Where Are They Now?

Thirty-five local icons and how they made history

(page 5 of 6)

Pam and Craig Coshun

June 1995

When Craig and Pam Coshun—many Madisonians still know her as Pam Tauscher—were named to our “power couples” list in 1995, both worked at WMTV-TV; Pam anchored news and Craig did sports. Pam left Channel 15 in 2002 and subsequently worked as a news anchor at WISC-TV3, from 2005 to 2007. Now she has her own freelance business, hosting interviews on momseveryday.com/Madison and writing a column for the Wisconsin State Journal about her life in Verona with Craig and their two middle-school-aged sons. Meanwhile, Craig now works at FOX Sports Wisconsin, where he hosts pre- and postgame shows for the Brewers and the Bucks. He has also freelanced for ESPN and the Big Ten Network.  

Luis Yudice

June 2001

Luis Yudice is still working to keep Madison safe. Yudice, who immigrated to Madison from Guatemala in 1963, is a Madison East graduate and earned his degree in sociology and psychology at Edgewood College. He began his career as a beat officer with the Madison Police Department in 1974 and retired thirty years later as a captain. Since 2006, Yudice has been the coordinator of safety and security for the Madison Metropolitan School District, where he oversees issues affecting the district’s 24,000 students and forty-eight different schools.  

Kelly De Haven

July 1989, October 1991 (cover)

Kelly De Haven was already a reigning jazz vocalist with an armful of honors and awards—and a regular on our Best of Madison lists—when we first wrote about her. She’d started singing with her dad, the legendary trumpeter Doc De Haven, and then went off on her own to record and release critically acclaimed CDs. While she still thrills listeners and fans with the occasional concert around town, De Haven’s full-time gig since 2006 has been as director of development for the UW Foundation. In addition to promoting UW–Madison to the world as a leading resource in education and culture, De Haven raises funds for the spectacular Alumni Park project currently under construction next to Memorial Union. 

Michelle Behnke

January 2005 (cover)

We picked Michelle Behnke for the cover when we published a “Top Lawyers” feature back in 2005. At the time, the personable and hardworking Behnke was serving a term as the first African American president in the history of the 127-year-old Wisconsin State Bar. She’s earned other accolades and awards, including the YWCA Women of Distinction, was a UW Law School adjunct professor and has served on myriad boards, including the Greater Madison Chamber of Commerce and the Madison Community Development Corporation. Behnke is still in private practice as the principal of Michelle Behnke & Associates, and she regularly makes industry listings as one of the Best Lawyers in America and as a Wisconsin Super Lawyer. 

Timothy Cullen

March 1983

For a long time, Tim Cullen’s resume looked like what you would expect from someone with a successful career in Wisconsin politics. A UW–Whitewater grad elected to the Janesville City Council in 1970, Cullen advanced to the state Senate four years later and made a name for himself as a pragmatic and increasingly powerful Democrat. In 1987, Republican governor Tommy Thompson appointed him Secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Health and Social Services. A year later Cullen took an executive job with Blue Cross/Blue Shield, where he stayed until retiring in 2007. Then, three years later, came Act 2, in which Cullen un-retired and won yet another election to regain his old Senate seat—and, as a member of the Democrats who went to Illinois to temporarily block Wisconsin Act 10, he almost instantly became one of the central figures in the Wisconsin protests of 2011. Lately Cullen has embarked on a bipartisan listening tour with a Republican colleague, publicly rebuked and then made up with the leadership of his own caucus and continued to serve as a singularly irascible, yet creative, veteran legislator. 

Pat Richter

February 1998, November 1994

He retired as director of UW Athletics in 2004, but people still stop him on the street to say “thank you.” Sometimes it’s for turning around a sports program, especially a football program, that was, by most accounts, in disarray in the early 1990s. Sometimes it’s for hiring Barry Alvarez. And sometimes people thank Richter merely for living one of the greatest stories in the history of Badger sports. He lettered nine times as a UW athlete. He set a Rose Bowl record for receptions in the 1963 game against the No. 1-rated University of Southern California. He went on to become a first-round draft pick and play pro ball for eight years. And he was named to every college football hall of fame and “best football player ever” list you can think of—including Sports Illustrated’s NCAA Football All-Century Team. You can bet the Badgers retired his number, 88, with fanfare. And there’s a bronze statue of him outside Camp Randall. Thus far, though, that’s all Madison’s football fans have come up with to show their appreciation. Well that, and a million, emphatic “thank you!” shout-outs. 

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