The Ord High School Athletic Hall of Fame ceremony will take place on July 7, 2018 to induct two athletes, one coach and a team.
The athletes being inducted will be Lyle Christensen, Graduating Class of 1968; Doug Welniak, Graduating Class of 1983. Coach Helmut Brockman will be inducted, he coached from 1934 – 1940 and the team being inducted is the 1987 Football Team with a record of 11-1.
The Induction Ceremony will take place during the Alumni Banquet.
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INDUCTEE BIOS — Courtesy of Ord High School Athletic Hall of Fame Board of Directors
Lyle Christensen, son of Harold and Deloris Christensen, was active in Ord High School Sports from his freshman year in 1965 through his senior year in 1968.
His sports at OHS primarily centered around his brilliant career in basketball. He was first-team All Central 10 Class B for his junior and senior years. Lyle lettered four years in basketball and was a three-year starter. He had a three-year total of 808 rebounds and 1,109 total points for an 18.4 points per game average. He played in Class B State Tournament basketball games in 1965, 1966, and 1968. In 1967 he was listed in the National Basketball Magazine as being in the Top 500 high school basketball players in the country. Also in 1967, he participated in University of Nebraska coach Joe Ciprianos basketball school in Lincoln. Coach Cipriano chose lyle to be on the all-star team and was specifically assigned to play against University of Nebraska team player Nate Branch, who later played for the Harlem Globetrotters.
He also lettered in cross country and track. In Lyles senior year he was student council president, a member of the National Honor Society, Valedictorian, and Outstanding Senior Boy. Lyle then enrolled at the University of Nebraska, where he completed his B.S. in civil engineering and M.S. in environmental engineering and worked in both lincoln and Omaha as a professional environmental engineer for over 44 years before retiring in November 2017.
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Doug Welniak was a three sport athlete for the Chanticleers from 1980-1983. As a basketball player, Doug earned 3 letters and he earned 4 letters as a member of the track team. In addition to winning 4 letters, Welniak also qualified for the state track and field meet his junior and senior years. During his senior year he was a member of the 3200-meter relay that set the school record at that time.
However, football was the sport where Doug really excelled in high school as well as college. In addition to being a 3-year letter winner, Welniak also received several all-conference, all-area, all-state honors. As a junior he was a member of the G.I. Independent Super Heartland team, all-conference as a running back and linebacker, and honorable mention all-state in the Omaha World Herald and Lincoln Journal Star. His senior year he was an all-conference linebacker, a member of the G.I. all-area team as a linebacker, all-state selection by the Omaha World Herald, Lincoln Journal Star, and the Associated Press, and he was selected to play in the 1983 Shrine Bowl. After high school he continued his football career at the University of Nebraska Lincoln as a walk on. He earned 4 letters as a Husker playing on special teams as the wedge buster on the kick off team. His senior year he was awarded a scholarship and a starting position as a linebacker on defense. He was also selected a defensive co-captain (with Neil Smith) by his teammates his senior season.
Doug graduated from Ord in 1983 and from UNL in 1988 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and was hired by Caterpillar Inc. where he is still working today.
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The 1987 Ord Chanticleer Football Team Class B #4 finished the regular season undefeated at 9-0, and the playoffs 2-1, falling to the eventual State Champion, Broken Bow, in the Semi-final round. Ord had earlier defeated Broken Bow in game #8 of the regular season. The Chanticleers finished as Central Conference Champions, where #4 in the Omaha World Herald Class B final ratings behind Broken Bow, Elkhorn, and Wahoo, and #2 in the Grand Island Independent area Class B rankings.
Thirty two team members were lead by 11 seniors and Head Coach Dave Shrader, assisted by Carl Streeter, Paul Machal, and Clayton Steele.
Team Members: Jason Cetak, Gabe Knapp, Keith Stoltenberg, Steve Trump, Chad Murray, Mike Mason, Troy Warner, Korey Johnson, Joey Ptacnik, John Beran, Roger Rogers, Aaron Loft, Cory Petska, Derek Glendening, Scott Benda, Terry Warner, Dale Lewin, Shane Steele, Jason Augustyn, Bruce Schmitt, Troy Kokes, Bryan Scherbarth, Shawn Ingraham, Steve Klimek, Chris Kohlar, Lance Hastings, Bryon Hoevet, Benney Schamp, Brian Griffith, Jason Wentz, Jesse Nelson, Joey Ptacnik, Wayn Womack, Richard McKenney, Tim Arnold, Ray Nelson, Roger Cook, Kelley Hoppes.
Head Coach: Dave Shrader
Assistant Coaches: Clayton Steele, Carl Streeter, Paul Machal
All State: Jesse Nelson
All Central Conference Offense: Mike Mason, Joey Ptacnik, Jason Augustyn, Bruce Schmidt, Jesse Nelson.
All Central Conference Defense: Jason Wentz, Scott Benda, Jesse Nelson, Chad Murray.
All Central Conference Specialist: Joey Ptacnik, Punter; Korey Johnson, Kicker
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Helmut F. Brockman coached football and basketball from the fall of 1934 to 1940 and track from 1937 to 1940. Under Coach Brockman, OHS sports teams rose to unprecedented levels of success.
Born in 1907, Helmut Brockman grew up in Elmwood, Nebraska. He later attended Peru State College where he was all-conference in football and basketball. As a coach he was highly successful at Valparaiso and Edgar High Schools before coming to Ord where he built a football dynasty with undefeated teams in six years. Highlights included a 40-game unbeaten streak which included a 30-game winning streak, 7 conference titles (OHS competed in two conferences) and back-to-back perfect seasons in 1937 & 1938. The Omaha World-Herald gave the 1938 football team a No. 2 All-State final ranking behind only Class A Lincoln High
In basketball, Brockmans teams were highly competitive winning five conference titles in six years while posting a 69.8% winning percentage with a record of 74 wins and 32 losses.
Brockmans track teams excelled with 4 individual State Champion gold medalists, 3 silver medalists and 4 bronze medalists.
Team honors included the 1938 State Champion pentathlon team and a 2nd place State pentathlon team in 1939. The regular track team won six conference titles, placed 4th at State in 1938 while competing in Class A and placed 3rd at State in 1939 competing in Class B. After six memorable years in Ord, Brockman was hired by Kewanee High School in Illinois and stayed there the remainder of his career.
Helmut Brockman died in 1981.