John’s Journal: Fifty Years Ago, St. James Reigned Supreme

 This is a special edition of John’s Journal. The story below is being published with permission of the Fairmont Sentinel and the author of the article, Joel Rippel.

ST. JAMES — The 1971-72 school year started out on a positive note for St. James High School athletic teams.

The Saints’ football team went 7-2 – with the only losses coming to Fairmont by eight points and Blue Earth by two points.

The boys cross-country team won the District 6 Meet and finished second at the Region 2 Meet to qualify for the state meet.

That early success was a harbinger of the most memorable year in school history, which was highlighted by two state championships. This year marks the 50th anniversary of those titles.

On Feb. 26, 1972, the Saints wrestling team capped the three-day state meet at Williams Arena on the University of Minnesota campus with a first-place finish.

The state title was the first for a St. James team since 1954, when the Saints won the boys tennis state title. The unbeaten Saints football team in 1953 was named the “mythical” state champion by the Minneapolis Tribune.

After capturing the wrestling title, St. James would only have to wait a month for its next state title.

On March 25, at Williams Arena, the Saints defeated Melrose in the Class 1A championship basketball game. Two nights later, the Saints wrapped up a record-setting unbeaten season with a victory in a playoff game with Mounds View, which had won the Class 2A title.

Jim Augustin and Jeff Nessler, who were starters on the Saints football team, played key roles in the two state titles.

Augustin reached the 112-pound championship match at the state meet, while Nessler led the basketball team in scoring and made the game-winning basket in the victory over Melrose.

“Before the year began we knew we were going to have a good season,” said Augustin. “But we didn’t know how special it was going to be.”

The Saints wrestlers, coached by Paul Krueger, were the Region 2 runner-up the previous two seasons. They finished the regular season unbeaten in dual meets while winning two invitationals before outdistancing Blue Earth to win the South Central Conference Meet. The Saints had 141 points, while the runner-up Buccaneeers had 92.

The Saints then won the District 6 Meet and the Region 2 Meet. At the regional meet in Worthington, the Saints had six champions – Jake Hodgkinson (105 pounds), Augustin (112), Jeff Nelson (119, Kevin Kuehl (132), Tom Knickrehm (155) and Dave Johnson (167). Nate Winkelman, the runner-up at 98 pounds, gave the Saints seven individuals in the state meet. The seven state qualifiers were the most by any school in 1972.

Sherburn’s Dave Cain (145 champion) and Rick Kempert (132 runner-up) and Jackson’s Randy Baker (126 champion) also advanced to the state meet.

At the state meet, Hodgkinson, Augustin and Kuehl advanced to championship matches. In the semifinals, Augustin defeated Janesville’s Jack Eustice, 4-0. Hodgkinson got a takedown with 20 seconds to defeat Herb Pellinen of Hutchinson, 6-4 and Kuehl pinned his opponent.

Nelson took third place and Knickrehm took fifth. Cain was the runner-up at 145.

The Saints didn’t have an individual champion, but six of the seven wrestlers scored points as the Saints finished with 59 points to win the state title – the state meet didn’t begin the current dual-meet format until 1975. Osseo, which had three individual state champions, was second with 49 points and defending state champion Albert Lea was third with 39.

“Everything has to click to have a season like that,” said Augustin. “As the season went along, we started putting everything together. After we won our own tournament and the Robbinsdale tournament, we knew we had a good team. We really had a good bunch of guys.”

Nessler and his basketball teammates were optimistic going into their season.

“We had a lot of people back,” said Nessler, “and we thought we had a good team. We had good depth and everyone knew their roles. And it all fell into place.”

The Saints, the Region 2 runner-up in 1971, started their season with six consecutive victories before defeating Worthington and Renville in their own holiday tournament.

The Saints then closed out the regular season with a 57-45 victory over unbeaten Wells.

The Saints, coached by Arnold Veglahn, won the District 6 title – defeating unbeaten Mapleton in the championship game.

At the Region 2 tournament, the Saints defeated Luverne, which had defeated them in the 1971 region championship game, in the semifinals and then defeated Windom for their first trip to the state tournament since 1954.

Nessler said the Saints were inspired by the wrestling team.

“(All season) we had rooted for each other,” said Nessler. “After the wrestling team won the title, we said let’s go up there and give it a shot.”

The Saints opened Class 1A state tournament play with a six-point victory over St. Paul Murray. The Saints followed that with an 82-57 victory over Red Wing, which was the Class 1A runner-up in 1971, in the semifinals.

The championship game, against defending Class 1A champion Melrose, provided one of the most memorable shots in the history of the state tournament.

With the Saints and Melrose tied in the final 10 seconds, Saints guard Jeff Nessler got the ball near midcourt and lofted a shot from about 40 to 45 feet. The shot was good and lifted the Saints to a 57-55 victory over Melrose. The Saints then defeated Mounds View, 60-52.

The Saints’ 29 victories were a state record as St. James became the first school in state history to win a basketball and wrestling title in the same year.

“At a small school like St. James,” said Nessler, “you think a good year is if you win the district title. Anything after that is great. You don’t think about going 29-0.”

Augustin said “the most amazing thing is that both teams went unbeaten, 18-0 and 29-0. Three-hundred-thirty-six wrestling teams in the state started the season. They all had a shot.”

Augustin credited the Saints’ coaches.

“We were so fortunate,” said Augustin. “We got great coaching from Paul (Krueger), (assistant coach) Bill Mohr and (junior high coach) Al Adams. They were great communicators and coordinated the program.”

Nessler agreed, “Paul was a social studies teacher. He was really supportive. Our coaches really supported us and we have memories that have stayed with us.”