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Wisconsin Meat Industry Hall Of Fame 2005 inductees announced

The recipients of the 2005 Meat Industry Hall of Fame award are Elmer Fechner, James H. Kalscheur, and John, George and Ronald Klement. The award winners will be inducted into the Wisconsin Meat Industry Hall of Fame at a recognition luncheon Thursday, May 5 at noon at the Sheraton Madison Hotel. The event is hosted by the Wisconsin Livestock and Meat Council.

The Wisconsin Meat Industry Hall of Fame was created in 1993 to recognize individuals who have made a significant contribution to the meat industry in Wisconsin. The Hall of Fame program is coordinated by and housed in the University of Wisconsin-Madison Meat Science and Muscle Biology Laboratory.

Elmer Fechner
For nearly four decades, Fechner promoted the Wisconsin Association of Meat Processors, guiding it to the forefront of state processing associations nationwide.

Fechner was born in 1898 in Merrill, Wis. During World War I, he served in the U.S. Army, including a campaign in France. After being discharged, Fechner attended the UW-Madison where he graduated with a bachelor”s degree in business administration.

Fechner grew up working alongside his father and other family members in the family business, a meat market and sausage operation in Merrill. In the 1940s he took over the sausage operation, added a locker plant and named the business Fechner”s Food Products.

In 1947 at the annual meeting of the Wisconsin Frozen Food Locker Association, which later became the Wisconsin Association of Meat Processors, Fechner was voted a director of the association. He served in that capacity until 1951, when he was elected president. In 1953 he became association executive secretary, a position he held until1984. Fechner”s leadership, organization and enthusiasm helped contribute to the association”s success.

Jim Hewitt, who was appointed secretary of WAMP in1984, said, “Fechner was really the person most responsible for the growth of our association and instrumental in developing many of our state laws pertaining to the meat industry.”

Fechner also served as the editor of the WAMP newsletter “News and Views,” a position he held for decades. Fechner reported not only on meat industry issues but also on societal issues. He borrowed a motto from Goethe and had it printed on the newsletter letterhead, where it remains to this day. It reads: “There is nothing more frightening than ignorance in action.” Fechner was a well-read man and strove to keep the WAMP membership informed on a variety of issues.

Fechner was not afraid to use the newsletter as a forum for politics. When he retired in 1984, Bob Bray, his successor as WAMP newsletter editor, said, “Somehow I don”t have the knack that he did for getting after our politicians. He really raked them over the coals-especially those having reputations as big spenders.”

Fechner was active in the community, serving as a city alderman and county supervisor, and on the boards of the American Legion and Trinity Lutheran Church. In 1983 WAMP established a scholarship fund in his honor for the meat technology program at the Southwest Wisconsin Vocational Technical Institute in Fennimore. In 1983 at its annual convention in Portland, Ore., the American Association of Meat Processors conferred on Fechner the Honorary Lifetime Member award for his 35 years of service to the industry.

Fechner died in 1991 at the age of 93.

James H. Kalscheur
Kalscheur bought a small meat market in Madison in 1958, renamed it UW Provision Company, Inc., and turned it into a multi-million dollar meat distributor and processor of fresh meats. In addition, Kalscheur is recognized for his generosity to community organizations and his support of the UW-Madison Athletic Department.

Kalscheur was born in 1929 in Pine Bluff, Wis. He grew up on a farm but moved with his family into town after he developed hay fever. He worked in a local grocery store after school. After graduation, Kalscheur worked for Esser”s Wholesale Market in Madison, a job he held for the next 10 years. In 1958 he bought the UW Meat Market, a small meat business with six employees. Four years later he renamed it the UW Provision Company.

Today the company employees more than 100 people, occupies a plant west of Madison that measures 100,000 square feet and has annual sales of more than $100 million. UWP still serves small mom-and-pop stores as well as larger supermarkets, meat processors and food service operations. Kalscheur continues to oversee day-to-day operations.

Over the years UWP has been a leading innovator in the meat processing industry. It was one of the first to break down box beef wholesale cuts into boneless sub-primals such as top rounds, strip loins and ribeyes, and into individual steaks to distribute to grocery stores, butcher shops and HRI (hotel, restaurant institutional) operations. This forced others in the industry to follow suit.

