

Whether "on canvas, paper or ice, the senior moves from side to side with ease. How many all-conference goalies airbrush their own masks? Or those of their teammates? How many paint murals on the walls of arenas or designs under center ice? Some, but not all, of Gropp's works involve hockey themes. That's by design. "When I'm at the hockey rink I think about hockey a lot," the three-time Green Knights MVP said. "With goaltending.

you can wear yourself out if you think about it away from the rink. Away from the rink I try i AP photo It's raining autographs: The Mets' Albert Castillo stands under an umbrella as he signs autographs in the rain at Wrigley Field in Chicago on Wednesday. The Cubs-Mets game was rained out, as was the Brewers-Expos game in Milwaukee. More on C-3. UWGB loses Bauer to NIU UW-Green Bay assiatant women's basketball coach Emily Bauer, who was former coach Carol Hammerle's top assistant and recruiting coordinator, will be Hammerle's top assistant at Northern Illinois as well.

"After weighing it all out, I feel in the long run, the move to Northern is a better choice for my career," Bauer said Wednesday. She joins former Indiana assistant Malisa Bryant and ex-UWGB guard Rhonda Rice on NIU's staff, i "I'm very excited to join Carol," 1 said Bauer, 32. "The hardest thing I did today was tell the players. I told them I learned a lot from them." Bauer also considered applying for UWGB's head coaching job. I- Patrick Murphy Jr.

Corn highlights tonight's 4 bouts I ASHWAUBENON Undefeated junior middleweight J.J. Corn of Neopit will face Derrick Williamson of Elkhart, in an eight-round bout at 7 p.m. today at Stadium View Bar and Grill, 1963 Holmgren Way. Corn is 18-0-1 as a professional. The fights on the undercard: Chris Stoffer of Lake Delton vs.

Lonnie Dickinson of Phillips, middleweight, four rounds. Brooke Welby of Winnipeg, vs. Kim Jackson of Elkhart, junior middleweight, six grounds. Patrick Perez of Easton, i vs. Mahan Washington of 111., welterweights, six rounds.

5 General admission tickets are $20 in advance, $25 at the door. Reserved seating is $25 in $35 at the door. Call the bar for tickets, (920) 498-1989. Press-Gazette Chris Bayee College hockey mi i mwi ii mi A face to remember: Below is Kitsle, a fired clay piece by Gropp. to focus on other things.

"Basically, I only do hockey stuff when someone asks me to "But I didn't know a lot about it. The first year I was still in denial. "My second year, I started to learn a little more and started accepting that I didn't know some of the things. "My third year, I was realizing that for the first time the things you spend a lot of time on aren't necessarily your best pieces. "My fourth year, I realized I could put my education to use in my pieces." The works in his senior art show, which are on display from 9 a.m.

to 3 p.m. today and Friday at the John Minahan Building on campus, are evidence of that: While Gropp's play last season was at times out of this world, his inspiration for his art always is. "I like things like fantasy the best," he said. "I have a fascination with dif-ferent worlds. It's unlimited what you can do when you start drawing and painting with it." Gropp never travels far without his close friend, Roby a circle-headed character who stars on the T-shirts Gropp produces each year for his teammates.

Gropp also has been approached by members of other teams on campus about designing Roby Jr. shirts for their squads. "I wanted a symbol to signify all my pieces," Gropp said. "He's kind of gone off on his own little thing. "It's nice to have because there are so many people it can please.

It's a versatile character, a staple of all my artwork." Another staple of Gropp's artwork is the one that's most recognizable to Green Knights hockey fans his mask. Complete with fire-breathing dragons and Roby Jr. on the back, it was on the cover of the Green Knights' media guide this season. It's also a symbol of what Gropp, who would like to play professionally, hopes the future holds. "Say an NHL goalie wants his mask airbrushed," Gropp said.

"I want to be the first guy he calls. That's important to me. "With goalie masks, people want them done or they don't. There's always going to be goalies, and they'll always want their masks painted." Chris Bayee covers college hockey for the Press-Gazette. Write to him at P.O.

Box 19430, Green Bay, WI 54307-9430. Gropp's development during his a. 1 1 luui years uu uie 'T -k ice he went frm a freshman Vs-41-'? backup to the -CSei Nothern The VIAA's alternative realignment proposals Area schools affected, their enrollments and two proposed new realignments. Collegiate Hockey Association's player of the year as a junior and setting 10 records as a senior has mirrored his development off it. "When I first came to St.

