File photo Carl L. “Red” Wyczawski is pictured with baseball great Hank Aaron.

NEW ULM — There are just no two ways about it.

There will be no replacing 95-year-old Carl “Red” Wyczawski. The former New Ulm business owner and mayor died Monday night at Oak Hills Living Center in New Ulm.

If you wanted to know just about anything about New Ulm baseball or baseball at higher levels including the greatest players, or of other sports and other things for that matter, “Red” was a great resource.

Even in his later years, he had a great memory.

A Ward 1 city councilor from 1965 through 1968, “Red” was New Ulm mayor from 1971 to 1994 and League of Minnesota Cities president from 1974 to 1975.

During his tenure as mayor, he was actively involved in special projects like the creation of Schonlau Park and the building of the Glockenspiel at 4th North Street and MInnesota Street. The city also built the New Ulm Recreation Center and Vogel Arena during his tenure.

As mayor during the tenure of Council President Bill Gafford, Wyczawski was involved in some of the contentious council battles, especially the controversy over where to build a new fire station in New Ulm. While Gafford and his supporters wanted to use the undeveloped city-owned park land at 3rd South and German Streets, members of the New Ulm Fire Department thought the site was too hilly, and too close to the Goosetown fire station. They preferred somewhere on the north end of town. When the council voted for the Third South site, Wyczawski issued a rare veto preventing and money being spent on that site. It was later located at its present 8th North Street site.

Late in his tenure, however, Wyczawski was charged with shoplifting for taking a pack of baseball cards at the Randall Store in New Ulm. It was minor offense, but the news spread wide due to his position as mayor. Wyczawski decided to serve out his term and not seek re-election. Even then, he continued to serve on committees and projects wherever he could.

“As mayor, I marvel at his 24 years as mayor,” said New Ulm Mayor Terry Sveine. “I’ve been at it for two months. It’s far more work than I realized. All the meetings, welcomes, interviews. I remember him greeting me as a teenager. He recently sent me a letter welcoming me into the brotherhood (of New Ulm mayors). He donated an uncountable number of hours.”

“We’ve had other mayors with pretty impressive resumes. Due to longevity, he has to come across as our greatest mayor. On top of it all, he ran a clothing store,” Sveine said.

Southpoint Financial Credit Union Financial Advisor Bob Skillings said Wyczawski said he was good friends with his son Tom since second grade.

“I got to know the family,” said Skillings. “‘Red’ was very encouraging and inspiring with his community spirit, dedication and hard work. He’s one of a kind. New Ulm is so much the better for having him as an advocate. There probably isn’t a better historian…With ‘Red’ being gone, it feels like an end of an era.”

“It’s a big void that will never be filled again,” said New Ulm Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame member Jim Bastian. “He was a tremendous person, a tremendous gentleman for New Ulm and the area. I can’t think of a person who made more of an impression and did more good things for a town than ‘Red’ did. He was so gracious and positive.”

New Ulm Baseball Association Board member Bob Reinhart said Wyczawski was “a true baseball man.”

“I always enjoyed working with him at baseball tournaments,” said Reinhart. “I always knew him on a first name basis. He was always a good friend. A good man to know.”

Growing up on a farm near Thorpe, Wi. where he played high school and American Legion baseball. Wyczawski signed a minor league contract and was assigned to the Superior Blues. At the same time, he wrote sports for the Duluth News Tribune and Superior Evening Telegram. He later wrote sports full-time for the Eau Claire Leader. That led to a public relations career with the Milwaukee Braves.

Coming to New Ulm more than a half century ago, “Red” was involved in American Legion, VFW, high scholl and amateur baseball. He was chairman of the 1958 state amateur tournament in New Ulm and chaired the Midwest Central Plains Regional Legion Tournament.

A personal friend of Henry Louis “Hank” Aaron since Aaron played minor league ball for the Eau Claire Bears in the Northern League, where “Red” was official scorekeeper and sports reporter, “Red” got Aaron to come to the 1978 New Ulm American Legion Baseball Banquet where he gave him keys to the city.

“Red” said one of his Northern League baseball jobs was to introduce African American players, including Aaron, to white people in minor league cities.

“We both lived at the Eau Claire YMCA,” Wyczawski said. “We ate and traveled on buses together.”

In addition, Wyczawski was chairman of the Minnesota Sports Commission and received the WCCO Radio Good Neighbor Award. A 2012 Minnesota Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame inductee, he served in the U.S. Army.

Fritz Busch can be emailed at fbusch@nujournal.com.