John’s Journal: From Volleyball Star To Volleyball Coach

 

Ten years can be a long time, but Ashley Wittman Bushman’s memories of her high school volleyball days remain fresh and clear. The 2010 graduate of Shakopee High School, now an assistant volleyball coach at Benilde-St. Margaret’s, is one of the most decorated athletes in Minnesota history, leading her team to state championships in 2007, 2008 and 2009 and being honored as the Gatorade national player of the year in 2009.

Asked about those days, the memories of time with her teammates stand out much more than personal glory. 

“When I think back to high school volleyball, I remember the state tournaments. We stayed in a hotel, we got to hang out with each other, the whole experience of playing in the state tournament multiple years in a row,” she said. “I loved playing with all of my teams. … I just remember so much of what I got to experience with my friends. We were all very close, hanging out all the time.”

Wittman Bushman went on to an All-Big Ten and All-American career at the University of Minnesota, where she graduated with a degree in sports management. She was a two-year Gophers team captain and played in four NCAA tournaments. She played professionally in Puerto Rico before returning to Minnesota.

“The wealth of knowledge that she has, and her experience, there’s no comparing that to anything,” said Benilde-St. Margaret’s head coach Michael Becker, who  was hired as an assistant by then-head coach Phong Luong a year before Wittman Bushman came on board seven years ago.

“Phong made some new hires,” he recalled, “and I said, ‘How did you get Ashley Wittman?!’ ”

Wittman Bushman and her husband Luke live in New Hope with their two young children. Ashley works part-time for JIT Energy Services and remains busy with her kids and coaching.

“I love it, I absolutely love coaching,” she said. “I enjoy getting out of the house, I enjoy having the connection with the girls. I’m very detail-oriented with volleyball, teaching all the skills that go along with it. I love that.”

Wittman Bushman was a four-year starter in the Shakopee lineup, growing from 5-foot-9 as a ninth-grader to 6-2 as a senior. Matt Busch, the Shakopee coach then and now, said Wittman’s passion for the game stands out for him.

“I think of nothing but sheer determination,” he said. “She lived volleyball all that time, but more importantly she worked like crazy. She was doing extra fitness training stuff for three years before she even left high school. The amount of vertical work and strength work she did was ridiculous.”

Wittman capped her high school career with an amazing 34 kills as the Sabers defeated Wayzata 3-1 in the 2009 Class 3A state championship match to cap a 32-0 season. The set loss to Wayzata was the only set Shakopee dropped all season.

“She was a six-rotation player and a darn good one right away that very first year (as a freshman),” Busch said. “From her sophomore year to senior year, the amount of strength she put on was ridiculous.”

The current players at Benilde-St. Margaret’s are aware that Wittman Bushman was a high school and college star.

“We've gone to the U and looked at her posters on the wall and stuff,” said senior Alexis Brixius. “We know she's super accomplished and we all look up to her a ton because there's not many people who have accomplished as much as her. It's super cool to get to be able to see that and be with someone who's done so much.”

Senior Josie King added, “When we’ve had scrimmages at Shakopee we always saw her name on the state championship (display). Having her as a role model and a coach to look up to, she's been a great influence on all of us. We couldn't be happier with having her around.”

That happiness goes both ways.

“Over the years it gets less and less, but they all are very aware of what kind of player I was in high school and college,” Wittman Bushman said. “I can give them advice if they’re struggling or if they’re looking to play in college. I have all these experiences and I can help with different situations.”

Becker said Wittman Bushman is the closest thing to a head coach that an assistant can be.

“Assistant coach is really an inappropriate title,” he said. “This season, with all the (Covid-19) changes, we talked before the first practice and I said, ‘Normally I’d love to sit down and talk about roles.’ But we didn’t have time to do that. The wealth of knowledge that she has, and her experience, there’s no comparing that to anything. We’re probably 50-50 if not 75 percent Ashley and 25 percent Becker in terms of coaching the girls during games and practices.

“I’ve told her that’s so good for these girls, somebody who has played at every level, has won three state championships, an undefeated season, 35 kills or whatever in a state championship match. Her responsibility is equal if not more than mine. She sees the game at a different pace than most coaches do. She does a really good job of being honest with the girls, telling them how things are going, what needs to change. If girls are struggling, she’ll give them some practical advice on how to get out of it.”

Wittman Bushman, whose children are 2 ½ years and six months old, said she may be interested in becoming a head coach at some point in the future.

“As of now I’m definitely happy to be an assistant and do just volleyball, not the administrative stuff,” she said. “With two little kids, I have plenty of time to be a head coach in the future.”

--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: Becker’s Miracle Man

You talk to Brayden Weber and his mother about what the Becker High School senior has experienced – beginning with the day he died in late February – and you hear the same words: A Blessing.  

“It’s a blessing to even have a season,” Brayden told me over the phone after football practice one day last week. He’s back on the field with the Becker Bulldogs, which is quite a long way from the day he collapsed in a semifinal match at the state wrestling tournament in St. Paul.

As he told me in March, “They don’t know if my heart actually stopped; they just couldn’t find a pulse. They said with an irregular rhythm it could just be hard to detect a pulse. But they said I wasn't breathing on my own for five minutes, which is like a good indication that I was dead.”

