Consider John F. Kennedy's "Art is not freedom from discipline, but disciplined freedom." Okay, but what does art have to do with Falcon sports?

In the case of UWRF Hall of Fame member Paul Cudd, Jr., known as Pauly, there is a strong connection. Cudd, a 1999 graduate of UWRF and River Falls native, says that weightlifting helped him develop discipline and reach goals in both football and wrestling, the two sports he excelled in during his high school days at RFHS and at UWRF. He also is strongly interested in the art of glass blowing, which takes discipline. "It's the competitiveness of it, the step-by-step process" to improvement, he says. "Every time I go to my studio, I'm so glad to be there I say, 'hello glass studio!’”

In his first year of wrestling at RFHS Cudd won only one match in his 154-pound weight class. He credits Coach Ron Wunrow for encouragement and push. At that time Cudd sometimes got into trouble he said, and praises coach Wunrow for helping him "correct my delinquent self." Pauly steadily improved in wrestling and football and gives high praise to football coaches Bill Halverson, Tom Linehan, and wrestling coaches Dave Amdahl and Wunrow for their constant help and support. During his junior and senior years of high school he won all conference awards in football and was all-Northwest his senior year; Cudd also won a number of regional and sectional wrestling awards, which were all topped with a state wrestling championship at 185 pounds his senior year, along with Mike Jenkins who won just moments later that evening at #Hwt to become the first ever state wrestling champions for River Falls.

After high school Paul was recruited by all the Wisconsin state schools plus St. Cloud, Mankato and North Dakota State. But he had just married his high school sweetheart Debbie Larsen, which made enrolling at UWRF sound like a good idea. So legendary Falcon football coach Mike Farley, offensive line coach Newt Greaser, and Falcon great wrestling coach Byron James, were all eager to recruit a guy with a gaudy high school record such as Cudd's. It was Farley's second year of guiding the Falcon football squad and "we were not very good" Pauly says. By the time he had finished four years under Farley's tutelage the Falcons were much better. Cudd had earned first team all-conference awards as an offensive lineman plus garnered district recognition. In wrestling, he finished second in conference as a freshman and then became the Wisconsin State University Conference champion his junior year before helping Coach James win a team conference championship his final year with an individual fourth place finish.

One organization which "had a big influence on me" was the River Falls Quarterback Club, Cudd says. At the weekly Monday evening gatherings, both the Wildcat coaches and Falcon Coach Farley discussed their most recent games and upcoming contests. They would show film clips of their most recent games and one clip of which Farley was most proud showed Pauly flattening a La Crosse player with a head in the chest block. Farley made his admiration for Cudd apparent. After showing the clip, he remarked that Cudd "would not only knock you down on the football field, he would also step on you." He added that "If I were in a fox hole during World War I would want Pauly Cudd there with me."

Cudd did not get his degree during his four years of athletic eligibility because of credit deficiencies, but later had the opportunity to take glass blowing courses at the University and gained his credits towards graduation in 1999. He also was developing a strong interest in the arts, especially glass blowing. "I always liked art," he says. Cudd's support has always been strong from his whole family. "Anything I needed, my dad helped me find a way to achieve it, he traveled everywhere I went. (Brothers) Randy and Jeff were role models who set standards for me."

Wife Debbie and Paul have a successful glass blowing studio on Quarry Road. Not only has Cudd been an athletic standout (named to both the UWRF Hall of Fame and River Falls High School Athletic Hall of Fame), he has contributed to the community by organizing a youth center which was located on Main Street and ran from 1989 to 2001, spent many years with Dave Black working with youth wrestling, kept his teaching certificate current, plus he has been a volunteer fireman for 42+ years. You're sure to find Paul Cudd somewhere around the River Falls community; he's a fixture to say the least.

Paul wants all current high school athletes intending to enroll at UWRF to know how much fun it was for him to play football as a Falcon and wishes them all well knowing he will be cheering them on.

Earlier was a discussion of discipline and how it relates to athletics and art. Consider this quote from Dennis Rodman: "Chemistry is a class you take in high school where you learn 2 plus 2 is 10 or something." Rodman, a great NBA rebounder, defender and later a professional wrestler, enjoyed the playfully witless role and was obviously a disciplined athlete. Being rather undisciplined and apathetic myself, I like the question from some unknown coach to one of his players who had made a bone-headed mistake: "Was that play because of ignorance or apathy?" The kid's response: "I don't know and I don't care." Appropriate answer.