John’s Journal: No. 6 From 2022-23/ After 64 State Tournaments, Hal Miller Leaves A Legacy

 

The previous story on my Top 10 list from the school year was originally posted on June 3, and today’s entry – which is No. 6 – was posted four days later. With the No. 7 story, about a special unexpected moment from the adapted softball state tournament, the reporting, writing and online posting all happened on the same day.

Today’s story, about one of the many people who work largely behind the scenes to make MSHSL events happen at a high level that is nearly unmatched around the nation, came together at a slower pace. I knew for more than a year that Hal Miller would be working as a state tennis tournament manager for the final time this spring. I interviewed Hal during a lengthy phone call a few days before the tournament began, shot photos of him during the event, and as I had promised him, I walked out of the tennis center alongside him as he exited for the final time as a tournament manager.

Hal Miller is filled with gratitude. As he manages an MSHSL state tennis tournament this week for the 64^th and final time before stepping away, he is grateful for all the friends he has made and all the fun he has had. And everyone who knows Hal Miller is beyond grateful to call him a friend.

That group numbers in the hundreds, if not thousands, because Hal, 74, has had a positive impact on more lives than can be counted. Every fall, he has guided either the Class A or Class 2A girls state tennis tournament, and in the spring he has done the same for the boys. He has been doing so for 33 years, missing only two tournaments that were canceled due to Covid-19.

“There certainly will be sadness at the finality of it,” Miller said before the boys state tournament began its Tuesday-through-Friday run. He is spending his final week on the job managing the Class A site at the InnerCity Tennis center in south Minneapolis.

“Certainly I’ll miss the people, I’ll miss the challenge, I’ll miss being involved,” he said. “The excitement that comes from watching kids compete and play and their sportsmanship. I’ve made some great, great friends, not just with coaches, but with parents who come back and visit and say hello. It’s been not even a labor of love, it’s been an experience of love and appreciation. I think the world of the high school league and its people and its mission.”

It's a little odd that a person who is so strongly linked with high school tennis in Minnesota never played competitive tennis, either in high school or college. Miller played football, basketball and baseball during high school in Alexandria, played football for one year at St. Cloud State and was a batting-practice catcher and manager for the St. Cloud State baseball team. Being part of a team has been important to him throughout his life.

After college he was hired to teach in Willmar in the late 1970s. The high school had an opening for a girls tennis coach and Miller was asked if he was interested. He took the job despite having little knowledge of the sport.

“I knew two things; how to keep score and how to buy tennis balls,” he said with his familiar laugh. “I went to camps and clinics and I had so many good mentors. That first team won 14 matches and went to the section finals. It wasn’t because of me, they were well-taught before me. They almost took me to the state tournament. I got hooked on it because of those kids.”

That’s been the tent pole of Miller’s educational and coaching career ever since: the kids. During team play at state tournaments, he is well-known for conducting pre-match meetings with both teams that are filled with a mixture of congratulations, sportsmanship, camaraderie, and gratefulness. He puts a smile on everyone’s face.

In recent days, sorting through boxes at his home in the small town of Raymond, he discovered a letter from 1990. Dorothy McIntyre, then a member of the MSHSL staff and a pioneer in Minnesota girls sports, had written to Miller with an offer to become a state tennis manager.

“That was a jog back in history,” he said.

He credits McIntyre not only for her outstanding work on behalf of Minnesota high school kids, but for being a mentor to him. She is one of many people Hal has been thinking about during his final week as a tournament manager.

Litchfield tennis coach Greg Matthews was one of the first established coaches who helped Miller understand the keys to building a successful program.  

“I watched the program Bernie Rolle created at St. Cloud Apollo, and Bill Ritchie and Jerry Sales from Tech,” Hal said. “I remember talking to Ted Greer (Edina) about ways to get our team to the next level and play in the state tennis tournament. He gave me terrific advice, which elevated us to make nine team tournaments. John Eberhardt, Dave Edwards, Les Zellman, Jeff Demary, Dave Stearns, Rich Strokirch, Steve Paulson, Perry Forester, Bruce Thompson, Lisa Salo, Mike Cartwright, Paul Bates, Ted Warner, Tara Reichmann.

“Loren Holter from our program, Cheryl King and Dallas Hagen and Crookston coach Mike Geoffrey were just some of the many coaches and friendships I cherished and learned from. They were friends with a great passion for the game and I learned so much from each one of them. These coaches never punched a time clock, they simply worked until the job was done and they were more than willing to help a player from another program to reach their full potential.”

Hal coached the Willmar girls tennis team for 28 years and the boys for 22 (four as an assistant, 18 as head coach).

He likes to tell stories about growing up in Alexandria, including tales of his time with friends at playgrounds, ball fields or gyms. 

“We learned to play each game the right way, respect our opponents and enjoy the game itself from coaches and teachers. I took those lessons to heart when I took over the girls tennis program. I went to clinics, talked to successful coaches and asked a lot of questions. I also watched other programs outside of tennis and observed how they built and developed their programs.” 

Once he became involved in state tournaments, Miller suggested changes to make the experience even better for the teams and players. He pushed to allow alternates to play exhibition matches at state on courts that would otherwise be empty, which has become the norm. He also urged the MSHSL to have matches in each class at a single site; the format used to call for teams that lost in the state quarterfinals to move to an alternate site for consolation matches.

When told that using one site would mean longer days for himself and other tournament staff, Hal didn’t hesitate.

“I said, ‘I don’t care. It’s not about me.’ It’s about the kids, coaches and parents. It’s their magic carpet ride.”

When he was hired at Willmar, the young man was informed that he was in a special spot.

“They told me the day I signed my contract, ‘This is a place you can spend your entire career. It’s a place where you can stay and be happy.’ ”

That played out. Even in retirement from teaching, Miller remains a fixture in the community. He works as a public-address announcer at Willmar High School events, volunteers with school and civic groups, and stays active and involved. Everyone knows Hal.

