Former South Milwaukee AD, Coach Teff Dies At Age 68

Update: Here is the obituary. Services are Monday in Middleton.

South Milwaukee schools lost a respected leader this week.

Jim Teff died Wednesday at age 68, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. See the story here. From it:

“People looked at him with certain reverence just because of all the things that he accomplished at South Milwaukee,” Muskego AD Scott Kugi said. “He had been athletic director of the year a couple of times and was really connected with the Wisconsin Athletic Directors Association and the (national association) and with that comes street credit.”

Teff coached football, wrestling and track at South Milwaukee from 1967-’75 before focusing on his role as athletic director, a job he assumed in 1973. He retired in 2001 but remained active with the National Interscholastic Athletic Administrators Association, serving as program director of the association’s Leadership Training Program.

He was president of the NIAAA board of directors in 1990 and was inducted into the NIAAA’s first hall of fame class in 2009.

Kugi first worked with Teff on the early configurations of the Southeast Conference in the early 1990s.

“He and I spent a lot of time on the phone and behind the scenes working through that and then eventually South Milwaukee did get realigned with Muskego in that next evolution of the Southeast Conference, the 10 teams, so I had the opportunity to work shoulder to shoulder with him,” Kugi said.

“In those days I kept my mouth shut and learned an awful lot from just listening to guys like him and Don Dalton from Burlington and Scott Lindgren from Kenosha.”

Did you know Mr. Teff? Post your comments below … and keep the Teff family in your prayers.

2 Comments

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2 responses to “Former South Milwaukee AD, Coach Teff Dies At Age 68

  1. Norm Klug's avatar Norm Klug

    My name is Norm Klug. I played college football with Jim at LaCrosse and with the Racine Raiders and West Allis Spartans. I also was a faternity brother with Jim and roomed with him at LaCrosse for a few years. I was an AD in WA state and hooked up with Jim a number of times at national AD conventions. He was a great man and a great friend and teammate. I have hundreds of Jim Teff stories all which have made me laugh over the many years. He certainly was loved by many of us and will be greatly missed. Our prayers will certainly go out to his family in their loss. Love you Jim and you will always be in my memories.

  2. Pingback: Teff Gymnasium: Honoring A Local Legend « South Milwaukee Blog

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