For the Rapids City Times

WISCONSIN RAPIDS – Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln High School (LHS) has announced its 2019 inductees to the LHS Athletic Hall of Fame.

On Oct. 4, John Egge, Brendan Olinyk and Barb Mancuso will be inducted during a ceremony at 6:15 pm, prior to the varsity football game between Stevens Point and Wisconsin Rapids.

Egge

John Egge

John Egge, a 2002 graduate, earned seven varsity letters competing for LHS – four in hockey and three in tennis.  In tennis, John earned All-Conference accolades twice during his career and was team captain as a senior.  As a sophomore, John qualified for the WIAA State Tournament and helped lead the tennis team to the school’s first WIAA Sectional Championship and first WIAA State Team Tennis Tournament berth. In 2001, John was a key member of the team that won the Boys Tennis WVC Championship.

 Despite John’s considerable success on the tennis court, it was on the ice where John really made his mark.  John earned First Team All-Conference honors twice and Honorable Mention honors once, during his career.  Additionally, he was named First Team All-State as a Junior and Senior. His senior year also saw him named as team Captain and WVC Player of the Year. John was named Wisconsin’s Mr. Hockey in 2002, given annually to the state’s best player.  He finished his LHS hockey career as the school’s all-time leading scorer with 130 points – 80 goals and 50 assists – in 84 career games.

Additionally, John won the Dale Rheel Award as the 2002 outstanding male senior athlete and was a Lincoln High School scholar-athlete all four years.

He is currently a volunteer coach for the LHS Boys Hockey team and is the strength coach, athletic trainer, and team chaplain for the Wisconsin Rapids Riverkings hockey team.

 John lives in Wisconsin Rapids with his wife, Kristie and their children Avery, Ollie, and Anders.  He works as a sports physical therapist in Wisconsin Rapids.

Olinyk

Brendan Olinyk

Brendan Olinyk, a 2004 graduate, earned seven varsity letters competing for LHS – four in hockey and three in soccer.  Brendan was named a captain in both sports.

In soccer, Brendan was named Second Team All-Conference as a sophomore and First Team All-Conference as a junior.  As a senior, he was a unanimous First-Team All-Conference selection and was named Second Team All-State.  He helped lead the Soccer team to two WIAA State Tournament appearances.

Despite his accolades on the pitch, Brendan made his biggest impact on the ice where he helped the hockey team make the WIAA State tournament three times.  He was Second Team All-Conference as a sophomore before becoming a First Team All-Conference and All-State selection as well as the WVC Player of the Year as a junior.  His senior year, Brendan was again a unanimous First Team All-Conference pick and repeated as WVC Player of the Year. He was again named to the First Team All-State Team.  He was a 2004 Wisconsin Mr. Hockey Award Finalist.  Brendan was a WIAA Scholar-Athlete and won the Dale Rheel Award as the outstanding male senior athlete.

 In addition to his athletic awards, Brendan was a Lincoln High School scholar-athlete all four years and a member of the LHS National Honor Society.

After high school, Brendan played for Cedar Rapids and Green Bay in the USHL before playing at NCAA Division 1 University of Connecticut (UCONN).  He was the first hockey player in school history to play in the USHL and Division 1 hockey.  At UCONN, Brendan was a four-year letterwinner.

Brendan lives in Plover with his wife Valerie and their two children, Brian and Brody.  He is the general manager of Mark Toyota.

Mancuso

Barb Mancuso

Barb Mancuso was a coach and active community member for Lincoln High School for over two decades before retiring in 2011.

Barb began her coaching career at Cudahy High School where for six years she taught physical education and health, in addition to coaching girls tennis, poms, volleyball and girls track & field.

Her career at Lincoln High School began in 1991, when she accepted the position of head boys tennis coach.  She led the boys tennis team for 21 years during which time she guided the 2000 team to the first WIAA Sectional Championship and first WIAA Team State Tournament berth in school history.  The 2000 team was awarded the WIAA Sportsmanship Award.  In 2001, the boys tennis team won the WVC Championship. She also served as the JV girls tennis coach for 10 years before taking over as head coach in 2006, when she led the team to the WVC Championship.

When she retired in 2011, Barb had coached 38 seasons of tennis, including 28 as a head coach.  Barb was instrumental in the development of the WVC Tennis by-laws and she served two terms on the WIAA Tennis Coaches Advisory Committee.

In 1991, she started the Wednesday night tennis league.  In 1993, Barb was the impetus behind starting a WRPS summer school tennis program for students in grades K-8.  In 2005, when the LHS courts were deemed unplayable, Barb formed a committee called Friends of Tennis to fundraise for new tennis courts.  Within months, the group raised over $182,000 to fund the replacement of the six existing courts at LHS as well as the addition of three more courts.

 In 2016, all of Barb’s commitment to high school tennis culminated with her induction into the Wisconsin High School Tennis Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

Barb lives in Wisconsin Rapids with her husband, Gus.  They have three sons: John (Rebecca), Vince (Jona), and Jim (Stephanie) and six grandchildren.

Barb becomes the third member of her family inducted into the Rapids Athletics Hall of Fame, joining her husband, Gus, and son, Vince, both of whom were inducted in 2014.

For more information about the Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln Athletic Hall of Fame or for nomination materials, visit the Rapids Athletics website at www.rapidsathletics.org.