Badger Club History

What I present here will be bits and pieces that I was able to pull together from club archives available to me at this time. I hope you enjoy this and correct me if I am in error. Also, email me so I can update it with more/better information.

Hank Kulesza and Don Brick formed the Milwaukee Orienteering Club in the late(?) 70's. Hank learned orienteering in the Chicago area, and when he moved to Milwaukee started the club with Don. Hank produced some black and white maps at places such as Whitnall, Brown Deer and Minooka in the Milwaukee area. Don handled the administrative end of things and Hank the fieldwork. When Don left, Cathy Yekenewicz took over his duties while Hank continued with his.

My first experience with orienteering in Wisconsin was in the late 1970's through an ROTC course taught at the University of Wisconsin(Madison). At that time Hank Kulesza was running the Milwaukee Orienteering Club. I attended an event at Whitnall park in Milwaukee in the late 70's.

A few years later, I met Maria Miller through badminton and discovered that she and her husband Charles Worringham were creating a university orienteering club. This soon became the Madison Orienteering Club. They created the Picnic Point map and held the club's inaugural event on May 6, 1984. 74 people participated. On May 20, 1984 the Milwaukee and Madison clubs merged to form the Badger Orienteering Club. The first Night-O was held Aug 25, 1984 at Picnic Point. On Mar 28, 1984 there were 10 paid memberships.

Soon Charles and Hank had produced a map of Gov. Dodge S.P.(first used 10/20/84), and plans were being made to hold the first A-meet in Wisconsin. That event was held at Mauthe Lake on May 26, 27, 1985. 170 people participated.

The Mauthe Lake map was produced thanks to the efforts of Peter Ehnwall and Veikko Pohjola of Finland. Working with Hank they completed the Mauthe map in 1984. They were considering mapping Greenbush, but decided it was too technical for the club at that time. USOF almost didn't allow the first national event due to questions about the quality of the Mauthe Lake terrain. But Peter Gagarin(a former USA elite champion) said it was suitable and the meet proceded using courses he suggested.

Since 1984 the club had been run by Hank, Charles Worringham and Maria Miller. They moved to Michigan sometime after the fall of 1986. By 1986, membership had reached 35. Over the years the treasury had built up a war chest of up to $121. It was at $88 in August of 1986. There was an A-meet held in the late 80's. The club's third A-meet was held, Oct 19, 20, 1991.

Jan and Erv Hansen were principally responsible for getting the Kellings Lakes map produced.

At the start of 1992, Jan Hansen and Karen Biesman(now Richardson) took over under joint directorship.

An A-meet was held May 15, 16, 1993 at Kellings Lakes.

In December of 1994, Kevin Teschendorf took charge of club business. His first move was to purchase Ocad software for drafting orienteering maps. At this time, all of the club's 17 maps are drafted. In February of 1997 the Badger Orienteering Homepage was put on-line. The club now holds 8 events a year. Kevin has produced 5 new maps, Ottawa Trails and Lake Kegonsa, 1997, Lapham West in 1998, Magnolia Bluff in 1999 and Mirror Lake State Park in 2000.

In June/July of 2002, Petr Junek, a student from the Czech Republic, mapped Blue Mound State Park. In August/September of 2002, Vlastik Sebesta and Evzen Cigos of the Czech Republic fieldchecked Devil's Lake State Park, east bluff. Evzen is famous in the Czech Republic for having been the first fieldchecker to put lots of details on the maps.

In the fall of 2003, Yefim Stempler returned to Wisconsin to fieldcheck Bong Recreation Area near Kenosha, WI. He also updated the map of Elver Park.

In September of 2004, Peter Eglin(father of Michael) and his wife(Swiss) fieldchecked part of the south bluff of Devil's Lake State Park.

The club held a national event April 24, 25, 2004 at Devil's Lake, East Bluff. This event would not have been possible without the help of Michael Eglin(Swiss). He provided technical assistance with the maps, helped design courses and spent hours of time running around in the woods the weekend of the event.

In the fall of 2005, Kevin started work on a new series of maps in the Northern Kettle Moraine State Forest near Greenbush, WI. Upon completion, there should be 3 contiguous maps covering over 10 square kilometers. Currently, there is about 3 square K mapped. Work will expand this in the second half of 2006. Completion of the whole area should happen by spring of 2008.

In 2006, Kevin started work on a map in the Black River State Forest. The first installment is 4.3 square K. If we decide to map the whole area we have a basemap for, we will end up with about 16 square K.