The medical team at the tournament performed CPR on Brayden and had an automated external defibrillator ready just in case. During a long string of medical tests, he was diagnosed with supraventricular tachycardia, a heart rhythm disorder caused by abnormal electrical signals. A surgical procedure in June corrected the problem and a small cardiac monitor was implanted near his heart.

The best news came in early July when he was cleared to play football.

“He’s in his glory out there,” said Brayden’s mom, Sara Waytashek.

Brayden called it “just a big relief. It was so good to hear you can go back and do something you love. I waited four or five months to get that news and I had a gut feeling it was going to be OK.”

He will play college football somewhere. Dwight Lundeen, who has seen a few things in his 51 years as the only head football coach Becker has ever had, said, “He’s a great leader, a real good football player. He’s played great.”

Brayden, a team captain, is 6-foot-2 and 225 pounds. He plays outside linebacker on defense and right tackle on offense, rarely leaving the field. Since practice began, his coaches have been keeping an eye on him. An AED is on hand at every practice and every game, just in case.

“I don’t think you can ever put that out of your mind,” Lundeen said of Weber’s heart. “Our eyes are on him constantly. Every time he looks a little different, a little fatigued, a little paler -- and it could be just from running hard -- but we have not had one situation where we needed to pull him out because of that.”

Brayden said he is still working to keep his heart out of his mind.

“Not every time it starts beating fast, but sometimes it’s like, ‘Wooh, that’s a little fast,’ ” he said. “I’ve got to stop being gun-shy about it. The first couple weeks of football were definitively tough for me. I’ve been getting better at it.”

Waytashek has an especially close view of the Bulldogs’ games because she is a team photographer. She can look through her lens and get a close-up view of her son.

“Several times I’ve found myself watching his facial expressions just to make sure he’s OK,” she said.

Lundeen was in Arizona when Weber collapsed at the wrestling tournament. One of the assistant football coaches, Hokan Bengston, called him with the news.

“He said we had a real serious deal with Brayden. I told him we’ll be praying for him and let me know any news you get.”

As with many teams in all fall sports, things have been topsy-turvy for the Bulldogs, who will take a 2-2 record into Thursday’s final regular-game against Willmar. Two of their games were cancelled the day before kickoff due to Covid-19 issues with their opponents, and Lundeen said every week individual players have had to quarantine.

“Every day is different,” he said. “It’s an ever-changing picture. It’s very unique. In my 50 years, nothing has come close to this ... We talk every week that this might be it. We’re going to play the best we can, enjoy it win or lose, and we’re going to have fun playing this great game.”

Brayden said, “We have to go with whatever is given to us and make the best out of it. You never know with everything going on right now. It’s a blessing to have a season.”

--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: The Most Important Play Of The Year

 

Brody Larson, who stands 4 feet, 4 inches tall and weighs 86 pounds, is the biggest name in Minnesota high school football this season after scoring the most important touchdown of the year.

The 18-year-old senior at LeRoy-Ostrander, who is as big of a sports fan as you will ever meet, put on real football gear for the first time last week. For Friday’s Senior Night home game against Houston, Brody pulled on his father’s well-worn No. 28 jersey from the 2003 LeRoy-Ostrander squad, was announced as a member of the Nine-Man team’s starting lineup and made lifelong memories with his teammates.

This was a dream come true, as well as a testament to friendship, sportsmanship and inclusion. It was the absolute best of high school activities.

Brody is small and had never been able to participate in sports because of Hurler Syndrome. According to the Mayo Clinic, Hurler syndrome can consist of skeletal deformities, coarse facial features, corneal clouding, hepatosplenomegaly, cardiac involvement, hearing loss and respiratory tract infections.

Brody is a survivor, an inspiration. And we need him, his teammates and their spirit and togetherness right now.

“In today’s world of negativity and all these things going on, I tell our boys all the time, ‘You’ve got to understand what we truly have. Brody got the short end of the straw,’ ” said LeRoy-Ostrander coach Trevor Carrier. “ ‘You’ve got to appreciate what you have and Brody epitomizes that.’ Everyone loves him. He makes you smile.”

In the days leading up to the game, the teams agreed to start the contest in a different way. The LeRoy-Ostrander Cardinals received the kickoff and returned it to the Houston Hurricanes’ 10-yard line before going out of bounds. From there, Brody took a handoff from quarterback Chase Johnson and ran untouched into the end zone; he also ran for the two-point conversion.

The Hurricanes then were given free rein to return the kickoff for a touchdown and two-point conversion. So the score was 8-8 when the competition began in earnest. The final score was Cardinals 62, Hurricanes 48, but that’s not what will be remembered years from now.

“It was pretty magical,” Carrier said.

“It was a tear-jerker, it was a bit emotional,” said Brody’s mom, Crystal Stern.

 Brody had tears in his eyes as he took the field after the kickoff.

