The city council gets its second woman, and its first teenager, 44 years ago

In 1975, La Crosse voters elected a new mayor, Pat Zielke, and some new city council members. Helen Kelly became the second woman on the council, winning the seat being vacated by Zielke. Kelly was described as a housewife, but she later became an attorney. Kelly’s opponent complained that the winner got too much free publicity for working on women’s issues in the community.

Another council seat went to 19-year-old Brian Carroll, the son of popular county board member “Kootch” Carroll. Brian was a UW-L student at the time, and he unseated a council member who criticized him for being too young, and who claimed that the younger Carroll only got elected because of his father’s reputation.

Hank Aaron was back in Milwaukee in the spring of ’75, where he started his baseball career with the Braves. Aaron was traded by the Braves to the Brewers one season after he broke Babe Ruth’s home run record. And Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was ending his run with the Milwaukee Bucks, ready to switch to the Lakers, yesterday in La Crosse.