Phelps attains Hall of Fame status as long-time coach
Brian Phelps has long been an encouraging figure on the Gilman softball field – 30 years, in fact. Because of that diligence and his success with the program, the Cornell native will be inducted into the Wisconsin Fastpitch Softball Coaches Hall of Fame Feb. 11. Photo by Matt Frey
By Matt Frey
One of his first goals in applying for the job, was to bring some stability to a Gilman softball program, that, at the time, was going through a period of single-season coaches. Almost 30 years later, it’s safe to say Brian Phelps has brought more than stability to the program.
Since taking over in the 1993-94 school year, Phelps’ Pirates have won 390 softball games, and put 12 WIAA Regional championship plaques and three Sectional championship plaques into the school’s trophy case. He’s coached 54 All-Cloverbelt Conference players, 21 Wisconsin Fastpitch Softball Coaches Association (WFSCA) All-Stars, been part of six All-Star Game coaching staffs and made Gilman a small-school team that potential opponents are looking out for in most Mays, when the WIAA tournament brackets are released.
Phelps, a Cornell High School graduate, will also become a WFSCA Hall of Famer Feb. 11, as part of the four-member induction class of 2023. The Hall of Fame banquet will take place at Chula Vista in Wisconsin Dells.
Phelps said he was shocked at getting the recent call from WFSCA president and his good friend, Brad Ceranski, who now coaches at Fall Creek, and the reality of joining the list of Hall of Famers, many of whom Phelps has competed against or built strong relationships with, was still sinking in.
“I was in shock, speechless, which is pretty odd for me,” said Phelps, who will be presented by his wife, Kathy, and children, Kelly and Nick Phelps.
Phelps will become the school’s second Hall of Fame coach, joining Duane Jenson, who went into the Wisconsin Football Coaches Hall of Fame in 2013.
“My first reaction, was, I know who’s in there and I don’t belong with those guys,” said Phelps, adding that he ran into Jenson and said as much.
Jenson’s response was, “We all think that. You belong in there.”
What many of Phelps’ coaching contacts will tell you, is his induction isn’t all about the wins and losses, and onfi eld success. It’s about the time spent not only with his high school team, but the entire program and the facilities, which are among the best in the area for a Division 5 program, with three fields, the baseball field, a concession, a new pavilion and adequate parking.
“I use phrase diapers to diplomas,” said Kurt Rhyner, the current head coach at Thorp, and previously an assistant coach for several years under Phelps in Gilman. “When you’re in a district our size, you don’t just coach the high school team. Legitimately, if you want to be successful at the high school level, you need to be involved in the youth program. If you don’t have a booster club or a bigger community where they’ve got their own league, you are it. It’s what you do.”
Besides that, it’s the facilities, the time and effort that has gone into fundraising, coordinating, getting donations, getting people signed up to help build. A lot of that stuff they have out there is donated, but who coordinated all that? Phelps did. Yes, other people contributed financially, they contributed their time, but all of that needed to be spearheaded and coordinated.
“When I started here and I started as the coach, my goal was that our kids wouldn’t have to experience going winless in a season,” said Phelps. “Even when I was an athletic director, or coaching wrestling and softball, I always believed if you look good, you play good. If you have nice facilities you can be proud of, you’re going to perform better. That’s something I really worked hard at, is making sure of that and our school’s been great. I mean, rarely do they say no to something that we need.”
While Phelps retired as a social studies teacher at Gilman last spring, he will begin his 30th season as Gilman’s head coach next month, and has no timetable as for when he will hand the scorebook and lineup cards to someone else.
“That’s the ultimate question,” he said. “I think my best answer is, I’ll know when it’s time. I’ve always told Kathy if I get to a point where she realizes it’s time for me to step aside, her and I will have that conversation. Kathy, and Kelly and Nick have sacrificed a lot. They’ve always been so supportive. They continue to say, ‘You know what, dad, as long as you want to do it, keep doing it, as long as you love doing it.’ I still love the sport. I still love the kids.”
Phelps grew up on the family farm in nearby Cornell, so the lifestyle wasn’t fancy, but it was dedicated to staying busy.
“When it was family time, they wanted to do stuff as a family and that included playing in the backyard, playing ball, throwing horseshoes, gardening,” he said. “They encouraged us to be involved in sports and activities at school, whether it was band or choir, though I can’t carry a beat. My dad coached my brother and I in Little League when we came through. They came to our sporting events and supported us. I was really lucky in that way to have parents that did that.”
Immediately after graduating from high school, Phelps was pulled into coaching middle school wrestling and already had coached youth ball teams in Cornell. After a few years, it was time for a change.
“Kathy and I were running the group home for the juvenile delinquent boys, and the time was coming where we had to get out of that, with the stress level and such,” said Phelps “So I went back to school for my teaching degree and a job opened up (in Gilman), and I got hired for that for social studies and wrestling.”