“I was running out there thinking, ‘I can’t believe this is happening right now,’ ” he said. “I was in the huddle, then standing back there (behind Chase), saying to myself, ‘I’m about to get the ball and score a touchdown with my team.’ ”

He scooted through the right side of the line, crossed the goal line, spiked the football between his legs and high-stepped. His teammates rushed to congratulate him and the Houston defenders applauded as fans cheered and those watching from their vehicles honked their horns. It was a spectacular scene, repeated on the two-point conversion.

Along with introducing LeRoy-Ostrander seniors Andrew Lohuis, George Bird, Isaac Collier, Brodi Nesler, Lucas Winfield, Jeremiah Weiss, Brody and their parents, the Senior Night pregame ceremony also acknowledged Houston’s seniors.

“That’s the least we could do for them,” Carrier said.

The plan moved forward after Brody filled the requirements for participation in MSHSL activities, including passing a required physical exam. Carrier, a 2003 Houston graduate, called Hurricanes coach Cody Hungerholt earlier in the week to describe what he had in mind and work out the details.

“It was awesome. Houston did a wonderful job,” Carrier said. “They jumped on board quickly and they thought it was a great thing. It was great sportsmanship and they didn’t have to do that. It was impressive.”

Kyle Stern, Brody’s dad and the Cardinals defensive coordinator, said, “Trevor pulled me in on Monday to tell me about it. I couldn’t say much at that moment. I was crying.”

Brody underwent a bone-marrow transplant at 14 months old. When he was 10, the Make-A-Wish Foundation sent Brody, his parents and three younger siblings to Disney World. Brody worked at the local grocery store, Main Street Market, but has stepped away during Covid-19 because he is at risk.

On Monday of game week, Brody was sitting in class when his teacher’s phone rang. The message: Have Brody come to Carrier’s fifth-grade classroom.

“He said, ‘Let’s go out in the hallway,’ ” Brody remembered. “He said to me, ‘You know what’s happening Friday, don’t you?’ ‘Yeah, it’s Senior Night, it’s a big night.’

“He said, ‘Since it’s Senior Night and you’re a senior, we want to do something special for you. We want to suit you up and have a wonderful memory for you.’ ”

On Wednesday they got Brody geared up. Shoulder pads, helmet, mouthguard, the works. Asked about a jersey, he knew that his dad still had his old jersey. Kyle was a student manager as a kid – just like Brody -- when the Cardinals reached the Metrodome and he played in the state semifinals at the Metrodome as a junior.

“He’s been on the sideline ever since he could be,” Kyle said of Brody. 

Crystal said waiting for game day may have been the hardest thing for her son.

“He was pretty excited and he couldn’t really wrap his head around anything else other than the fact that he needed to stay focused for Friday,” she said with a big smile. “The anticipation was killing him.”

After the game, Brody and his teammates followed tradition by going to Travel Lanes Bar & Grill, the local bowling alley, for pizza, then to Andrew Lohuis’ home for video games and other sorts of fun and camaraderie. Brody got home around 12:30 a.m. He was tired and sore but still walking on air.

Before kickoff, the Cardinals had shared one message with their newest teammate. Brody will never forget what his friends and classmates said.

“The boys were all saying, ‘We’re doing this for Brody, this is his night, let’s win this game for him.’ ”

The postgame statistics tell the story. The rushing portion of the recap included this: “Brody Larson 2-for-12, TD.”

That sentence right there -- Brody Larson 2-for-12, TD – well, that’s forever.

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

John’s Journal: There’s Magic In Monticello

 

MONTICELLO -- The prototypical quarterback fits a certain mold. He’s tall and rangy, he can easily see over his linemen and he can throw frozen ropes downfield. Calvin Schmitz is not the prototype.

The Monticello High School senior is the Magic’s emergency quarterback this season. Anthony Staryszak, a 6-foot-1, 195-pound junior, broke his throwing hand when it smacked against a helmet on his very first pass of the season. Anthony finished that Week 1 game, a 34-14 win over Sauk Rapids-Rice, and somehow completed 13 of 19 passes for 188 yards and two touchdowns.

When Staryszak’s injury was diagnosed the next day and his hand was put in a cast, he was lost for the season. There was no clear-cut next man up, said coach Jason Telecky. Junior wide receiver Wyatt Sawatzke took a turn before the decision was made to give Schmitz the job, and the responsibility.

Calvin is listed on the roster as 5-foot-5 and 185 pounds. After Monticello defeated Owatonna 7-6 on Friday, he just laughed when those figures were mentioned and said, “I'm 5-3, 200 pounds and I never played quarterback before this year.” 

He’s an athlete, there’s no doubt. He’s a catcher on the baseball team and will play that sport at Northern State University, an NCAA Division II school in Aberdeen, South Dakota.

“It's Calvin’s senior year, and he just has the drive, the will, the determination,” said Telecky.

The unranked Magic have a 3-1 record and Friday’s win over Owatonna was huge. The Huskies came in with a 3-0 record as the second-ranked team in Class 5A. The outcome wasn’t decided until the final play of the game, when a low snap foiled an Owatonna field-goal attempt.

Calvin completed five of 10 passes for 24 yards, ran 16 times for 17 yards, was all over the field at linebacker, and returned punts and kickoffs. He intercepted a pass late in the third quarter to stop a Huskies drive; after getting on his feet, he held the ball in his left arm and flexed his right arm on the Monticello sideline.

