John "Fish" Fisher

John Fisher enters the Burlington Baseball HOF in 2025 for his accomplishments as a player, coach and many other contributions to the Burlington Community. John played college baseball at UW-Parkside under Coach Red Oberbrunner for 4 years from 1983-1986. He was the starting shortstop for 3 years and one of his many highlights was hitting 3 home runs in one game. His senior profile read, "John is a three-year veteran infielder for the Rangers. He sets a fine example for the younger players by the way he strives to improve every practice and hustles on every play. "Fish" covers ground into the hold very well and makes the double play easily. John hit .400 in the fall with three home runs (including a grand slam), three doubles, and 15 runs batted in (second best on the team). His continued contributions as a leader and clutch hitter will be depended upon for a successful spring campaign." During that same time period, John played 4 years of Land of Lakes with Orth Abbot/Burlington.

Prior to his college career, John was a 3-year varsity letter winner in baseball at Burlington High School. He was 1st Team All-Conference his junior and senior seasons and Co-Player of the Year in Racine County in 1982. He also played for American Legion Post 79 in 1981 and 1982. John's Burlington baseball career started in Minor League in 1974, 2 years Little League with the Burlington Checkers and 2 years Pony/Babe Ruth before entering high school in 1979. John also umpired Little League and was on the Little League Board in 2012-2013.

John has shared his knowledge of the game by coaching youth and high school athletes for many years. This includes Tee-ball (2009), Rookie Ball (2010-2011, Little League (2012-2013) and Major League (2014-2015). He coached BHS Girls Softball - JV 2 years and Varsity 6 years and was named 1997 All-Racine County Coach of the Year. From a few of the players he coached, "Even if we were bunting to get a runner over, he made you feel like you were hitting a home run because you were helping the team in the way he had asked you to." Also, "He rarely yelled. He always tried to make everything positive. If people were swinging at bad pitches, he would kind of take them aside and help them." John is currently an assistant coach to Jim Friend at Catholic Central from 2016 to present.

Several years ago, John took up photography as a hobby and it is now not only a passion but a business - John Fisher Photography - working in the areas of sports, high school senior and creative photography. He does both professional and NCAA collegiate sporting events for a sports wire service. His photos have appeared in Sports Illustrated, the New York Times, ESPN.com, ESPN the Magazine, ABC, World News Tonight, NBC News and other national publications. He is currently a freelancer for Getty images shooting Brewers, Packers, Bucks, Badgers football and basketball at Marquette.

John currently lives in Burlington with his wife Linda and children Joel and Faith. His hobbies include training and competing with dogs in agility and Nosework/scent work.

1985-86 UW-Parkside Baseball

Tom Kerkhoff

Tom Kerkhoff was an outstanding pitcher, shortstop and three sport athlete at both St. Mary's/Catholic Central and Burlington High School and joins his Dad - Richard "Smitty" Kerkhoff - in the Burlington Baseball Hall of Fame (HOF). Tom's baseball career in Burlington started in 1978 when as a key member of the Braves they won the Minor League City Championship. He moved on to star and play for Sentry and Coach Bill Schellpfeffer in Burlington Little League when the league was 9-12 years old. He started at 2nd base and pitched on Sentry as a 9 year-old before moving to short and pitching. As a 10 year-old he won the Golden Glove Award at shortstop in the famous "Stars of Tomorrow" tournament in La Crosse, WI. He was a Frank Roth All-Star as an 11 and 12 year old, Sentry team MVP, once faced 15 batters and struck out 12 against the Whiz Kids and led Sentry to the City Little League Championship in 1982. The following year his Babe Ruth League team was also city champs.

In high school, Tom played on St. Mary's/CC varsity as a freshman and pitched in the WISAA State Tournament. Sophomore year he played 2nd base and pitched on varsity. He was described by one teammate and friend as "a vacuum at shortstop, a great hitter and lightning quick on the base paths!" His junior and senior years he played short and pitched for the Burlington Demons. His junior and senior years he was First Team All-Conference, All-County and All-Area, as well as the Burlington High School Team MVP his senior year. Tom played for American Legion Post 79 throughout high school and once stole 7 bases in a DH vs. Kenosha West. Encouraged by Jack Shiestle after watching him play his sophomore year, Tom participated in the New York Mets Tryout Camp in Racine.

Following graduation from high school in 1988, Tom played one season for the Burlington Barons. He was recruited by D1, D2 and D3 colleges including interest from Air Force and North Dakota State for football, but as he shared with us, "Having been born with only 1 kidney football wasn't the right path for me. My heart and drive was playing D1 Baseball. I believed I was good enough for D1 baseball and didn't want to settle for anything less." Tom was one of about 80 kids that tried out for a few walk-on spots at the University of Wisconsin - Madison but was not selected. 1991 was the final year of baseball at UW. Like many great Burlington athletes, what followed for Tom from age 19-35 was several years of success in the Burlington Men's Softball League/Tournaments and Co-Ed Softball Tournaments with teams - Charlie Browns/Sharkey's, Miller Lite, Champs and the Hi-Liter. Tom's teams won the Burlington City League several times, several tournaments and while playing for Union Grove KCs won a State Championship as well as playing in several national tournaments. As a parent, Tom coached his daughter and sons in softball and baseball in the West Madison area.

