Fred “Fritz” Westenberger measures his life in 22 seconds flat.

It was 22 seconds of fame more than 50 years ago that garnered Westenberger, B ’57, L ’57, a state championship and full scholarship to Loyola.

It was through Loyola that he earned a law degree and there he eventually made the contacts that would lead him to acquiring stakes in the radio business.

“That 22 seconds of fame was my greatest achievement. It led to Loyola,” said Westenberger, 73. “I can pinpoint my entire life to that 22 seconds. Without one, there wouldn’t be the other.”

Former Loyola track runner and Jesuit teammate Erwin Caswell recalls that it was a “tremendous upset.”

“He was really a long shot,” Caswell said. “The odds for him to win were probably 100-to-1.”

Time has taken its toll on Westenberger, and after years of playing tennis and practicing Judo, Westenberger’s knees began to ache. The same knees that propelled him to the finish line now wobble after reconstructive knee surgery.

Now white-haired, Westenberger walks with a cane, and for now, he has given up on sports. But he is still reminiscent of his track career from the 22-second-dash at Tad Gormley Stadium to relay records with Loyola, when he went undefeated in his senior year and topped programs like Georgia, Miami, Georgia Tech, Alabama and Southern Mississippi.

In that same year, Loyola’s track team was labeled the top team in the Deep South, and according to articles in The Maroon, some heralded them the best “East of the Mississippi.”

MR. MODESTY

Westenberger will be inducted into Loyola’s Hall of Fame Feb. 10 – the last of the 1954 legendary relay team. But the Milwaukee-born runner never imagined he would earn such an honor.

“I didn’t have any other athletic ability. I played football (in high school) one year, but I was 130 pounds and too small. I wasn’t tall enough for basketball and wasn’t good enough for baseball, so the only other opportunity was track.”

It’s even more unbelievable to Westenberger that he’s being inducted after never having won any individual honors, only those as a member of the relay team.

Caswell disagrees.

“He’s modest,” Caswell said. “He’s the kind of guy that would say, ‘Gee, I don’t deserve it … there are more guys that would,’ but I think he does deserve it.

“He was reliable – always dependable. When we were down, we always depended on him to give just a little bit extra, and he always gave more than 100 percent.”

AN UNLIKELY FEAT

In his senior year at Jesuit High School, Westenberger took the Blue Jays to the state championship. He was a middle-distance runner, mostly competing in the quarter-mile, too slow off the blocks for the 100.

But just before the state championship, one of the teammates became sick. The coach needed somebody to fill the void in the 220, so he turned to the ever so dependable captain.

Although Westenberger never ran 220, he ripped down the preliminaries in 22 seconds, earning him a trip to the finals where he ran the same time and earned first place and the go-ahead points to guarantee Jesuit the state championship.

Nobody expected him to win. Westenberger recalled the Jesuit coach thinking that maybe a fifth-place finish would be the best to hope for.

The coach said, “‘I didn’t know you could do that,'” to which Westenberger replied, “Well, you never let me try.”

Westenberger emerged with scholarship offers from Louisiana State University and an offer from Loyola, which he jumped on, capitalizing on the opportunity to stay in the city.

To this day, he says, it’s his greatest accomplishment.

TRACK’S ‘GOLDEN YEARS’

When Westenberger walked onto campus, he was met with an already stellar track and field team.

They won four meets that rookie season, including the Southern Relay where they topped Florida State University 79-52.

An exceptional relay team that included Hall of Fame member Frank Newman grew even stronger the following year with the addition of Caswell and Sam Ascani.

Westenberger said the key to their success was the exchange. Coach James “Big Jim” McCafferty stressed that exchange was the most crucial element, and his efforts paid off.

The quartet ran together the next three years, outdoing each previous season and re-writing the record books multiple times.

Enter the record books.

In his senior year, Westenberger and the rest of the relay team earned four marks in Loyola’s record book, including the mile (4:22.2), 440 (42.2), 880 (1:25.5) and sprint medley (3:29.6).

Confidence was at an all-time high for members of the relay team. Both Caswell and Newman have said in The Maroon that imitation wasn’t a factor, and they knew they could compete against the best, often winning against SEC “powerhouses.”

“We had some good days in those 1950s,” Caswell said. “That period of time I call the ‘Golden Years’ of Loyola’s track and field. We beat some real powerhouses, and we were always there with the big guys.”

But for a modest Westenberger, his recollection differs.

“We didn’t anticipate wins, at least not against guys who were breaking world records. None of us were nationally recognized. But our big thing was exchange. Coach McCafferty really stressed the exchange.

My aspirations were to come out and work. I ran to stay in shape as good as possible, and between meets and practice, there wasn’t a whole lot of time to do anything else.”

Beyond his accomplishments that senior year on the track, he was also named to the Dean’s List and National Honor Society.

Westenberger resides in Mandeville. He and his wife (also a Loyola graduate) have three sons and a daughter. His family is expected to accompany him to the Hall of Fame ceremony Feb. 10 at The Den. Westenberg is already a member of the Hall of Fame by virtue of his participation of the 1952 team, which was inducted in 1999. The ceremony will no doubt be a proud moment for those that know him, and for his friend of 60 years, Caswell will expect a modest acceptance speech of 22 seconds flat.

Michael Nissman can be reached at [email protected].

Fred ‘Fritz’ Westenberger races to victory in the 440 event during a relay race in 1955 at Tad Gormley Stadium.

Fred ‘Fritz’ Westenberger, 73, reflects about his his ’22-seconds of fame’ at Tad Gormley Stadium that earned him a prep state championship in 1952 and a scholarship to Loyola.