Schmitz had played a little quarterback in summer passing leagues, “And I actually did a decent job, so from there on out we just decided I was the backup. But never did we think it would actually be me at quarterback.”

“He might be the shortest quarterback in in the state of Minnesota right now,” said Telecky, smiling. “We don't have tremendous depth, that's always our concern, and losing Wyatt was hard, really hard on these guys. We're knew we going to be OK but you’ve got to convince them of that, and then Cal stepped in and played really well.”

Senior running back Sam Valor (pictured here, left, with Schmitz), who carried 17 times for 93 yards and a 15-yard touchdown against Owatonna – giving him 471 rushing yards in four games – said

“Definitely in our playing careers this is the biggest game, biggest upset that we've had.”

The Magic are scheduled to play at Elk River on Thursday and finish the six-game regular season at home against St. Francis on Nov. 11.

“We had a great week of practice this week and we reminded these guys, ‘You're good football players, we're going to get tired, we're going to be sore but we can do this,’ ” Telecky said. “I just think for them to have that belief in themselves, that's all you can ask as a coach.”

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

 

 

John’s Journal: The Lessons Of Covid-19

 

As another week of high school activities ends under the nasty, dark eye of the corona virus, two things have become clear, two things that are paramount as we continue to navigate this roller-roaster ride in the dark.

Number 1: Be flexible. Number 2: Take care of each other.

Week 3 of the football season was a case in point. Covid-19 struck lots of teams as Friday and Saturday games neared, schedules were rewritten on the fly and it was just plain weird. 

Specific case in point: Friday night’s game between Bemidji and Edina at Kuhlman Field in Edina. A few days earlier, the schedules said Bemidji would play at St. Cloud Apollo and Edina would host St. Michael-Albertville. But corona cases at Apollo and St. Michael-Albertville put their teams on the shelf.

Edina and Bemidji, who had never met on the football field, put things together quickly. Edina activities director Troy Stein posted this Twitter message on Tuesday evening: “Late change in game plans - no problem we will roll with it. We are looking for a Friday home varsity football game. Reach out to @Troy_Stein if anyone knows of other teams looking to play. #Thanks”

On Wednesday, the Lumberjacks learned that their game at Apollo was off. Football coach Bryan Stoffel was in activities director Troy Hendricks’ office and “we were trying to figure out our next move. I had seen on Twitter that Edina was looking for a game and so we reached out to them in the early afternoon of Wednesday, and by three o'clock on Wednesday we had finalized the game.”

Stoffel is a first-year head coach, as is Edina’s Jason Potts. This season is wild enough even for experienced coaches, but imagine being new in the job and trying to get routines in place when everything can be flipped upside down in a heartbeat.

“The night I got film (of Bemidji) I spent seven hours working on the game plan, woke up, we did a walkthrough and it was game time,” said Potts after Bemidji’s 35-0 victory. “So yes, it's tough. It’s very challenging but it’s the times we live in.”

It’s a drive of 220 miles from Bemidji High School to Kuhlman Stadium. The Lumberjacks left home on three charter buses at 10:30 a.m. Friday, stopping in St. Cloud to stretch their legs. They had been sent off with lunches to eat on the way. Edina High School had paid to rent the Braemar Dome from 2:30 to 5:30, giving the Lumberjacks a place to stretch, relax, get dressed for the game and warm up. After the game, Edina football parents loaded the buses with pizzas for the Lumberjacks’ trip home.

Bemidji, which plays Class 5A football, is not a small town. But it’s not Edina (6A), either. As the teams began warming up at Kuhlman, a few Lumberjacks players on the sideline looked beyond the north end zone at a complex that includes South View Middle School, Normandale Elementary and Art Downey Aquatics Center. “This is their MIDDLE school,” one of them said. Actually, it was ONE of their middle schools.

The game was close early but the tide shifted toward the Lumberjacks. A 51-yard pass from Brett Tharaldson to Gavin Luksik set up a 1-yard scoring run by Will Falldorf for a 7-0 Bemidji lead at halftime. An interception by Brandon Lussier on the second play of the third quarter was followed by a 42-yard scoring pass from Tharaldson to Luksik, and Tharaldson hit James Williams III for a 28-yard touchdown to make it 21-0 after three quarters.

Another interception by Lussier was followed by Gemini Ellis running for a 1-yard touchdown, and Walldorf completed the scoring with a 3-yard run with five minutes to play.

More evidence of how odd this Covid-cursed season has become: After the St. Michael-Albertville team was taken off the go list for this week’s game at Edina, the Knights ended up being cleared and played a quickly-arranged game with Champlin Park on Friday. The Rebels had been scheduled to face Anoka before the Tornadoes were sidelined by the virus.

Further dominoes continued to fall Friday when the Anoka-Hennepin school district – which includes Andover, Anoka, Blaine, Champlin Park and Coon Rapids high schools – announced that due to rising Covid numbers it will halt all sports programs beginning Nov. 2, with no word on how long that will last.

