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Almost Famous in Milton

As Steve Stricker continues to put Edgerton on the map, joining Sterling North as one of its two most famous residents, it begged the question: Who's the most famous person to come from Milton?

Some people would probably suggest Joseph Goodrich, but I believe that the building he erected, the Milton House, has more name recognition than the man himself. Not to take away from Goodrich's importance, but once you get outside Rock County, he's not really a household name.

A lot of people say Dave Krieg, former All-Pro quarterback for the Seattle Seahawks.

Krieg, a 1980 Milton College graduate, wasn't a superstar in the National Football League, but he played well enough and long enough to compile some impressive career statistics. When he retired in 1998, he ranked in the NFL's career top 10 in a number of categories, including touchdown passes, passing yards, and wins by a starting quarterback. He's still number 10 in touchdowns, but has been knocked out of the top 10 in other categories by people with names like Favre and Manning.

A mere two years after producing an NFL quarterback, Milton College went belly up and closed its doors. For the next 17 football seasons, whenever Krieg played in a game, the announcers made a point of saying that he was from “now-defunct” Milton College. I don't think I ever had heard the term “now-defunct” prior to that, but afterward, I heard it repeatedly.

In fact, even Krieg's Wikipedia bio uses the term:

“At Milton, an obscure and now-defunct small private college in Milton, Wisconsin, Krieg began as the 7th-string quarterback for his school's NAIA team. Given the opportunity to play in the fourth game of his freshman season, he completed four passes--three of them for touchdowns--and continued to play well enough to start for the rest of his college career.”

There is only one problem with Krieg being Milton's most famous person. He's not from Milton.

Krieg grew up in Iola, and his association with the city began and ended with his college education.

So who is the most famous native of Milton?

If you look on the Wikipedia entry about Milton, the author lists four notable people from Milton:

• Leo Crowley, head of the Foreign Economic Administration
• Mike Saunders, professional football player
• George Thorngate, Distinguished Service Cross recipient
• Albert Whitford, noted astronomer. The asteroid 2301 Whitford is named after him.

I had heard of exactly one of them.

The most recent name on that list is Saunders, who led the Milton Redmen to the 1986 state football title, and later was a star at the University of Iowa and in the Canadian Football League.

Thorngate won his military medal in World War I, and other than that accomplishment, information about him on the web is scarce. However, although he resided in Milton for several years, he wasn't born here either. He was north in North Loup, Nebraska, a Seventh Day Baptist town, which leads me to believe he was involved in Milton College and the Milton Seventh Day Baptist Church, which had a strong association with the school.

However, Crowley and Whitford, despite not being household names, have the most impressive claims to fame.

Crowley rose through the business and political ranks and ended up serving in the administrations of both Franklin Roosevelt and Harry Truman. In fact, a book about him was published in 1996. It was in the pages of The President's Man: Leo Crowley and Franklin Roosevelt in Peace and War by Stuart L. Weiss that I discovered what Crowley is now most noted for – igniting the Cold War.

According to the book, Truman in his memoirs charged Crowley with “abruptly and improperly cutting off aid to the Soviet Union just as the Second World War ended in Europe, embittering Joseph Stalin, impairing Soviet-American relations, perhaps fueling the Cold War.”

Wow. And I thought I was something because I can agitate anonymous commentators with this blog. But this Miltonian managed to royally p.o. both Stalin AND Truman. Now that's a Daily Double.

After Truman's accusations, Crowley vigorously defended his actions in a letter to the New York Times, but this episode and an alleged embezzlement in the 1930's add an air of infamy to Crowley's name.

But what of Whitford? I was not familiar with Albert, even though the Whitford name is splashed all over Milton. Both the Milton College building across the street from me, as well as the historic home next door, bear the Whitford name.

Albert Whitford, it turns out, may be our winner. The man has an asteroid named after him. And he didn't have to pay $54 to the International Star Registry to get it done.

Whitford, who was born here and attended Milton College, became a groundbreaking astronomer and physicist, eventually being honored with the Bruce Medal, one of astronomy's highest lifetime honors. He also has a star measurement system named after him, the Whitford Reddening Curve. According to the University of California web site, “Whitford played a key role in the growth of U.S. astronomy, presiding over several national commissions on astronomical research.”

It's nice to know that someone from Milton can reach for the stars, and find them.