His honors are many, and he is grateful for all of them. He was named the Class 2A girls tennis coach of the year in 2003, was inducted into the Willmar Cardinal Pride Hall of Fame in 2011, received the Distinguished Service Award from the National Federation of State High School Associations in 2015 and was inducted into the MSHSL Hall of Fame that same year.

“I benefitted from some really good kids,” he said, as always turning the focus away from himself. “I started some kids really young in summer programs. The kids that were on the team took part and helped build the program, because they loved it.”

Longtime tennis coaches Steve Haug of Alexandria and Rick Engelstad of Pine City have worked alongside Miller in managing state tournaments for years, relationships that Hal called “exceptional and what a joy.” Tournament managers are involved in event preparation, site setup and they spend each tournament day greeting players, coaches, families and fans, all while doing everything possible to ensure a high-level, fair competitive experience.

Miller said, “For all these years, the first question I’ve asked is how do we make this better? That’s been the case since the very first day with Dorothy. The goal is to have a first-class tournament and have fun doing it. We want to create memories that will last a lifetime, for players, coaches, parents and people who come. That hasn’t changed.”

--MSHSL media specialist John Millea has been the leading voice of Minnesota high school activities for decades. Follow him on Twitter @MSHSLjohn and listen to "Preps Today with John Millea” wherever you get podcasts. Contact John at jmillea@mshsl.org 

John’s Journal: No. 7 From 2022-23/ The Best Thing I’ve Seen In A Long, Long Time

 

The story below, which was posted on June 3, is No. 7 on my personal Top 10 John’s Journal stories from the 2022-23 school year. In a long journalism career, I’ve strongly believed that the simple act of showing up, whether you have a story idea or not in advance of an event, can lead to wonderful things.

That was the case with this story from the 2023 MSHSL adapted softball state tournament. After one of the championship games, something special happened, something that I had never seen before. I’ll never forget it.

My friend Jared Rubado, the talented and hard-working sports editor of the Bemidji Pioneer, writes an occasional feature titled “The best thing I saw last week.” Jared likes to pull back from the obvious things, like who won and who lost, and focus on the small but important moments that can make school activities so special. (You can read his latest such piece here: rb.gy/8cgax )

The best thing I saw Saturday, and one of the best things I have ever seen in several decades of sports coverage from the youth level to the pros, took place during the MSHSL adapted softball state tournament at Chanhassen High School.

There are two divisions in adapted softball: CI (cognitively impaired) and PI (physically impaired). In Saturday’s championship games, Burnsville/Farmington/Lakeville defeated Dakota United 7-5 in 11 innings to win the CI title, and Dakota United topped Robbinsdale/Hopkins/Mound Westonka 13-6 for the PI crown.

The best thing I saw took place immediately after the PI awards ceremony. These ceremonies follow exactly the same pattern as all MSHSL state championships; an all-tournament team is announced, the second-place team members and coaches receive their medals and trophy, and championship medals are placed around the necks of the winning team members, who then take possession of the first-place trophy.

And then come photos. Lots of photos. Parents, friends and others pull out their phones as the teams gather together for a formal photograph with their new hardware.

The Dakota United Hawks players and coaches posed on the court inside the beautiful Chanhassen gymnasium as the cameras began snapping. As they got into place, I noticed someone moving into position to take a photo; he stood out because he wore a red second-place ribbon around his neck.

It was Marcus Onsum, the longtime coach of the Robbinsdale/Hopkins/Mound Westonka Robins. I absolutely cannot remember ever seeing this happen before … the head coach of the losing team shooting photos of the winning team.

A few minutes later, Marcus was in the school cafeteria spending time with his players and their families. The mood was light and relaxed, with no downcast attitudes, no regrets and absolutely nothing negative.

I asked him about the photos, and his response said everything.

“I just want to kind of commemorate the spirit of the state championship game,” he said. “That Dakota United team is a heck of a team. I've coached a lot of really good teams myself and played against some really good teams, and that team's every bit as good as any one of them.”

Marcus is president of the Minnesota Adapted Coaches Association and Dakota United coach Brett Kosidowski is vice-president, according to the group’s website.

“Brett and his coaching staff, they're just such a personable group of guys,” Onsum said. “I love competing against them, I love working with them and their kids are awesome. We’re fierce competitors in the field, but their kids will stop every one of ours in the hallway and say hi, and it's just like it really truly represents the spirit of competition and adapted sports.”

Onsum played basketball at Robbinsdale Armstrong before graduating in 1994. He has siblings with muscular dystrophy who played for the Robins adapted teams in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Marcus said, “When I graduated from high school, our program founder, Lloyd Olson, approached me and said, ‘You know what? You get these kids, you get what we're doing. Come coach with me.’ And so I coached with him for a year as an assistant and then they brought in another head coach. We were co-head coaches for a while and then in 2000 I took over.”

Saturday’s tournament ended Onsum’s 29^th year of coaching adapted athletes. Like everyone involved in adapted sports – the MSHSL also sponsors adapted bowling, floor hockey and soccer – he knows that what truly matters goes well beyond the scoreboard.

“I keep coming back because one, these kids are amazing,” he said. “And growing up with siblings that benefited from adapted sports, I see firsthand the reason why we offer them. I know the benefits of it and I can't walk away from that. I want to make sure that every kid out there continues to get the same opportunity that my own brother and sister and hundreds of other kids have had.”

Those words? They’re the best thing. 

--MSHSL media specialist John Millea has been the leading voice of Minnesota high school activities for decades. Follow him on Twitter @MSHSLjohn and listen to "Preps Today with John Millea” wherever you get podcasts. Contact John at jmillea@mshsl.org  

John’s Journal: No. 8 From 2022-23/ Twelve Hours, 420 Miles And Great Baseball Memories

 

The No. 8 story on my personal Top 10 list from the last school year happened because of the weather … bad weather. As snow and cold hung on long into the spring in Minnesota, sports schedules were upended and creativity came into play. This story is a fine example of that, with a baseball team from northern Minnesota spending many hours on a bus in order to play a doubleheader in southern Minnesota. The story was originally posted on April 19.

