Hall of Fame
Francis "Fran" Hicks was selected for the Northland College athletic Hall of FAme because he certainly had an outstanding career as an athlete, but not solely because of that. Fran is a worthy addition to the Hall of Fame for having also brought recognition and honor to his alma mater during his distinguished career as a coach and educator.
Fran attended Northland College from 1946-1948. He was one of what Northland historian Nathaniel Dexter called the "stream of returning veterans, " the G.I.s who swarmed Northland in the post-World War II years. Fran arrived for the second semester in the 1945-46 academic year, just in time to join the basketball team. It was during the next two seasons that he team truly jelled. Along with fellow Northland Hall of Famers Orrin "Red" Marx, and Duane "Tweet" Jensen and the other returning vets, Fran helped lead the Northland five to a dramatic turnaround in one of the program's most successful seasons- a 14-5 record in 1947-48. Overall, Fran was a three-year started and served as captain of the Lumberjack cagers in his senior year. A defensive standout, Fran usually guarded the opposing team's best player - and always its best scorer - even when he encountered a significant height disadvantage, one that sometimes amounted to seven inches.
He successfully completed his bachelor's degree at Northland, graduation cum laude in 1948 with majors in mathematics and history, all the while raising four children with his wife, Helen. That earned him the nickname "Daddy," affectionately bestowed upon him by his teammates. It seems only fitting that all four of the children who lived with Helen and Fran in the Northland Vets Court went on to graduate from Northland. Their fifth child also attended Northland and married a Northland graduate.
Fran spent the majority of his career life after Northland as a math teacher and baseball coach in the Ashland Public School system. As the Ashland High School baseball coach, he developed a program widely acknowledged as one of the most successful interscholastic programs in Wisconsin. His Oredocker teams won numerous regional tournaments and conference championships and earned appearances in six state tournaments, finishing second in the state in 1978.
With this induction, Fran will forever be remembered for his athletic prowess and for his decades of service to the Northland College athletic community as a basketball and football official. Of no less significance, however, he shall forever be remembered for being a friend to Northland athletes from everywhere and of every background during his playing days through to the present.
