Happy homecoming for Kruse, Purgolders
School honors special coach
Pam Kruse’s reputation is built on her resume as a basketball coach, but part of the reason she received a hero’s welcome Thursday went beyond the game.
To Milwaukee Washington principal Valencia Carthen, she was a shoulder to lean on during her first year as a teacher. For former all-state point guard Dee Dee Pate, Kruse has been a valuable resource during her first two seasons as the head coach at Milwaukee Bay View. Kruse’s reach went well beyond the court.
“She wasn’t just in the building at the time dealing with her girls,” said Washington’s current girls coach Brian Garner, who in the late 1980s put together a state hall of fame career for the Purgolders. “She would talk to the boys basketball team. She was more like a mother figure than a basketball coach. What it really boiled down to was she was a parent in the building.”
Kruse, of course, was also one of the greatest coaches the state of Wisconsin has seen. She won five state titles, reached seven state finals and had 587-112 record from 19752005.
Tuesday she made a rare return to Washington and was honored during halftime of the team’s 65-56 victory over Bay View.
“Things like this are uncomfortable for me, but this is home,” she said. “This has been home for so long. To see all these former students and coworkers, it was fun. Even though it was an uncomfortable situation for me, it was fun. I’m very honored.”
The return of Kruse, who normally avoids the spotlight, provided a family reunion feel to the non-conference matchup.
In addition to former players and students on hand and former players as the head coaches of the participating teams, the event brought out former Washington athletic director, baseball coach and basketball assistant Jim Hughes and former boys basketball coach Jay Kenseth.
Kruse spent most of her retired time caring for her parents.
“My parents were sick. My mom just passed two years ago, so for a good nine years I was with both of them almost daily,” she said “But I went to a couple of tournaments. I keep up with them in the paper and the kids call me and tell me, so I’m definitely in the distance watching, hoping and praying they do well.”
Thanks to Kruse’s run at the school, Washington is tied for fourth in all-time WIAA state tournament appearances with 10. The Purgolders titles in 1979, ’90, ’94, ’95 and ’96 are third all-time and the program’s run of three straight championships is just one of four such runs in WIAA history.
“I’m very much involved in my nephew’s life and my great niece and my great nephew. I’m starting to travel and just enjoy life,” she said. “But I’d be not telling the truth if I didn’t say I miss teaching and coaching.”
What Kruse witnessed Thursday on the court were two improving programs.
Washington, which won four games last season, improved to 3-4 with the victory. La’Janique Perry-Ellis finished with 16 points for the Purgolders and Sole Johnson had 15.
Garner, who was inducted into the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame this fall, is in his second year coaching the program. The team didn’t win its third game last season until late January.
Bay View, meanwhile, dropped to 4-2 despite 22 points from Amazshea Lee and 20 from Nelida Colon-Rodriquez.
The Redcats were moved up to the Blue Division of the City Conference this season after dominating the Red Division last season in Pate’s first year as coach.
“She’s had the success. She built a program from nothing to something, so I’m in that position where sometimes I need that advice,” Pate said. “I look to Pam Kruse as not only a teacher but a mentor. This is just my second year in coaching. She had 30-plus years.”