Northwest Wisconsin is heavily represented in the 2009 class of inductees to the Wisconsin Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

High school coaches include Rich Roginski of Eleva-Strum, Dan Pedersen of Elk Mound; Bob Miller of Fall Creek and Lon Wilson of Bloomer. Rick Bowen of UW-River Falls represents college coaches and in the special category of past stars are Mickey Crowe and Dick Cable, city residents, and Chippewa Falls native Nate DeLong.

Roginski coached 29 years at Eleva-Strum, 23 as head coach. His teams won 14 Dairyland Conference titles and he took four teams to the state tournament. That included the unbeaten 2008 team that went 27-0 and won the state title.

Roginski's 24-2 2007 team was runner-up; the 2006 team (24-2) lost in the semis and in 1990, the Cardinals were runner-up with a 27-1 record.

Roginski, who posted an overall 358-144 record, is a graduate of Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln High School and UW-La Crosse. He is presently a volunteer assistant at UW-Eau Claire.

Pedersen grew up in Eau Claire and was an all-around athlete at Eau Claire Regis, where he earned 12 varsity letters, and UW-Eau Claire as a football standout.

He began teaching and coaching at Elk Mound in 1974 and took the head basketball job in 1979. In 25 years he has coached 10 conference champions and two state tournament runner-up teams. His overall record is 385-176. He was inducted into the Football Hall of Fame in 2003.

Wilson coached four sports at several schools in 40 years and spent 20 years as the girl's basketball coach at Bloomer. His 376-123 basketball record includes 12 conference championships and three state runner-up teams (1990, 1992 and 2000).

Wilson, a native of Turtle Lake who graduated from UW-River Falls in 1969, also held coaching positions at Glenwood City, Menomonie and Rice Lake.

Miller ranks as one of the most successful junior varsity coaches in the state. In 42 years his teams piled up a 520-166 record, setting the table for legendary head coach Ron Schultz for nearly 30 years and later for current head coach Rick Storlie.

A standout player at Augusta in the late 1950s, he graduated from UW-Eau Claire in 1964. Among his team's accomplishments are 51- and 41-game win streaks and 31 winning seasons. He also served as head baseball coach for 20 years.

Crowe, son of legendary and Hall of Fame Coach Marty Crowe, made headlines in the 1970s with his scoring exploits at St. Nazianz JFK Prep. As a senior, he averaged 41.5 points at 42 percent, mainly outside shooting, to lead the nation.

A wizard at ball-handling and jump shooting, Crowe set season and career scoring records to gain all-state honors. He played college ball at Silver Lake of Manitowoc, UW-Fond du Lac, St. Norbert and UW-Superior. That was after he turned down a scholarship to play at Minnesota. He lives in Eau Claire.

Cable earned all-state honors at Stevens Point in 1951. He played four years of basketball, butting heads with Minnesota's Chuck Mencel from Eau Claire. He set 16 Badgers scoring records and his career total stood as tops from 13 years.

He was an outstanding all-around player and played in Badgers alumni games until the age of 72 in 2007. He also played in local recreation leagues. Cable has served Northwestern Mutal Financial Network in Eau Claire for more than 30 years.

DeLong led Chippewa Falls with an 18-point average in 1943 when scoring had yet to burst on the scene. In three years he scored 605 points. He attended UW-River Falls after the war and became an all-American, leading the nation in scoring and tallying as many as 72 points in one game.

Bowen, a former Badgers assistant, coached at UW-River Falls from 1987 through 2006 compiling a 265-249 record that included some exciting games with UW-Eau Claire's Ken Anderson.