The winter solstice comes up on December 21. I'm almost inclined to want to celebrate the solstice more than Christmas/New Year's. The solstice has a scientific basis: the shortest day of the year. It really affects our psychology. For me as someone now living alone, regrettably, it makes me want to "hibernate" at times.
Any compulsion to let your metabolism slow down is countered by the high school winter sports season. It's an adrenalin rush that can almost seem scary with the way it can affect parents of the athletes. I "fought the battles" covering this stuff in the media, knowing there'd be slings and arrows at times. Whatever discomfort I was forced to feel by that, was offset by the fact that journalism is in my DNA. I'd keep fighting those battles until the situation became untenable, as it finally did in 2006.
That year was likely the last really good one for the traditional print media. Even though it was good, its leaders could easily see what was coming over the horizon. The business model was going to be jolted by new and profound electronic media forces. And indeed this has been borne out: look at the drastic retrenchment within the company that operates the Morris area print media. The Hancock paper for which I worked so very hard for a long time, is gone. The Ad-Viser free ad circular is gone - I used to work all day Friday at Lowry's Quinco Press to load the Ad-Viser.
And the Morris paper? It's a fraction of the size it was during its heyday, a heyday I am most proud to have been part of. Quite the salad days as I made my rounds endlessly in all phases of the business. We will never see this again.
I rolled up my sleeves for high school winter sports because, well, how could I not? It was a magnet for attention. I had co-workers at the paper who were fanatically devoted to this stuff. Unfortunately nearly all - I should say all - of these co-workers had kids who attended not Morris but one of the surrounding Pheasant Conference-size schools. I will feel mystified through all the rest of my days about why that had to be. Jim Morrison had his son in the Morris school but he was a non-athlete, bless him.
Barb Lienemann came along in our front office, who was attuned to Tiger sports, even wearing an orange sweatshirt on the day of the girls basketball opener, but she was not pushy with her sports interests as she related to the person (me) who did most of the sportswriting.
The 1980s were a time to try one's soul in Morris athletics. I was supposed to do my job with so-called "objectivity" during a time when any moron could see there were problems in the system. I decided I couldn't do my job by pretending nothing was amiss - I felt it would make me look stupid. As time wore on, I could see I'd be portrayed as stupid no matter what I did.
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| Mark Torgerson, coach |
I found it was dangerous in this community to share this opinion, so much so you might get run out of town. The teachers in their union behaved like they were under siege in the mid to late 1980s. I saw no need for such defensiveness. But that's the way it was, and they decided that Torgy's promotion was going to be part of asserting they were still on high ground, untouched by the floodwaters of discontent. They wanted no part of the "new guy" with the initials C.B. who the new superintendent brought here with intentions of making him head boys basketball coach.
Never mind that the new guy was going to be a full-time faculty member. The teachers appeared to fight him at every juncture, even when this guy inquired as a fall-back about being the girls basketball coach. He was entitled to the girls job if he wanted it, according to the contract which the teachers union itself had OK'd. Normally whens it comes to union matters, "the contract" rules however it turns out. But there was politics thick as pea soup in Morris. I think it emitted an absolute stench.
Decisions that should have been routine - no big deal - instead became invested with such great gravity, largely owing to a good old boys type of network. Like in the movie "Walking Tall" (with Joe Don Baker)?
And my, the teachers got their way with everything for a time. Torgy got his promotion, really a big deal because everyone knew if he got it, he'd likely keep it for near forever. And that's exactly what has happened.
An oft-heard critique, apparently
I'll quote for you here from an email exchange I had with a well-known and respected professional in Morris' business district, this past year. He is highly attuned with athletics at present. He said "Torgy teams are always being accused of underachieving." Really? Isn't this significant? A highly credible and well-thought-of person here asserts that Torgy teams are "always being accused of underachieving."
We were commenting after Morris blew out its tires in the post-season tournament last year vs. Minnewaska.
I think Torgy had to struggle to survive beyond his first year as coach. People might have made excuses then, saying our overall athletic program needed to be refurbished. I think Dennis Rettke in his wisdom thought Mr. C.B. with his reputation for injecting sheer intensity was quite appropriate then. Rettke told me himself that forces prevailed on him suggesting that Torgy be "given a shot at it" (being head coach). Torgy was definitely "given a shot" and it has lasted something like 30 years. I think Dick Felstul was an influence.
Alas, issues with girls program too
This community went through two rough patches with girls basketball coaching. The first one was especially sad because this coach too was "given a shot at it" and we rooted for her because she had been a star UMM athlete. It did not work out. Nevertheless she and her friends fought for a "third year" and they got it, while close onlookers like yours truly were 100 percent sure the program wasn't going to perform any better. We were right.
And even after the third year, it was hard getting anything done. The school had to go through a formal process of relieving her. I remember the drama surrounding that. It was supposed to be a consent agenda item to relieve the coach. Board members had that understanding going in, but then politics appeared to rear its ugly head, arm-twisting due to the political circles of friends which I saw as pollution in the community. So, board members were thrown into the uncomfortable position of making a forced vote.
The replacement coach would be the C.B. fellow. Even a board member with Apostolic Christian ties, thus not being close at all to sports, reportedly talked like an expert and made a disparaging remark about C.B., saying "I don't like his tactics." You mean, you're afraid he might win too much?
I was never personal friends with C.B. and there never was anything personal about it, a claim that could not be made from the other "party group" side.
So, the board voted and the coach was removed. I remember how the vote got reported in our Morris paper. Rather unusual - here's a close paraphrase: "The board voted to thank (name of coach) for her service and to tell her those services would not be needed in the future." Wow!
I felt sorry for the individual in question who if you put her coaching issues aside, was universally acclaimed as the nicest person you could ever meet.
Here's a lingering question I have: Should a board ever have to "fire" a coach? Couldn't a new coach simply be named prior to the next season? I remember a very devoted Tiger sports fan saying after Torgy's bumpy first year: "They should just say 'the position is open.' " No need to have a termination on anyone's record, n'est-ce pas?
But you have to remember the whole political backdrop to so much of what was happening in the Morris community in the 1980s: the teachers union was thrashing away at trying to keep its relevance and power at a time when student numbers were sure to shrink due to the conclusion of the "baby boom" (my generation). We had a fiercely political local teachers union that intimidated many people. I felt the promotion of Torgy was a sop to them, a way of keeping them docile, you might say. Throw them a bone. Let them feel that "their guy," someone already established in the system, was going to be favored and stroked.
As for the "new guy," C.B., well he could just mosey on down the road, which he eventually did.
There was a second rough patch in Morris girls basketball coaching and here I'll name names. It was Steve Harter. His tenure was remarkably unsuccessful and by year 3, it was obvious there'd be no reversal. A special meeting was held to keep the parents restrained just prior to year 3. It's my understanding the coach didn't have the qualifications for the position. He was difficult for me to work with just from a press standpoint. Maybe he got the appointment because his colleagues knew he had aspirations to be an administrator, so a coaching job would look good on his resume. There's a name for that: "politics."
You had to hold your nose around the Morris school system back in those days. I think it's 100 percent straightened out today, albeit not perfect - it's never perfect. So, let's get ready for the long high school winter sports season.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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