On the original schedule for the baseball team from Cromwell-Wright, a game was planned for Tuesday vs. Floodwood, which is barely 18 miles from Cromwell. The Cardinals – who are located 40 miles west of Duluth -- ended up traveling a lot farther than that in order to not only play their first game, but to actually get on grass and dirt for the first time in the midst of ugly spring weather that has upended sports of all kinds across the state.

They played a doubleheader on the road Tuesday, with “the road” being a key part of their day. The Cardinals boarded Cromwell-Wright school bus Number 7 at 10:30 a.m. and drove south for three and a half hours – with a lunch stop in Hinckley -- before arriving in Janesville to meet the Bulldogs of Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton. By the time they arrived home late Tuesday night, they had been gone for more than 12 hours.

All that time, all those miles -- 420 round-trip miles, to be exact … was it all worth it?

“Oh yeah, it was worth it,” said Cardinals sophomore Brady Dahl, who played shortstop and pitcher Tuesday. “It was worth it to finally play on grass.”

The Cardinals had spent most of this snowy and cold spring throwing, catching and hitting inside their gym. They had been outdoors only three times, working out on a school parking lot.

“We've got snow on our field and just tough conditions,” coach Dean Levinski said after the doubleheader in Janesville. “We’d do anything to get outside and this was a great experience for us.”

The doubleheader came together in a hurry. In fact, it wasn’t locked down until Monday … about 24 hours before the first pitch. There is a section on the MSHSL website called Games Wanted, and Cromwell had posted a note that it was looking for games. When Janesville activities director Paul Brunner saw that post on Monday, he called Cromwell-Wright A.D. Dave Foster and before long everything was set.

Before Monday’s practice, Levinski told the players that they would be heading to a town that most of them had never heard of; it’s also safe to say that few if any players from Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton knew anything about Cromwell.

“We were looking for a game down south and I really assumed it would be a weekend deal, but these people called and we're more than happy to get out of there,” Levinski said of the conditions in northern Minnesota.

As in much of the state, but especially up north, the never-ending poor weather conditions have been frustrating for everyone.

“It was really cold in the beginning and then it let up and it was getting nice,” said Cromwell-Wright junior catcher Andrew Kachinske. “And then right as we were about to probably have a game, it snowed again. It’s just disappointing to not be able to play.

“Yesterday, right before practice our coach told us, ‘We’re going to have a game.’ None of us expected it. But we were all pretty happy about that.”

Because of low numbers, Cromwell-Wright didn’t field a baseball team from 2010 through 2021. But the program came back to life last spring.

“There has always been really good Little League in the Cromwell-Wright area but we didn't have any opportunities for the kids after that,” Levinski. “So four or five years ago, my coaches here and myself, we took the seventh-graders and started just playing junior high games, and last year was our first year (of varsity games).”

The Cardinals are a young team, which was evident as the more experienced Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton Bulldogs swept the doubleheader. They won the first game 10-0 in six innings, with freshman pitcher Chase Gerdts throwing a nine-strikeout no-hitter – and donning a crown, cape and scepter after being named “King of the Game” -- and Kelton Erler driving in three runs. In the second game, a five-inning affair, JWP won 8-3.

“The bulk of our players are freshmen and sophomores,” Levinski said. “We finished today with seventh grade, eighth grade and seventh grade in the outfield. It's not ideal, our depth is not where we need to be. To be honest with you, that's what shut down the program in the first place.”

After the second game ended, the Cardinals and Bulldogs exchanged handshakes and gathered together at home plate for a dual-team photo, with Cromwell red and Janesville blue mixing nicely.  

The Cardinals left their dugout spotless, with not one gum wrapper or empty water bottle left behind. The Bulldogs provided their visitors with a case of water and a stack of pizzas from the local Casey’s convenience store for the ride home, which was much appreciated.

Levinski and JWP coach Cory Jewison talked about the possibility of making this an annual rivalry, which would be something special.

Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton had played two games before Tuesday, defeating Blooming Prairie (44 miles away) and St. Clair (10). As the bus from Cromwell-Wright pulled away on its 210-mile trip north, one of the JWP players said to his teammates, “Hey! Let’s say goodbye to our friends!”

They waved and hollered as the Cardinals waved back from inside the bus. It had been a fine day of baseball, new friendships and memories.

“I’ve always felt that at every school, every kid should have a chance to play baseball,” Levinski said. “It's too good of a game to not give them a chance at least.”

--MSHSL media specialist John Millea has been the leading voice of Minnesota high school activities for decades. Follow him on Twitter @MSHSLjohn and listen to "Preps Today with John Millea” wherever you get podcasts. Contact John at jmillea@mshsl.org 

John’s Journal: No. 9 From 2022-23/ Rock Ridge ‘Brings Tears To My Eyes And A Smile To My Face’

 

The No. 9 story on the list of my Top 10 from 2022-23 comes from the Iron Range at a school that won’t actually open for students until the beginning of the 2023-24 school year. Rock Ridge High School is nearly indescribable. As I wrote, the school is “a marvel of light and space and technology. From large wooden beams to exposed steel to the textures and colors of the walls and floors, the facility carries a distinct Iron Range theme.”

I was fortunate enough to be taken on a tour of the building a few hours before the Wolverines hosted a girls/boys basketball doubleheader, which was the first look into the school for most of the fans. The story was originally posted on Feb. 19.

At 2:16 p.m. Friday, members of the Rock Ridge High School girls basketball team walked into their new gym for the first time. They gazed at the shiny floor, the sunlight streaming in from high windows, a giant video board and three smaller scoreboards. The place was gleaming.

“Holy buckets,” said one, “this is insane.” As the last few players walked into the space, they heard from a teammate already standing at midcourt, “You better take your shoes off. We’re keeping this court clean.”

