Horseplay & Heroes: Remembering Grandpa Wildcat

By Greg Peters
Posted 1/22/25

It was so cold outside this particular January day walking into River Falls High School, my lungs hurt to breathe. The term "runny nose" was oblivious. It was frozen within five steps in the parking …

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Horseplay & Heroes: Remembering Grandpa Wildcat

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It was so cold outside this particular January day walking into River Falls High School, my lungs hurt to breathe. The term "runny nose" was oblivious. It was frozen within five steps in the parking lot. The year was 2006. As I walked inside and sat down across the table from Rollie Hall, his "Activities Director" nameplate looked out of place, like a 50-something-aged man trying to pull off wearing bedazzled designer jeans. "Activities Director" didn't quite fit Rollie Hall, who was 44 when I first met him. My first meeting with Rollie was just as cold inside as it was outside. 

Rollie looked like an "Athletic Director," not an "Activities Director." Old school. Rub dirt on it. Quit your whining. Play until you hear the whistle type of guy. That's the guy I thought was sitting in front of me. For those people having one quick sip at the water fountain of friendship with Rollie, they may agree with my first impression. For those who really knew him, the ones who stayed and filled their entire cup, their opinion was quite different.

Rollie Hall had a hall of fame rewarding laugh. It was a deep growling chuckle, like a big bear awakening from hibernation to find a barrel-full of honey on the front porch of his cave. Rollie's hair, what was left of it, always looked like it had been riding in a yellow school bus for 22 hours straight. If the thought of an "Activities Director" sign on his desk seemed out-of-place, Rollie wearing a suit and tie during graduation topped it.

And I loved him for it. All of it. Rollie Hall was all those things, but he was so much more.         

I had just started a new insurance business in River Falls in 2006. I was young, dumb, and trying to make a million bucks. My regional sales manager, Reggie Rabb, luck of the draw, was a former stud running back at UW-La Crosse back in the early 1980's. He told me it'd be a good idea to be involved in the community. He said I should throw out some mini-basketballs at a Wildcat high school basketball game and introduce myself.

"The A.D. (Activities Director) at River Falls is Rollie Hall," said Rabb. "That guy was a legend on the football field. I played against him. Man, he was unbelievable."

Reggie and Rollie could not have been more opposite. Reggie. Rollie. One black. One white. One was a running back. One, a strong-side linebacker. One wore $800 suits to work with wingtip shoes; the other, an untucked double-X Wildcat polo, wrinkled Wal-Mart khakis, and New Balance tennis shoes. Rollie was Jim Harbaugh before Jim Harbaugh was.

Rollie Hall was a three-sport athlete growing up in Cameron, Wis. Legendary UW-River Falls' Head Football Coach Mike Farley recruited Rollie to play linebacker. Farley coached for 19 seasons and is the winningest coach in Falcon football history with 117 wins and eight conference titles. Rollie Hall helped Farley win 29 games in four years from 1979-'82, including two conference championships. Coach Farley passed away in 2018 at the age of 84. His son, Mike Farley Jr., now lives in Cedarburg, Wis., and was a teammate of Rollie’s for three years.

"Rollie was a D1 player," said Farley, Jr., "but just a couple pounds shy and couple inches short. Rollie hit me so hard one day in practice when I was running the scout team quarterback; it was a good wake up call, or should I say a good night call. He was an absolute overachiever on the field and I know for a fact Rollie was one of my dad's all-time favorites because he just worked harder than everybody else."

As a senior, Rollie was a Kodak All-American in 1982 for the Falcons. He was inducted into the UW-River Falls Athletic Hall of Fame in 1995. He coached high school football at three different schools, including Lake Holcombe for 13 years, winning seven conference championships and a state title in 1988. He was inducted into the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2013.

"Rollie was a quiet leader, but he always had a chuckle about him," said Farley, Jr.

Rollie had two hall of fame awards under his belt holding up those wrinkled khakis. His rewarding chuckle laugh would make hall of fame number three for those counting.  

Rollie took the River Falls High School activities director job in 2003. Three years later, I was sitting across his desk asking him how I could be involved, code for spending some marketing dollars and forming relationships in a new town. Rollie didn't care too much about sponsorships and booster clubs. Those kinds of things were "fancy schmancy" stuff to the kid from Cameron. Rollie told the young entrepreneur sitting across his desk, "I have a rule, if you want to throw out mini-basketballs, you have to wear the Wiley mascot suit."

I will put my hand on the good book itself and tell you I could feel the old football coach in him. He was testing me. He wasn't going to make it easy. He'd throw me a bone, but I had to earn it.

