- Attended Loras College from 1957-1961.
- A four-year starter in baseball and led the Duhawks in hitting for two years, his junior year he batted .409.
- A member of the L-club (vice-president senior year) lettering four years in baseball and three in basketball. Ressler also participated in intramurals, served as president of the History Club, and was president of Phi Alpha Theta.
- Graduated magna cum laude with a degree in Religious Education
- Earned a Master of Arts degrees from Fordham University, the University of San Francisco, and Loras in Educational Administration. He also served as an ordained priest from North American College in Rome, Italy.
- Head of Walhert High School's religious department (1969-76), an assistant principal at Wahlert High School (1976-81) and principal at Newman High School in Mason City, Iowa (1981-90).
- Voted a member of the Dubuque County Baseball Hall of Fame in 1982
- My first two years (frosh-soph) at Loras I played under head coach Vince Dowd. In those days we traveled by station wagon to the out-of-town games. Vince always drove one wagon and either the assistant coaches or older players like Dick Mescher and Bob Meyer drove the other vehicles. Dick was from Dyersville and Bob was from Balltown. It was a three-ring circus deciding who rode where! No one wanted to ride with Coach Dowd since his eyesight wasn’t so good and his driving skills needed much improvement. Since I was one of the younger players, I was forced to ride with Coach Dowd. There was a definite pecking order established. I can’t tell you how many “Acts of Contrition” I said during those first two years of varsity baseball. Vince retired in 1959 and the new coach, James Smarjesse, arrived. He was much younger and more adept at the wheel. During my last two years (1960-61), the traveling was much more pleasant and I slacked off on the “Acts of Contrition.” However, the trips were certainly memorable.
- During my four years of Loras varsity baseball, we traveled to many different fields, parks, and stadiums to play ball. Our home field was Petrakis Park on Fourth Street near the historic Dubuque monument, “The Shot Tower.” At one time it was a minor league park and an above-average facility for our college games.
- a)The University of Wisconsin at Platteville: They used the county park in Platteville near the fairgrounds as their home field. They had a snow fence enclosing the outfield boundary. While playing centerfield, I remember chasing a long fly ball into left center field, crashing into the snow fence and the entire left field fence fell down. It all collapsed! I’m not sure if the hitter was awarded a homer, a double, or if I actually caught the ball. I received only minor abrasions from the incident.
- a)Quincy College, Quincy, Illinois: In 1957-58 I played right field for Loras. The baseball diamond at Quincy College was a small park sandwiched between two dormitories right in the middle of the campus. Right field was a short distance with a dorm actually acting as the boundary (reminded me of the Green Monster at Fenway Park in Boston). In right field about where the right fielder positioned himself, was a huge LIGHT POLE! You actually shared the field with this monster pole. Wouldn’t you know, in the second inning I was tested!!! A line drive came my way, aimed right at the light pole. I went left, then circled the pole, and made a lucky grab almost maiming myself in the process. The members of our team had a great laugh at my expense. I was used to playing in Eastern Iowa’s best ballpark, the American Legion Post 528 ballpark in Cascade, Iowa. This park was named after Hall of Famer in Cooperstown, New York, and Loras College, Urban “Red” Faber.
Story“Loras College Baseball, 1957-59”
My first two years (frosh-soph) at Loras I played under head coach Vince Dowd. In those days we traveled by station wagon to the out-of-town games. Vince always drove one wagon and either the assistant coaches or older players like Dick Mescher and Bob Meyer drove the other vehicles. Dick was from Dyersville and Bob was from Balltown. It was a three-ring circus deciding who rode where! No one wanted to ride with Coach Dowd since his eyesight wasn’t so good and his driving skills needed much improvement. Since I was one of the younger players, I was forced to ride with Coach Dowd. There was a definite pecking order established. I can’t tell you how many “Acts of Contrition” I said during those first two years of varsity baseball. Vince retired in 1959 and the new coach, James Smarjesse, arrived. He was much younger and more adept at the wheel. During my last two years (1960-61), the traveling was much more pleasant and I slacked off on the “Acts of Contrition.” However, the trips were certainly memorable.
“Loras College Baseball (1957-1961)”
During my four years of Loras varsity baseball, we traveled to many different fields, parks, and stadiums to play ball. Our home field was Petrakis Park on Fourth Street near the historic Dubuque monument, “The Shot Tower.” At one time it was a minor league park and an above-average facility for our college games.
Two of our opponents had very interesting facilities:
a)The University of Wisconsin at Platteville: They used the county park in Platteville near the fairgrounds as their home field. They had a snow fence enclosing the outfield boundary. While playing centerfield, I remember chasing a long fly ball into left center field, crashing into the snow fence and the entire left field fence fell down. It all collapsed! I’m not sure if the hitter was awarded a homer, a double, or if I actually caught the ball. I received only minor abrasions from the incident.
b)Quincy College, Quincy, Illinois: In 1957-58 I played right field for Loras. The baseball diamond at Quincy College was a small park sandwiched between two dormitories right in the middle of the campus. Right field was a short distance with a dorm actually acting as the boundary (reminded me of the Green Monster at Fenway Park in Boston). In right field about where the right fielder positioned himself, was a huge LIGHT POLE! You actually shared the field with this monster pole. Wouldn’t you know, in the second inning I was tested!!! A line drive came my way, aimed right at the light pole. I went left, then circled the pole, and made a lucky grab almost maiming myself in the process. The members of our team had a great laugh at my expense. I was used to playing in Eastern Iowa’s best ballpark, the American Legion Post 528 ballpark in Cascade, Iowa. This park was named after Hall of Famer in Cooperstown, New York, and Loras College, Urban “Red” Faber.
