The superintendent was moving on, 42 years ago

In March of 1977, the La Crosse School Board accepted the resignation of superintendent Eugene Balts, who was leaving after six years to accept the same job in Rice Lake.  The district hired an Illinois man to succeed Balts…Dick Swantz, who later went on to sit on the La Crosse city council.  The school board also supported plans for a new Logan High School, which would open in 1979.   

The man in charge of the Sawyer Auditorium, Michael Gebauer, said he was getting offers to run civic centers in other cities, but he wanted to stay in La Crosse.  The city council was looking into replacing the 22-year-old Sawyer with a more modern civic center.   

That March, CBS aired the last episode of ‘The Mary Tyler Moore Show’ after seven seasons, and ABC debuted a new comedy called ‘Three’s Company’…in 1977, yesterday in La Crosse.