RIPON, Wis. - Ted Scalissi '47 is one of the most versatile athletes in Ripon College history, earning First Team All-Conference honors three times in both football and basketball, before going on to play both sports professionally. He also competed on Ripon's track & field team. Scalissi earned the Jack Dempsey Trophy during his senior season, awarded annually to Ripon's most outstanding student-athlete. He was inducted into the school's Athletics Hall of Fame in 1982.

Playing during one of the few eras of Ripon College athletics that was interrupted due to wartime, Scalissi was selected to the Little All-America team as a quarterback in 1941 and again in 1946, after returning from World War II. During his three years with Ripon's football team (two before the war and one after), Scalissi led the Redmen to a 12-10-2 record, highlighted by a 5-0-1 record and the 1941 Midwest Conference Championship during his first year with the team.

It wasn't uncommon for Scalissi to score all of his team's points in a given game playing both quarterback and kicker, as was the case in a 10-0 victory over Coe College in 1941. In that game, Scalissi scored on a 95-yard touchdown run, adding the subsequent extra point, and kicking a 29-yard field goal. Prior to his death in 1987, Scalissi recounted his most memorable moment, coming against Carroll College during that same season.

"With just four minutes remaining in the game, I grabbed a kickoff and raced 101 yards for a touchdown to help us win the game by a score of 7-3," said Scalissi.

Scallasi's collegiate career was interrupted by army service during World War II, which saw him serve 17 months in the European theater. During the war in Germany, Scallisi was hit by shrapnel in the left leg, back, hands, and face, and received a field commission as a first lieutenant. He returned to Ripon in January of 1946 with a Purple Heart and Bronze and Silver Stars to his name.

Scalissi plunged back into athletics enthusiastically at Ripon and showed no sign that the long layoff and war wounds had affected his abilities. Against MWC opponents in 1946, he averaged seven yards per carry and 33 yards per punt, while completing 43 percent of his passes for an average of 17.6 yards per completion. Ripon scored 11 touchdowns against MWC opponents in 1946, with Scalissi playing a role in all but two of those scores.

Just as devastating on the basketball court, former Beloit College star and Wisconsin basketball coach John Erickson tells a story about playing against Scalissi when they were rivals in the MWC.

"Before one game, Coach Dolph Stanley told me to watch Scalissi and 'don't let him get around you,'" Erickson said.

Erickson did and Scalissi didn't. But Scalissi dropped back and popped in eight long shots in the first half. Stanley was furious.

"I thought I told you to guard Scalissi," the coach said.

Erickson responded, "I did. He didn't get around me once."

When spring track season rolled around at Ripon, Scalissi racked up points for the Redmen in the 100-yard dash, pole vault, and long jump.

After graduation, Scalissi was drafted in the National Football League (NFL) by the Green Bay Packers with the 151st pick in the 17th round, ahead of future NFL Hall of Famers such as Tom Landry and Art Donovan. Ultimately, Scalissi decided to accept a more lucrative offer from the Chicago Rockets of the All-American Football Conference (AAFC).

Weighing a slight 157 pounds in his first game with the Rockets, Scalissi's lack of bulk didn't faze Rocket Coach Jim Crowley, who rose to fame as part of Notre Dame's legendary Four Horsemen in the 1920s.

"Potentially, Ted has the ability to go all the way to a touchdown," Crowley said at the time. "He needs only a start, and he's loose."

Not to be outdone, Scalissi also played professional basketball, signing with the Oshkosh All-Stars of the National Basketball League, which was a precursor to the National Basketball Association (NBA). He had quite a week during the summer of 1947, signing with both the Rockets and All-Stars in a seven-day span. Scalissi helped the All-Stars to a consolation victory in the World Professional Basketball Tournament in Chicago in 1948. 

One highlight of Scalissi's professional basketball career came when Oshkosh defeated the Fort Wayne Zollners, which is known today as the Detroit Pistons. Scalissi scored 16 points in that game, with the majority of them coming on long set shots.

A native of Madison, Wis., where he starred at Central High School, Scalissi went on to have a successful High School coaching career at Plainfield, Mosinee, and Two Rivers. He also served as Head Football Coach at Milton College in Milton, Wis. from 1963-69 and is a member of the Wisconsin Football Coaches Association (WFCA) Hall of Fame.

Scalissi also was one of Wisconsin's most respected basketball officials for more than 35 years, officiating thousands of games throughout Southern Wisconsin, including four times at the Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association (WIAA) State Tournament.


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