Manitowoc native and Lincoln High School graduate, Jeff Ploederl, helped coach the U.S. Men’s Basketball team to the Gold medal at the World Games for the Deaf, recently. Jeff and Jimmy Newsom coached the U-S team to a 105-77 win over Lithuania in the championship game in Lublin, Poland. The two of them also played & won gold for the U-S in 1997 in Copenhagen, Denmark. The medal win qualifies the U-S Deaf team for the Deaf Olympics in two years.
Ploederl was a very accomplished basketball & tennis athlete for the Ships and he’s since been inducted into both the Lincoln Wall of Fame and Lakeshore All-Sports Hall of Fame. Jeff now returns to Arizona where he’s the Athletic Director of Phoenix Day School for the Deaf.