In March of 2008, Ivar Helgesen of Norway came to Wisconsin to work on the area around Greenbush, WI. He completed a little over 5 square K of the Cat Maps. Hepcat and Cat's Pajamas are the two maps he completed. Ivar is known across the world for his work making orienteering basemaps. There is now 1-2 K left to fieldcheck in the greenbush area. I anticipate completing that and refieldchecking the cat's meow and cat's agenda maps in 2009 in preparation for what I hope will be the best orienteering event ever held in Wisconsin.

On October 23-25, an event was held that included the U.S. Orienteering Championships at Greenbush, WI on the Cat's Meow and Cat's Agenda maps. This event attracted 225 people from across the country. It was the first national championship event hosted by the Badger Club.

Hepcat by Ivar Helgesen, Norway, 2.2K^2, March 2008,

Cat's Pajamas by Ivar Helgesen, Norway, 3.5K^2, March 2008,

Wildcat Mound by kevin, USA, 4.3K^2, Summer 2006,

Cat's Meow expanded by kevin, USA, 2K^2, January 2006,

Cat's Meow by kevin, USA, 1K^2, Fall 2005,

Devil's Lake South by Peter Eglin, Switzerland, 5K^2, Fall 2004,

Bong Rec. Area by Yefim Stempler, Ukraine, 6K^2, Fall 2003,

Devil's Lake by Vlastik Sebesta, Evzen Cigos and Petr Junek, Czech Republic, 10.5K^2, Summer 2002,

Blue Mound by Petr Junek, Czech Republic, 5.2K^2, Summer 2002,

New Indian Lake by kevin teschendorf, Spring 2002,

Blue Mound State Park by kevin teschendorf, 5.2K^2, Spring/Summer 2001,

Glacial Blue Hills by kevin teschendorf, 200 acres, Spring 2001

Mirror Lake State Park by kevin teschendorf, July 2000

Magnolia Bluff County Park by kevin teschendorf, 1/2K(120acres), November 1999

Lapham West by kevin teschendorf, 1998

Ottawa Trails and Lake Kegonsa by kevin teschendorf, 1997

Lapham Peak by Yefim Shtempler, Voledya Pantsir, Ukraine, 1992

Kellings Lakes by Milos Broulik, Jiri Fencl and Jan Kaplan, all Czech mappers, 1991

Gov. Nelson and Elver Park by Milos Broulik and Jan Kaplan in 1991

Goose Lake by Tim Guetersloh, 1991

Glacial Blue Hills by Jerome Zeigler, 1987

Indian Lake by Paul LoBue, 1986

Mauthe Lake by Hank Kulesza, Peter Ehnwall, Veikko Pohjola, 1984

Picnic Point and Gov. Dodge by Charles Worringham and Maria Miller, 1984

The club logo was designed by Veikko Pohjola of Appleton with his MacIntosh computer. It shows the Badger against the background of a control marker.

This is a reprint from the first Badger Orienteering Club newsletter.

Badger Orienteering Hall of Fame

Year	# of members	President	State Champion	Night-O Champ	Scout Champ	U.S. Champ
2011		kevin	kevin
2010		kevin	kevin
2009		kevin	kevin
2008		kevin	Ioana S.			kevin(Ultra Long, M50)
2007		kevin	kevin
2006		kevin	kevin	kevin	Pack 302
2005	50	kevin	Ryan J.	kevin	Troop 5, 4 Lakes
2004		kevin	kevin	none	Troop 5, 4 Lakes	kevin(M45)
2003	50	kevin	kevin	Charlie S.	Troop 104/122, 4 Lakes
2002	40	kevin	Charlie S.	Alan H.	Troop 5, 4 Lakes	kevin(M40)
2001	29	kevin	Charlie S.	Lee T./Alan H.(tie)	Troop 5, 4 Lakes
2000	26	kevin	kevin	Janne M.	Troop ???
1999	21	kevin	Aleksander B.	Charlie Shahbazian	Troop ???
1998	33	kevin	Janne M.	Alan Holtan
1997	40	kevin	Dom Duelli	Alan Holtan
1996	34	kevin		Charlie Shahbazian
1995	31	kevin		Dan T.
1994	43
1993	62
1992	40	Karen Biesman/Jan Hansen
1991	47
1990	52	Cathy Yekenewicz/Karen Biesman
1989	47	Hank K.
1988	42	Hank K.				Corinne G.(F16)
1987	30	Hank K.				Corinne G.(F16)
1986	35	Hank K.				Corinne G.(F14)
1985	19	Charles Worringham/Hank Kulesza
1984	40	Hank Kulesza/Charles Worringham

BGR initial charter 5/20/84 -- 24

Milwaukee Area OC

Membership

Year	# of members
1980	20
1979	20
1978	40

Have undated initial charter with no number of members but signed by Hank Kulesza, probably in 1977.

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