Rock Ridge is a new school district bringing together students from Virginia and Eveleth-Gilbert. Voters in those communities approved consolidating the two school districts into one as well as building a new high school and two new elementary schools. It’s the first newly consolidated school district in Minnesota in 15 years. (Rock Ridge website: https://rrps.org)

The current high school enrollments are 443 at Virginia and 246 at Eveleth-Gilbert for a total of 689. Shuttle buses run between the two high school buildings each day as students learn in both places and make new friends, all in preparation for moving into their new high school in a few months.

Athletic teams have led the way into the future, with the Rock Ridge Wolverines boys swimming and diving team the first to join together four years ago. After decades of competing against each other, the girls and boys basketball players became Wolverines this season, and boys coach Spencer Aune said, “I’m blown away by the kids. They’re already best friends.”

Friday was a “soft” opening for the new gym, and the first time the public – and the players -- would be inside the school. The Wolverines girls hosted Two Harbors, followed by a boys game between Rock Ridge and Hibbing. This was a chance for the seniors to play one game in the gym that will become the Wolverines’ home starting next season. The rest of this year’s home games are being played in Eveleth.

The new high school will open to students in the fall; it’s a beautiful structure that is tucked into a wooded area off of U.S. Highway 53, a mile from the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame in Eveleth. The school is on Progress Parkway, which is entirely suitable for a district that’s looking into the future.

The 300,000-square-foot high school is a marvel of light and space and technology. From large wooden beams to exposed steel to the textures and colors of the walls and floors, the facility carries a distinct Iron Range theme. In the classrooms, study spaces, an 800-seat auditorium, an eight-lane swimming pool, a large fitness center, and technology areas that focus on auto mechanics, welding and woodworking, the school is a marvel. The football, baseball and softball fields, now blanketed by snow, are permanently covered with artificial turf.

To the sound of bouncing basketballs in the gym at mid-afternoon, a school official expressed concern about that evening’s crowd, saying “I wonder if anyone will come?”

But of course, if you build it they will come. The parking lot was nearly full 30 minutes before the girls game tipped off inside U.S. Steel Gymnasium (many areas of the school have sponsors), and nearly every single one of the 1,400 or so seats were filled when the action began. The concession stand wasn’t yet stocked; the only items for sale were bottles of water and pom poms in Rock Ridge green and white. Both items did a brisk business.

The Wolverines pep band performed magnificently, a large Rock Ridge student section provided spirit and entertainment, cheerleaders cheered, the dance team performed at halftime of both games, and everybody smiled. Officials Dave Clement, Babe Glumack and Jordan Parentaeu called both contests and did a splendid job. When the officials were introduced before each game, they were applauded by the fans. (Between games, Glumack told a visitor: “What a great atmosphere. This is a really fun gym to work in.”)

The girls game tipped off at 5:47 as the Rock Ridge students stood and chanted, “I Believe That We Will Win!” Things quickly went the way of the Wolverines, and that didn’t change throughout the day. The first points in the new gym were scored on a driving layup by Rock Ridge ninth-grader Maija Lamppa, whose teammates include her twin sister Lexi and junior sister Emma.

Maija Lamppa and Two Harbors senior Karly Holm put on a show, with each scoring 31 points in the Wolverines’ 90-58 win. 

The boys game featured head coaches who are brothers, Spencer Aune and Hibbing’s Tom Aune. That contest also went to the Wolverines by a score of 92-71. Carter Mavec led Rock Ridge with 16 points, with Casey Aune and Jalen Miskowitz scoring 14 each. Finley Cary led Hibbing with 17 and Raymod Brau had 16.

 “Oh, it was awesome,” said Wolverines senior Grant Hansen, who scored the first basket in the boys game. “The fans were crazy, the court’s so nice, the whole school is nice. I feel so lucky. For us seniors to get in here, it meant everything.”

Rock Ridge girls coach Byron Negen added, “I think the atmosphere today, with the community coming together, just made it perfect for the kids. It was something they will remember, especially the seniors.”

The day was filled with pride in community, in a new adventure, a bright future and in the Iron Range itself. But mostly, the day was filled with happiness.

“I honestly can’t take the smile off my face,” said Wolverines senior Paige Maki. “I was smiling the whole time, all day, just thinking about it. It was kind of surreal. It shows how much these communities have come together to support us. It brings tears to my eyes and a smile to my face.”

Early in the afternoon, athletic director Josh Lamppa – who was among the people who studied other schools and had a hand in the design of the new building – was taking a visitor on a tour of the building. Other than some minor detail work that’s being done, the school looks ready for staff and students. Very few people have been able to walk though the halls at this point, but for basketball fans who saw the gymnasium and adjacent pool – both can be viewed through large windows from the concession area – it was a taste of what’s to come.

After the two basketball games had gone off without a hitch and folks were chatting in the gym, Josh Lamppa was approached by his daughter Emma. She had a simple question: “Dad, can I get a tour?”

The waiting, for everyone, will soon be over.

--MSHSL media specialist John Millea has been the leading voice of Minnesota high school activities for decades. Follow him on Twitter @MSHSLjohn and listen to "Preps Today with John Millea” wherever you get podcasts. Contact John at jmillea@mshsl.org  

 Today we’re kicking off the countdown of my personal favorite Top 10 John’s Journal stories from the 2022-23 school year. We’ll start with No. 10 and work our way to the No. 1 story.

The No. 10 story, which was originally posted on Oct. 6, focuses on the hometown atmosphere and tradition for the football team from Moose Lake-Willow River. I had seen the Rebels play on the big stage in playoff games as well as state championship games, but this was my first visit to one of their home games. It was an unforgettable evening.

WILLOW RIVER -- When a new school in Moose Lake was being planned a few years back, a question was raised: Should we also build a new football field next to the new school, a shiny and modern place to play?

The answer was resounding: No flippin’ way.

That’s because for about as long as anyone can remember, the Moose Lake-Willow River Rebels have been playing football on a spectacular throwback field tucked into a neighborhood on the edge of Willow River, surrounded by pine trees and bathed in tradition and success.

