Rastal Ramblingsl: Remembering The Godfather of Wisconsin High School Basketball

In the long history of Wisconsin high school basketball, perhaps no single person has cast a bigger shadow than the legendary Jerry Petitgoue.

For over 50 years, Petitgoue, who passed away last Saturday at the age of 84, was the prolific head coach of the Cuba City boys basketball program, guiding them to three state championships, eight state tournament appearances and 29 conference titles.

His career record as a Wisconsin high school basketball head coach, including three seasons at Gratiot High School and a 52-year run with Cuba City, stands at 1,027-270 — over 350 wins more than any other coach in state history.

But that Cuba City success barely scratches the surface of Petitgoue’s legacy. He was the executive director of the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association for three decades, helping make him one of the most influential basketball voices in the state.

He helped oversee the WBCA Hall of Fame and All-State selections, along with the annual WBCA All-Star Games held at Just-A-Game Fieldhouse in Wisconsin Dells, which is as wonderful a showcase for Wisconsin’s best basketball players as you could ask for.

If you tuned into the TV broadcasts of the state boys basketball tournament, you’d hear Petitgoue on color commentary, as long as he wasn’t coaching Cuba City in Madison that weekend.

Petitgoue’s Tri-State Basketball Camp became an institution and impacted countless young players over the years, including the likes of current Wisconsin Badgers men’s basketball coach Greg Gard.

My only personal interaction with Petitgoue came back in 2018 when I was doing a story on the debate over whether to introduce a shot clock for Wisconsin high school basketball. Petitgoue was a proponent of adding the shot clock, so he was naturally one of the first people I reached out to for an interview. He was happy to oblige, was gracious with his time and provided great insight to not just his passionate personal thoughts on the matter, but the pros and cons of the issue in general.

News of Petitgoue’s passing came Saturday night when a small handful of us were still in the media room at the state track meet in La Crosse. It was a somber ending to what is one of the most fun and joyous weekends on the Wisconsin high school sports calendar each year.

It also made me reflect a little on the massive impact coaches like Petitgoue and others of his ilk can have. I’ve had the good fortune of doing stories on the legacies of Hall of Fame coaches like Dennis Uppena (Cassville boys basketball) and Joe Vitcenda (Royall baseball) and talking with the people they impacted for those stories reiterated just how much a good coach can do for those they teach.

In our area, there is of course the likes of Blair-Taylor boys basketball coach Randy Storlie and all he’s done in his remarkable coaching career. Even just this last weekend at state track, G-E-T pole vault coach Jim Burt marked the end of his nearly 30 years coaching the Red Hawks. It was plainly obvious how special it was for Sawyer Smock to share the celebration of his third-place finish in the D2 boys’ pole vault with Burt.

Coaches at this level are with athletes for a relatively small amount of time in the grand scheme of life, but they have an impact that can last a lifetime. Few illustrated that better than Jerry Petitgoue.