Obituary: Milwaukee Tech's Tom Konowalski was hall of fame coach in football, baseball

You don’t know someone like Tom Konowalski without having a story to tell.

For Greg Boettcher, a longtime assistant coach to the Milwaukee Tech hall of famer, the moment actually came during Konowalski’s stint as the head coach at Milwaukee Marshall. One week after suffering a heart attack, Konowalski was back on the field, mixing it up.

“He’s out there with his walker and he was in the drills and the blocking sled knocked the walker right out of his hand,” Boettcher said. “He was on his back and everyone was all worried and he goes, ‘Aww ‘ – he had that little grumble – he goes, ‘I’m all right.' ”

“He might be the only coach in the history of football to get knocked down with a walker in his hand but got right back up.”

That moment sums up one of the City Conference’s great football and baseball coaches. Stubborn and tough, Konowalski was also passionate about coaching. He was an old-school, no-filter kind of guy who could be hard on his players but when everything was said and done would have them in his corner.

Konowalski, a member of the hall of fame for the Wisconsin Baseball Coaches Association and Wisconsin Football Coaches Association, died Dec. 2. He was 68.

“We used to walk down the hall and if we saw Coach K coming, we’d turn around and try to take another direction to class,” 1989 Tech graduate Stevie Calvin said with a laugh. “He really cared about us. He’d check on us and say, ‘You boys in class?’ and 'How are your grades.' ’

“Kono carried a big bat with us. He wasn’t abusive or anything like that, but we really respected him. He was built tough. … As a freshman (and) sophomore, you ran around the building scared of him. By the time you’re a senior, you’re trying to get a pass to get up to his class to talk to him 24-7.”

Konowalski is survived by his wife, Angela Kelly, their eight children and 10 grandchildren.

He lived in Las Vegas for the past three years. He had a pacemaker but was doing fine, according to Kelly, until a couple of days before his passing.

"He entered into what is called an electrical storm where the pacemaker and defibrillator are firing back to back and it took him out," Kelly said "He was in a coma for a couple of days and that was it."

In his heyday, Konowalski had a hand in building the rich histories of Tech's football and baseball programs. As a student, he was an all-conference player in both sports and during his senior football season of 1966 was captain for a team that won the City title. As a baseball coach, he led Tech to the 1985 Division 1 state title and was the top assistant for the Trojans squad that reached the Division 1 state football final in 1986.

He coached Tech’s baseball team from 1977-2008 and went 454-152 (.749), according to WBCA records. The Trojans were also the state runner-up in 1982 and ’83. They went to state 13 times under Konowalski, including a run of nine straight seasons.

He was inducted into the baseball coaches hall of fame in 1993.

Behind the scenes, Konowalski was active in the state baseball coaches association and, according to former Milwaukee Pulaski coach Tom O’Connell, was instrumental in the creation of the WBCA's all-star game. Locally, Konowalski and O’Connell started a Saturday league for local prep players in the mid-1980s.

“We used to call each other every night after our games and talk about baseball,” O’Connell said. “It was kind of a ritual and that went on for a number of years. He was just a competitor. He liked the competition and he expected his players and kids to be that way also. He didn’t like anything less than that.”

In football, Konowalski played at Tech for hall of fame coach Jim Richardson and as a senior was a standout lineman. He played at UW-Whitewater and after graduation returned to Tech and began working his way up the ranks of its coaching staff.

By the time the Trojans reached the 1986 state final, where they lost to Manitowoc, 28-20, Konowalski was Frank Budzisz's heir apparent. The following year Konowalski became head coach and over the years won 12 conference titles. He went 127-68 in 19 seasons.

“He’s one of those guys that there aren’t a lot of guys like him,” said Dan Brunner, a 1972 Tech graduate who is the executive director of the WFCA.  “His assistants were loyal and everyone who dealt with Kono (knew) what you saw is what you got. He was a straight shooter.”

He also remained a Tech Trojan to the end and a Milwaukee southsider at his core

Even after leaving Milwaukee, he continued to follow all the local sports teams, the City Conference and, our course, Tech. It was his wish to buried at St. Adalbert Cemetery with his parents.

A service is scheduled for Saturday at Prasser-Kleczka funeral home, 3275 S. Howell Ave. The visitation will be from 10 a.m. to noon immediately followed by a funeral service.

"Family, his children were very important," Kelly said. "Our youngest son (David) is in college at Bowling Green. He followed all the games. He remained active with his fraternity. He went to his Whitewater reunion. He was a great guy.

"Everything people knew about him remained true. He was fierce and yet he was loving. He was loyal. Everything you could imagine."