The team practices in Moose Lake but game nights are the big draw 11 miles away in Willow River. The two small communities south of Duluth, just off Interstate 35, have their own schools, which have come together to form cooperative sports teams since 1984.

The Rebels football team has been one of the state’s best for a long time. They have played in 15 state tournaments since 2000, including Class 2A state runner-up finishes in 2009, 2011 and 2012.

A 43-14 Homecoming win over Mesabi East last week pushed the Rebels’ record to 4-1. The loss came in the season opener against Class 4A Hermantown. Moose Lake-Willow River plays at Braham this Friday.

Dave Louzek, who is in his 24^th year as head coach of the Rebels, said success was not a sure thing in the early days.

“We really struggled to get numbers out for football, especially from Willow River,” he said. “Our numbers were way down and morale was a little bit low. We were able to build up numbers to having 65 or 70 kids come out for football and from there it’s built a lot of fun into the program. And it's just taken off since then. The kids are having fun out here and that's kind of the key to playing well.”

During halftime of the Homecoming game, previous Rebels football players were recognized as they stood on the field, representing the program’s tradition. Another tradition takes place before home games, when the Rebels silently walk the one block between the Willow River school and the football field. It’s quite a scene: the Rebels, in single file, cleats clacking on the edge of a narrow asphalt street, with red and blue banners hanging from telephone poles and bearing the Rebels’ “R.”

Louzek loves his team’s home field and said it can be even more spectacular on foggy nights.

“Every once in a while you'll get a night where the fog comes rolling in. And with the pine trees, the lights and the stands are full, it’s great.”

The field is special in other ways, too. All the fans who want to sit in bleachers do so on the home side of the field; lots of folks stand around the perimeter of the field (with the option of stepping back into the pines to take important phone calls). There are press boxes on each side of the field. And there is no track, which allows everybody to be extremely close to the action.

“That's the best part of this field, there's no track separating the fans from the game,” said Louzek. “The fans are literally right on top of you, right on top of the field and they see everything that we're doing coaching-wise, and I love having them right there. They see how we treat the kids, and we treat them well and get them to work hard for us. I love that everybody is part of the experience.”

Indeed, during the second half of the Homecoming game, with reserves on the field, a mom leaned over the front of the metal bleachers and asked several first-string players to gather together on the sideline as she snapped a photo.
 

The Rebels of 2022 are a talented group, led by a rough-and-tumble ground game and a quick-to-the-ball defense. They average 313 rushing yards per game, led by Jaxsyn Schmidt’s 150-yards-per-game average and eight total touchdowns in five games. The Rebels have scored 19 rushing touchdowns and the defense has yielded only four grounds TDs.

“It's definitely a work in progress,” Louzek said of this season. “But we always expect to compete for a section championship. We expect to get into the state tournament. We graduated a great group of seniors last year, just like we do every year. But we never talk about rebuilding, we always talk about reloading.

“And now it's this group's turn, and you saw the former Rebel players out there (at halftime). They played in Prep Bowls, they played in state semifinals, they played in state quarterfinals. And these kids know it because we talk about it. And so they have to live up to that legacy. And most of all, now, it's their turn. This year is their turn to leave their part of the legacy.”

--MSHSL media specialist John Millea has been the leading voice of Minnesota high school activities for decades. Follow him on Twitter @MSHSLjohn and listen to "Preps Today with John Millea” wherever you get podcasts. Contact John at jmillea@mshsl.org  

The Best Of John’s Journal From 2022-23: Top 10 Honorable Mention

 

I am making progress … admittedly slowly … on selecting my Top 10 John’s Journal stories from the 2022-23 school year. I have settled on 10 stories but the hard work is putting them in order from No. 10 to No. 1. That task is ongoing.

I also have selected five other stories that just missed out on Top 10 status but are worthy of being named Honorable Mention. I’m not ranking them in any order other than chronologically. Here are brief excerpts from those five stories, along with links to the original posts…

Sept. 26/ The Battle For The Paddle In Detroit Lakes

DETROIT LAKES -- It’s a good thing the traveling trophy that’s on the line when Detroit Lakes and Perham meet on the football field isn’t a Faberge egg or a collection of fine china.

The trophy is a wooden canoe paddle, and the matchup is aptly called the Battle for the Paddle. There are a number of terrific traveling football trophies in our state, and I have seen many postgame celebrations as players from the winning team raise the artifact high and holler their lungs out. Among my favorites, in no particular order, are the Battle Axe (Luverne and Pipestone), Babe’s Bell (Bemidji and Brainerd), Bay Bell (Minnetonka and Wayzata), Tractor Trophy (Northfield and Farmington), Little Brown Jug (Fairmont and Blue Earth) and Armistice Day Trophy (St. Charles and Chatfield).

The scene Friday night was routine … until it wasn’t. Since Perham had defeated the Lakers 30-27 last season (scoring the winning points on a 52-yard hook and ladder play with 13 seconds to play), the Paddle was in the hands of Perham activities director Erin Anderson as this year’s game wound down. There was no drama, with Detroit Lakes scoring on its first play from scrimmage – a 79-yard run by Ethan Carrier -- and winning 49-6.

As the players went through the traditional postgame handshake line, Anderson stood on the field with the Paddle, which bears logos of the two schools and scores from previous games. He handed the Paddle to the celebrating Lakers and offered one of them a congratulatory pat on the shoulder. That’s when things got beyond wild, because in the midst of their wild stompin’ hootin’ and hollerin’ and grabbin’ at the Paddle, the Lakers broke the thing into two pieces. No problem, because now they had TWO trophies to raise into the night sky.

https://www.mshsl.org/about/news/johns-journal/johns-journal-battle-paddle-detroit-lakes

Jan. 21/ A Familiar Name Is Back On The Bench In Chisholm

When Joel McDonald resigned last summer after 23 years as the head boys basketball coach at Hibbing High School, his plans didn’t include spending so much time inside the most famous gym in Minnesota, where he set scoring records and his father set coaching records.

But here he is, a first-year assistant coach for the Chisholm Bluestreaks, who play on Bob McDonald Court inside historic Roels Gymnasium.

