The Lincoln Wall of Fame has four new names added.
Mark Christenson, Eugene “Geno” Mand, Doug Free, and Don Rabas were inducted and recognized last night during the Lincoln Vs Ashwaubenon boys basketball game at the JFK.
Don’s son, Greg Rabas, recognized his father posthumously, saying his dad cherished his time as an athlete at Lincoln and also had a very successful career afterward.
Greg talked about the son of a high school coach, reminiscing and saying, “everybody in our family was involved in athletics, and it was just a great opportunity, growing up.”
Don was a standout football player who competed collegiately at Northwestern while also competing in track and field.
He earned several accomplishments, including an athletic scholarship to play football and, later, a track program founder at Kewaunee High School.
Mark Christenson was a former basketball coach and social studies teacher.
Seehafernews.com asked Christenson about the skills he gave his players that they can use after high school.
“We always said play hard, play smart, play together,” he explained. “Those are things that you can do in life, whether it be your job, whether it be with your family, etc. And I thought we had good kids that did that.”
The third inductee was former baseball coach Eugene “Geno” Mand.
He taught at Washington Jr. High School as a business teacher and coached several youth sports.
He was also Lincoln’s baseball coach following Frank Granitz.
Mand led the Ship to 223 wins in 23 years, including five conference titles, 11 regional championships, and one sectional championship, and he took students to the state tournament in 1992. “Geno” would reflect on his time when Lincoln didn’t even have a conference to play in.
“The only thing we had to play for was this regional tournament,” he described. “To keep the kids together and adopt our philosophy of dedication and hard work. And we played hard every day.”
Lastly, there was an athlete who made it to the NFL, offensive lineman Doug Free.
He explained to Seehafernews.com that he didn’t play football to earn awards, but feels that it’s nice to be recognized.
He admitted that it was tough getting from college to the NFL. However, when he arrived, he made some memories.
“We went to New Orleans,” he stated. “And I think they were 12-0 or 13-0, and the place was buzzing. It’s a great buzz there. And we ended up winning the game. And I remember that it was early on in my career, I don’t know if it was my first start, but it was early in my career, and it was just a huge game, and I remember how exciting it was.”
While at Lincoln, Doug Free was a 1st-team all-conference selection in the FRCC both his junior and senior years, and 1st-team all-state on both offense and defense as a defensive lineman and tight end.
All four athletes were recognized at halftime.
