GHS adds stars to Hall of Fame

State titles, school records, bringing a sport to prominence and being recruited by legendary University of Michigan coach Bo Schembechler are just some of the highlights of the sports careers of this year’s Grafton High School Athletic Hall of Fame inductees.

‘What I call a grinder’

Sadie Nennig, a 2010 graduate,  was the swim team’s most valuable player four times. She won the 100-yardbackstroke in 2006 and came back from having mono to defend her title in 2007. She was runner-up at state in the 200 individual medley in 2006 and 100 backstroke in 2008, set multiple school records and was captain for two years.

Nennig was “what I call a grinder,” her coach Adan Burgos told the crowd at Friday night’s induction ceremony at the school. “She’d show up early; she’d stay late. She’d push herself every single day.”

Burgos moved Friday practices to 5:30 a.m. so he would have the night off. A few swimmers kept showing up before their coach did. “Amazing dedication,” he thought.

“Later I learned it was really so they could get out of the pool earlier so they had time before school started to do their hair.”

Nennig praised her parents’ support and remembers a state youth meet led to a furry addition to her family.

“I’ll never forget when they made a bet with me that if I won a race at 10 and under state, we’d get a puppy. Well, I won, and that’s how we got our family dog Buckley when I was in fifth grade,” she said.

At Emory University, Nennig won four straight Division III national titles and four national event titles. She earned 17 All-American honors, third most in program history.

Nennig went on to become a physician and works in the pharmaceutical industry.

‘Made wrestling relevant’

Jim Stewart , a 1994 grad, went undefeated in wrestling during the regular season as a senior and finished fourth at state.

Fellow Athletic Hall of Famer Jeremy Fischer was a freshman who wanted to follow in his footsteps, and three years later won the school’s first state title in the sport.

“Jim asked me to do this speech because he and I made wrestling relevant in Grafton in the ’90s,” Fischer said.

Stewart couldn’t attend the event because of wrestling — he was coaching his son and daughter at a state youth tournament.

Stewart said he fell in love with wrestling in kindergarten and wrestled year-round.

“Summer wrestling builds winter champions,” he said in a video message.

He went on to wrestle in the newly formed program at Concordia University Wisconsin in Mequon and became a conference champ, most valuable player and the first wrestler in school history to win matches at the college national tournament.

Stewart became a physical therapist but wrestling remained part of his life. He helped form the Cedarburg Matdogs, then the Grafton Raptors youth wrestling clubs.

He still coaches all ages today.

“Wresting has taught me how to fight. Coaching has taught me how to lead. And physical therapy has taught me how to heal. But it all started right here at Grafton High School,” he said.

‘An amazing leader and caring teammate’

Sara Grange, a 2013 graduate, was part of six outdoor and four indoor school records in track. She won conference titles and qualified for state in six different events over three years.

That, her coach Kevin Kriegel said, isn’t what most sets her apart.

“What stands out the most was her desire and passion to always improve while leading others on this journey. She was an amazing leader and caring teammate who wanted to always do what was best for the team,” he told Ozaukee Press.

Grange excelled in sprints and field events.

Sprinters, she said, “weren’t exactly eager to push past that one-minute mark of effort, and one season we were caught taking extra long water breaks at the local coffee shop during what was supposed to be a long run. So therefore we were relegated to monitored long runs on the track,” Grange said in a video message.

Her favorite event was the 1,600 relay, and  Grange said she was happy that her team’s school record was recently broken.

“It’s so cool to see a new generation of girls moving the baton forward for Grafton High School,” she said.

Grange earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and works in wildlife conservation. She gave up sprinting and now runs marathons.

‘Believe in yourself’

1978 grad Mike Lemirande’s family moved from Milwaukee to Grafton when he was about to enter eighth grade, sparked by his father’s trip to the village to pick up a blueprint for his job at American Motors.

“God works in mysterious ways,” he said.

“I showed up to Grafton with my purple bell-bottoms and my high shoes and my wild shirt. And by the way, the hair was long.”

He wasn’t accepted right away but later learned to fit in after mentors, including his Uncle Woody Glime taught him to “believe in yourself and never be bullied.

“And I’ve carried that with me through my 40-year career in business, at Grafton and at the University of Michigan to talk about not bullying people. Believe in yourself and support people,” he said.

He was linebacker and tight end for legendary Grafton coach Kip Cramer, and was named first-team all-state on defense as a senior. He was one of 23 players signed by Schembechler, and he played in five bowl games at linebacker, including three Rose Bowls for the University of Michigan.

He and Schembechler often talked one-on-one, but only about 5% about football.

“He talked about being a leader, being a good person, mentorship,” Lemirande said.

He still texts his college linebackers coach Dennis Brown every week and remains friends with his high school academic adviser. 

Lemirande wanted to get into coaching, but Schembechler told him to pursue a career in business. He went on to travel the world in a 40-year career in supply chain logistics with a Fortune 500 company and started a mentorship program at Michigan for football players to transition from their sport to business.