Joel finished his high school career in Chisholm as Minnesota’s all-time scoring leader in 1991. As the coach at Hibbing, the Bluejackets went to the state tournament in 2021 for the first time in more than 30 years. Bob McDonald, who coached for 59 years and won more games than any boys basketball coach in state history, was 87 when he died in 2020.

Joel, 50, is the youngest of six siblings. His brothers Mike (Cambridge-Isanti) and Tom (Ely) are longtime high school coaches and Paul McDonald coached at Vermillion Community College for 29 years.

https://www.mshsl.org/about/news/johns-journal/johns-journal-familiar-name-back-bench-chisholm

Feb. 14/ Three Siblings, Three Hockey Officials

The Szymanski kids grew up in a sports-oriented family in Sauk Rapids. Ryan, Matt, Justin and little sister Kaelyn were athletes at Sauk Rapids-Rice High School. They all became hockey officials, which set up a special day for their family recently when Ryan, Matt and Kaelyn officiated together for the first time.

“It was the most fun reffing experience I’ve had,” Matt said. “It was really special to do that with both of them.”

Ryan and Matt had worked together on the ice previously, but never with their sister. All three are teachers as well as officials…

--Ryan Szymanski, 35, is a special education teacher at Sauk Rapids-Rice High School.

--Matt Szymanski, 32, is a fourth-grade teacher at Cottage Grove Elementary School.

--Kaelyn Szymanski, 25, is a special education teacher at Pleasantview Elementary in the Sauk Rapids-Rice school district.

Justin, 30, who lives in Milwaukee, used to officiate. Matt has cut back on the number of games he works after becoming a father last year. They all umpired baseball games and Matt also has worked as an MSHSL soccer official. Becoming officials seemed like a no-brainer after their competitive careers ended.

“It’s pretty much ingrained with us,” Ryan said.

https://www.mshsl.org/about/news/johns-journal/johns-journal-three-siblings-three-hockey-officials

March 16/ The Curse Is Gone As MIB Wins Class 1A Championship

Nobody was saying the girls basketball team from Mountain Iron-Buhl was carrying a jinx, but the Rangers’ history at the state tournament sure could have made you think.

Year after year, the Rangers followed a pattern: Great regular season, whip through the Section 7 playoffs, head down from the Iron Range to the Twin Cities for the state tournament … and come up short of a title.

They came to state in 2011 for the first time since 1994. They were the Class 1A runner-up in 2012. They returned in 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016 and were runner-up again in 2017. Another appearance came in 2018, then 2019, 2021 and 2022. (MIB missed state in 2020, the year Covid halted the tournament after two days and no champions were crowned.)

The Rangers were proud of their matched pair of second-place medals, but nobody wants to keep going to the well and seeing someone else pull up gold.

Maybe the 12^th trip to state in 13 years was the magic number. Because they climbed the last mountain on Saturday, defeating BOLD 52-21 at Williams Arena to finally, finally, finally have gold medals on blue ribbons placed around their championship necks.

The team’s star and scoring leader, junior Jordan Zubich, summed everything up nicely afterwards, saying, “We’ve been down here so long. I said when we were in the lines getting our medals, ‘Holy crap, guys, we just broke the streak! We broke the MIB curse!’ It's crazy.”

https://www.mshsl.org/about/news/johns-journal/johns-journal-curse-gone-mib-wins-class-1a-championship

April 3/ Spring Sports Held Outdoors? Yes, In Southeast Minnesota

I awakened Monday morning without any concrete coverage plans. That was because under the current weather conditions in Minnesota, there was little chance that anything was happening outdoors. My own yard was evidence of that, with snow everywhere after the latest storm dumped inch after inch.

Everything changed at 8:06 a.m. A message from the Pine Island Baseball Twitter account carried big all-caps news: “GAMEDAY UPDATE!!! PLAY BALL!!!! VARSITY AND JV BOTH WILL PLAY IN LAKE CITY TONIGHT AT 5:00!!”

I had been watching the status of that game for a day or two, realizing that southeast Minnesota had not received any April snow over the weekend and competitions just might be possible. After seeing the baseball game would happen, I looked at some schedules and zoned in on two other events, a softball game at Dover-Eyota and a track meet hosted by Plainview-Elgin-Millville.

Assuming that the roads would be clear (which they were), I decided to visit all three Monday events -- softball game, track meet, baseball game – as a memorable way to observe my first day of 2023 spring outdoor competitions. https://www.mshsl.org/about/news/johns-journal/johns-journal-spring-sports-held-outdoors-yes-southeast-minnesota

--MSHSL media specialist John Millea has been the leading voice of Minnesota high school activities for decades. Follow him on Twitter @MSHSLjohn and listen to "Preps Today with John Millea” wherever you get podcasts. Contact John at jmillea@mshsl.org  

John’s Journal: Nearly A Decade Of Top 10 Yearly Stories

 

After winning a state championship, Henning basketball players honor Jacob Quam.

In what has become an annual ritual of summer, I am looking back through all the John’s Journal stories I have written during the 2022-23 school year. The goal is to select my Top 10 favorite stories. They will be re-posted in reverse order, starting with No. 10 and proceeding to the No.1 story. This is always an entertaining exercise as I reflect on the kids, adults and communities I am so fortunate to visit and the things I am able to chronicle.

As I started in on this project in recent days, a question came to mind: How long have I been putting together these Top 10 lists? Well, it turns out that we are nearing the 10-year anniversary of this endeavor. The first Top 10 list came after the 2013-14 school year, and the No. 1 story from that year was about Riley Schmitz, a football player from Southland who was legally blind.

In ensuing years, the No. 1 stories included such topics as a softball coach who gave birth in a car on the way from a game to the hospital, how teams kept the memory of deceased teammates with them, how emergency preparations saved the life of an athlete who collapsed due to heart issues, and more.

