KIARA BUFORD: BASKETBALL PLAYER AND COACH PASSIONATE ABOUT WINNING

June 12, 2024 One of only two women in Minnesota high school basketball history to be both a player and a coach of a championship team is evidence alone that Kiara Buford, born in 1989, is passionate about winning.  A star player on the St. Paul Central girls’ basketball teams that appeared in four consecutive

LISA BROWN: GUSTAVUS ATHLETE COMPETED IN THE US OLYMPIC JAVELIN TRIALS

May 1, 2024 A young woman from the small town of Lake Crystal, Minnesota (population 2,500), 13 miles southwest of Mankato was competing with the country’s best javelin throwers in 2008 at the US Olympic Trials at historic Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon.  “Some of the most respected javelin throwers in the world and people

MIAC Athletes in Major League Baseball

April 16, 2024 Like the previously posted article on Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) athletes who played in the NFL, this story will feature only athletes from the 13 Minnesota liberal arts colleges—plus St. Thomas—who played in Major League Baseball (MLB) since 1960.  While few in number, there are intriguing stories. The University of St.

STEVE HULS: BLEEDING MAROON & GOLD—EVEN THE FAMILY DOG IS NAMED “GOLDY”

  With two parents as teachers, education is bound to be a priority for their children.  Steve Huls, born in 1974, of Cold Spring, Minnesota, and his older siblings, Russ and Tracey, were the fortunate recipients of that powerful pull from parents Bill and Marcia.  Bill Huls grew up on a farm near Holdingford, Minnesota,

CHARI NORDGAARD KNUEPPEL: FAMILY WITH ATHLETIC HISTORY, FUTURE ENCOURAGES OTHERS TO SET GOALS AND WORK AT THEM EVERY DAY

March 19, 2024 With a family history chock-full of athletic achievements, Chari Nordgaard Knueppel and her family had another highlight earlier this month with the announcement that their son, Kon II, had been named the recipient of the Wisconsin Mr. Basketball Award.  Ranked the #16 boys’ high school player in the nation, the 6’-6” five-star

TINA KAMPA: COLLEGE OF ST. BENEDICT WAS RIGHT ENVIRONMENT FOR TWO-SPORT ATHLETE

March 12, 2024 “I was an active child.  Anything that involved being outside and moving around me happy,” says volleyball and basketball College of St. Benedict’s (CSB) Hall of Fame athlete Tina Kampa of her childhood.  The oldest of four children of Ralph “Butch” and Bernice (Schleper) Kampa in St. Cloud, Minnesota, Tina points out

GREG BOONE: MAN OF “A LOT OF LAYERS” IS ALL ABOUT COMMUNITY SERVICE

February 27, 2024 This is the first in a 2024 series of stories on Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) athletes. Woven throughout the layered life of Greg Boone, a basketball star at Minneapolis Central and Augsburg University, has been dedication to community.  Born in 1958 as the fourth of five children to Louis (Sr.) and

KARIE PLOOF TUTTLE: PROGRESSIONS

April 6, 2022 M Club Hall of Fame member and All-American gymnast Karie Ploof, born in 1961, is the second of four children born to Jack and Janice Ploof of Shakopee, Minnesota, when few schools had gymnastics teams.  She describes her advancements as a series of progressions and advises athletes today, “It’s actually when we

DIANE SCOVILL: DID YOU KNOW YOU WERE ON THE VOLLEYBALL TEAM?

May 4, 2022 A recipient of a Special Merit Award at the 2017 Minnesota Girls and Women in Sport Day, Diane Scovill has been a longtime physical education and health educator at Minneapolis Community and Technical College who has witnessed and promoted the explosive growth in women’s sports. Born in 1955, Diane is the youngest

MARGARET CHUTICH: IN TENNIS OR SERVING AS A JUDICIAL OFFICER, PRACTICE MAKES YOU BETTER

December 4, 2023 Minnesota State Supreme Court Justice Margaret Chutich (pronounced Chū∙tich) speaks positively about her childhood, career, and life.  “I am grateful for opportunities at Anoka High School—they were forward-thinking.  I was on the cusp as girls’ sports were blooming,” she says of the start of her athletic career in the 1970s.  Born in

MALIK RUCKER: PRODUCT OF NORTH MINNEAPOLIS ORGANIZATIONS NOW GIVING BACK THROUGH V3 SPORTS

September 13, 2023 Utilizing programs available such as Oak Park Neighborhood Center, Malik Rucker, born in 1995, says, “I am a product of North Minneapolis organizations.”  These positive experiences have led Malik to “give back” in his professional life to Big Brothers Big Sisters Twin Cities and now to V3 Sports, an organization with a

