Front Office

Knowing that the game of baseball has long been a fixture and a passion to the people of the La Crosse Area, Kapanke and his wife Ruth made a dream a reality when they decided to bring La Crosse Loggers to Copeland Park in 2003.

Dan was born and raised on a small dairy farm in outside Coon Valley, Wisconsin where he developed a love for the game of baseball. As a young boy, Dan loved to watch and play baseball. Believe it or not, In middle school, Dan and a friend of his skipped their classes to watch the 1960 Yankee vs. Pirates World Series Game 7. Not only did Dan love to play and watch baseball, but he coached youth baseball in the La Crosse Area for 15 years.

Being a UW-La Crosse graduate in Economics and Political Science, Dan became very involved in local politics and is well known in the community. Dan was elected to the State Senate in November of 2004 and currently represents the 32nd District in Wisconsin. Along with his involvement in the political realm, Dan has been in the Agriculture Business for over 20 years. The love of Dans life, Ruth, has put up with Dan for almost 35 years. Dan and Ruth have a family of 4 children and 10 grandchildren.

Chris Goodell, the 2004 NWL Executive of the Year, is in the midst of his eighth season as the general manager of the La Crosse Loggers and eleventh season in the Northwoods League.  During Goodell's tenure La Crosse has ranked second nationally in summer collegiate attendance during each of the seven years of existence and is one of only two summer collegiate teams to draw over 100,000 fans for five consecutive seasons. 

Goodell also served as the assistant general manager with the Waterloo Bucks for three-plus seasons (1999-2001), during which time span Waterloo made the playoffs for three consecutive years and broke the national record for attendance in a single season for summer collegiate baseball in 2001.

The La Crosse area was not new to Goodell when he took the reigns in the fall of 2002 as his baseball roots stem from his early playing days with his hometown youth traveling team out of Oelwein, Iowa that made annual trips to the Stars of Tomorrow Tournament in La Crosse. An on-field standout in his own right, Goodell was an honorable mention All-state honoree from Oelwein High School in Iowa before going on to compete at the University of Dubuque (Dubuque, Iowa). Upon graduation from the University of Dubuque, Goodell took his degrees in Sports Management and Business Administration and traveled south to Southeast Missouri State University where he served as the graduate assistant in the SEMO sports information department for a year before taking the position with the Waterloo franchise.

Following his tenure in Waterloo Goodell stepped away from the NWL for one year, but not from the sporting scene, when he worked as a sales executive for the ESPN Radio and ABC television affiliate (KCRG -TV 9) in Northeast Iowa. During that same time, Goodell also served as the official statistician for the Cedar Rapids Kernels Baseball Club, the Class A affiliate of the Anaheim Angels.

Goodell currently resides in Holmen, Wisc. with his wife Shannon, two sons Carson and Hayden and daughter Adalyn. The Oelwein, Iowa native is the youngest in a family of five (mother-Sally, father-Ron and brothers Tim and Todd).

Goodell and his wife, Shannon, also own and operate a full-service salon in Onalaska, Wisc. called "By Shear Design".  Goodell is also a board member of the La Crosse Area Sports Commission and formerly served on the Junior Achievement board and was named the 2009 La Crosse Tribune "Sports Person of the Year".

Ben Kapanke begins his sixth season with the Loggers and the third year as Assistant GM. Ben, 29, has been with the Loggers full-time since the 2005 season.  Ben helps oversee the day- to-day operations and is heavily involved with sales, recruiting and season tickets.  Ben has been involved with the Northwoods League since 2002 when he served as an umpire after attending the Jim Evans Academy of Professional Umpiring.

Ben is the youngest son of Dan Kapanke and is married to his wife Elizabeth.  The couple welcomed their first child, Evan, to the world on August 12, 2009.