Kenneth Anderson Appointed Head Basketball Coach at WSU-EC

  Print Story
  Download PDF

Posted: Thursday, April 18, 1968 at 6:20 PM

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (UWECBlugolds.com) - Kenneth Anderson will replace Bill Zorn as head basketball coach for Wisconsin State University-Eau Claire, Dr. James Rice, athletic director, announced today. Zorn is retiring after 40 years as head basketball coach at the University.

Anderson, thirty-five years old, will be the fourth person to serve as head coach of basketball in the more than 50 years the sport has been played here. He comes to his new post from Wausau Senior High School where his teams have won 67 games while losing only 22-during the four years he has been there. In two of the four years he took his team to the State Tournament in Madison. He has never had a losing season, winning seven conference championships, plus five second place finishes and one fourth place. He is a 1955 graduate of Eau Claire State University where he was active in sports during his undergraduate years. He also starred in high school sports at Abbotsford, his hometown.

Anderson has been coaching for 13 years, starting at Auburndale High School right after graduation from Eau Claire where his teams won 30 games and lost 14 in the two years he was there. He coached at Plymouth High for a year in 1957-58 where his team won 16 games while losing only three. He coached at Superior Central High from 1958 to '61 and then served a year in the army at Fort Lewis, Washington, and coached the Fort Lewis Rangers which won the United States AAU Championship. He returned to Superior after military service where he remained two more years, posting a win-loss record for that school of 85-31. In 1964 he became head coach at Wausau. All told, his high school teams have played in the Wisconsin State Tournament in Madison in 1959, 1963, and 1967. His overall record during 13 years of coaching is 239 wins to only 75 losses. He has also coached football and baseball.

Coach Anderson earned his bachelor degree from Wisconsin State University- Eau Claire, the master in physical education from the University of Wisconsin, and is working on the doctorate. He also is licensed in guidance and counseling.

In addition to his activities in coaching and counseling, he has participated in numerous coaching clinics and basketball camps. He presently operates the Badger Basketball Camp near Woodruff, Wisconsin, where he has helped train boys who are distinguishing themselves in college sports. Among the "alumni" of his Camp are Jim DeCremer of Eau Claire and Gary Loose of Neenah, who are playing for the University of Wisconsin, and the following: Chuck Dodge of Ellsworth at Kansas University; Tom Henner at Louisiana State; Larry Edwards of Wausau at East Texas, and Jim Nordrum of La Crosse Central now at Drake.

Ken expects to move his family, consisting of his wife, the former Gloria Jensen of Eau Claire, and his 11-year-old son, Jeff, to Eau Claire soon. Mrs. Anderson is an alumna of Wisconsin State University-Eau Claire.