“Sadness, but thankful for the time we got to spend together.”
Pat Geigel’s relationship began more than 50 years ago, when he was a young boy who grew into a friendship with former Roncalli High School boys’ basketball coach and athletic director Jim Kersten, who passed away this (Thursday) morning at age 88. Kersten began his coaching career at Roncalli in 1965 and hung up the whistle in 1991, winning 328 games. He continued as athletic director until his retirement in 2002. Dave Mueller succeeded Kersten as Athletic Director and tells seehafernews.com that his way of doing things holds firm to this day.
“He put a lot of time into the programs he was involved in and loved the fact that they still hold firm to the values and principles he emphasized when he began his career at Roncalli more than 50 years ago.”
Kersten also coached multiple sports at Roncalli, including cross-country, track, tennis, golf, and football. The basketball court at Roncalli High School was dedicated in his honor in 2015, and Kersten was also inducted into the Wisconsin Athletic Directors Hall of Fame in 2018. Geigel shares how he was first introduced to the man who would become more than just a coach to him and his family.
” I was shooting baskets at Holy Innocence School back in the early 1970s, and he walked over as he lived nearby and started a conversation with me, asking if I wanted to be part of a grade school program that he was putting together.” Geigel recalls. “I said I’d love to do that, and I thought, what a gentleman who took the time to ask a young boy if I wanted to be part of a basketball program.”
Geigel played for Kersten in the mid-seventies and later coached and mentored kids at New Holstein and Kiel High Schools, and became a member of The Lakeshore All Sports Hall of Fame in 2024. Jim and his late wife, Margie, became godparents to Pat and his wife Laura’s first child.
Mueller, who remains active at Roncalli High School, says it’s been a very emotional day throughout the Roncalli Family as they began the healing process of losing who many called a friend.
He clearly states that’s the impact Kersten had on so many and why the court has his name prominently displayed for all to see.
” You see that, and you understand that it’s more than just about being a great coach, but it’s an honor to signify what a great person he was.”
Mueller adds, “I’m back coaching, so every time I walk into that gym, he’ll be the first one I think about, and I’m going to give it my all to help student athletes become the best people they can be.
Seehafer Broadcasting’s Damon Ryan began covering the Jets upon his hiring in 1977 and released this statement to seehafernews.com: “He (Kersten) was always a first-class gentleman and coach who truly cared about his student-athletes. Jim lived out his Catholic faith and was a role model for others.”
Funeral services will be held for Jim Kersten next Tuesday, November 17th, at St. Francis of Assisi, Waldo site, located at 1121 North 14th Street in Manitowoc.
The Reinbold and Pfeffer Funeral Home of Manitowoc is assisting the family with funeral arrangements
