Ralph Davis poses with a Milwaukee Washington High School student at the school's graduation. Davis, 60, who had diabetes, died of COVID-19 on March 25.(Photo: Courtesy of Paul Edward Davis)

A beloved Milwaukee high school basketball coach. A grandfather eagerlyawaiting his first great-grandchildren. A woman who remained close to her five children even as she depended on dialysis.

Theseare some of the people who have succumbed to COVID-19 in the past three weeks as the death toll surged across Wisconsin. The count passed 100 this week, more than half of them in Milwaukee County.

The virus, which spread around the globe, claimed its first victims in Wisconsin on March 19. That day, three men died in three counties:

A66-year-oldretired firefighter in Milwaukee who served as a father figure to boys in the Sherman Park neighborhood; a92-year-old Grafton man who served in the U.S. Air Force and then worked as a mechanic in the paper industry who wasin the late stages of life; and an airplane buff and longtime Mercury Marine employee from Fond du Lac who contracted the virus while on a cruise inEgyptfor his 55th birthday.

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Over the next three weeks, deaths came in 17 of the state's 72 counties. Trends have surfaced, most notably the high percentage of African Americans affected by the virus in Milwaukee County. Roughly 70% of those who have died were black.

Those dying have tended to be men in their 60s or older, and almost every one had underlying medical conditions making them vulnerable to the ravages of the virus.

The illness has hit many victims quickly.

One man,who asked not to be named, said his mother depended on dialysis but seemed fine the last time he saw her in mid-March. The next morning, she was found unresponsive, and was rushed to the hospital. A week later she died.

But beyond the statistics, the state's coronavirus victims are defined more by how they lived than how they died.

Ralph Davis learned how to play basketball from his older brother when he was in grade school. Soon Ralph was showing his brother and many others his moves on the playground courts of Milwaukee

By the late 1970s, Davis became part of the powerhouse Purgolder teams at Washington High School.

They were running folks off the court," said Henry Davis, one of Ralph's brothers.

Ralph Davis joined the boys basketball coaching staff at Washington in 1994.

He said it would be for a year. He never left.

Ralph Davis (rear left) poses with one of the teams he coached during his 25 years at Milwaukee Washington High School.(Photo: Courtesy of Paul Edward Davis)

Davis was on the staffthat coached the Purgolders to state runner-up finishes in 1997 and 2000. He later coachedthe girls basketball team and was the schools track coach last season when Elijah Johnson won state titles in the 100 and 200 meters.

Davis also worked as a teacher's aide at Washington for 25 years.

He really connected with the people in many different ways, Washington Athletic Director Marlon Boyd said. He was a down-to-earth guy, a comedian, always telling jokes, telling stories and cheating the basketball players when they played horse."

Outside Washington High School, a makeshift memorial has gone up this week.It says, "RIP Coach Davis," spelled in cups jammed in the fence.Former players and students have been stopping by to leave a memory.

A memorial has been erected outside Milwaukee's Washington High School for Ralph Davis, the schools basketball and track coach who died of COVID-19 complications March 25.(Photo: Angela Peterson / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)

As news of his death spread, people flooded his Facebook pages with stories about the impact he made on their lives.

"I think its crazy how one person can leave such an impact on sooooo many kids,"one former student wrote."If tough love was a person, it wasRalph Davis."

Davis, 60, who haddiabetes, went to get a COVID-19 test on March 20. He was told to expect a call in 24 hours. He never heard back and was found dead in bed earlyMarch 25. The test result came later that same day, according to the medical examiner's report.

Family members said they were trying not to ask"what if," but remembering the man whom many simply knew as "coach."

"My brother was one of the nicest, most gentle guys," one of his brothers said."Hewould bend over backward for anybody and he did."

Richard Malmberg was a large, vibrant man who could filla room.

He grew up in Cudahy, did a stint in the Army, moved back to Wisconsinand married at 21. He went to work at Ladish Co., a metal forging factory in Cudahy where he rose to become a supervisor.

Karen Kazmierski remembers hearing her dad talking in his sleep, bossing subordinates as he was conked out in a living room chair.

"He literally would be bossing people around in his sleep," she said.

Malmberg also was a charmer and a character. He would start whistling or singing 1950s tunes in the grocery store, driving his wife crazy.

"Everybodyloved him. He was reallyoutgoing," Kazmierski said.

Later in life, Malmberg retired from his Ladish job and turned in his golf clubs to becomea devoted grandfather. But he always kept that sharp wit.

Richard Malmberg at a "gender reveal" party in 2019 for his first great-grandchildren, fraternal twins. Malmberg, 89, died from COVID-19 on April 1, 2020.(Photo: Courtesy of Malmberg family)

"He was a character. He liked to give you a hard time, get you riled up, keep it going and then look at someone else and laugh becausehe knew he riled you up,"Kazmierski said, adding she fell for that every time.

Eight years ago, his wife of 62 years, Dawn, died. He was in a rehab center, which he thought he would hate, but he soon started making friends. There he met a woman who would become his girlfriend.

Malmberg was his bubbly self late last year when he had attended a "gender reveal" baby shower. As he closed in on 90, he was giddy over the prospect of becoming a great-grandfather. In a photofrom the party, Malmbergis shown with pink and blue beads around his neck, smiling broadly. It will be a boy and girl, due in May.

But before the birth, Malmberg and his daughter were scheduled to go on the Honor Flight taking veterans to Washington, D.C., on March 23.

In mid-March, Franciscan Courts assisted-living facility in South Milwaukee where Malmberg lived closed to visitors, but residents could leave to go shopping, Kazmierski said.

Malmberg, 89, had heard the news about how toilet paper was in short supply because of panic overCOVID-19. He didn't need to buy his own toilet paper. The facility would supply it if he needed it. But Malmberg was determined, his daughter said.

"He was just a man on a mission," she said. "I was mad at the staff. I said, 'Isnt this defeating the purpose of lockdown if you are letting my dad go out?"

The facility did not return calls requesting an interview.

Kazmierski can't be sure, but she thinks her dad picked up the virus at one of the three stores where he searched for toilet paper.

She couldn't see her dad in person then, but in the days that followed, she heard a worsening coughover the phone. Late one night, Kazmierski said she got a call from anursing aide who found her dad shaking and disoriented. 911 was called.Kazmierski met her dad at the Aurora South Shore Hospital ER.

His voice was what she noticed.

"Hehad this bigboisterous voice, and every day you could hear it get littler and littler until he sounded like a little frail man at the end," said Kazmierski, who remainedin quarantine Thursday at home because she went to see her dad in the hospital.

At the emergency room, he told her he just felt terrible.

Malmberg had faced illness in his later years with grit and determination. There were heart issues and a pacemaker, cancer and the removal of a kidney.

"He had beaten everything, made it through everything but he got this virus, and it just took him out. He had health issues, but it was COVIDthat took him out. It just took over his body and lungs," Kazmierski said. "I never thought this is the way it would end with me not being able to be with him never in a million years."

The last time Kazmierski saw her dad was over Skype with her son at her side. The hospital, she said, would not allowfamily to come in person for fear of infection.

"We were trying to get his attention and it was pretty much just, 'We love you,'" she said. "It was just heartbreaking."

Cary Spivak of the Journal Sentinel staff contributed to this report.

Contact John Diedrich at (414) 224-2408 or jdiedrich@journalsentinel.com. Followhim on Twitter at @john_diedrich,Instagram at @john_diedrich, LinkedInorFacebook.

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