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Sports Memories by Tom Jones

15 years

• Mike Elseth, Eric Amann and Phil Schmidt combined to shoot a 56 to take first place at the three-man best shot golf tournament at Green Lea Golf Course.
• In an overtime thriller, Logan Kortan’s catch on a two-point conversion attempt in overtime was ruled out of bounds as the Albert Lea Tigers football team fell 36-35 against Mankato East at Hammer Field.
• The Albert Lea girls’ swimming and diving team fell 98-81 against Austin. Picking up first-place wins for the Tigers were Amanda Walters in the 100-meter backstroke, Gracie Thomas in the 100-meter breaststroke and Galen Schulz in the 100-meter freestyle.
• The Albert Lea girls’ soccer team reached the 10-win plateau for the fourth straight year as they defeated Mankato Loyola 4-2. Ariel Christensen scored three goals for the Tigers, who went to 10-3-1 on the season.

20 years

• The Albert Lea boys’ soccer team defeated St. Peter 5-0 at Hammer Field. Jake Clark, Jeremy Jacobson, Justin McGinnis and Brian Christianson scored for the Tigers.
• The Albert Lea football team fell to Rochester Century 35-14 at Hammer Field. Ross Habben and Ryan Truesdell scored touchdowns for the Tigers.
• Whitney Wilson had the lone goal for the Albert Lea girls’ soccer team as they fell 2-1 to Owatonna at Hammer Field.
• The Minnesota Twins handed the Detroit Tigers their 117th loss of the season with a 12-1 win at the Metrodome. It was the Twins ninth straight win and reduced their magic number to two to clinch their second straight American League Central title.
• Louie Toulouse of Emmons scored a hole-in-one using a nine-iron on the par 3, 136-yard ninth hole at Arrowhead Golf Club.

50 years

• The Albert Lea Tigerettes girls’ tennis team opened their season with a 5-1 win over Faribault. Pauline Slegh, Mary Speltz, Suzy Denzene, Wanda Thompson, Emily Wardrip, Sue Danielsen and Joyce Nothwehr were returning letterwinners for coach Jane Christensen’s squad.
• Kim Jacobsen of Albert Lea finished fourth in the “A” men’s division of the Island Lake Salom Water Ski Tournament held in Shoreview.
• Randy Skophammer threw four touchdown passes, but it wasn’t enough as the Albert Lea Bengals football team fell 30-26 to Rochester John Marshall at Hammer Stadium. Mark Simunds caught touchdown passes of 52, 25 and 34-yards in the loss.
• Junior running back Richard Kelly ran for 80 yards on nine carries as the Albert Lea Tigers football team defeated Mankato East 27-0.
• The Name of the Game in downtown Albert Lea was promoting watching Monday Night Football with two colored televisions that had excellent sound at their establishment.
• Former Albert Lea resident Doris Winship Jones landed a 669lb Pacific Blue Marlin at the 15th annual Hawaii International Billfish Tournament. The world record catch also got her first place in the women’s division at the event.
• In observance of the second annual National Hunting and Fishing Day, the Minnesota Twins were offering youth 16 and younger a ticket for 50 cents to an upcoming game when accompanied by a parent that had a valid hunting or fishing license.

Homecoming history

The first Albert Lea homecoming button from the records of Roger Lonning was a wooden one produced for the 1946 game. On it, it said, “Yea Team, ALHS.” I might also note that in 1940, the girl reserves were selling gold-colored homecoming pins for a dime.

The first homecoming coronation to be held at the Cap Emmons Auditorium in the old Albert Lea High School occurred in 1940 when Dorothy Johnson was crowned queen.