The Albert Lea Tiger Athletic Hall of Fame banquet will be on July 8 at Wedgewood Cove Golf Club in Albert Lea.

Social hour will begin at 5:30 p.m. with the dinner and inductions to begin at 6:30 p.m. The following day their will be a four- person best shot golf event that will begin at 10 a.m. at Wedgewood Cove. Dinner tickets are $40, and golfing is $75 per player.

The Hall of Fame was established in 2010 for the purpose of acknowledging outstanding athletes, coaches and state championship teams that have made a historical contribution to the Albert Lea athletic program.

Nomination forms as well as dinner and golf event forms are now available at http://efal-us.org/TigerAthleticHallofFame.htm.

Proceeds from the event go to the Albert Lea Education Foundation for the sole purpose of lowering student participation fees. The event in 2014 raised over $8,000, and $37,000 has been raised since the event began in 2010.

Dinner and golf reservation forms are now available at Tiger City Sports, Albert Lea CVB and Motor Inn Co. and are on­line at http://efal-us.org/TigerAthleticHallofFame.htm.

Contact Tom Jones at 507-402-3265 for more information.

 

2016 Albert Lea Hall of Fame inductees

Neal Skaar

Skaar graduated from Albert Lea High School in 1965.

After an outstanding high school career for the Tigers, he wrestled at Luther College.

While at Luther, he finished fifth, sixth and third in individual wrestling at nationals and was inducted into Luther’s wrestling Hall of Fame.

He returned to Albert Lea, where he joined the wrestling program as an assistant coach for 11 years.

In 1979 he began his 15 years as head coach of the Tigers, and guided them to Big Nine Championships in 1979, 1980, 1981, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1990 and 1991.

In 1981 he lead the Tigers to the state championship, and was named the Big Nine Coach of the Year in 1991.

Skaar remains as an assistant coach in the wrestling program and resides with his wife, Jean, in Hayward.

 

Logan Kortan

Kortan graduated from Albert Lea High School in 2009.

While in high school he participated in football, wrestling and baseball.

He is the all-time wins leader in wrestling history with a record of 182-38. He placed in the state wrestling tournament five times, placing fourth and fifth, twice, and placing third, once.

He was also named All-Conference in baseball his junior and senior years.

He had a batting average of .373 his junior year and .390 his senior year. Kortan and his wife, Angie, were married on June 18, 2016, and reside in Cresco, Iowa, where he is a lineman with MIEnergy Cooperative.

 

Ron Dahlen

Dahlen graduated from Albert Lea High School in 1960, where he was a four-year letter winner in track and field and a three-year letter winner in football.

As a sophomore, he was the Big Nine 120-yard high hurdles champion and competed in the state meet in this event along with the 180-yard low hurdles. As a junior in the 120-yard high hurdles, he was Big Nine Conference Champion, District II champion, Region I champion and placed third at the state outdoor meet and set a new school record. In the 180-yard low hurdles, he was the District II champion, Region I champion and placed fourth in the state outdoor meet.

He continued his success as a senior in both events, as he  set new school records and gained conference championships as well as District II and Region I titles. He placed fourth in the 120-yard high hurdles and sixth in the 180-yard low hurdles at the state outdoor meet.

The Tigers also captured their first Big Nine boys track and field championship his senior year.

He went on to St. Olaf College, where he was a four-year varsity letter winner in track and field.

After graduating from St. Olaf, he served two tours of duty in Vietnam flying B-52s.

He settled back in Minnesota, where he spent 30 years residing and working in the Twin Cities area.

Dahlen passed away in 2012. His award will be received posthumously by his family.

 

Ronalee Vander Waal Johnsen

Vander Waal Johnsen graduated from Albert Lea High School in 1980, where she competed for three years in track and field and volleyball.

She was All-Conference in volleyball two years and was the first sophomore to ever play varsity volleyball for the Tigers.

She is part of the 400-meter and 800-meter relay teams that hold the school record set in 1980. She was part of the girls track and field team that placed fifth at the state meet in 1980, which is the highest ever for the Albert Lea girls track and field team.

She later went on to the University of Minnesota-Duluth, where she was a four-year letter-winner in volleyball. Her team won the Northern Sun Conference three of her four years, and she was All-Conference her senior year.

Vander Waal Johnsen lives on a family farm in Wessington, South Dakota, with her husband, Chris, and daughters, Storm and Sydney.

She also has two grown children, Rikki and Ryland.

She is employed as a financial consultant with LPL Financial.

 

Stacey Gildner Torman

Gildner Torman graduated from Albert Lea High School in 1982. She was two-time letter-winner in volleyball and basketball and a three-time letter winner in track.

She still holds the Albert Lea girls track and field records in the 100-meter hurdles and long jump, and is part of the record-holding team in the 400- and 800-meter relays.

In 1980, she was part of the girl’s team that placed fifth in state, which is the highest finish ever for girls track and field in Albert Lea.

She continued her volleyball career at Texas A&M where she was a three-year letter winner and was an All-Conference selection.

She currently is director of athletic performance for Olympic sports at University of Alabama-Birmingham and resides with her son in Birmingham.

 

Jon Christian

Christian graduated from Albert Lea High School in 1983, where he participated in golf four years and was a member of the varsity hockey team for two years.

In 1982, he was a part of the team from Albert Lea that captured the state golf championship. He followed that up with a second-place individual finish in the state tournament in 1983.

After playing junior college golf at Texas-McClendon, received a Division I golf scholarship from Rice University.

He received All-Conference recognition at Rice and was chosen the Individual Scholar Academic/Athlete Award for all sports in 1987.

In 1989 he won the Minnesota State Amateur title and was runner up to John Harris in 1990. He later went on to play professional golf on the NIKE tour, where he won the Connecticut Open at Yale.

Christian and his wife, Kathy, have three children and reside in Richmond, Texas, where he works as a contract manager for an oil and gas enterprise.

 

Lowell Brady

Brady graduated from Albert Lea High School in 1956, where he participated in football, basketball and track, lettering seven times.

His senior year in football he totaled 987 yards, and garnered All-Conference recognition.

Playing quarterback, he rushed 93 times for 529 yards and threw for 422 yards. He returned kick-offs for 259 yards and two touchdowns. He punted for the Tigers and averaged 38.7 yards per punt.

He declined a football scholarship from Denver University and joined the U.S. Navy.

After being honorably discharged, he played quarterback at the University of Minnesota State-Mankato, where he received three letters and was named the team’s Most Valuable Player. He was also was named All-Conference.

Brady and his wife, Sharon, and family reside in Greely, Colorado.

 

John Focke: Master of Ceremony

The 2016 season is John Focke’s second season as the play-by-play announcer for all Minnesota Lynx games.

Focke joined the Minnesota Lynx Radio Network as a producer and studio host before the start of the 2008 season.

Beginning in 2012, Focke also acted as play-by-play announcer for Minnesota Lynx road games.

He is also the executive producer and studio host for all Timberwolves games.

Prior to joining the Wolves and Lynx, Focke was the voice of Northern Michigan University hockey, as well as the host of the university’s football and basketball pregame, halftime and postgame shows. In  addition to that, he provides color commentary for the games.

A native of St. Paul, Focke graduated from Ohio University in 2002 before starting his career as a sports director at KATE Radio in Albert Lea, where he called play-by-play for the high school and covered the Wolves, Twins, Vikings, Wild and Gophers.

Focke spent a year with the Minnesota Wild as a part time producer with their radio network.