So, as a prelude to the release of this year’s Top 10 Johns Journal stories, here are brief excerpts from the No. 1 stories from past years, beginning in the summer of 2014…

2014/ Southland’s Riley Schmitz: Heart, Desire Make Up For Limited Vision

Southland football player Riley Schmitz can’t see the farm, the silos or the livestock that surround the Rebels’ practice field. Even though he has been practicing on these fields since he was a fifth-grade football player, clear vision for the senior extends no farther than the end of his arms. Those are two remarkable facts: Riley is a football player who is legally blind.

“His heart, his desire is tremendous,” said coach Shawn Kennedy. “He is absolutely so passionate about football.”

2015/ Victory Day In Grand Rapids: Football And Big Smiles

Eric Soderberg, starting senior quarterback for the Grand Rapids football team, was leading a group of QBs in drills at Noble Hall Field. The athletes each took a snap and navigated several cones while running with the ball. At the end of the drill, Soderberg and the other QBs gathered together in a tight huddle, each put one hand up in the middle of the pack and Soderberg said, “QBs on 3!” They all hollered, “One! Two! Three! QBs!!”

It was absolute magic. These weren’t the other high school quarterbacks; these were cognitively and physically impaired children from Itasca County who had been invited to the Grand Rapids Thunderhawks’ first Victory Day event.

Sixteen kids – some in wheelchairs or walkers -- joined the football team and one young lady spent her morning with the cheerleaders, who performed routines and kept the enthusiasm high. Members of the Thunderhawks marching band provided the school song and other tunes, and longtime Thunderhawks public-address announcer Roy Tovionen provided play-by-play from his perch in the press box.

Coach Greg Spahn said, “It’s just so much fun to have our players see the impact they have and give back to some of these kids who aren’t able to experience football.”

Here’s how senior Levi How described the day: “I love it. If there’s one kid smiling today, it makes the whole day worth it.”

2016/ Renville County West Remembers Brandon
Brandon Limones, a three-sport athlete at Renville County West, was 17 when he died unexpectedly in March. His football teammates did not forget him. The Jaguars walked onto the field before games carrying his No. 11 jersey, which was displayed on a stand at the bench. After I wrote about RCW and their dedication to Brandon, the story went a step further. Before RCW played at Cleveland in the nine-man Section 2 championship game, Cleveland activities director Rich Kern painted an 11 on the field in front of the RCW bench in place of the 50-yard line. He said, “You think to yourself, ‘How can we as a school show our support to the visiting team, that we care about their team and school?’ Yes, we have a championship game to be played and competition between each other, but there is more to the game than just the score.”

2017/ Hope For Henry

ANNANDALE – Two comments overheard during a grand Tuesday evening of basketball in a packed gymnasium do a pretty good job of telling the story.

Quote No. 1: “This is just a game. There’s a little kid fighting for his life.”

Quote No. 2: “Those were two dang good teams going at it.”

Both quotes are accurate. These were just games, with the girls and boys basketball teams from Hopkins heading to Annandale for a varsity doubleheader. The overall focus was on a little boy who is in the minds and hearts and prayers of everyone who attended.

Henry Dolan is the grandson of Annandale boys basketball coach Skip Dolan. Henry was born with heart defects and given a two percent chance to survive for a week after birth. That was nine months ago. Henry, who has undergone a heart transplant, remains hospitalized and hopes are high for his long-term health. But the road will be long for Henry, his parents, Sam and Mollie Dolan, and his two big sisters. 

2018/ Thanks To The Miracle In Monticello, A Life Is Saved

MONTICELLO – A miracle, performed by angels, took place at Monticello High School. Those words – “miracle” and “angels” – were spoken by the mother of a young man whose life was saved on a basketball court.

It was the second day of boys basketball practice for the 2017-18 season, with workouts/tryouts held before and after school. On the Tuesday before Thanksgiving, practice began at 6 a.m. Fifteen-year-old sophomore Ryan Monahan was involved in the first drill of the day when he fell to the court.

“I just kind of blacked out,” he said. “I felt lightheaded during a shooting drill and then I just kind of collapsed, I guess.”

The reaction was swift. Head coach Jason Schmidt, knowing that several coaches from other sports were working out in the nearby fitness center, hollered for them to come to the gym. He removed the nearest AED (automated external defibrillator) from a fieldhouse wall and handed it to head football coach Jason Telecky. Assistant boys basketball coach Bruce Balder-Lanoue was kneeling over Ryan when Telecky arrived with the AED.

“We were very fortunate that we had multiple staff members in the weight room working out,” said athletic director Gary Revenig. “One of the football assistants, our head girls basketball coach, our assistant principal; they all kind of took on a role.”

2019/ Henning’s State Champions Will Gather Again For Jacob

HENNING – On Saturday, three weeks to the day after winning their school's first state championship, members of the Henning Hornets boys basketball team will go to the gym and play. And laugh. And remember their friend and teammate Jacob Quam.

Saturday will mark the second anniversary of Jacob's death. Early in the morning on April 13, 2017, Jacob was driving six miles from his home in Vining to Henning for a before-school weightlifting session when the driver of a semitrailer heading in the opposite direction crossed the center line and collided with Jacob's vehicle.

Later that morning, the Henning students were informed of Jacob's death as they gathered in the gym. Four days after that, his funeral was held in the gym. He would have been a senior this year.

After the boys play basketball Saturday, they will go to Jacob's grave a mile away at St. Paul’s Cemetery. Jacob’s mom, Angela Quam, will meet them there and they will celebrate Jacob with fireworks.

"We’ll do five grand finales," Angela said. "All the boys will be there, then they’re going to somebody’s cabin for a sleepover. Hopefully that’s a tradition they’ll be able to carry on."

2020/ Jackson County Central Football And A Viral Video

On a peaceful November Monday in Jackson County there was some measure of disappointment that the Jackson County Central Huskies would not be playing at the Prep Bowl later in the week. But those feelings were tempered by an immeasurable amount of pride in knowing what the world thought of the boys on the football team from the little southwest Minnesota town near the Iowa border.