Hendricks, who was the Bemidji football coach for 18 years before stepping down after last season, summed up what’s happening when he said, “It’s wild. It really is. Every day you walk into the office, it’s something new and different and you’re just scrambling to stay ahead, I guess.”

Be flexible. Take care of each other.

 “We're thankful to have a game,” Edina’s Potts said. “This season there are no guarantees.”

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

John’s Journal: It’s A Good Time To Be A Spud

 There are several important themes in place for the Moorhead High School football team this week. One is a guy everybody calls Boomer. Another is playing fast, smart football in a season that has begun with two dominating victories. And then there’s the family college football ties that, once you dig in a little, aren’t all that problematic.

Boomer is Justin Behm, an assistant coach with the Spuds. He was a few years behind Spuds head coach Kevin Feeney on the North Dakota State football team; they have been friends ever since and coaching colleagues with the Spuds for a decade.

Right now, Boomer is in a California hospital and the thoughts of the coaches and players are with him. After Justin noticed some hearing loss in August 2019, a benign but large brain tumor was found. During surgery -- and before the tumor could be removed -- a facial nerve was damaged, resulting in facial paralysis and total hearing loss on his right side.

Boomer underwent surgery last Friday. Before the Spuds kicked off at home against Alexandria, Boomer’s wife Katina posted this on CaringBridge: “I just got a call from Dr. Friedman. They were able to remove 100% of the tumor! Dr. Greene is now working on repairing Justin's facial nerve which includes 2 strategies. She also plans to add the weight to his eye so he'll be able to close it while he waits for it to restore functioning. So far so good everyone! Keep the well wishes/prayers/vibes/ positive thoughts coming!”

“We challenged the kids last Friday night,” Feeney said Thursday. “We told them Boomer is such a passionate guy and told them to play passionate football for him.” The Spuds did that in a 42-0 win to go to 2-0 before this Friday’s game against Sartell at St. Cloud Tech.

Behm, who coaches defensive backs and special teams, played on a 1997 North Dakota state championship football team at Dickinson High School.

“The first thing I think of is his passion,” Feeney said. “It doesn’t matter what we’re talking about, he’s passionate about everything in his life, whether it’s his favorite pro team or the people around him, student, players. His excitement rubs off on our kids.” (That’s Behm in this photo by Drew Sandberg from a 2017 game).

Boomer, who watched Friday’s game online from the hospital and offered comments in a Saturday phone chat with Feeney, should be home next week.

“He won’t be back in a coaching capacity but he told me he’ll be back on the field as soon as he can to see the kids and coaches,” said Feeney.

The theme of successful football is not a new concept in Moorhead. The Spuds played in the state tournament in 2003, 2011, 2012, 2015, 2016 and 2019. They finished 8-4 last season, which ended in a wild 58-55 loss to Elk River in the Class 5A state quarterfinals.

Moorhead runs a five-receiver, spread offense triggered by Feeney’s son Trey, a 6-foot-2, 195-pound lefthander with great feet, vision and the ability to whistle footballs to his talented targets. In last week’s game with Alexandria, Trey passed on the Spuds’ first 12 plays and 19 of their first 24. Through the season’s first two games they have outscored their opponents 98-6.

And to think, at one point there was going to be no football this fall. Trey remembers the day that decision was reversed by the MSHSL board of directors. He was sitting in American Government class, refreshing Twitter over and over.

“I’m sure all 100 of us football kids in school were doing that,” he said. “I had some other football guys in my class, and we all stood up and shouted a little bit. We were pumped.”

For outsiders who know Kevin Feeney’s North Dakota State football background – he was a record-setting QB for the Bison before graduating in 1998 -- it may have been surprising when Trey committed to North Dakota. But the Feeney family carries dual allegiances. Kevin’s older brother Steve played at UND and Kevin told Trey the decision was all his.

“From the beginning of the process I made it clear to him that this was his choice about where he wanted to spend four or five years,” Kevin said.

Trey attended a football camp at the University of Wisconsin before his junior year. While there, UND coaches invited him to their camp. Trey built a strong relationship with the North Dakota coaches from the start, he said, especially offensive coordinator Danny Freund and head coach Bubba Schweigert.

“Danny has really delved into what we do offensively and showed Trey how it fits with what they do,” Kevin said. Trey has even joined the UND offensive coaching staff on Zoom calls.

“Their offense is a lot of the same stuff we run, just different terminology,” Trey said. “I’ll adjust to that.”

Boomer will be home soon, the team is rolling, and next year the Feeneys will have another football player at UND.

It’s a good time to be a Spud.

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

 

John’s Journal: Remembering Sid Hartman

 

Sid Hartman. Or to be more specific, Sid. You didn’t need to say the man’s last name for anyone in Minnesota to know who you were referring to. Sid died Sunday at age 100, the same day his final column was published in the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

I worked with Sid for nearly 20 years at the Star Tribune. For my first five years there I worked on the sports desk, meaning I was one of the people who bore the task of editing Sid’s column. Or as I like to call it, we translated Sid’s raw copy into English.

I could try to describe Sid, but the memories, the personal stories of Sid I carry with me seem to be the best way to tell you about the Sid I knew. These are not in chronological order, but the first story is about the first time I became aware of Sid, and for me the final story sums up Sid in all his glory, all his bombast, and all his caring sweetness.