RYAN LAMPPA: 1977 STATE TRACK 440-YARD DASH 1-2 FINISH BY SMALL-COMMUNITY BENSON RUNNERS UNDER 50 SECONDS IS PRETTY AMAZING

July 25, 2023 “I had an idyllic childhood,” says Ryan Lamppa of life in the small Minnesota communities of Blackduck and Benson (located 125 miles west of Minneapolis and serves as the county seat of Swift County).  The fifth of six children of Herman “Roger” (a Flying Finn from Embarrass under the tutelage of coach

LEA B. OLSEN: CAME TO ORGANIZED SPORTS ORGANICALLY

July 3, 2023 It’s surprising to learn that sports broadcaster and former University of Minnesota (U of MN) basketball player Lea B. Olsen only began playing organized basketball as a junior at Minneapolis South High School.  Born in 1968 as Lea Bergin, she is one of two Black children and the youngest of six children

MARISSA JANNING MURPHY: 18-LETTERWINNER AT WATERTOWN-MAYER BECAME BIG EAST BASKETBALL PLAYER OF THE YEAR AT CREIGHTON

May 16, 2023 If ever there is someone in sport to personify the term multi-sport athlete, Marissa Janning fits the bill.  Here is a sampling:  swimming, wrestling (until 4th grade), football (until 5th grade), softball, cross country, volleyball, basketball, track, and, most recently, marathoning.  She earned 18 letters at Watertown-Mayer High School, achieving all-state recognition

AUSTIN MALINOWSKI: LEFTY TWINS’ DRAFTEE NOW A MILWAUKEE LAWYER

May 9, 2023 “We were always active,” Austin Malinowski, a former professional baseball pitcher says of himself and his four brothers.  “We were always involved in a game.  It was controlled chaos.”  Like their father, Jim, a chef, the Malinowski brothers were multi-sport athletes.  In fact, Austin encourages it, saying, “Make sure you mix it

TOM MULSO: 1970 SINGLE-CLASS BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP FOR SHERBURN WAS HISTORIC, LIFE-CHANGING

March 27, 2023 With the conclusion of the Minnesota State High School League basketball tournaments and the NCAA Division I championships winnowed to eight teams; it is natural to reflect on past tournaments.  “Mulso Powers Sherburn to Title,” was the Minneapolis Tribune Sunday headline following the win by the Sherburn Raiders over the powerful South

Kelly Skalicky: WELCOME THE BEST COMPETITION

October 12, 2021 Born in 1963 to an active and athletic family, Kelly Skalicky of Albany, Minnesota, quickly became acquainted with better competition through her older brother, Jeff, and became prominent in state basketball and on the national golf landscape. “I gravitated to what Jeff did in sports,” says Kelly. “I tagged along with him

TERESA DAHLEM: MANY MENTORS AND TRACK COACH’S ADMONISHMENT LED TO SUCCESSFUL ATHLETIC, OFFICIATING, AND EDUCATION CAREERS

December 13, 2022 It was probably a cultural shock to the Dennis and Nancy Dahlem family when they moved in 1974 from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to Appleton, Minnesota (population 1,789 in 1970), a community 30 miles east of Big Stone Lake on the South Dakota border. The third of four children, Teresa had been active in

DEBRA HUNTER: CLOQUET WILL ALWAYS BE HOME

Cloquet, Minnesota, will always be home to coach and 1979-83 University of Minnesota (U of M) point guard Debra Hunter while she also emphatically states she “was raised by a series of villages.”  The villages included the churches her father served as a pastor; people in the community of Cloquet, a city of 12,000 people

JULIE GUMLIA: MINNESOTA WOMEN’S STATE AMATEUR GOLF CHAMPION AT 14, FULL OF GRATITUDE FOR PEOPLE IN HER LIFE

Julie Gumlia Marvel’s love of sports is clear in even her earliest memories. “I grew up in a close-knit family, we loved to play and watch all sports together especially golf, says Julie of her childhood in Crookston, Minnesota (located about 20 miles from the North Dakota border) and summers spent at her grandmother’s cottage in Bemidji,

Mary Lahammer ON COMPETITION: WE DREW BLOOD PLAYING SPOONS!

