History of Green Bay women’s basketball is documented in new book by Peter Kraker
...”A woman with a servant’s heart and a clear vision recruits regional girls who represent local values and forms a team that stresses academic excellence, player ownership, team ball, and intense defense. Local fans resonate with everything they see both on and off the court, and proceed to adopt the coaches, the girls, and the team itself… The template is adhered to over the next three (the only three) coaching regimes, and a dynasty is built on old-fashioned values, a love and respect for each other, and the beating heart of Green Bay beats on. Simple, yes? No. If it was, everybody would be doing it, and they aren’t. It’s not the way of the world, after all. It’s the Green Bay Way.”
Peter Kraker, author of The Green Bay Bay
Left to Right: Matt Bollant, Kevin Borseth and Carol Hammerle
This is the introduction to the newly published book, “The Green Bay Way,” written by Peter Kraker, the father of former Green Bay women’s basketball star player, Mehryn Kraker. So enthralled with the program, its tenured success (it’s one of the winningest women’s basketball programs of all-time), and its depth of tradition, Peter spent eight years, “peeling back the layers” of the storied program, interviewing nearly 100 players, administrators, family members and fans.
“My wife Colleen and I recognized early on that we had become a part of something unique in not just collegiate athletics, but American sports in general,” Kraker said.
From it’s humble beginnings at the Deckner Gymnasium before the Green Bay Campus was occupied, through 43 consecutive winning seasons (dating back to 1977-78) and playing in near sell-outs at the Kress Events Center, Kraker chronicles a program driven by passion, humor, and team-first mentality.
It’s a story that had to be told.
Donors/fans and alumni gather with the coaches on signing day of the book, ‘The Green Bay Way’
Copies of The Green Bay Way can be purchased at The Phoenix Bookstore (soon to online) for $35 with the majority of proceeds going to the Green Bay women’s basketball program. Autographed copies (by coaches Carol Hammerle, Matt Bollant and Kevin Borseth) are available for $100 donation or more, with all proceeds benefitting the women’s basketball program by contacting Kraker, Kraker.pete@gmail.com.
The Green Bay Way was prepared, edited, and formatted by The Teaching Press at UW-Green Bay, a student-managed printing house, providing hands-on learning opportunities for undergraduates to learn transferable skills in a variety of interdisciplinary fields, including writing, business and graphic design. See more about The Teaching Press. Printing is handled by Seaway Printing Company, Green Bay.
