(La Porte, IN) - Things are not quite the same right now at La Porte High School sporting events.

 

A man that was affectionately known as "Froggy" passed away last week. Ron Ludwig was 69. He was a team manager while attending La Porte High School. Since graduating, Ludwig carried the chains on the yardsticks at Slicers football games, ran the scoreboard during baseball games, and helped at many other school athletic events like girls volleyball. 

 

Chip Jones, the "Voice of the Slicers" on 96.7 the Eagle, had known Froggy since grade school.

 

“If they needed him anywhere else he would do that.  He was a constant fixture,” he said.

Chip said Ludwig was also a longtime referee for elementary school basketball games.

 

“He loved sports. He was always around sports and loved to talk sports and loved to be around sportspeople. He sure lived for Slicers sports,” he said.

 

Ludwig is a member of the La Porte High School Athletic Hall of Fame not as an athlete but for his longtime involvement in so many athletic events. 

 

Jones said it seemed like everyone called him Froggy, a nickname he was given in school because of the raspy sound of his voice.

 

"He just was a constant. It was almost like you couldn't have a Slicers athletic event without Frog around. It's strange not to have him around," he said.

 

He was retired from Howmet Aerospace.