In this edition of Lots O’ Stuff, the Big South Conference will undergo another change; a Martin County West graduate played in a national golf tournament; one Windom graduate reaching a baseball managerial milestone; and another Windom grad will be a high school volleyball coach in Indiana.
Big South changing again
The Big South Conference began in the 2014-15 school year when the Southwest Conference joined with the South Central Conference to form the BSC.
In the 2027-28 school year, two of the “old” South Central Conference schools will be leaving the Big South Conference to join the “new” South Central Conference, which held its first season in 2024-25.
Blue Earth Area and St. James Area will be leaving the BSC for the new SCC, which recently finished its first year of operation
That will now be an eight-team conference as BEA and SJA join Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial, Le Sueur-Henderson, Maple River, Minnesota Valley Lutheran, Sibley East and St. Clair.
Both BEA and SJA cited disparity in enrollment with the larger schools in the Big South Conference and travel as the primary reasons for the change.
The Big South Conference has 13 members committed to the 2027-28 school year.
Seven are the former Southwest Conference schools: Jackson County Central, Luverne, Marshall, Pipestone, Redwood Valley, Windom and Worthington.
There are four holdovers from the “old” South Central Conference: Fairmont, New Ulm, St. Peter, Waseca.
Also, two other schools have joined the Big South in recent years: Belle Plaine, Tri-City United.
Schmidt at nationals
Martin County West graduate Hunter Schmidt, a freshman at MidAmerica Nazarene University in Olathe, Kan., recently played in the NAIA Men's Golf National Championship at TPC at Deere Run in Silvis, Ill.
That course hosts the PGA Tour’s John Deere Classic each year.
Schmidt carded a + 15 total of 228 (75-78-75) to tie for 60th place in what was originally a 188-player field. The fourth round of the tournament was canceled due to the weather.
The Pioneers were fifth in the team standings, 10 strokes off the lead. The tournament started with 30 teams, with the field cut in half after two rounds.
100 wins
Windom Area High School graduate Danny Kneeland reached the 100-win mark as Manager of the Mankato MoonDogs of the Northwoods League this past week.
Kneeland took over as the manager of the MoonDogs to start the second half of the 2022 season. He’s managed 16 NWL All-Stars, has had 11 players selected in the Major League Baseball Draft and has had 16 players on professional contracts.
He’s been on the coaching staff at Bethany Lutheran College, where he is currently Associate Head Coach. Kneeland played for the Vikings from 2013-2017.
Porath named head coach
Porsha Porath, another Windom graduate, has been named head girls volleyball coach at Cascade High School in Clayton, Indiana.
She'd been coaching club volleyball with Circle City Volleyball in Plainfield, Ind., and was also an assistant coach at Fishers, Ind. High School.
Porath is the career kills leader for the Eagles and later played college volleyball at Minnesota-Crookston and West Texas A&M. She helped A&M win a conference title, regional title and an Elite 8 appearance in the NCAA Division II national tournament.
Porath has a degree in Business Administration from West Texas A&M and her master’s degree in Sports Administration from Arkansas State.
Fun fact
The scene in the movie “Field of Dreams” in which Ray Kinsella (Kevin Costner) plays catch with his father (Dwier Brown) had to be shot during magic hour, 15 minutes after sunset, which gave little room for error. Brown, who was working with a rock-hard, vintage catcher's mitt, was nervous that he would drop the ball. He is proud of the fact that he never did.
On Aug. 5, 1976, NBC aired a prime time special “The Beach Boys: It's O.K.” The show was produced by Saturday Night Live's executive producer Lorne Michaels and was based around the group's 15th anniversary, their new 15 Big Ones album, and the full time return of Brian Wilson to the group, kicking off the legendary “Brian's Back” publicity campaign.
A sketch in which Saturday Night Live's John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd pose as California Highway Patrolmen and force an overweight Brian out of bed to go surfing after issuing him a citation for failing to surf, has gone on to be one of rock n' roll's greatest comedic moments.
Later that year, photographer Annie Leibovitz used a photo of the bathrobed Brian holding a surfboard for an iconic cover of Rolling Stone.