“Who are they talking about?”

I did not grow up in Minnesota so I did not read Sid’s column as a youth. I was a college student working in the sports department at the Des Moines Register the first time I heard Sid’s name. It was 1980, the day after a Hawkeye-Gopher football game in Minneapolis, when some of the reporters who had been there were having a heated discussion in the Register newsroom. One of them hollered, "That son of a (bleep) thinks he owns the press box!" I whispered to someone, "Who are they talking about?" The reply: "Oh that (gd) Sid Hartman."

Sid, Tyus and the tape recorder

When there was a high-profile high school athlete in the Twin Cities, Sid liked to get them into his column. Apple Valley’s Tyus Jones, who went on to play at Duke and is now in the NBA, was Sid’s interview target during a state tournament game at Target Center. Whenever Sid came to a high school game, I acted as his guide, found him a seat next to me, answered his questions and tried to keep him happy.

During Apple Valley’s state quarterfinal game, Sid asked, “Can you help me get Tyus one-on-one?” I said I would be happy to do so. After the game, I talked to the Apple Valley coaches and told them when the team came out of the locker room I would escort Tyus into a quiet corner so he could be interviewed by Sid, and the other media members could talk to Tyus when Sid was finished. It worked out perfectly, except for one thing.

When I returned to press row, Sid was fiddling with his old battery-powered, shoulder-strap cassette tape recorder. He was pushing buttons, turning dials, holding it up to his ear. He handed it to me and said, “John, I can’t hear my interview with Tyus. Can you see if you can get it to work?”

I pushed, I turned, I listened. There was nothing but silence and I realized that Sid had never hit the “record” button when he talked to Tyus. Informed of this, Sid simply said, “When do they play again?” I told him their next game was the following day. He said, “OK, I’ll come back tomorrow and interview him again.” And he did.

Sid and the Internet

One of my favorite Sid quotes (yes, he actually said this): “There’s a lot of stuff on that Internet.”

My sister in Sid’s building

Sid was a partner in a real estate company that owns apartment buildings in the Twin Cities. One of my sisters lived in a Sid building for a time. Informed of this fact, he asked me, "Which building?" When I told him, he grew quite frantic and said, "What's she doing living in THAT neighborhood?" AND HE OWNED THE BUILDING.

Sid and George Steinbrenner

The New York Yankees were in town and one evening after a game Sid brought his buddy George Steinbrenner into the newsroom. We all shook hands with George as Sid beamed. This was before cell phone cameras and of course no one thought to holler at a photographer who was probably 20 feet away.

Sid and his close personal friend Chick

Chick Hearn was the longtime broadcast voice of the Los Angeles Lakers, calling games from 1961 until 2002. His given name was Francis but everyone had called him Chick since his college days. Over the years, Sid and Chick had become good friends. But Sid was less than famous for getting names correct, whether in print or in person.

Before a Lakers-Timberwolves game at Target Center, Chick was in the dining room having a pregame meal. Sid walked in, saw his close personal friend Chick Hearn and yelled, “There he is! The great CHUCK Hearn!”

The nicknames

Sid was famous for the nicknames he bestowed on people; part of that was because, again, he had a hard time remembering actual names. The person who wrote obituaries at the Star Tribune? Sid called him Mr. Mortuary. A fellow who had previously worked in Lansing, Michigan, was Mr. Lansing. A guy who wore flannel shirts on a regular basis was Mr. Shirts. For some reason Sid never came up with a nickname for me. He could have gone with Mr. Iowa (my home state) or Mr. Phoenix (where I had worked previously). He just called me John.

Before a game at Target Center, Sid saw someone who worked behind the scenes and said, “Hey, Mister (A)hole, how are you doing?” As Sid walked away the fellow absolutely beamed and said, “I’m moving up in the world. Before today Sid always just called me (A)hole! Now I’m MISTER (A)hole!”

Chad’s mailbox

It was called The Drive-By, The March, The Arrival. This was the moment in the late afternoon when Sid entered the Star Tribune newsroom to begin work on his column after spending all day visiting the headquarters of the Twins, Vikings, Timberwolves, Gophers and wherever else he wanted to go. He asked questions during these visits but didn’t write much down. He carried his old tape recorder (later replaced by an iPhone held by an assistant). When he entered the office, he handed that day’s tape to his designated transcriber – a talented, patient fellow named Jeff Day transcribed those tapes for years, right up to the end.

When my son Joe was attending the University of Minnesota, he worked as a part-time copy aide in the Star Tribune sports department. The main duty was answering the phones, taking scores and other info. Hearing of Sid’s death, he Tweeted from his home in the Phoenix area: “Always glad I wasn't the one who had to transcribe the Sid Hartman tapes, but happy someone was.”

Seeing Sid make The March would often tell you how his day was going. He always moved at a rapid pace and sometimes he would be quite jolly and sometimes he would be snarly.

