Looks like a good weekend for weather as I sit here on Saturday morning. I watched a portion of the graduation on YouTube. My generation could not have conceived of such a tool back in the day.
One of the class speakers for my graduation, 1973, was Edith Martin, eldest child of Willie and Rachel Martin. Yes that's Willie of Willie's Super Valu. And Willie had an important role for Memorial Day. Some of us were amused at how he'd say "hollowed" instead of "hallowed" in his annual recitation at the outdoor monument.
The passage goes: "Wherever a comrade may fall, there the ground is hallowed."
The indoor program in those days was held at the old school auditorium. I fondly remember Eleanor Killoran playing piano. She's the namesake for the outdoor stage at East Side Park. She was my accompanist for contest solos in the high school band. Willie and Eleanor should stay in our hearts as we remember them.
In 2012 I wrote a blog post on "Morris of Course" reflecting on how Edith spiced up the 1973 graduation with her words. Here's the link:
Baseball: nothing but wins. Nothing but zeroes in the loss column for our MACA baseball Tigers of '25: 20-0 overall, 6-0 section, 14-0 conference, 12-0 on the road, 2-0 neutral, 6-0 home. A historic season to be sure. Congrats to those Tigers who got their diplomas last night. Now it's back to the business of baseball.
The "Minnesota Scores" site as I sit here does not yet have schedule info for post-season play. I am thankful for this website because it's such a nice home base for getting essential facts about teams. A fan can quickly check and see that we swept Minnewaska Area in May 22 action at 'Waska. Scores were 13-4 and 6-5.
I can report that MACA softball plays today (Saturday) in post-season. It's another of those long (annoying) trips all the way to Marshall. When the Tigers climb in tournament play, so often this trip is required, and it must cut down on the number of fans that watch in person. Well I think that's sad.
When I was with the newspaper, so much high-level basketball action was here in Morris at the P.E. Center. I remember many huge turnouts to support both Morris and other teams.
Our softball Tigers had one Section 3AA game here and that was Thursday. The Tigers defeated Minnewaska 5-2. So 'Waska was competitive. So often the Tigers win in a dominating way. Now the softball Tigers will play Pipestone. So the Tigers and Pipestone will meet today (Saturday) at - sigh - Marshall. What's so special about Marshall really?
Game-time is coming right up at 11:30.
Baseball: Tigers 13, Minnewaska 4
This was one of those suspense-free games for MACA and their fans, score of 13-4. This was Game 1 of the twin bill. Game 2 would have a narrower complexion. But it was victory in both.
Riley Asmus showed command with the bat, going a perfect four-for-four. One of his hits was a double. He scored two runs and drove in four. He reached once on a walk and stole three bases.
The orange and black got rolling with a four-run second inning. We polished things off with a three-run seventh. We played errorless ball in the field. We outhit the Lakers 11-7. 'Waska was hampered with fielding lapses.
Riley had lots of company among the offensive standouts. So let's consider Andrew Marty who had a two-for-four line. Andrew was at home on the basepaths as he scored four runs. He walked and stole two bases. Jackson Hallman had two hits, stole a base, scored a run and drove in two.
Jack Kehoe had a hit and drew a walk. He stole a base and drove in two runs.
Drew Huebner had a hit in his only at-bat and got on via HBP. Ozzy Jerome reached on HBP too, plus he scored two runs and drove in one. Alex Asmus had a hit, drew a walk and stole two bases. Jonah Huebner walked and scored a run. Hunter Smith walked, stole a base and scored two runs.
For Minnewaska, Marc Gruber and Riley Dell each had two hits.
Our pitching story had Drew Huebner and Alex Asmus sharing the work with Alex getting the win. Alex set down six batters on strikes in five innings. Huebner had a "K" total of five in his two innings. The losing pitcher was Connor Erickson.
Game 2: Tigers 6, 'Waska 5
Quite a different story, this game. The difference came in the seventh with a "walk-off" run scored by Andrew Marty. Andrew got his opportunity to score on a grounder off the bat of Alex Asmus. The one-run margin of victory preserved our unblemished record. Now, what will the post-season bring?
