Sports Memories by Tom Jones

 

50 years

• As the Minnesota Vikings prepared for their NFL title game with the Cleveland Browns, cornerback Bobby Bryant was taken off the active roster due to surgery on his knee.

• The Lea College basketball team fell 94-79 to Hastings to take second place in the Hastings Invitational in Hastings, Nebraska. Howard Wilkens led the Lancers with 30 points.

• The Minnesota North Stars and the Los Angeles Kings battled to a 0-0 tie. Goalie Fern Rivard stopped 34 shots for the North Stars. It was the first time the North Stars had ended a game in their history with both teams scoreless. The game marked the first game under acting coach Charlie Burns.

 

25 years

• The Minnesota Vikings defeated the San Francisco 49ers 21-14 at the Metrodome to take the NFC Central Division Championship. Rookie Dewayne Washington returned a fumble for a touchdown to lead the Vikings, who were scheduled to open the playoffs at home with a first-round game against the Chicago Bears.

• Scott Erickson scored 21 points in the Albert Lea boys’ basketball team’s 64-59 loss in a second-round game at the Austin Holiday Tournament. The Tigers had opened the tournament with a 64-49 win over South St. Paul, with Erickson scoring 29 points.

• Kristi Newman scored 19 points and added 11 rebounds as the Alden-Conger Knights girls’ basketball team defeated Mankato-Loyola 52-24 in the seventh-place game at the Loyola Crusader Classic in Mankato.

 

10 years

• In the championship game of the Tiger Classic, the Albert Lea boys’ basketball team was defeated by Richfield 72-67. Kyle Ooms led the Tigers with 22 points and Colby Strilaeff added 20.

• At the Kiwanis Holiday Festival in Rochester, the Albert Lea boys’ hockey team defeated Dodge County 7-0. Sophomore Eric Carlson scored twice and added two assists for the Tigers.

• The Albert Lea girls’ basketball team took third place at the Tiger Classic with a 42-29 win over Cannon Falls. Morgan Stadheim led the Tigers with 18 points and Mikaela Pierson added 10.

 

This year

• After running cross country and track at Albert Lea High School, 2016 graduate Herbie Lien has continued his running career at Dakota State University in Madison, South Dakota, where he ran all four years on the cross country team. He will finish up his collegiate running career with indoor track this winter and outdoor track this spring, where he is a distance runner. He is the son of Ross and Kathy Lien of Albert Lea.