Frank P. Kauzlarich - Football, Basketball, Track

Inducted into Hall of Fame in 1989

Frank Kauzlarich played football for two seasons, basketball for three seasons, and ran track for three seasons. He made an instant impact, earning a starting spot as a freshman on the football team, working his way into the basketball starting lineup midway through his first year and finishing as the team’s No. 2 scorer, and winning the conference title as a freshman with a 178-foot-5 in the javelin throw.

Following his 1942 football season, all opponents named him to their all-opponent teams. In basketball, he led the team in scoring 1942-43 and 1943-44 seasons. In track, he accomplished the rare feat of being an Iowa Conference Champion three seasons. He also won the St. Ambrose Outstanding Athlete of the Year Award in 1943.

Hank Walter, a four-year member of the football and current member of the Hall of Fame, describes Kauzlarich as a person with both great athletic ability and high character. He said, “He was so nice and quiet and gentlemanly that you would never figure him to be a tough football end or an immovable basketball center. He had an amazing amount of ability, but was so modest you could never tell it from talking to him. He was as good an athlete as St. Ambrose had in the 1940s.”

His athletic career was cut short by the war. Jim Dockery, who coached Kauzlarich in both football and basketball, said, “World War II cut his playing career in half and it’s safe to assume that, even though he was outstanding while he was here, that he probably lost his two best seasons.”