Phelps then decided to coach baseball, but there were already six coaches on staff. There was, however, an opening for softball coach.
“I was like, ‘I know a lot about ball, so I guess I could give that a shot,’” said Phelps. “I applied, they hired me and that’s kind of where we’re at.”
There were 25 girls at that first practice, but not a pitcher to be found, as she graduated the year before. At first, Phelps thought the girls were pulling his leg, but it was all too true.
After starting that 1994 season, 0-7, the Pirates eventually found their pitcher in freshman Kristin Welter, who became their ace through her senior year of 1997, when the Pirates made their first big splash. Gilman went 7-11 in that first year, and got to .500 the next.
“The third year, we really started to take some steps,” said Phelps said. “Then it becomes that contagious thing, where we start saying, ‘We can do this,’ and the kids were working at it. Once we started seeing we could compete with some of these teams and the better teams, teams that had beaten us up in the past, the kids started to believe, it was fun. It still is.”
That big splash in 1997, came with Gilman’s run to the WIAA Division 3 Sectional final, which they lost, 2-1, to Seneca, after pounding Cochrane-Fountain City, 12-1, in the semifinal. On that first deep run, the Pirates beat nemesis Thorp in the Regional final, behind a big base hit by Janice (Goebel) Komanec, who was a junior at the time and is now Gilman’s volleyball head coach.
“I can remember at the beginning of that season, him taking us into his classroom, and talking with us about goals and talking about State being the ultimate goal,” said Komanec. “I can remember all of us kinda being like, ‘OK, sure.’ But as the season went on, we were competing in the (Cloverbelt) West. As the season went on, we started to buy in.”
Then once we got to the playoffs and started winning games, we were like, we think he’s on to something. I can remember the playoff game in Thorp, and how exciting it was to get that plaque and to know we were moving on, and just the excitement of getting to that Sectional.”
Phelps said he owes much of Gilman’s initial rise to prominence, to the help of Mike McMahon and Mike Wirz, two pitching experts he became acquainted with by chance, that ended up being fountains of knowledge.
He met McMahon through former Minnesota Twins hitting coach Joe Vavra, whose brother, Frank, was married to Phelps’ cousin. Phelps and some of his pitching prospects met McMahon for a session in Eau Claire.
“He worked with the girls and I’m standing right behind him the whole time, trying to glean anything I can,” said Phelps.
After McMahon lost a battle with cancer, Wirz was introduced to Phelps, helping out now and then with mechanical pitching issues at Gilman.
“He’s still my friend, he still comes to Gilman, and talks about the culture up here,” said Phelps. “He loves the Gilman kids up here. My coaching hats always have an M& M written inside, because without those two guys, we would never have been able to come close to the success our program has had, because we learned how to pitch.”
While Phelps said it’s hard to pick favorite moments from 29 seasons, that 1997 run does stand out, and, of course, there was the first Sectional championship in 2002, when the WIAA went to four divisions and Gilman broke down the door, by winning the Sectional in Shell Lake. The Pirates also added Sectional titles in 2006 and 2019.
“All of those moments are special,” said Phelps. “Those moments stick out. But some of the coolest things, are the memories with the kids when you get invited to weddings and graduations, or when you see a kid somewhere and they give you a hug.”
Phelps said there are also those times when kids thank him for all the help, and with confidence and those sort of things.
“It’s the laughs and the smiles, and the kids and all of that,” he said. “The most rewarding part is the kids. It always comes back to the kids.”
No one gets to a Hall of Fame without help along the way and Phelps said he’s fortunate to have gotten plenty from some of the state’s best.
But the No. 1 source of assistance, is his wife, Kathy. “She has been there every step of the way,” said Phelps. “She’s bought into the insanity. Team photographer, bus driver at times. Van driver, cookie maker, and the one that can look at me and be that person to be totally honest.”
In 30 years, girls softball in Wisconsin, has certainly changed and Phelps has had a front-row seat to watching its improvement.
“Women’s fastpitch has come so far,” said Phelps. “The pitching technology, techniques with the fielding, slap hitting and bunting, the small ball. You can’t even compare it.”
Along with all the coaching assistance, there has also been the support from the small community of Gilman, that Phelps said is huge.
“When you come over to Gilman, the passion and support from the school, the administration, the parents, the community, is second to none,” he said. “When times are tough, you have those people that are there to pick you up and remind you why you’re doing it, and when times are good, they’re there. I’ve been blessed to coach a lot of great student-athletes. They have that good, hard-work ethic. They love what they do. We can have fun doing it. I think it’s a culture thing. It’s cool, it’s been cool and it continues to be cool to be a part of.”
