Sports Memories by Tom Jones
Tom Jones
10 years
- Albert Lea’s Preston Smith took second place with a time of 40.39 in the 300-meter hurdles at the Section 1AA track and field meet in Lakeville and qualified for the state meet.
- Brady Loch, Lucas Peterson and Alex Syverson of the Albert Lea’s boys’ golf team qualified for the state tournament after their performances at the Section 2AA meet held at Ridges at Sand Creek in Jordan.
- The Albert Lea Tigers baseball team advanced to the section finals with a 4-0 win over Holy Family Catholic. Jonathan Fleek recorded the shutout, striking out four batters over seven innings. The Tigers were set to play Glencoe-Silver Lake in the finals.
- The Albert Lea Family Y hosted the Land Between The Lakes Kids’ Triathlon. The event was open to youths ages 7 to 14 and featured swimming, biking and running.
20 years
- The Los Angeles Lakers defeated the Minnesota Timberwolves 96-90 to capture the NBA’s Western Conference Championship. Latrell Sprewell led the Timberwolves with 27 points and Kevin Garnett added 22.
- Levi Herrera scored two goals to lead the Albert Lea U-13 boys’ soccer team to an 8-2 victory over Prior Lake.
- Daryl Paulsen and Davis Gilbertson revived an area tradition that went back to 1967 as the Freeborn County Softball Hall of Fame hosted a banquet at the Geneva Community Center.
- Nick Wegener, who lived in Albert Lea from 1992 to 1998 accepted an offer to play football at Virginia Military Institute. He was the son of Ed and Ginny Wegener.
- Nick Schultz of the Minnesota Wild was part of the Wild’s 2004 Road Tour that stopped at Wells Fargo to greet fans and sign autographs.
50 years
- Bill Walton signed a contract with the Portland Trail Blazers who had drafted him with the NBA’s first overall pick to a five-year contract that was estimated to pay him $2-$3 million.
- Eveleth native Pete LoPresti was one of four players chosen by the Minnesota North Stars in the first day of National Hockey League’s annual draft. He had recently completed his sophomore season at Denver University. He would go on to play 173 games in goal for the North Stars over five seasons.
- Mike Levison took the loss on the mound as the Moose Club fell to the Town House 10-9 in National League softball action.
- Albert Lea High School Athletic Director Jim Gustafson was preparing for a regional track meet being held at Hammer Field. Nine schools in Class A and 10 schools in Class AA were scheduled to compete.
- Albert Lea High School baseball coach Ed Stalker and members of his varsity team hosted a baseball clinic that was being held at Camp Morraine. The event began with a pancake breakfast followed with the clinic.
- Albert Lea High School golfer Scott Hogan shot a 76 at the Rochester Country Club to earn him medalist honors at the Region One golf tournament. Mark Knutson shot an 82 that also qualified him for the state tournament which was being played at the University of Minnesota Golf Course.
- At the state girls’ track meet in Richfield, Glenville’s Marcia Carroll finished third in the preliminary heat of the 100-yard dash, but her time did not qualify for the finals.
- Miss Albert Lea LuAnn Sigurdson presented trophies at the first annual Kickoff to Summer Baseball Tournament sponsored by Great Northern Sporting Goods. In the championship game, the Eagles defeated the VFW 10-5.
Did you know?
In 1927 Milly Dahl, a prominent Tiger in all sports, received a letter from the Copenhagen Snuff Company offering a handsome amount to display his athletic looking physique on a new brand of snuff called “Knock Em Cold.”
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