One winter day, I looked across the newsroom from my desk and saw the snarling version of Sid storming in my general direction. He was definitely agitated. As he came within earshot I said, “Hey Sid, what’s wrong?” He went into an obscenity-laced tirade aimed directly at himself: “Well (obscenity) John! If I had a (obscenity) gun I’d shoot myself in the (obscenity) head! I was backing out of Chad’s (obscenity) driveway and I backed right over the (obscenity) mailbox! And that’s the SECOND (OBSCENITY) TIME I’VE DONE THAT!”

Sid, this means you

A message was written on white athletic tape over the threshold of the door that led from the Twins Metrodome clubhouse into the players-only training room: “No media past this point. Sid, this means you!” It never even slowed him down.

Sid Hartman is on vacation 

The Star Tribune created a coffee-table book of historic front pages upon the newspaper’s 125^th anniversary book. I was flipping though the book one day in the office when Sid walked past. I said, “Hey Sid, look that this,” as I pointed to a front page from 90-some years before. “Look down here in the corner of the page. It says ‘Sid Hartman is on vacation.’ ” He laughed out loud.

I then had Sid sign my copy of the book. He wrote, “To John, Hope you are around for 125 (years), too. Love working with you. Sid Hartman.” I treasure that.

Where’s Steed!

During the Prep Bowl one year at the Metrodome after I had left the newspaper to join the MSHSL staff, Sid came booming into the press box and found me straight away. He needed to talk to MSHSL executive director Dave Stead … whose last name, as everyone knew, rhymes with “bread.” Sid barked, “Hey! Is Steed here? Where’s Steed?”

Sid the jaywalker

The old Star Tribune building was at 425 Portland Avenue in downtown Minneapolis. The employee parking lot was across the street, and it didn’t take much effort to use the crosswalk instead of jaywalking from parking lot to front door. One day Sid and I arrived at the same time, with him parking his Cadillac in his designated front-row spot and me and my beat-up Toyota finding a spot a few rows back. Sid didn’t go to the crosswalk and I guess I thought it would be rude if I followed the letter of the law. As we began our jaywalking journey across Portland Avenue, a car driving at or below the speed limit was getting closer and closer. Sid and I were clearly in the wrong. The driver slowed down and had every right to yell at us. But it was Sid who did the screaming … “Hey jerk! Where’d you learn to drive!”

Sid, Griffey and my sons

I was in my first or second year at the Star Tribune (1991 or 1992) when Sid overheard me telling a colleague on the sports desk that my two young sons, John and Joe, were big fans of Ken Griffey Jr. Without hesitation, Sid said, “The next time the Mariners are in town I’ll get tickets for you and your kids.” Well, he did a lot more than that.

Sid got us free tickets behind home plate and told us to meet him at the Metrodome media entrance early that day. He came out, waved us through security, led us down a stairwell and bam! We walked out of the Twins dugout and onto the field while the Twins were taking batting practice. Sid introduced my boys to Paul Molitor and Tom Kelly, who shook hands with my kids. Joe looked toward the Mariners dugout and said to his brother, “Hey Johnny! Look! That’s Lou Piniella!” It was pure magic. But there was more.

Sid told us he had arranged for the Twins team photographer to take a photo of me and my sons with Griffey (and Sid). I immediately envisioned an absolute keepsake Christmas card photo. But there was a wrench; the Mariners media relations person had not been informed of Sid’s plan and told him, “Sid, you have to run these things past me first.” Sid screamed obscenities at him, saying he knew the team’s general manager and he would have him fired. But Sid’s opponent stood firm.

As they argued, and seeing that Sid’s grand plan had been foiled, my sons and I went out to the left field seats in the hopes of catching some BP home run balls. We didn’t, but we wore the biggest smiles you can imagine at everything that had happened. We were in our seats at game time, behind home plate and in front of the press box. We were absolutely giddy. Sid saw us there and came running down to us with a concerned, disappointed look on his face. “Hey! Where’d you go?!” he said. “We were all set for the picture but I couldn’t find you!” Somehow, some way, the man had cleared the hurdles and I don’t believe he murdered anybody or got anyone fired while doing so.

Poor, dear Sid was absolutely crushed. He was devastated that his promised photo hadn’t happened. He went downstairs to the Twins clubhouse – during a game, mind you, which no one else would have been allowed to do -- and grabbed two baseballs that had been autographed by every member of the Twins. He brought my kids the baseballs along with media guides for both teams.

He apologized over and over. I told him, “Sid, are you kidding? Please don’t apologize. This has been the greatest day of my sons’ lives! And mine! We can’t thank you enough!”

Sid Hartman was one of a kind, a special person, and we’ll never see his like again.

Thank you, Sid.

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

 

 

John's Journal: Chisholm Legend Bob McDonald Has Died

 

Bob McDonald, the iconic son of Chisholm and basketball coach who won more games than any coach in any sport in Minnesota high school history, has died. McDonald, who had tested positive for Covid-19, passed away XXXday in Hibbing. He was 87.

McDonald coached high school boys basketball in Minnesota for 59 years, compiling a record of 1,012 wins and 428 losses. He began his coaching career in 1959 with four seasons at McGregor, then two at Barnum before returning to his hometown of Chisholm for the 1961-62 season. He led the Bluestreaks through the 2013-14 season, a span of 53 years that included three state championships and 11 state tourney appearances.