In a tiny gym inside Pleasantview Elementary in Lakefield, 12 miles from Jackson, four of those boys were teaching. The senior team captains -- Nathaniel Post, Bradley Buhl Jr., Rudy Voss and Jack Brinkman – spent the day with fifth- and sixth-graders, playing games and talking about what's important. They emphasized words like respect, character, hard work. And love. 

"The three things that I want you guys to take with you are things that I live by, that we all live by," Voss said to the kids sitting on the gym floor. "The first one is love. Love each other, respect each other, form a bond with each other. The second one is work hard. Work hard in anything you guys do, whether it's sports, the classroom, group projects, work hard. And the third one is respect. Respect each other, respect your teachers, respect your parents. Holding the door for someone, saying please and thank you, that's the kind of people we want you guys to be.”

If Rudy's name sounds familiar, it's probably because you’ve seen a viral video from the Nov. 16 Class 3A state semifinals at U.S. Bank Stadium. After the Huskies lost a heartbreaking 20-14 decision to Pierz in a game between unbeaten teams, Voss, Buhl and coach Tom Schuller spoke to the media in the Vikings’ postgame interview room.

The video is emotional and stirring. Rudy, through tears, talked about football being a blessing in his life, the bond among the 21 seniors, how wins and losses don’t define them. At one point, Rudy is unable to speak and Bradley takes over, putting a hand on his teammate’s back and talking about how at the start of the season each player was asked to do their job and trust each other. 

2021/ The Coach, The Baby And A Wild Delivery

Back in April, the Marshall Independent newspaper provided a preview of the Wabasso High School softball season. Rabbits head coach Tiffany Eichten told reporter Josh VanKlompenburg: “Softball has been a part of my life since I was little and has now become a part of my own growing family. …  I am looking forward to the lifelong lessons and memories that will be made this year.”

She had no idea.

The Rabbits played in the Class A Section 3 playoffs Tuesday in Cottonwood. Having already lost once in the tournament, another defeat would end their season. Wabasso stayed alive by defeating Lac qui Parle Valley 10-0 before losing to Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg 10-7. The Rabbits finished the season with a record of 14-12.

Eichten was extremely pregnant and knew the baby would arrive soon; her due date had already come and gone. When daughter Elloray was born five years ago, she was delivered the day after the softball season ended. Elway, 4, and Jeter, 2, have arrived since.

“I didn’t think it would be that day,” Tiffany told me Wednesday. “I thought, this is kind of like (Elloray), we’ll play and have her the next day.”

2022/ A Coach, A Mom And A Kidney

The whole thing, the whole unbelievable and wholly and very possibly Holy endeavor – a straight-up miracle, perhaps – began simply enough, with a high school soccer coach looking for video of a goal scored by a member of her team.

It ended with the coach donating a vital organ to the mother of three of her players.

This is a good time to share this story, as a new year of Minnesota high school activities opens Monday with the start of fall sports practices. Keith Cornell, activities director at St. Michael-Albertville, phrased it perfectly when he said, “This just shows once again that there is so much more to education-based activities than going out and playing games.”

The story began after a late-September soccer game in 2020. Senior Rheana Zerna scored an improbable goal from midfield as she and her St. Michael-Albertville teammates forged a 1-1 tie at Eden Prairie. Her coach, Megan Johnson, knew that Rheana’s father, Julius, often shot video of the games and she asked Rheana if her dad had taped the big goal. Rheana responded that Megan should become Facebook friends with her mom, Cleofe, because the video was posted on Cleofe’s Facebook page.

“That’s not something I usually do, but I wanted to see the goal,” Megan said.

The two indeed became friends on Facebook, where Cleofe (pronounced Cleo-fay) posted an important message in February: she was suffering from kidney failure and was asking friends to spread the word that she was seeking a donor. After a lengthy battle with kidney disease, her kidneys were functioning at 11 percent of normal capacity. Cleofe, 49, was looking at a future filled with kidney dialysis if no donor could be found.

Her Facebook post read in part, “I realize that as much as I want to fight the good fight on my own, it’s no longer realistic without the help of others. I am currently on the Mayo Clinic kidney transplant waiting list for a non-living donor, but the wait is long, it takes roughly 4-7 years.

“My goal is to have a kidney transplant and not go through dialysis. For the sake of my loving family, particularly my awesome husband of 24 years and our 3 wonderful daughters, I am reaching out for your help.

“I don’t make these requests lightheartedly. I simply just want to extend my life here on earth. I want to grow old with my loving husband and see my wonderful children grow, finish college, get a job, and as they promise they will send me and my husband on vacations. That will be a day to look forward too! And of course, I want to see my future adorable grandchildren.”

The post included a link to Mayo Clinic’s Transplant Center and a questionnaire for prospective donors. Megan clicked the link, kicking off an unlikely journey tying her for a lifetime with the mother of three of her soccer players: Jucel Zerna graduated from St. Michael-Albertville in 2018 and played soccer at Augsburg before graduating this spring; Rheana graduated this year and is now playing soccer at St. Cloud State; and Juliana is a soccer player who will be in 10th grade when school resumes.

Megan, 41, is a third-grade teacher who has coached the Knights for 17 years. Her husband Jerremiah is a sixth-grade teacher and head coach of the Knights boys hockey team. Like Cleofe and Julius, they have three children.

"My wife is a person who exemplifies all the great things about education and activities," Jerremiah said. "She cares so much about her athletes. Every year she’s emotional when the season ends because of how much she cares about them."

Shortly after filling out the online donation questionnaire, Megan received a phone call from Mayo Clinic. That was followed by more phone calls and a day filled with video visits. In the meantime, Cleofe had learned from Mayo that they were in discussions with a potential donor, but she didn’t know it was her daughters’ soccer coach.   

--MSHSL media specialist John Millea has been the leading voice of Minnesota high school activities for decades. Follow him on Twitter @MSHSLjohn and listen to "Preps Today with John Millea” wherever you get podcasts. Contact John at jmillea@mshsl.org