PdC High School Athletic Hall of Fame welcomes Class of 2025

By Derick Kelly

The Prairie du Chien Athletic Hall of Fame helped kick off the 2025-26 school year this past Friday, Sept. 5 when the class of 2025 was inducted at halftime of the Prairie du Chien - Platteville football game. Launched in 2000, this year’s class marks the 25th class into the PdC Athletic Hall of Fame (no inductees in 2020 due to Covid-19) and making up this class are three individuals - Cathy (Kozelka) Ryan, Scott Reilly and Brian Slaght (coincidentally all members of the PdC High School Class of 1977) and one team - the 1976 Prairie du Chien Football team.

Cathy (Kozelka) Ryan was a four-year letterwinner of the girls track and field team and as well a member of the cheerleading team. Ryan still holds the school record in the 100 Meter Dash (then yards) having set it as a junior in 1976 at 12.1 seconds and is a member of the record-holding 400 Meter Relay team (alongside Jean Duve, Wendy Goodman and Julie Halverson) with a time of 50.1 seconds set in 1977 and the 800 Meter Relay team (along with Duve, Halverson and Kelly O’Brien) with a time of 1:46.1, also set in 1977.

Individually, Ryan finished third as a freshman in 1974 at the Class B State Meet in the 220 Yard Dash, third as a junior in 1976 in the 100 Yard Dash (11.7 seconds) and the 220 Yard Dash (25.3) while also placing as part of the 440 Yard Relay team (along with Janet Bushnell, Trish Hermsen and Cindy Kozelka) that placed third in a time of 51.9 seconds and the 880 Yard Relay team (with Halverson, Liz Lochner and Ellen Otteson) in second place in 1:47.9 in 1975, the 1977 Class B State Champion 440 Yard Relay team alongside Duve, Goodman and Halverson in 50.1 seconds and the Class B state runner-up 880 Yard Relay team with Duve, Halverson and O’Brien in a time of 1:46.6.

She was the second ninth grader to place at a state meet in school history (after Ann Mulrooney the year prior) when she did so in 1974. Ryan remains one of just 17 athletes in Prairie du Chien High School Athletic History to place as an individual at a state meet as a ninth grader.

Ryan is one of three PdC graduates (Duve and 2025 graduate Blake Thiry) to currently hold three or more PdC track records. Ryan qualified for the state track meet a total of 8 times (three times individually, five times as part of a relay) during her high school career. Since 1978, only Thiry (11 times) has qualified for the state track meet eight or more times for Prairie du Chien.

Ryan was also a seven time conference champion in track, winning four as part of a relay team and three individually, including both the 100 and 220 Yard Dashes in 1976. She remains the only 100 Yard/100 Meter Dash conference champion in PdC Girls Track history. The PdC Girls Track team won the Conference, Regional, Sectional and State Championships all four years of her track career.

Since high school, Cathy worked as an ECG Technician at Madison General Hospital before working her way up to the Secretary for the Dean of the UW School of Pharmacy. She also worked 30 years as a Letter Carrier for the United States Postal Service in Madison.

Scott Reilly was a two-sport letter winner for Prairie du Chien, earning letters in basketball and baseball. He was a second team SWAL Basketball All-Conference selection as a junior in 1976 and a senior in 1977. He was named to the La Crosse Tribune’s All-Tribune Boys Basketball Team in 1976 (Honorable Mention) and 1977 (Second Team) and as an Honorable Mention All-State Selection by United Press International in 1977. Complete stats for Reilly in basketball were not available as of press time.

For as good as Reilly was on the hardwood, he might’ve been even better on the baseball diamond, as in 1977 he became the first Prairie du Chien male athlete ever be named First Team All-State in any sport when he named a First Team All-State Outfielder by the Wisconsin Baseball Coaches Association. PdC would not have another male athlete named first team in any sport until 1998 when Jason Krogman was named to the Football First Team Offense as a Place Kicker by the Associated Press. Much like in basketball, complete stats for Reilly in baseball are not available as of press time.

The third and final individual inductee for 2025 is Brian Slaght. Another member of the PdC High School Class of 1977, Slaght was a four-sport letterwinner for the Hawks. He lettered in football, boys basketball, baseball and golf. In football, Slaght was the 1976 SWAL Most Valuable Player and First Team All-Conference selection at quarterback as a senior. He was named to the La Crosse Tribune’s All-Tribune Football Second Team as a quarterback. 

Slaght was also named an Honorable Mention All-State Selection by the Associated Press at defensive back and United Press International at quarterback, the only PdC Football to earn All-State recognition at two different positions in the same season until Blake Thiry in 2023 (Honorable Mention Tight End/Fullback and Outside Linebacker) and 2024 (First Team Running Back and Honorable Mention Outside Linebacker) by the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association.

Stats wise in football, Slaght threw 15 touchdown passes in his career (all in the 1976 season). Those touchdown passes were program records for most TD passes in a career (broken by Nate Henry in 2001 with 26) and single-season (broken by Chandler White in 2008 with 19). Both records were tied by Jeff Nack in 1980 and are currently seventh all-time in program history.

He threw four touchdown passes against Lancaster in 1976, which remained the program record until 2008 when White broke it with five against Viroqua. It remains tied for the third highest total in program history. Slaght completed 13 passes in that game against Lancaster in 1976, another program record until broken by Henry in 2001. Those 13 completed passes against Lancaster went for 252 yards, a program record for most passing yards in a single-game until 2001. If that game against Lancaster in 1976 wasn’t impressive enough, he also intercepted three passes on defense to tie a program record that has stood since 1941. He also scored six rushing touchdowns as a senior. He was a member of the 1975 Co-SWAL Champion and the 1976 Conference Championship teams.

On the basketball court, Slaght was a member of the 1975-76 team that went 22-2, winning the SWAL Conference Championship before advancing to the Class B State Tournament and the 1976-77 team that went 21-3 en route to repeating as SWAL Conference Champions before finishing as the Class B State Runner-Ups for the first time in program history. He was named team captain as a senior before being named Honorable Mention All-Conference by the SWAL Conference and Honorable Mention All-Tribune Basketball by the La Crosse Tribune in 1977.

Since graduation, Brian has been a licensed WIAA Official in Football, Basketball and Volleyball and has worked two state tournaments in basketball (1999 and 2000). He is going on his 44th year of sports officiating.

The 1976 Prairie du Chien Football team went 10-0 overall and 6-0 in the SWAL Conference during the regular season to qualify for the first ever WIAA State Football playoffs. By winning their final game of the 1975 season and their first 10 games of the season, the 1976 team set a then-program record with 11 consecutive wins. It remains tied for the second longest winning streak in program history.

The Prairie du Chien defense allowed just 93 points the entire season, including posting shutouts four times in five games (including back-to-back games twice) in the middle of the season. From September 17 to October 15, the Hawks outscored their five opponents 186 to 6. For the entire season, the Hawks offense would set a new program record by scoring 361 points. This record would stand until 2008 when the Hawks scored 454 points. In fact, the Hawks have scored more than 361 points in a season just three other times - 2018 (374 points), 2022 (395 points) and 2024 (560 points).

The Hawks shared the 1975 SWAL Conference Championship with Viroqua before claiming the SWAL Conference Championship outright in 1976. The back-to-back SWAL Championships were the first back-to-back conference titles in football for PdC since 1940 and 1941. The 1976 Hawks saw their season come to an end in the Class B State Semifinals when they were defeated 21-7 by Iowa-Grant (with future PdC Football Head Coach Duane Bark) at UW-Platteville.