Live at 5 p.m.: What Minnesota sports figure would like to meet for a beer?
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My pick is a member of the USA curling team that won GOLD at the 2018 Olympics - Tyler George! My colleague Phil Miller will confirm that I either stayed up late or got up early to watch their matches while we were in Florida for spring training. Unfortunately, I fell asleep and missed John Shuster's marvelous shot against Sweden in the Gold Medal game. Minnesotans seemed to rally behind this team as it overcame a slow start, pulled off three consecutive wins aginst powerful teams to get out of group play and then surged to gold. And since it's a sport that draws mass interest every 3.5 years, no one will forget this team. Shuster's rejects-to-riches story is movie worthy and I could have easily selected him to have a beer with. I selected George because he actually owes me a beer and we have yet to talk about his team's experience in China. Shuster can come too! And with these guys, one beer won't be enough.....
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Sam LoPresti’s ship was torpedoed off the coast of Europe in World War II and he and 25 shipmates survived, climbed into lifeboat, and were adrift in the Atlantic Ocean for 42 days. Sam dived overboard at one point to kill a large dolphin, which the crew used to stay alive. When they final washed up on land it was … in Brazil. They had crossed the entire ocean, 2500 miles.And that’s just a part of the Sam LoPresti story. He was born (in 1917) and raised at the Elcor Location on the Iron Range; a thriving mining community it, like other locations, was eventually abandoned and is now a ghost town. He played goalie for Eveleth High School, inspired by Frank Brimsek and Mike Karakas, who both went on to play in the NHL. Sam then signed with the St. Paul Saints of the American Hockey Association.The Chicago Blackhawks picked him up and on March 4, 1941, he set an NHL record that still stands with 81 saves in a loss to Boston. The opposing goalie was his old Eveleth buddy, “Mr. Zero” Frank Brimsek.He was Chicago’s goalie the next season, then signed up to fight with the U.S. Navy’s Armed Guard. He was aboard a supply ship headed to England when torpedoes hit. Sam never played in the NHL after the war, and eventually returned to the Range.The great part about this for me was … Sam owned a bar in Virginia, Minn., when I worked at the Mesabi Daily News in the early 1980s. I called him up to take part in a “celebrity” football prediction deal we had at the paper, and he invited me down to meet him. And that’s where I first heard the story about his Atlantic nightmare.The great Maroosh, in typical Range humor, used to tease Sammy about his “ocean cruise” during the war, and Sammy would lash back in his high pitched voice. Those two were a show. Sammy died in 1984, but got a chance to see his son, Peter, play five seasons for the North Stars.Sam and Pete were the first father-son goalie duo in NHL history. -
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Michael Rand will be among the participant in our Zoom Town Hall at 1 p.m. Thursday with Pitino, Reeve and Falvey. You can find out more and register to join them here. La velle and Chip Scoggins will also be in the mix.
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To me, this list is all about characters. Hopefully my picks reflect that. First up: He was only in Minnesota for two seasons – one where almost everything went right, one where almost everything went wrong – but I would listen to every single story that Brett Favre had to tell me if we had a chance to hash things out over some food and drink. Why did he really leave Green Bay? Did he regret coming back in 2010? Could he still play? Maybe.
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And for the top pick of the second round, I considered the biggest characters I’ve ever covered on a consistent basis. Janel McCarville is high on the list. Plenty of high school coaches would be on the short list. But hockey seems to bring out the highest number of characters per capita than any other sport. And for that reason, I’m going with former Gophers men’s hockey coach Doug Woog. I got to cover the Gophers for a season back in 1996-97, and ever Woog news conference was an adventure. I’ll never forget him describing then-freshman Dave Spehar as “cute and fun,” or dissecting an upcoming trip to Colorado College by saying, “Oxygen is very … very … very … critical.” Insert about 5 seconds between each very. The Wooger was an all-timer, and sadly we lost him recently. I’d gladly invent a time machine and throw a few back with him.
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I love to read about sports at the turn of the century … not this century, but the early 1900s.Bobby Marshall surely would have some great stories to tell. He was the first African-American player in what would later be the Big Ten, playing football and baseball and running track for the Gophers from 1904-06. And he got a law degree at the U before playing professional baseball and football.He was, along with Fritz Pollard, the first black player in the NFL.According to old Star Tribune stories, Marshall was a standout athlete at Minneapolis Central and worked to help support his family after his mother died while he was in high school. One of his grandfathers was Ezekiel Gillespie, a slave who became a civil rights activist.Bobby played professional baseball and football until the early 1920s. Turn of the century sports must have been amazing, and to hear it from someone who had to overcome incredible barriers would be awesome.Plus beer back then was more interesting. And coffee was stronger. -
I get the whole State of Hockey thing here. I really do. But this area has a very interesting basketball history, and of it much of it has to do with John Kundla, who coached the Minneapolis Lakers for 11 seasons, winning five titles in a six-season span. Kundla coached George Mikan, Vern Mikkelsen, Clyde Lovellette, Elgin Baylor and other great players. Kundla later coached at the University of Minnesota. Lived to be 101. He was the grandfather of the hoopin' Dahlmans. He had to have plenty of stories from his coaching days, and it would be pretty cool to hear them. I'm sure he has a few stories about Sid.
