Part I in a series
GREEN BAY/STURGEON BAY – “She was a very gregarious person. Everyone knew Mary Jane, and Mary Jane knew everyone else, especially in the Green Bay area,” Dave Sorgel said of his stepmother, Mary Jane Van Duyse Sorgel.
“She was the epitome of the Green Bay Packers. If you said Green Bay Packers back in the day, you thought of Mary Jane.”
A much younger Mary Jane Van Duyse started her dance career at the Dorothy Leyse La Plant School of Dancing at the age of six.
Three years later, she began to twirling baton and started wowing the crowds at regional festivals with her acrobatics and baton twirling skills while attending Sevastopol School.
She later became majorette of the high school band.
Mary Jane’s parents, Frances and Gertrude Van Duyse owned and operated Vans Tavern and resided above the bar and living in town gave her easy access to available facilities to begin sharing her skills with others.
Before graduating from Sevastopol High School, she began nurturing her first set of students in tap, ballet, acrobatics, ballroom dance, roller skating and baton twirling.
She hosted her first recital, “Dance Follies of 1951,” at the Brussels High School auditorium a month before she graduated.
Two months later, she hosted another recital for her students at Sturgeon Bay High School.
In August, Mary Jane won the state championship in baton twirling after being chosen as Miss Majorette of America and being featured in Drum Major magazine.
She garnered another state championship win in 1953 and went on to capture the National Class A Baton Twirling Championship in 1954.
At the age of 17, she was approached by Packers Lumberjack Band Director Wilner Burke, who urged her to audition for the Packerettes, starting a longtime relationship with the organization.
Her win in the national championships placed a spotlight on the Packers Lumberjack Band, as she traveled the state performing in school auditoriums and local events.
In January 1955, Mary Jane announced that she was “hanging up her batons.”
“That ambition was realized by 21-year-old Mary Jane Van Duyse last August. Today, she is through with competitions and will make only a few personal tours, so she declares.
“Last August at Kenosha, Mary Jane entered the Roundup Open National tournament and despite heavy competition, walked off with the first prize. A month before in Milwaukee, she had copped another national championship.
These titles are in addition to the two state championships that she has taken.”
The article stated that Mary Jane’s next focus would be on helping her students gain one of the recognitions she had received.”
To be continued
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