As a pioneer in the industry, UWP is recognized for the following path-breaking steps:

*Use of telemarketing techniques. UWP realized the importance of telephone sales calls to expand its customer contacts, instead of relying on store-to-store sales conducted by salespeople. From the beginning, these calls were responsible for 100 percent of its sales. Eventually telephone sales calls were replaced by computers, which have exponentially increased the number of contacts and sales.

*Vacuum-packaged steaks. UWP was one of the first to use this packaging technique for selling meat to restaurants.

*Blast freezers. In the 1970s, UWP installed state-of-the-art blast freezers, which were not commonly used at that time by distributors and steak cutters. The coupling of very low freezer temperatures with rapid air movement quickly freezes meat and locks in superior quality.

Kalscheur is also regarded as a generous civic backer. His generosity to the Pine Bluff community has resulted in the building of a community center, playgrounds and athletic fields. He also put an addition on the church he attends there. Over a 20-year period, a steak fry outing Kalscheur initiated and subsidized raised over $6 million for the UW-Madison Athletic Department. The proceeds from the first steak fry were $20,000. The proceeds from the last one were well over $500,000. Every year Kalscheur invites children with disabilities to his farm for a day of fishing.

Steve Badalich, retired vice president of UWP, said, “This major meat industry individual should be inducted into the Hall (of Fame). My advice would be run, don”t walk, to nominate this man. How do I know? I was a UWP VP and minority partner for 32 wonderful years until my retirement some12 years ago.”

John, George, and Ronald Klement
The Klement brothers, John, George and Ronald, developed the Klement Sausage Company in Milwaukee into a world class producer of award-winning European style sausages and meat products, distributed nationwide and overseas.

Almost fifty years ago, the Klement brothers purchased Badger Sausage, a small sausage company on the south side of Milwaukee. At the time, it consisted of one stuffing machine and three smoke houses. In 1961 the brothers changed the name to the Klement Sausage Company, Inc.

Shortly thereafter, the Klement brothers tapped into the expertise of European-trained sausage makers in the area, including their father Frank. He came out of retirement, serving as a consultant to help them formulate recipes that would appeal to the sausage lovers in Milwaukee who had emigrated from Europe.

In the early days, the foundation of the business was built primarily on three products-German bratwurst, Italian sausage, and savory Polish sausage. Now the company produces more than 100 varieties of sausages for delicatessens, self-service cases, food service and snacks.

From its humble beginnings as a small sausage kitchen with a handful of employees, the Klement Sausage Company has grown into a nationwide sausage product supplier with two state-of-the-art plants and more than 400 employees.

The company has three separate sausage kitchens. One processes only fresh sausage from pre-rigor pork meat, such as bratwurst and breakfast links. In the cooked and smoked kitchen, seasonings and curing ingredients are added to the meat, and products are hardwood smoked and cooked for flavor and consumer safety. In the third kitchen, summer sausages are manufactured.

Twice a week a fleet of refrigerated trucks distributes Klement sausage products to stores throughout Wisconsin. In addition, products are distributed to chain store warehouses throughout the nation. The sausages are also sold in gift boxes in all 50 states.

Much of the company”s success can be attributed to the Klement brothers” division of labor. John”s executive presence guided the company”s growth and expansion, while Ron headed up the sales department. George, like his father, became a highly skilled sausage maker. Today children of the brothers are involved in the business. Five second-generation relatives hold key positions in the company.

Dedication to quality and freshness has helped the sausage company garner several awards for its products. At the Wisconsin State Fair in 2004, the Klement Sausage Company, Inc., won the Seal of Excellence Award for its cooked ham. It has also won the excellence award for its meat snack sticks and turkey breast. In addition, Klement Brothers” summer sausage and snack sticks have been winners in the annual State Fair Meat Product Show.

Klement sausages are highly visible at Miller Park in Milwaukee. They are sold at the Klement Sausage Haus and are the famous “racing sausages” that entertain baseball fans and players alike.

Ronald Klement died in 1994 at the age of 58; George in 1996 at the age of 77; and John in 2002 at the age of 83. Their children continue to carry on the tradition of producing, marketing and selling high-quality European-style meat and sausage products.