DICK KACKMEISTER

Dick Kackmeister was a football, baseball and basketball standout for Arthur Hill High School. The 6-foot-4, 210-pound Kackmeister was named All-Conference as a sophomore in both football and basketball. He moved on to Central Michigan College where he was on the varsity football team as a freshman in 1952. He was an offensive end/linebacker, but was later switched to center where he played for four years. Kackmeister was a second team All-American in 1953. He was named MVP of Central’s football team as a junior in 1954 as the Chippewas tied for the Interstate title with Michigan Normal as both teams turned in 8-2 records. He collected all-Interstate Conference honors three times. He also played basketball for the Chippewas and was named to the all-Interstate Conference second team in 1953-54, making it the first time ever that a Central Michigan athlete had received such league recognition. He recorded 265 points in 21 games, including 147 points in 12 league contests that season. Kackmeister was Central’s leading scorer in the 1954-55 basketball season when he averaged 19.0 points per contest. On February 24, 1955, he tallied 24 points to establish a new Central Michigan individual scoring record of 379 points in a season during a 120-99 loss to Illinois Normal. He broke the old record 365 set by Dick Parfitt in the 1952-53 season. Kackmeister was a perennial All-IIAC selection and gained honorable mention Little All-America honors his senior year. He currently ranks 18th on the all-time CMU basketball scoring list with 1,048 career points and  was the first Chippewa player to score over 1,000 career points. He graduated in 1955 and was drafted in 1956 by the Los Angeles Rams in the 20th round of the National Football League draft making him the college’s first draftee. Kackmeister was elected to CMU’s Athletic Hall of Fame in 1989 and Arthur Hill’s Letterwinner’s Hall of Fame in 1991