The Tigers had a line score of six runs, seven hits and two errors. The 'Waska numbers were 5-8-3.
Jackson Hallman picked up the pitching win in relief, one inning. Riley Asmus pitched the other six innings. Gruber took the pitching loss for 'Waska.
Baseball at 'Waska is played at Marthaler Field.
The MACA offense was highlighted by a home run by Ozzy Jerome. Quite a game for Ozzy as he also doubled and had a two-for-two line. He walked twice, drove in two runs and scored one.
Andrew Marty had two hits including a double and scored three runs. Riley Asmus' bat resonated with a double as part of two-for-three. He walked, scored two runs and drove in two. Alex Asmus drove in a run. Jonah Huebner had a hit and stole a base.
Almost kind of haunting for me to remember the ceremony of 2006 which was my last one covering for the Morris newspaper. Always had a sense of exhilaration there. Did it for years and years. I remember the triumphant way principal Wally Behm congratulated each year's grads on being "alumni" with their diplomas. Such a wide smile on his face too.
I feel a little haunted because the 2006 event seems like just yesterday in my mind. It's as if time got frozen after that. The people running the paper were starting to get restless, feeling they had to pull all sorts of strings. I thought it was a fuss over nothing, maybe just an empty gesture to try to show that the paper wasn't standing pat.
But what good did it all do?
A "treatise" written by the editor to micro-manage the hell out of sports coverage? On behalf of his masters at Forum Communications which a few years later simply packed up and left town?
It was kind of crazy because the newspaper general manager had three people including me at the graduation. I could have done it myself with 100 percent reliability. I always sought to cover the event with a flair.
An old handicap was catching up to me: my sense of conflict with the teachers union. You see, I could vividly see our school district had problems through the 1980s. I picked up liabilities. Finally in 2005 my detractors had the opportunity to pounce on me in the aftermath of the goalpost incident at UMM. A few months later and I was gone.
In spite of the baggage I had picked up, I had a career of 27 years both at the Morris and Hancock newspapers. I drove the paper's van through a large portion of that too. I think that gave me some job security, because there certainly were people in town who were not fans of mine.
Morris is a better town now run by more idealistic, less cynical people. People must have gotten lessons in "conflict resolution," seriously. I was astounded recently to see that even though 125 members of the public turned out at a board meeting in reaction to school staff cuts, I didn't notice any letters to the editor in the next newspaper. There would have been a bunch in an earlier time.
Would I have liked to continue with the paper longer? Yes I would have. Let the record show that. I can't help but imagine myself showing up at graduation like so many times previously, notebook under my arm. But what's done is done.
"The past is never dead, it's not even past." - William Faulkner
Jim Morrison could get sort of astounded by the teachers himself, as he commented that "it's always us against them" from their viewpoint.
I'm talking the teachers as a group or a certain segment within (ahem).
But still today, public school teachers will harangue us every day of the year about how they aren't paid enough, don't get good enough treatment. And they have power. They have the power to give grades to our children. They'll come to school board meetings and make a big display about how they're getting screwed. Hey, life isn't a bed a roses for a lot of other people out and around.
You'll see an image below of Addison Blume of the 2025 Herman-Norcross graduating class. Congratulations to Addison and her fellow grads. Addison helped me get educated on the difference between "Border West" and "Wheaton." It gets complicated. I got to know Addison because she's a weekend server at DeToy's Restaurant in Morris. I got her a graduation card. Next year I figure I'll be giving three of these out to DeToy's servers. I eat out often because I live alone and it is not practical for me to do a lot of food preparation at home. I really do none. As a diabetic I try to follow "periodic fasting" too. But I love a good breakfast on Saturday and Sunday. DeToy's has a cheerful staff. I heard this morning there was a big turnout for Addison's graduation reception. I would have assumed that! The family lives in the country. This time of year is the best for visiting Niemackl Park over by Herman. But watch for woodticks! A cacophony of bird sounds there! Despite the cacophony I have found it hard to zero in with my binoculars on a specific bird! Niemackl Park is like a departure from the typical Stevens County terrain. It's like North Central Minnesota.
Addison Blume of Wheaton High School and Border West Co-op. Image from Hudl.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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