Ron Davies, head coach of the Shorewood-Messmer Co-op team, has been selected as the Green Bay Packers High School Coach of the Week for Week 1, the Packers announced today.
Shorewood-Messmer did not win a game during it's first season of existence in 2001 as the first private/public school co-op in Wisconsin, and possibly the United States. Messmer dropped it's football program in the 1980's and Shorewood was on the verge of cutting football as well due to the dwindling number of participants.
In 2002, Davies became the head coach of the combined Shorewood-Messmer squad. He and his team started 2004 off strong by guiding his team to a week 1 victory over Milwaukee South, by a score of 42-14. The team features 25 players with three assistant coaches.
"This is just wonderful for both schools involved. The fact that our kids do work so hard, because we are really promoting discipline, these kids cannot miss practice and we work them as hard as any other team. We're trying to get these kids to have a feeling of a high school football program. This award really makes it worthwhile for them for all the work they put in," commented Davies.
Davies began his coaching career at Milwaukee Messmer as an assistant coach in 1969. He moved on to Milwaukee Madison in 1971, again as an assistant. Davies took on another assistant job in 1972, this time with Kenosha Tremper, before taking over the reigns as head coach from 1974-1992.
Under Davies guidance, Tremper won three state championships: 1979, 1980 and 1991. His team was state runner-up in 1990 and 1992. He retired from coaching after the 1992 season but remained a teacher of business education through 2001 at Tremper. He taught business education for a total of 29 years. In recognition of his accolades, Davies is a member of the WFCA Hall of Fame.
Born in Grand Forks, North Dakota, Davies is a 1960 graduate of Messmer High School, where he played football, basketball and baseball. He played football at the collegiate level at St. Thomas (MN) from 1960-62 and then for the St. Norbert Green Knights in 1964. Davies graduated from St. Norbert College in De Pere, WI in 1964.
He and his wife Jane Wittig have a 27-year-old daughter, Jacqueline Davies.
The Packers will recognize one outstanding high school coach as their Coach of the Week winner during the 2004 high school football season. As a Coach of the Week winner, Davies and future recipients will be awarded several items and privileges, including a $1,000 donation to the school's football program from the Green Bay Packers and the NFL, as well as recognition of the award on www.NFLHS.com, the NFL's high school football website.
Nominations for Coach of the Week should be submitted by 9 a.m. every Monday to Cathy A. Dworak, Manager of Community Relations, at coachoftheweek@packers.com (e-mail) or by fax at (920) 569-7302. Please include the nominee's name, address, school, phone number, and reason he/she is deserving of the award.