The youngest of five children in a St. Louis Park family, Mary Lahammer laughs reminiscing about the competitive and intense nature of her family, saying, “We drew blood,” as she recalls diving and clawing for spoons in a mad scramble of the card game where a player tries to obtain four of a kind and

JANET KARVONEN-MONTGOMERY: I FEEL LIKE I GREW UP IN THE RIGHT PLACE AT THE RIGHT TIME

  The 5th of 7 children raised in the Finnish community of New York Mills, the home of Lund Boats, located in scenic Otter Tail County, Janet Karvonen benefited being part of a close-knit family which owned the local furniture store and funeral home.  Born in 1962, Janet had three older sisters who, she says

KAY KONERZA: PACKED LESTER PRAIRIE GYM RALLIED AROUND TEAM LIKE THE MOVIE “HOOSIERS”

Less than 50 miles west of Minneapolis resides the farming community of Lester Prairie, a town in McLeod County, which enjoyed a “Hoosiers Experience” in the early 1980s when the girls’ basketball team was led by 5’ 11” Kay Konerza. The youngest daughter of Duane and Arlene Konerza, and sister of Lori, Kay grew up

MARY JO MILLER: FROM HAYLOFT HOOP SCRAPPER TO MANHATTAN (KANSAS, THAT IS)

The youngest of six girls raised on a 120-cow dairy farm near Milroy, Minnesota, Mary Jo Hmielewski (nee Miller), led a busy, self-disciplined life as a youth.  She got her start in basketball by shooting at a hoop in the hayloft of the barn and was starting on the girls’ varsity basketball team known as

MERRILY DEAN BAKER: SIX YEARS IN MINNESOTA AND THE U OF M LEFT AN INDELIBLE MARK IN MY HEART

Coaches, officials, and administrators are recognized by the M Club and Minnesota State High School League, and it appropriate that they be profiled by the author of Minnesota Athletes too.  A lifelong athlete and sports administrator, Merrily Dean Baker played a significant role in the growth and development of University of Minnesota (U of M)

MINNESOTA’S ONLY SUMMER OLYMPIAN INDIVIDUAL GOLD MEDALIST

Minnesota has had many Olympic gold medalists: Briana Scurry (Dayton; Anoka High School) in soccer; Lindsay Whalen (Hutchinson) and Burdette Haldorson (Austin) in basketball; Jessie Diggins (Afton; Stillwater High School); the 2018 curlers, John Shuster (Chisholm), John Landsteiner (Mapleton), Joe Polo (Bemidji), and Tyler George (Duluth), and more than 20 hockey players, but they have

MINNESOTA STATE HIGH SCHOOL LEAGUE HALL OF FAME CEREMONY

Hall of Fame ceremonies are joyful events: people who have contributed to their community, school, or profession are recognized for making an impact on others and their vocation. Friends and family members are there to support the nominees and emotional moments are commonplace. Beginning in 2015, I began attending the MSHSL Hall of Fame ceremony

EXTRA EDITION! MINNESOTA HIGH SCHOOL STATE TRACK AND FIELD ATHLETES WHO ACHIEVED FAME IN OTHER SPORTS AND CAREERS

The strength and speed exhibited in state track and field meets has often been exhibited in other sports. Here are a few more with superb performances at the state meet and another sport or profession in which he/she excelled. Kay Konerza of Lester Prairie won the 1980 long jump title and placed again in 1981.

Positive Coaching Alliance Impact Award Event; Other Awards

Monday night–thanks to a thoughtful gesture by Deborah Diamond Edwards, former Executive Director of Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA)–my wife, Karen Olson Mader, and I attended the organization’s Impact Award Event in Minneapolis. PCA is a national group with a Minnesota state chapter with the mission of having youth sports being a positive, character-building experience. Our

Minnesota Sports Hall of Fame

Other than professional sports halls of fame, I had seldom visited galleries honoring athletes, coaches, and contributors. That changed when I attended the Minnesota State High School League Hall of Fame in 2015 and witnessed the induction of coaches, administrators, fine arts leaders, athletes, and an official. Personal highlights were seeing people I had written

Minnesota Athletes at Rio (Summary)

Hassan Mead (Minneapolis South, University of Minnesota) placed 11th in the 5,000-meter run final. Stillwater High School and U of M graduate Ben Blankenship placed 8th in the 1,500-meter run final. Living in Arden Hills for a few years, badminton pairs player Paula Lynn Obanana and her playing partner did not place. Rugby was reintroduced