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On the heels of Chris Miller's excellent pick, I'm choosing Toni Stone. I wrote about her recently; she grew up in St. Paul's Rondo neighborhood and played baseball for a succession of men's teams in the 1940s and '50s, including two seasons in the Negro Leagues. Here's a woman who was not only playing baseball with and against men, but as a black woman in Jim Crow times. She wasn't allowed to play in the All-American Girls Professional Baseball League because of her race. She got hassled by her own teammates, by opponents, by fans. What kept her going? How was she not emotionally destroyed? I admire her so greatly. I'd love to hear her talk about what those times were like.
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I'm a bring us back to the modern era here and go with someone I just think I'd have fun with: Lindsey Vonn. The St. Paul native is an Olympic champ who has been through the pinnacles of her sport and the pits of it, overcoming major injuries along the way. She's kind of Hollywood now, and I want to know about the celebrity life. She has many cute dogs. She can spill the tea on Tiger Woods and P.K. Subban. IDK, she just seems fun. And if I'm going to hit the town with someone post-pandemic, I want it to be a good time!
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In this corona-age of documentaries, including the Lance Armstrong one...I select one of our own (well, sort of): Greg LeMond, who lived for years in Medina. He's a three-time Tour de France and a pioneering American in the sport of cycling who nearly died from an accidental hunting accident between his second and third Tour titles. He's also been a loud anti-doping voice in the sport. There's plenty there to discuss, particularly with the current backdrop of the Armstrong doc, to keep us busy over a vegan burger and a beer.
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Ninety-four wins. Zero losses. From 1929 to 1939, the Grand Meadow girls’ basketball team pulled off the most amazing streak in Minnesota high school sports history. The person most responsible for its success was coach Lila Reiersgard, top right in the 1935-36 season team photo. When the English teacher started the team in the southeastern Minnesota small town, Reiersgard instilled the largely unheard of idea of daily practices. In their first season, the Meadowlarks’ average victory margin was 42-10. Ten years and still no losses later, the winning streak ended, but only because the team had to disband for lack of opponents amid misguided public concern about the effect of competitive sports on girls’ development. That’s no way to treat a winner. The stories she could tell…
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I considered going super-niche here and picking former Timberwolf Fred Hoiberg. And we'd just spend the whole meal talking about Ames, Iowa -- the town where we both grew up (I've been rooting for Fred since I was 12). But I sent a Twitter plea for suggestions and got one from my dad. My parents lived in the Twin Cities in the 1970s and my mom, a recent immigrant to the US, learned to love football because of those Vikings. Since Paul has led us down the path of taking entire teams, I'll take the Purple People Eaters as a group just to make my parents jealous. (I mean, I guess I could invite my parents along ... )
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Unlike the excellent picks from my colleagues, you’ll find no history lesson here. Unless you’re talking about a history lesson in overall awesomeness. Bill Murray’s sports movies are limited to Caddyshack, Kingpin and Space Jam. In addition to being a regular at the Pebble Beach ProAm, an avid Cubs fan and a wholehearted supporter for his basketball-coaching son Luke (formerly at Xavier, now at Louisville) Murray is also part owner of the St. Paul Saints. Downtown? Lowertown? Midway? Pick the place, Bill, and I’ll be there ready and waiting to talk your ear off about all things sports, movies, comedy and life. (Oh – and if you could put me in touch with Dan Aykroyd, the one living member of the Ghostbusters I’ve never met, that’d be swell)
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I am going to finish this thing with some Twin Cities media royalty. Speaking in this case of Halsey Hall -- writer and broadcaster. Before my time but I know he's one those people you need to know about. Came across this story: "A cigar smoker, Hall accidentally set his sports coat on fire during a 1968 Twins broadcast at Comiskey Park in Chicago." Member of the Twins' original WCCO broadcast team along with Ray Scott.
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A massive list of omissions is buildingDave WinfieldKirby PuckettKevin HarlanPaul AllenJerry KoosmanBuzz LagosGeorge MikanHarmon KillebrewJesse DigginsRobert SmithMike ModanoTerrell SuggsJoe MauerJustin MorneauLindsay WhalenNatalie DarwitzQuincy LewisSam JacobsenGlen MasonJohn RandleEd McDaniel
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Multiple people suggested John Gagliardi to me. And based on this video chat, Frank Viola seems fun.
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