In 1,440 games he was never whistled for a technical foul. He also liked to sometimes mention that he never tasted alcohol or smoked tobacco.

In addition to his lengthy career and his teams’ success, McDonald was the father of six children – four sons, two daughters-- who were All-State players and went on to become basketball coaches.  

A history and social studies teacher for 40 years, McDonald also coached track and field in Chisholm for decades, winning a state team title in his final season (2001).

McDonald was only the third boys basketball coach in Chisholm history: Harvey Roels 1923-55; O.J. Belluzzo 1955-1961 and McDonald 1961-2014. The Chisholm gymnasium, a crackerbox of historic proportions, has been called Roels Gymnasium for decades. In 2017 the facility added another name: Bob McDonald Court.

Before that ceremony, I was “backstage” with Bob and his family in the locker room that was so familiar to everyone. As we chatted about the day’s honor, Bob smiled as he said to me, “I hope they’ve done renovations in the gym after all the paint I peeled off the walls with my shouting."

McDonald was born June 25, 1933 and grew up less than two blocks from Chisholm High School. After he graduated in 1951, he accepted a basketball scholarship to the University of Michigan. Homesick after one semester in Ann Arbor, he returned home and attended Hibbing Community College before completing his education at Minnesota Duluth, where he led the Bulldogs in scoring in the 1953-54 and 1954-55 seasons.

Bob’s family had Croation roots and as a young child Croation was the only language he could speak. He was born Robert Perkovich and the family name became McDonald when his mother, Mary Perkovich, married Ray McDonald. Bob led annual family trips Croatia every summer for years, leading a group of children and grandchildren to a country where he could speak the native tongue. He helped his family members learn to speak the language, sometimes smiling as he taught them how to curse in Croatian.

Bob and his wife, Darlene, were married for 43 years and had six children. The oldest was Mike (Chisholm class of 1975), followed by Paul, Sue, Tom, Judy and Joel (class of 1991). Currently, Mike is the longtime boys basketball coach at Cambridge-Isanti High School, Tom coaches at Ely High School and Joel at Hibbing High School. Paul retired in 2019 after 29 years coaching men’s basketball at Vermilion Community College in Ely. Sue (Tesdahl) coached girls basketball at Crosby-Ironton and Judy (Racek) coached at Nashwauk-Keewatin and Fairmont.

Among Bob McDonald’s grandchildren, Rhett McDonald (son of Mike) is the boys basketball coach at Duluth East, Bryce Tesdahl coaches the boys team at Minnetonka and Brock Tesdahl is an assistant boy coach at Hopkins.

Darlene died of cancer in 1997. Bob and Carol Tiburzi, who had attended the prom together in high school, reunited and married in 2000; Carol’s husband, Robert, had died in an airplane crash in 1993.

The lobby of Roels Gymnasium/McDonald Court is a virtual Chisholm Hall of Fame. Over the decades, McDonald displayed photos, newspaper clipping and other memorabilia on the walls. One photo shows the 1950 Bluestreaks basketball team, champions of the Iron Range Conference. The team includes a lanky boy wearing number 9, glasses and a crewcut ... Bob McDonald.

The lobby also includes a photo of Dr. Archibald Graham, a Chisholm physician who was made famous in the 1989 movie “Field of Dreams.” Bob McDonald and Doc Graham, who died in 1965, were good friends.

McDonald left little in doubt about how his teams operated, whether it was on-court strategy or off-court rules. On the wall inside the home locker room, McDonald posted a handwritten seating chart for the bus (including where the driver will sit), and these regulations: "No electronic equipment on bus. No seeds. Keep noise down. No singing or raucous behavior. Stay in assigned seats. No single seating."

The players wore suits and ties, just like their coach, on game days. There were no headphones, earrings, fuzzy chins or tattoos. On the court, McDonald’s teams had two main trademarks: short hair and full-court pressure.

McDonald ran Saturday morning basketball clinics for young kids, starting in a spot in the gym marked “Coaches Corner.”

“I don't know how to put it,” McDonald told a reporter in 2003. “I do what I do, and it just kind of escapes me. Sometimes I think I'm more interested in the number of games I've coached than the number of ones I've won.”

In an example of Chisholm basketball bloodlines, the 2002-2003 team included two players, Pat Rahja and Tony Antonutti, whose grandfather, Walter Rahja, was the Bluestreaks’ team captain and first All-State player in 1921.

McDonald’s first two seasons coaching the Bluestreaks were the final two years of high school for Joel Maturi, who was the University of Minnesota athletics director from 2002-2012.

“I don't remember the wins and losses as much as I remember the demanding of excellence," Maturi said. "There were not a million rules, but there were rules. We had to wear hats, boots, gloves or we ran as punishment. We had to be home by 9, and he'd call our parents to check."

During the 2002-03 season, the Chisholm players were asked to describe their coach with one word. Junior Shea Amic was the first to reply, saying "discipline."

That same year, Maturi said, "He's maybe more mellow. I'm only 58 now, and I still call him Coach McDonald. Not so much out of fear anymore, but out of respect."

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