Across other sports, Tom was 1st Team All-Conference/All-County/All-Area Kicker/Punter as a sophomore at St. Mary's/CC, 1st Team All-Conference, All-County, All-Area QB for Burlington as a junior and repeated these honors as well as MVP as a senior. In basketball, Tom played varsity at St. Mary's/CC as a sophomore leading the team in steals and second in assists, 2nd Team All-Conference/All-County/All-Area at BHS including scoring 35 points in a game against Jefferson - at the time, the 2nd highest scoring points per game in BHS history. As a senior, in addition to similar honors he was Honorable Mention All-State averaging 19.5 pts per game and Team MVP. Tom was only the second athlete in Racine County history between 1977-1988 to earn 1st Team All-County honors in football, basketball and baseball. Senior year he received the Demon Award for Most Outstanding Male Athlete.

Tom, his wife Denise and children Jenna, Kole and Tyler have lived in Madison, WI since 2004 when Tom took a job for The Bruce Company as a Production Coordinator/Head of the Organic Applications Department. Recently, after nearly 30 years in the landscape industry and deciding to slow down a little bit, Tom teamed with his wife as an independent contractor for VibeGetaways and most recently began working for the University of Wisconsin - Madison in their waste and recycling division as a route driver. Tom and Denise are proud of their children who all graduated from Madison Memorial High School and not surprisingly very good multi-sport athletes there. Jenna is currently at Marquette University studying to be a Dentist. Kole pitched for Western Technical college then graduated from UW-La Crosse with a Sports Management major. He is employed at Beacon Athletics in Middleton. Youngest son Tyler is currently studying at Western Technical College with plans to transfer to UW-Lacrosse. Tom loves to spend time with family and friends, work on the landscape in his yard, have social gatherings at their pool and watch Brewers, Bucks and Badger sports.

Paul Phillips

Paul was an outstanding youth, high school and college baseball player as well as a three-sport athlete in high school at Catholic Central. Paul's baseball career started playing for the Co-op in LIttle League where he was part of the1983 Championship team and a Ginger Beaumont All-Star. In Pony League he played for his dad, Jack Phillips, on the Orioles and Red Sox and then for Coach Bob Gerber's Blue Jays team. He recalls his first time playing at Beaumont Field as a 13-year-old against "the older guys" where he picked up his first win and hit his first home run at Beaumont Field out of the park.

Following that, Paul played Jr. Legion and Legion for HOF Coach Dick Imrie when he was 15-17 years old. He also played with a Racine Legion travel team and tournament in Cedar Rapids, Iowa against teams from all over the country and Puerto Rico. He was 2-0 with 0.00 ERA, played 1st base when not pitching and hit .500 in the prestigious tournament. Paul played four years on varsity at Catholic Central getting his first win as a freshman pitcher against University School. He remembers being so excited, "I went home to call all of my former coaches from Little League, Pony League and Babe Ruth League to share with them!"

In high school, Paul was a three-time All-Conference baseball player, two time All-Area and All-County and multiple player of the week honors from the Standard Press and Racine Journal Times. His junior year, pitching for Catholic Central they won the first WISAA State Tournament championship in school history. Senior year they finished runner-up. Paul was selected to the All-State Tournament team both years. As a three-sport athlete, Paul also excelled in football and basketball. In football senior year, he was an All-Conference, All-Area and All-County 1st team selection as a tight end and defensive end as Catholic Central finished WISAA runner-up. In basketball he was All-Conference 1st team and All-Area and All-County 2nd team.

After graduating from high school in 1990, Paul attended UW-Parkside on a baseball scholarship. He was the Rangers number one pitcher sophomore, junior and senior years and also worked out of the bullpen when not starting. He played on some very good UW-Parkside teams during that time and finished with a 16-7 pitching record. He was offered an opportunity to play baseball professionally in Germany but had to turn it down due to injury.

Immediately after his college career was over he went into coaching - having coached baseball, football and basketball at the high school level. His last coaching experience included being the pitching coach at Big Foot High School, where he also teaches, for 15 years. He also coached and assisted with many of the younger baseball teams in Burlington including when his son was going through the system.

Paul currently works as a science teacher and part of the IT department at Big Foot High School. He also runs his own Drivers Ed school. He is married to his beautiful wife Amy for the past 27 years and they have 2 children, Sam and Abby. In his free time he enjoys cheering on all Burlington, Catholic Central, Big Foot, Marquette, Wisconsin and Wisconsin professional sports teams, especially the Brewers and Packers. Paul is the grandson of legendary St. Mary's coach and Burlington sports contributor Gene Vander Beke.

Honoring 1992 Catholic Central Undefeated (17-0) Team - Conference and WISAA State Champs!

2025 Induction Ceremony Will Feature These Raffle Prizes!