West Bend, Wi – The West Bend Baseball Association will hold its 2026 WBBA Hall of Fame Induction on November 14 2026. The evening celebrates the people who make baseball work in this community: the players, coaches, volunteers, umpires, and supporters who show up year after year.
“We’re bringing back our traditional event after seven long years of fundraising and rebuilding Carl M. Kuss Memorial Field,” said WBBA President Willie Mueller. “We’re excited to sit down and celebrate all the people who help make this game great here in West Bend and across Southeast Wisconsin.” More than a dozen awards will be presented and for the next week we will highlight some of the recipients.
Ryan Rohlinger is the most decorated athletic talent ever to emerge from West Bend, a multi-sport prodigy who reached the pinnacle of professional baseball and stands as one of the most accomplished athletes in the history of not only West Bend and Washington County, but the entire state of Wisconsin. Rohlinger graduated from West Bend East High School in 2002.
His prep career was nothing short of extraordinary. Playing under legendary WBBA Wall of Fame coach Doug Gonring, he earned his first team all-state recognition in baseball, football, basketball and tennis and in his senior year a feat that had never been accomplished in Wisconsin prep history and in all likelihood will never be again. The WIAA named him the 2001-2002 State Scholar Athlete of the Year.
In football, he was first team all-state as a wide receiver in his sophomore season and as a quarterback in both his junior and senior seasons and still holds more than 40 school and state records, including the highest single-game receiving yardage total in Wisconsin prep history, 292 yards on 11 catches versus Wisco in 1999 and the 10th highest total passing performance, 28 for 50 for 474 yards versus Oconomowoc in 2001. In baseball, Rohlinger was Wisconsin State Player of the Year in 2002 and all-state selection each of his four years and a key contributor to two WIAA state championship teams at West Bend East 1999 and 2002, helping compile a four-year record of 110 wins against 21 losses. After high school, Rohlinger bet on himself, committing to Clarendon Junior College in Texas, earning junior college All-American honors after he hit .455 with 20 home runs and 91 RBI.
Rohlinger transferred to the University of Oklahoma, where he started at third base and served as team captain in 2006. That summer, he was named MVP of the prestigious Cape Cod Baseball League Championship Series, helping the Yarmouth Dennis Red Sox claim the league title. Selected in the sixth round of the 2006 MLB draft by the San Francisco Giants, Rohlinger made his major league debut on August 13, 2008 and went on to play for San Francisco through 2011.
In 2009, he was recognized as the best defensive third baseman in the Pacific Coast League. In 2010, he earned a World Series ring with the Giants. His number 17 jersey was retired by West Bend East at a boys’ basketball game ceremony on December 23, 2008.
Rohlinger is a proud member of West Bend’s Miller Baseball family. His uncle, Willie Mueller of West Bend West, pitched in the major leagues for the Milwaukee Brewers. His cousin, Mike Mueller of West Bend East, pitched in the Atlanta Braves organization.
His brother, WBBA Wall of Fame member Adam of West Bend East, was an All-American at Concordia University, Wisconsin. And cousin Daniel Mueller was an All-American at Concordia University, Wisconsin. Ryan Rohlinger stands as West Bend’s greatest athletic product and an enduring symbol of what his community’s commitment to the game can produce.
