We’re going to start this holiday edition of Lots O’ Stuff with a clarification and addition to a question to last week’s Tuesday Trivia about Jackson/JCC football.
The clarification comes from Dennis Hale himself through Brent Miller.
The first question asked who scored the first touchdown at the first football game at the field’s location on Springfield Parkway.
Dennis Hale was the correct answer, but here’s a correction about some of the information about the Jackson High School graduate.
Following his senior season at Minnesota, he played in the Blue-Gray All-Star Game and did have three interceptions in the game.
However, he was not the Most Valuable Player as was stated in the story. The North won the game in Miami 3-0 and the kicker was the MVP.
And here’s a little more about Dennis, thanks to some prompting from my hairdresser, Molly Hunt.
Hale, who was inducted into the Minnesota Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2010, is still coaching.
His son, Adam, recently completed his 13th season as head coach at Grantsburg, Wis. and has his dad on the coaching staff.
Grantsburg made it to the championship game of Wisconsin’s Division 6 state playoffs, losing to Lomira 26-19. Division 6 is the second smallest of the state’s seven 11-player classes. There’s also an eight-player division.
One of Hale’s former players at Grantsburg (2023 population of 1,347) is Leo Chenal, who is in his third season as a linebacker with the Kansas City Chiefs.
Chenal has played two Super Bowl champions and this year’s Kansas City team is tied for the best record in the NFL at 10-1.
NCAA bound
Jackson County Central graduate Alaina Wolff will finish her college volleyball career in the NCAA tournament.
Wolff is a 5-foot-9 senior defensive specialist at South Dakota, which won the Summit League tournament championship in Kansas City. The third-seeded Coyotes won three matches in as many days, beating sixth-seeded Kansas City 3-0 Sunday, second-seeded Omaha 3-0 Monday and top-seeded South Dakota State 3-2 Tuesday.
Wolff had 12 digs in the three matches, five apiece vs. Omaha and SDSU. She’s one of four players to play in all 116 sets for the Coyotes this season, averaging 2.37 digs per set.
This is Wolff’s third season at USD after one year at Wayne State. NCAA tournament pairings will be announced Sunday.
Brandt finishes career
JCC grad Alicia Brandt has finished her career with the Waldorf University volleyball program as the leader in one category and in the top 10 in three others.
Brandt is now the career record holder in blocks per set for the Warriors with 0.95.
She is also second in single-season blocks per set (1.02 in 2024), fourth in career blocks (206) and seventh in single-season total blocks (93 in 2024).
All MIAC
Martin County West graduate Max Olson was a first-team selection on the all-Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference football team. He’s a 6-3, 253-pound sophomore defensive lineman.
He started every game for the 5-5 Gusties, collecting 38 tackles.
Olson led the team with 9.5 tackles for loss of 56 yards. He was second on the team with 7.5 sacks for 51 yards and also had a forced fumble.
Windom facilities project
Residents of the Windom School District have been asked to respond to a survey by the Windom Area Schools as they consider a major investment in the school’s arts and sports facilities.
As it now stands, the project is a $35-million plan to build an auditorium for the arts, plus new facilities for football, soccer, gymnastics, wrestling, track and baseball. That is subject to change.
Residents are being asked to prioritize the projects and whether they would support tackling all of these needs at once.
The project seeks to address significant and long-standing challenges like flood-prone off-site fields, outdated locker rooms, lack of a presentation auditorium, and limited space for wrestling and gymnastics.
The district has several grant applications in the process and a Naming Rights Program would enable individuals, families and businesses to contribute to the project.
A vote on the project is planned for May 13, 2025.
Fun fact
In 1943, the Pittsburgh Steelers and Philadelphia Eagles both lost so many players who were serving in World War II, they joined together to become the Steagles. The team divided its home games between Philadelphia's Shibe Park and Pittsburgh's Forbes Field and finished the season with a 5-4-1 record.
Of the 24 players on the team, 15 had been rejected by the military because of physical problems ranging from flat feet to ulcers.
Earl "Greasy" Neale of the Eagles and the Steelers' Walt Kiesling were co-coaches. That arrangement worked only after Neale took over the offense and Kiesling the defense.
The uniforms were the green and white of the Eagles. League standings would list the club as Phil-Pitt. However, sportswriters and fans preferred "Steagles."
The Steagles were the only pro sports team to require its players to work in defense-related industries. Almost all lived in Philadelphia, where they worked regular jobs during the day and practiced at night. Ex-Steeler tackle Ted Doyle lived in Pittsburgh and commuted to games on weekends.
Season results:
Phil-Pitt 17, Brooklyn Dodgers 0
Phil-Pitt 28, New York Giants 14
Chicago Bears 48, Phil-Pitt 21
Phil-Pitt 34, Chicago Cardinals 13
Phil-Pitt 14, Washington Redskins 14 (tie)
Brooklyn Dodgers 13, Phil-Pitt 7
Phil-Pitt 35, Detroit Lions 34
Phil-Pitt 27, Washington Redskins 14
Green Bay Packers 38, Phil-Pitt 28
For 1944, the Eagles fielded their own team, while the Steelers merged with the Chicago Cardinals.
Information from Last Team Standing: How the Pittsburgh Steelers and Philadelphia Eagles - The "Steagles" - Saved Pro Football during World War II, Matthew Algeo, 2007.
On Thanksgiving it seems appropriate to look back on this clip from WKRP in Cincinnati in 1978.
In the episode, station manager Arthur Carlson attempts to pull off the greatest Thanksgiving promotion in radio history: dropping live turkeys from a helicopter.
The episode was based on an actual promotion for a radio station that tossed live turkeys off the back of a truck,
It was included in TV Guide's 100 Greatest Episodes of All-Time.