Grouping 1 Grouping 2 Grouping 3 Bay Port (1,164) Hortonville (691) Denmark (537) Marinette (1 ,049) Luxemburg-Casco (650) Sturgeon Bay (534) Pulaski (1,01 3) Clintonville (643) Southern Door (499) Ashwaubenon(961) Fox Valley Lutheran (608) Oconto (448) Shawano (904) Oconto Falls (565) Kewaunee (419) New London (897) Appleton Xavier (543) Algoma (308) Seymour (847) Freedom (514) Gibraltar (271) Waupaca (834) Little Chute (496) Sevastopol (268) De Pere (81 6) NEW Lutheran (1 50) West De Pere (623) Grouping 1 Grouping 2 Grouping 3 Same 10 schools Hortonville Oconto Falls as above Luxemburg-Casco Sturgeon Bay Clintonville Southern Door Fox Valley Lutheran Oconto Appleton Xavier Kewaunee Denmark. Algoma Freedom Gibraltar Little Chute Sevastopol NEW Lutheran Norbert College (from Kamloops, B.C.) for art, I 1 'hfiljISTERS How did Rae's Creek at Augusta National Golf Club get its name? thought I could draw well and get away from it," Gropp said. il Answer on iv He's torn Masters prevlewC-4 EYMOUR Many people would to see Josh Rudnick give col- lege basketball a try. v. can produce a tremendous amount of pride and dedication.

When you grow to love working outdoors and with your hands, it can be difficult to picture yourself doing anything else. "I've always worked on farms, that's how I was raised," said Rudnick, who lives near the small community of Isaar. Please see RudnickC-6 envisioned himself doing some type of physical labor, perhaps in construction, after graduating from high school. Then he began turning college coaches' heads. Now Rudnick, a relentless rebound-er who helped Seymour win a state championship in 1997 and the past two Bay Conference titles, faces a big decision.

Basketball or work? "There's a lot of stuff going through my head about what's going to happen, what am I going to do," Rudnick said. "I'd kind of like to see if I could compete at the college level. I'd like to see how good I could be. The school part, that's what I wonder about. I don't know if I'm the kind of guy to be sitting in class." You have to understand Rudnick's upbringing to realize his dilemma.

Growing up in a farming environment But the 6-foot-7, 210-pound senior from Seymour High School, considered one of the state's top post prospects, isn't sure whether he wants to. For Rudnick, happiness is a hard day's work on a dairy farm. It's helping a neighbor milk cows, bale hay or feed animals. And until about a year ago, Rudnick Kerry Litscher Prep sports a huge Cubs fan. Whenever he was in the area for a concert, he wouldn't call us.

He'd put on a hat and dark glasses, stand in line for tickets and sit in the bleachers." Chicago Cubs spokesman Mike Mirabella, on Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder, who will be one of the guest conductors to lead Take Me Out to the Ballgame during the seventh-inning stretch at Wrigley Field. More on C-3. Bombers' 'Grandpa' played for Packers i 8 uj-x aa. Season mi. n' 0 opener ball is secondary.

Hobbins works in sales for Arbon Equipment in Ashwaubenon during the day. The Bombers usually practice at night, with two-hour workouts three to four times a week at Soccer Heaven, an indoor facility in Appleton. "There is less time involved now because my job (at Arbon) is not a seven- or eight-hour job, it's a Please see BombersC-6 By Patrick Murphy Jr. Press-Gazette One former member of the Green Bay Packers will take the field again in Saturday's season opener for Green Bay's newest football team, the Bombers of the Professional Indoor Football League. Jim Hobbins, one of the Bombers' starting offensive linemen, was in the Packers' 1987 training camp after graduating from, the University of Minnesota in 1987.

He was cut by coach Forrest Gregg before the season, but made it onto the hallowed ground of Lambeau Field as a replacement player when the NFL went on strike later that year. Hobbins played in all three strike games two at Lambeau before the regulars returned to play. Now 34, Hobbins is the oldest of the Bombers. He, 31-year-old center Mark Grapentine and 30-year-old wide receiver Mike White-house make up the team's thir-tysomething club. The 265-pound Hobbins said Grapentine gave him the nickname "Grandpa." Coach Mario Russo, 64, got a kick out of that one.

"If they call him Grandpa, what does that make me?" Russo asked. This time around, though, foot Wiscon Coming Friday: A preview of the Green Bay Bombers' first season in the new Professional Indoor Football League. Saturday's opener: Green Bay vs. Texas Bullets, 7 p.m., Brown County Arena, Ashwaubenon. sin Timber Ratt lers vs.

Rockford Cubbies, 6 p.m. today, Fox Cities Stadium. Grand Chute..