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

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

Cory Sauter: GOPHERS’ QUARTERBACK NOW AIMING TO HELP PLAYERS IN THE NEXT CHAPTER OF THEIR LIVES

A native of Hutchinson, Minnesota, Cory Sauter sings the praises of his hometown like former Minnesota Lynx basketball star and current University of Minnesota (U of M) women’s head basketball coach Lindsay Whalen Greve: “It was a safe and very supportive community.” Born in 1974, Cory was raised as the only child of a single

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

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

Thanks To These Gracious Minnesota Athletes

A sincere thank you to Lindsay Whalen for presenting at the elementary school she attended–St.Anastasia in Hutchinson. I had the honor of introducing her to an overflowing audience! And thanks to Deb Diggins, mother of Olympian Jessie Diggins, who gave interesting background information on the national women’s cross country skiing team and Jessie’s training to

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