Manitowoc Lincoln boys tennis coach Bob Feller is retiring after 50 years

MANITOWOC – Bob Feller was on a temporary one-year contract teaching psychology at Manitowoc Lincoln High School in 1974 when the Ships boys' tennis coach gave an unexpected speech in his office.

Steve Contardi left the state to pursue his love of tennis and knew Feller was a likely candidate for the coaching position.

“Contardi brought over a big box of tennis information and told me that since I was the only one who really knew tennis, they would probably ask me to do it,” Feller said.

Feller would end up teaching at Lincoln for 36 years, including 35 years in the English department, and is retiring at the end of this season after 50 years as a tennis coach.

“It’s either dedication or stupidity, I’m not sure which,” Feller said with a laugh about his long coaching career. “It was a really long one-year contract.”

Feller was inducted into the Wisconsin High Tennis Coaches Association Hall of Fame and helped continue the storied tradition of boys tennis at Manitowoc Lincoln.

Under his leadership, the Ships were section champions 11 times and conference champions about 20 times.

Bob Hagenow, a 1997 graduate of Manitowoc Lincoln, played for Feller and was his assistant for eight years before taking over the West De Pere program eight years ago. He made it clear what the legacy of the long-time coach is.

“He’s Manitowoc,” Hagenow said. “He is the benchmark and a legend. He is considered nationally one of the greatest coaches of all time.”

Ryan Manis graduated seven years after Hagenow, but was just as enthusiastic about his former coach.

“He created winners,” Manis said. “Once he gets the train going in one direction, it’s difficult to get off.”

As unlikely as his coaching career began, his introduction to the sport was as fortuitous as it was as a child growing up in Antigo.

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Feller says his friend taught him the sport during the summer of eighth grade and even loaned him a racket. After Feller became familiar with the sport, he lost a playing partner.

“I beat him regularly, so he stopped asking me to play,” Feller said with a wry laugh.

With friends on the tennis team, Feller saw them shoveling the tennis courts in late winter and decided to help out, but received a warning from the Antigo coach.

“He told me, 'Feller, when you pick up the shovel, you're on the team,'” said Feller, never one to shy away from hard work. “I helped clear out the courthouse and the rest is history.”

Both Hagenow and Manis say Feller never lost his work ethic as a worker.

“He told us to get our red lunch box and igloo cooler because we were going to work,” Hagenow said.

More history from Manitowoc Lincoln:50 years ago, the Manitowoc Lincoln Ships entered the WIAA basketball history books

Manis, whose two younger brothers also played for Feller, added:

“He always told us to prepare our packed lunches and he set to work with us,” Manis said. “Coach Feller studied the game, knew the game and loved it. He was my best coach ever, in any sport.”

Feller wanted to do nothing less than his best and realized that after 50 years it was time to step down.

“At 73, it’s harder to be on the field for several hours at a time,” Feller said. “I think 50 years is a good number and my body is telling me, old man, it’s time.”

Feller's legacy lies not in conference or section championships or Hall of Fame plaques, but in the love of sports and learning that he instilled in the countless young men and women he taught in the classroom and on the tennis courts.

Hagenow has been in charge of his own program for nearly a decade, and when he faced his mentor at a meeting last month, he said he felt like a teenager again.

Manitowoc Lincoln boys tennis coach Bob Feller is retiring after 50 years

By Lady Rose

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Manitowoc Lincoln boys tennis coach Bob Feller is retiring after 50 years

By Lady Rose

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