Please excuse this departure from highlighting Minnesota athletes and their lives and achievements to an invitation to meet some of your fellow athletes and coaches.
Yes, after three years of research, interviews, writing (and more writing) and editing (and more and more editing!), More Minnesota Gold is printed and available! Please see the invitation with all of the details below and feel free to accept it or send your regrets to the free event.
Who are among the 51Minnesota athletes profiled in the 392-page, full color, coffee table-sized book with 250 photographs? Here is a sampling.
Runners: Mike Slack (St. Paul), Garrett Heath (Winona), Gabriele Anderson Grunewald (Perham), Leslie Seymour (Minneapolis), Heather Kampf (Rosemount), marathoner Jan Ettle (Freeport/Albany), Cathie Twomey (Golden Valley), and Minnesota’s first sub-4-minute miler Ted Nelson (Faribault).
Wrestlers: Dan Chandler (Champlin Park), Olympic bronze medalist Jim Martinez (Osseo), Augsburg star Emily Shilson (Maple Grove, daughter of Margaret Buchholz Shilson and Chad Shilson), Pat Smith (Chaska/Chanhassen), and Jim and Dave Hazewinkel (Coon Rapids).
Speedskaters: 2002 flag bearer Amy Peck (Maplewood), Anna Ringsred (Duluth), Jason Hedstrand (Shoreview), and Kim Kostron Nyquist (St. Paul).
Hockey players: Jordan Leopold (Golden Valley), 2018 gold medal team members Lee Stecklein (Roseville) and Kelly Pannek (Plymouth), Jack Morrison (Long Lake/Wayzata), John Taft (Minneapolis), brothers Don and Gary Ross (Roseau), John Harrington (Virginia), Alana Blahoski (St. Paul) and Corey Millen (Cloquet).
Ski jumpers: Jim Grahek (Ely) and brothers Jerry and Jay Martin (Golden Valley).
Swimmers: Sean Quackenbush (Rochester), Regan Smith (Lakeville), and Susan Rapp-von Der Lippe (Eden Prairie).
Alpine skiers: Kristina Koznick (Burnsville) and Tasha Nelson McCrank (Buffalo/Mound).
And 16 more amazing athletes, Please join us!
Minnesota Athletes 