Two men were inducted into the Great Bend High School Hall of Fame Saturday. The induction ceremony took place between the varsity girls and boys basketball games, but inductees Jeff Langrehr and the late Willmar “Bill” Bledsoe were also lauded at a luncheon that afternoon in the Jack Kilby Commons Area at GBHS.
GBHS Activities/Athletic Director David Meter read the biographies of the inductees. Those bios were published in the Great Bend Tribune last December when the selections were announced and can be read online at https://gbtribune.com/news/local-news/gbhs-hall-fame/.
Langrehr graduated in 1982 and later became a teacher and coach in Great Bend schools. Overall, during his 22 years as head baseball coach and 15 years as head basketball coach at GBHS, he amassed 562 wins, eight Final Four appearances and four state championships.
Bledsoe (1921-1989) was a star athlete at Great Bend High School in the 1930s, earning varsity letters in football, basketball and track.
He set a state record of 23 feet, 2 inches for broad jump in 1939 that was not broken until 1960 and it was a GBHS record until 2010. In college, he had numerous highlights at USC and his touchdown reception against Notre Dame in 1941 was shown on a Universal Newsreel in movie theaters across the country. He also served his country honorably as a Marine Corps officer from 1943 to 1974, retiring as a colonel.
Bledsoe’s son-in-law, John Colonna of Norfolk, Va., accepted the award for the family and shared photos and the infamous newsreel.
Bledsoe’s mother Emma kept a scrapbook of all of her son’s athletic accomplishments, so Colonna was able to show ribbons he won at a school meet between Riley and Washington elementary schools. His research also turned up numerous stories from the Great Bend Tribune.
“The whole city gets excited” when a team is winning, Colonna said, and in 1937 the Tribune reported that home games often drew crowds of 2,000 to 3,000 spectators.
“He was a man of incredible integrity and great humility,” Colonna said of Bledsoe. “He would be so embarrassed to be here today.”
Bledsoe was buried with full military honors at Quantico National Veterans Cemetery following his death in 1989. He was survived by his now-deceased wife Shirley Freeman Bledsoe, whom he married while at USC, and their two children. His son William T. Bledsoe lives in Leavenworth and his daughter Teresa Bledsoe Colonna lives in Norfolk, Va. There are eight grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren.
Langrehr also expressed humility at being inducted into the Hall of Fame. “It’s truly the greatest honor of my life,” he said.
“The players and parents do so much, and that’s what it’s usually about,” Langrehr said. “You’re only as good as your players are.”
Many local friends and former colleagues were in the audience, but the Langrehrs also had family members who traveled a great distance to attend the ceremony. Jeff and wife Sherry now live in Raymore, Mo., where he continues to coach. Their son Conner is a coach who resides in Overland Park and their daughter Mckenna, an avid marathon runner, lives with her husband Ryan in Boston, Mass.
