Obit: Laack, Galen (1931 - 1958)

Contact: Stan
Email: stan@wiclarkcountyhistory.org

Surnames: Laack, Sprengler

----Source: Colby Phonograph (Colby, Clark Co., Wis.) 01/08/1959

Laack, Galen (3 Apr. 1931 - 31 Dec. 1958)

Galen Laack, formerly of Abbotsford, Wisconsin, age 27, was killed New Year’s Eve when his car failed to negotiate a sharp curve and struck a tree on a highway near Pleasanton, Calif.

Laack, a linebacker for the Philadelphia Eagles professional football team, was en route from his home in Stockton to visit a girl friend. He was traveling south on the Sunol-Pleasanton road 38 miles east of San Francisco at a high rate of speed when he missed the right-angle curve and plunged into the tree.

Only an average athelete in high school, Laack developed tremendously physically while in the service and when he played football at College of the Pacific he weighed about 220 pounds. He made honorable mention all-American on several teams.

Funeral services were conducted at Christ Lutheran church at Abbotsford Monday afternoon, Rev. F. H. Sprengler officiating, and burial was made in the Dorchester Memorial cemetery.

Mr. Laack was born on April 3, 1931, in the town of Holton. He was educated in Abbotsford schools and at the College of the Pacific, Stockton, Calif.

Surviving are his mother, Mrs. Daisy A. Laack of Abbotsford; two sisters, Betty Lou Laack of Abbotsford and Nancy Jean Laack of Sacramento, Calif.; two brothers, Larry W. Laack of Stockton, Calif., presently serving in the U.S. Army at Ft. Lewis, Wash., and Daniel G. Laack of Gary, Ind.