Roster and Accomplishments From The 1981-1982 Season
In one of the most impressive seasons ever compiled by a high school forensics team, the 1981-1982 Webster Club broke out in a big way and dominated their competition both in Wisconsin and across the country. In June, the team brought the National Forensic League Championship back to Marquette and in the process set at least eleven national records. The 1982 Flambeau provided particularly in-depth coverage of the “Return of the Webster Club.”
Many would call the year 1982 the “Return of the Webster Club.” The team not only won the State Debate Tournament for the first time in five years, but returned the title “Best in the Nation” back to MUHS.
But those familiar to the club know that the club never really left. Sure, it hasn’t won the national title since 1977, but the team was always in contention. Last year the club won the Catholic Nationals and placed second at the Grand Nationals. The past history of success, however, caused some to ask “What happened?”.
This year’s club was determined to remove any doubt of Marquette High excellence. The debate team began the onslaught against local competition. The team won the vast majority of its meets and placed high in the rest. The Varsity debaters traveled literally coast-to-coast in search of competition. They debated in tournaments in New York City, Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Atlanta, Detroit, Chicago and Los Angeles. The debate season climaxed with a sweep of the national qualifying tournaments. Chris Roe and Rick Schmidt began the sweep with a victory at the State Debate Tournament over Eau Claire North. Two weeks later, Paul Choi and Doug Binzak defeated St. John’s Military Academy to win the District Tournament.
The Marquette High Speech team met with equal success. The team took 25 people to the State Speech Tournament. Twenty-four of them reached the semifinals. Sixteen reached the final round. Marquette then won three of the four events that would qualify them for Nationals. So awesome was the team that one-third of all contestants in the final round were from MUHS. As a whole, the team won its second straight State title and, by the most in the history of Wisconsin speech. If you thought that was good, listen to the results from the District Tournament. Marquette won every event it could. No other school in the country did that. In total, there is no doubt that this Webster Club did not simply return, but established themselves as the best in the State.
—Flambeau, 1982
Roster of Students & Coaches
Coaches
- James Copeland - Director
- Ron Krikac
- Edmund Fish
- Paul Grebe
Students
- Phil Jennings
- Rick Schmidt
- Chris Roe
- Doug Binzak
- Michael Hughes
- Dave McBride
- Dan Murphy
- Brendan Rowen
- Paul Choi
- Mike Uy
- Tim McMahon
- Glenn Chung
- Paul Schmidt
- Victor Gerhardstein
- Rob Kroll
- Dan Idzikowski
- Rob Finely
- Tom Russell
- Jamie Lampertius
- Mike Roddy
- Chris Conrad
- Marcel Lachenmann
- Chip Cannon
- Andy Turner
- David McGuire
- Tony Scaduto
- Jim Reinhart
- Lincoln Fowler
- Chuck Desmond
- Jim Owczarski
- Pat Purdy
- Ed Lynch
- Keith Joung
- Winston Anderson
- Mike Krispinsky
- Matt Fricker
Team Accomplishments
At the Grand National Tournament in San Francisco, Marquette’s Webster Club proved they were more than the best in the country. They were the best ever!
Marquette won its unprecedented eighth Grand National Sweepstakes title in record breaking fashion. In winning their eighth title, Marquette shattered the old title of 86 cumulative rounds of speaking or debating (set by MUHS in 1971) by 48 rounds, accumulating at the end of one week a record 134 rounds of competition. The squad, comprised of State or District champions, qualified a national record twelve contestants for the National Tournament. In addition, the team’s performance enabled Marquette High to become the only school ever to win for a third time the Tau Kappa Alpha trophy which is annually awarded to the school accumulating the most rounds of national competition. In doing this, Marquette won the trophy by the largest total ever. Director of Forensics for Marquette, Mr. James Copeland, became the first coach to surpass 1,000 rounds of national competition. And coaches Ron Krikac, Edmund Fish (MUHS ‘80), and James Copeland won Coach of the Year honors. In sum total, the team set at least eleven national records.
The winning Webster Club team was comprised of:
- Paul Choi - 8th Place in Boy’s Extemporaneous Speaking
- Doug Binzak - 5th Place in Boy’s Extemporaneous Speaking
- Michael Hughes - 8th Place in Boy’s Extemporaneous Speaking
- Chris Roe - State Debate Champion
- Phil Jennings - State Original Oratory Champion
- Rick Schmidt - State Debate Champion
- Mike Uy - State Dramatic Interpretation Champion
- Chris Conrad - 11th Place in Humorous Interpretation
- Keith Joung - District Lincoln-Douglas Debate Champion
- Rob Kroll - District Original Oratory Champion
- Tony Scaduto - 2nd Place in Original Oratory
- Andy Turner - State Humorous Interpretation Champion
Almost lost in the excitement was the team’s success at Catholic Nationals held in Detroit. Most of the National qualifiers also qualified for Catholic Nationals with the addition of four extremely talented underclassmen. Charlie Cannon and Brendan Rowen competed in debate while Lincoln Fowler and Chuck Desmond entered in speech. There were some great individual achievements. Senior Phil Jennings placed fifth in Original Oratory and Paul Choi took fourth place in Extemp. In a fantastic finish, Lincoln Fowler placed third in his event as a freshman. As a team, the squad placed second only because rules only allowed points to be tallied from three entries.
