50 years ago: 1969

• The Albert Lea boys’ basketball team traveled to Blue Earth and came home with a 63-43 win. Bill Nelson led the Tigers with 17 points with Al Tolbers adding 11.

• The Minnesota Vikings finished what was called their greatest season since their inception in 1961 with a 10-3 loss at Atlanta. The Falcons were coached by Norm Van Brocklin, the first Vikings coach. Fred Cox provided the only scoring for the Vikings with a 19-yard field goal, that gave him 121 points on the year, which set an NFL record for a kicker.

• Five players scored eight or more points as the Albert Lea B-squad boys’ basketball team defeated Blue Earth 58-49 to go to 5-1 on the year. Roy Page led the Bengals with 12 points and Rick Holtan added 10.

25 years ago: 1994

• Former Albert Lea High School graduate and assistant wrestling coach Dwight Gingerich, now in his second year as head wrestling coach at Rochester Mayo, brought his Spartans to town and were defeated by the Tigers 55-8.

• The Albert Lea Moose B-Bantam hockey team defeated Rochester John Marshall 3-2 at City Arena. Colin Bryant, Casey Dempewolf and Doug Peterson all scored for Albert Lea.

• Former Twin and Minnesota native Jack Morris signed a one-year contract for $600,000 with the Cincinnati Reds. The 39-year-old was 254-186 in his first 18 seasons.

10 years ago: 2009

• Consultants to the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission proposed a new design for a Minnesota Vikings football stadium that featured a sliding roof, soaring windows that faced downtown and a price tag of $870 million.

• Former Albert Lea High School wrestler Ben Berhow was named the Big Ten Wrestler of the Week after posting two wins over wrestlers from Nebraska and Northern Colorado for the Minnesota Gophers.

• The Alden-Conger Knights boys’ basketball team fell to 1-3 on the year when they were defeated 64-59 by Grand Meadow. Spencer Niebuhr led the Knights with 20 points and 15 rebounds.

This year

• Albert Lea High School class of 2016 graduate Jake Thompson added to his list of awards for the past season as a member of the Lakeshore Chinooks of the Northwoods League after being selected for a Rawlings “Big Stick” Award. Thompson earned the award, which is given for the player who had the best batting average at his position, during the 2019 season. He hit .355 on the season and was given the award at the DH position.

I want to wish all the readers of this column a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I hope you have enjoyed the sports memories I have written about the past 52 weeks and look forward to more memories being made in the coming year.