Sports Memories by Tom Jones

 

50 years ago: 1969

• The Albert Lea Tigers football team ended their season with what coach Jim Gustafson called a complete game when they defeated the Owatonna Indians 38-7. Dan Fahrman had two touchdown runs of one yard and Al Wulff added two scores on runs of one and four yards to lead the Tigers.

• The Minnesota North Stars finished a disastrous road trip in Pennsylvania with a 6-3 loss to Pittsburgh and a 6-2 loss to Philadelphia. Danny O’Shea, Tommy Williams and J.P Parise scored in the loss to the Penguins.

• The Albert Lea cross country team took 11nth place at the state meet in St. Paul. Tom Halverson placed 20th with a time of 15:49 to lead the Tigers.

• Ticket sales were underway for the annual Quarterback Club fall sports banquet in Albert Lea. Jocko Nelson, head football coach at Gustavus, was scheduled to be the featured speaker.

 

25 years ago: 1994

• The United South Central Rebels volleyball team came up short in its bid for a third straight Section 2A title when it fell 3-1 in the section semifinals to Lake Crystal Wellcome Memorial in a match played at Gustavus. Laura Kauffman was 75 for 89 on attacks with 38 kills to lead the Rebels.

• The Albert Lea girls’ swim and dive team took fifth place at the conference meet in Mankato. Eighth grader Megan Broskoff took second in the 100-yard breaststroke with a time of 1:12.64.

• The Minnesota Timberwolves addressed their biggest need at the center position when they acquired Sean Rooks from the Dallas Mavericks for a future first-round pick.

 

10 years ago: 2009

• At the Albert Lea girls’ tennis banquet, Taylor Nelson was named Most Valuable Player and Big Nine All-Conference. Michelle Hartman was named Most Improved Player and Mikaela Pierson won the Leadership Award.

• Lars Gjersvik of the Albert Lea boys’ tennis team was named to the Big Nine All-Conference team, with Jordan Mondeel and Jack Sturtz being named to the honorable mention team.

• Albert Lea had two top 10 finishes in the 100 breaststroke at the Big Nine swim and dive meet. Grace Thomas placed sixth with a time of 1:13.39 and Morgan Field took eighth with a time of 1:14.55. As a team, the Tigers finished eighth out of 10 teams.

 

This year

• With the end of the Major League Baseball season this week, I would like to ask readers who was the only player born in Albert Lea to play in the big leagues? The answer is Mike Dimmel, son of Ross and Elaine Dimmel, who was born here Oct. 16, 1954. He made his big league debut as a 22-year-old with the Baltimore Orioles on Sept. 2, 1977. He played parts of three seasons with the Orioles and St. Louis Cardinals. He currently works as a financial advisor in Dallas.