—Flambeau, 1982
Sweepstakes Awards
- 1st Place - National Forensic League National Tournament
- 2nd Place - National Catholic Forensic League National Tournament
State and District Awards
- State Champions in Policy Debate - Chris Roe & Rick Schmidt
- State Champion in Dramatic Interpretation - Mike Uy
- State Champion in Humorous Interpretation - Andy Turner
- State Champion in Oratory - Phil Jennings
- District Champions in Policy Debate - Doug Binzak & Paul Choi
- District Champion in Lincoln-Douglas Debate - Keith Joung
- District Champion in Original Oratory - Rob Kroll
National Awards
- 2nd Place in Original Oratory at NFL Nationals - Tony Scaduto
- 4th Place in Extemporaneous Speaking at NCFL Nationals - Paul Choi
- 5th Place in Boy’s Extemporaneous Speaking at NFL Nationals - Doug Binzak
- 5th Place in Original Oratory at NCFL Nationals - Phil Jennings
- 8th Place in Boy’s Extemporaneous Speaking at NFL Nationals - Paul Choi
- 8th Place in Boy’s Extemporaneous Speaking at NFL Nationals - Michael Hughes
- 11th Place in Humorous Interpretation at NFL Nationals - Chris Conrad
National Tournament Locations
National Forensic League:
University of San Francisco, California
National Catholic Forensic League:
Detroit, Michigan
National Policy Debate Resolution
Resolved: That the federal government should establish minimum educational standards for elementary and secondary schools in the United States.
Photos
Click on the following photos to view a larger version. If you are able to provide a caption for any of the photos currently missing one or are able to correct a captioning error, please email Bill Batterman. Original, high-resolution scans of the photos are also available by contacting Bill.
The Webster Club: (back row) Phil Jennings, Coach Paul Grebe, Rick Schmidt, Chris Roe, (fifth row) Doug Binzak, Michael Hughes, Dave McBride, Dan Murphy, Brendan Rowen, Paul Choi, Mike Uy, Tim McMahon, (fourth row) Glenn Chung, Paul Schmidt, Victor Gerhardstein, Rob Kroll, Dan Idzikowski, Rob Finely, (third row) Tom Russell, Jamie Lampertius, Mike Roddy, Chris Conrad, Marcel Lachenmann, Chip Cannon, Andy Turner, (second row) David McGuire, Tony Scaduto, Jim Reinhart, Lincoln Fowler, Mr. Ronald Krikac, Chuck Desmond, Jim Owczarski, (front row) Pat Purdy, Ed Lynch, Keith Joung, Winston Anderson, Mike Krispinsky, Matt Fricker. (Apologies for the poor scan… the team photo spanned two pages in the yearbook. ~ BB).
The 1982 National Champions: (standing) Chris Roe, Andy Turner, Phil Jennings, Rick Schmidt, Chris Conrad, (kneeling) Tony Scaduto, Rob Kroll, Keith Joung, Doug Binzak, (sitting) Mike Uy, Paul Choi, Michael Hughes.
Doug Binzak displays some of the intense concentration that helped him win the District Tournament along with partner Paul Choi (below).
Paul Choi displays some of the intense concentration that helped him win the District Tournament along with partner Doug Binzak (above).
Doug Binzak displays his oratorical skills while trouncing Pius at the District Tournament.
Webster Club debaters take a break at Butler University in Indiana: (left to right) Matt Fricker, Doug Reid, Keith Joung, Chris roe, Charlie Cannon, Rick Schmidt, Rob Kroll, Rob Finley, Brendan Rowen, Tim McMahon.
Zoom in guys! Hey, zoom in! (Paul Choi, Rick Schmidt?, and Doug Binzak).
Unknown.
Chris Roe and Rick Schmidt hard at work with Martha Klosterman of Princeton HS, Ohio.
Mr. Ron Krikac practices with two of his best students—Hans Siegel and Bob Kroll.
Paul Choi and Doug Binzak load their sport coupe and prepare to take off into the lush Los Angeles wilderness.
A look at the majestic Redlands University campus.
The picturesque mountains of Redlands, California mar this snapshot of Paul Choi and Rick Schmidt.