Rollie absolutely believed I was going to say "thanks, but no thanks" and move to the next item on his daily agenda. To Rollie's surprise, I was ready to don the Wiley suit even though it looked like it had been sitting in the bottom of the basement since the 1970's. It looked rancid and smelled even worse. When I finished throwing out the mini-basketballs a couple Friday nights later as Wiley, I walked back to Rollie's office with him to return the suit. I was drenched in sweat when I removed Wiley's head, my face as red as a Valentine's card. That's when I heard Rollie's hall of fame chuckle. It bellowed out of the office. He laughed so hard he had tears in his eyes. I earned his hall of fame chuckle and it was the beginning of a friendship for the next 19 years.

When I was in the baseball press box helping out with the Wildcat baseball public address duties years later, Rollie would shuffle inside to say hello, likely in part, as an excuse to dodge a helicopter parent. Rollie's way of saying "hello" was squeezing both trap muscles by my neck with his big farm-hand bear hands to the point where I yelled, "Jeez, Rollie!"

He chuckled again and said, "Peters, I just want you to know I got your back."

When I was performing PA duties for a Wildcat playoff volleyball game, Rollie spoke to me in a deep baritone voice, “Now Peters, this is a playoff game and the rules say you can’t be all jacked up for one team. It has to be equal, so just keep it straight and low key for both teams.”

I cringed my nose, smiled and replied, “Rollie, the rules say be equal, right?”

“Yeah,” replied Rollie.

“So, I can be equally jacked up for both teams and all the kids then, right? The kids will love it.”

Rollie tilted his head, rolled his eyes and sternly stated with a smile, “Ok, be equally awesome tonight.”                

Rollie cared about kids and he cared about his coaches. Zac Campbell was the Wildcat boys' basketball coach for much of Rollie's tenure.

"Rollie always had a way of lightening my mood when I was elevated," said Campbell, "providing words of confidence in me when I was down and giving me a good strong fist bump when meaningful tasks were accomplished. He always had my back."

When Rollie Hall was the head football coach at Lake Holcombe (Wis.) in the late eighties and 90's, Head Wildcat Baseball Coach Ryan Bishop was in high school playing football for nearby Gilman.

"We've always had that small town bond and appreciation together," said Bishop. "I am the only head coach he had for all 18 years of his time as the River Falls A.D. He was like my coaching Dad who was always there when I needed him. His loyalty was second to none and a big reason I'm starting year 26 as a head coach."

Bishop's three daughters were always around the school grounds at one time or another when they were growing up.

"They were drawn to Rollie, as he always went out of his way to interact with them," said Bishop. "He was so giving; whether it was candy, hugs, a hard time, tips for making their dad mad, and their favorite, giving them a ride on the school Gator. He eventually became known as Grandpa Wildcat to our girls. You start coaching because you love the sport. You keep coaching because you love the people."

Bishop's daughter, Bailee, played volleyball for the Wildcats this past fall. When it was "Teacher and Staff Appreciation Night" this past October, she selected a retired Rollie Hall to honor. Rollie had been fighting pancreatic cancer for the past couple years by this time. There was no social media and no "fancy schmancy" stuff. Most people didn't even know. The day of the "Staff and Teacher Appreciation Night," Rollie had received cancer treatment the entire day. The former Kodak All-American linebacker, the guy that would knock a running back out of his cleats and help him up with one hand, had to give everything his overachieving body could muster to show up that night and finish his "Grandpa Wildcat" duties for Bailee Bishop. It would be his last time in the River Falls gym. Rollie spoke with Wildcat Head Volleyball Coach Sara Kealy in the hallway before the ceremony.

"He smiled and told me, 'Well, I picked a poor way to try and lose weight.' He still had that sense of humor even with all the things he was going through. Rollie and I butted heads sometimes because I'm super type A and he wasn't, but there was always this level of mutual respect. I’m so glad I got to see him."

After Rollie gave Bailee a hug on appreciation night, he looked Ryan Bishop right in the eyes.

"It was with a different level of seriousness I'd never seen from him," said Bishop. "His trembling 'thank you' might have been the most sincere words ever spoken to me. Just before watching him walk out of the high school doors one final time, holding hands with his wife, that moment, that image, will always hold a special place in my heart."

Roland "Rollie" Hall passed away on Wednesday, Jan. 15. He was 63 yearsold. A Celebration of Life will be held from 4-8 p.m. Jan. 30 at the River Falls Golf Club. Memorials are preferred as the family is creating a scholarship for students in his memory. Memorials can be mailed to O’Connell Family Funeral Home in River Falls. Rollie Hall loved the kids.   

"The good life is lived impacting others in a positive manner," said Campbell. "Rollie left an imprint on my life as I attempt to return the favor to others."

Thank you for the hall of fame chuckle, Grandpa Wildcat. Once a Wildcat, always a Wildcat. 

Rollie Hall, River Falls High School, Grandpa Wildcat, football, UW-River Falls, River Falls Wildcats