Max Kitzelman, my college football and wrestling coach died on Monday. His funeral will be Sat. in Fremont at the Salem Lutheran Church at 9:30 AM. Some of you coaches may remember him as a referee at the State Wrestling Tournament. He was not always liked as a referee, but was loved by all of us who had him as a coach! Larry Munn-Falls City

He refereed a lot of our matches in the 70s. To say he was "deliberate" would be putting it kindly. But you always had to like his demeanor.

Max was featured in the "Husker Century" documentry. He played for NU in the 40s, after WWII. He was close friends with the black players on that team. I think that segment said a lot about his character. I'm sure it was a privelege to play for him at Midland.

Max was a big dude,especially when I was a 98 pounder my freshman year. I remember him as a no nonsense, shoot strait official who would not take abuse, but was still very well liked by wrestlers and coaches.

A quick story, back in 73 or 74 at the Howells Holiday tourney,Max was officiating a match, and as he always did, he was getting down for a better look on a pin, and he ripped his pants up the rear.There was a quick pin, then an official timeout,because of the 'uniform malfunction'!I dont know where he borrowed the pants, but when he came back out of the locker room, it was pretty funny sight.Since max was so tall,the pants were too short, and were to about the top of his socks,almost a steve erkle look.

At another meet in Howells,Plainview was there, and some coaches were complaining that Bob Lingenfelter was not wearing wrestling shoes,(out of uniform) but after some discussion,Max ruled that he could wrestle in tennies because 'they dont make wrestling shoes that big'.

Munster,since Max was your college coach, did you know, or were you a teammate of Dennis Whitman. Whitman was my highschool coach, and a great influence on me, which was not an easy thing to do.

I didn't know Max till now , sounds like he is still with us .

Thanks !

Panther, I know Dennis Whitman very well. I see him in Auburn occasionally. I started at Noseguard for 4 years at Midland, then he came the year after I graduated and started for 4 years. He was superintendent at Southeast Consolidated before he retired. He is a good man.

I didn't mention how good of an athlete Max was. He was a 3 year letterman at U. of Neb. in football, and a Big 7 heavyweight champion in wrestling, and I believe 3rd at Nationals. He also played professional football for the Giants and in Canada.

A gentle giant. When I did my first state tournament in the middle 70's Max was there. Always concerned about the kids and the fairness of the refs. He instilled this into us younger refs, made us all better. Boy, could he tell stories.....even if his pant legs never did reach his shoes!

Max was my son's Jr Hi PE teacher at the old Arbor Heights Jr Hi (Westside feeder) so I got to know him there. For those who never saw him, Max was a giant. He was probably 60-65 years old when I met him. He was about 6' 5" and about 250 lbs. and was probably under the required 7% body fat. One night I was waiting outside the school to pick Jim up after football practice when Max came out of the building. He talked for a while then headed toward the parking lot. I looked and there was only one car in the lot, a little VW Beetle. I thought there was no way he could fit in it but he put it on like a tight shirt and drove away. I told Jim about that and he said that Max had taken the front seat out of the VW and drove sitting on the back seat.

Rest In Peace Big Guy. You did a lot of good for a lot of kids.

http://www.nswca.com/maxkitzelman.htm

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