APPLETON, Wis. — A father/son duo were honored with the 2016 Bob Wurdinger Athletic Service Award.
Little Chute residents Butch and Andy Vandenboogard were presented with the award at halftime of the Feb. 17 men’s basketball game against Carroll University.
Butch, the father, and Andy, the son, have been hooked on Lawrence athletics since the early 1990s and have rarely missed a football or basketball game since.
“I’m reading the newspaper on a Saturday morning back in 1992, and there was a game at the Banta Bowl,” Butch said. “My son was very, very young. I packed my son in the car, and we had so much fun we went to the next one and then to the next one and it just went on from there.”
Butch said he and Andy have missed just five home games since 1992, and the Vikings have played more than 110 home games in that stretch. The guys latched on to Lawrence basketball starting with the 1996-97 when the Vikings captured the Midwest Conference championship behind star guard and now head coach Joel “JoJo” DePagter.
“I remember going to the (Midwest Conference) tournament and that got us hooked on basketball,” said Butch, adding that he and Andy have missed fewer than 10 basketball games since then.
“It’s a father-son thing and we enjoy it. For my son and I, that’s our common ground. We love sports, and we enjoy going to the games, watching the kids come and go.”
The award was established to honor Wurdinger, a Kaukauna native and long-time Lawrence assistant football coach. Wurdinger, who has been a tireless advocate for Lawrence athletics for more than four decades, received the first award in 2006.
Other winners of the Wurdinger Award are: Chuck and Cinny Reff, Ken and Carole Ebert, Joe, Clyde and Jeanne Kieffer, Don Strutz, Dick Knapinski, Jerry Podair, Joy Jordan, Paul Wilke, Chuck Merry and Rick Peterson.