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Sports Memories by Tom Jones

This week I am going to only look back at 50 years as I get so many readers that tell me how much they enjoy this segment of the weekly column.

• Rick Upchurch ran the ball 21 times for 210 yards as the Minnesota Gophers defeated Iowa 23-17, giving them four straight wins over the Hawkeyes. Albert Lea’s Greg Shoff was voted by his teammates as the Lineman of the Week for the Gophers in the win.
• Second baseman Rod Carew of the Minnesota Twins was named to the Associated Press’s All-Star Team after he led the American League with 218 hits and a .364 batting average.
• The Albert Lea Tigerette b-squad volleyball team defeated Owatonna 2-1. Beth Nelson and Kris Wadding were credited with playing their best games of the year.
• Lake Placid, New York, was chosen to host the 1980 Winter Olympics and Moscow, Russia, was chosen to host the Summer Olympics.
• At the final meeting of the year of the Albert Lea Quarterback Club, Herb Andersen was selected to be next year’s president with Derl Curry, vice-president, and Elwood Ingvaldson, secretary-treasurer.
• In girls’ basketball, Emmons defeated Kiester 37-30. Sandy Troe led the Eagles with 17 points. In the B game, Emmons downed Kiester 22-18 behind Irene Herman’s nine points.
• Freshman running back Mike Curry from Albert Lea ran the ball 16 times for 103 yards to lead Mankato State to a 19-14 win over Augustana.
• At the Region One cross country championship held in Rochester, the Albert Lea Tigers placed sixth out of 11 teams. Mike Thompson was the top runner for Albert Lea coming in 24th followed by Bruce Anderson who placed 30th.
• Albert Lea’s Craig Dahl and Brad Schmidt were playing football for the 5-0 Pacific Lutheran College football team in Tacoma Washington, where they were playing for former Lea College coach Frosty Westering.
• Kevin Marinan scored on a one-yard run for the Albert Lea Tigers football team as they were defeated 14-6 by Winona. The 22 seniors on the squad finished their season with a 5-4 record under coach Jerry Nelson.
• Former Albert Lea quarterback Jay Gustafson was slated to be the guest speaker at the annual Tiger fall sports banquet honoring the football and cross country teams. Advanced tickets for the event being held at the Chef Cafe were four dollars.
• The Glenville football team was held to 10 total yards in the game as they were defeated by number one rated Blooming Prairie 45-0.
• The Albert Lea synchronized swimming team captured the Big Nine Conference meet held at the high school pool. Julie Boot and Rhonda Larson captured first and second in the novice division with Jean Nelson and Kathy Keating earning second and third in the junior division.
• Tom Kelly and Lyman Bostock were two of the eight players the Minnesota Twins added to their major league roster.
• Jim Plunkett threw for two touchdowns as the New England Patriots defeated the Minnesota Vikings 17-14 at Metropolitan Stadium. Chuck Foreman and Fran Tarkenton had rushing touchdowns for the Vikings.
• The Minnesota North Stars tied the Boston Bruins 3-3 in a game played at the Met Sports Center. Dennis O’Brien, Lou Nanne and J.P. Parise scored for the Stars.

Hall of Fame recognition

Mike Sullivan, sports director at KATE Radio from 1982 to 2000, was recently inducted into the Minnesota State University Hall of Fame Builders Category. He retired earlier this year after working 24 years for KTOE in Mankato, where he was the voice of Maverick’s football for the first five games each season and would transition into a full season of Mavericks hockey. He called 914 hockey games for the Mavericks, including two seasons where the team reached the NCAA’s Frozen Four, including the 2022 championship game. He still resides in Mankato with his wife, Darcy.