Mr. Kading has been an important asset to Potosi High School athletics for several years. He has greatly impacted student-athletes at Potosi, but not everyone knows the full story of how he ended up here.
Ron Kading attended high school in Oshkosh, WI, where he shared that there were over 3,000 students in the high school. He said he played baseball in high school. He attended college at UW Oshkosh and started coaching at age 19 with the Oshkosh boys baseball program. Mr. Kading began applying for teaching positions and somehow everything fell into place just how it was supposed to.
He had just begun applying for various teaching positions when Potosi Schools called him and offered him an interview. He told his summer boss he had to take a few days off for a job interview in “Potosa” - he didn't know how to pronounce Potosi. He realized that his boss had connections with the principal and superintendent, and everything worked out. Mr. Kading was only 23 when he started teaching elementary physical education at Potosi. He also started coaching shortly after arriving in Potosi.
Coach Kading has been involved in sports since 1977 and has coached various sports: boys basketball, girls basketball, baseball, softball, and multiple roles with football and volleyball stats. “When I was coaching, we never had eight-hour days; every day was a twelve to fifteen-hour day.”
Mr. Kading coached baseball for over 50 years and said, “I look at it as kind of a gift because I've been able to work with the best boys and girls in the school.” Mr. Kading started coaching girls' basketball in 1988 and began helping with softball during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. At Potosi, he took teams to state five times for high school baseball and two times for high school girls basketball, including Jamie Nebel's senior year.
Mr. Kading's hard work and love for sports has never gone unnoticed, and he has even been asked by various other towns and travel teams to help out. He retired from his elementary gym teaching position in 2012 after 35 years, but he has never retired from coaching. He says he still enjoys “hanging around kids who enjoy what they are doing and are willing to work at being successful. Just being around kids who want to have fun.” For him, this is the best part of coaching.
Some of Mr. Kading's favorite memories are winning a state baseball championship in 1993 and winning his first conference championship in 1985 when the team slid in mud puddles after the game. Another is from 1987, the first year they went to state after winning the sectional championship. The team and coaching staff jumped into a lagoon to celebrate.
His advice to student-athletes is to “enjoy the time you have, because tomorrow is not promised to anyone, work to be a good teammate, and most importantly have fun.”