The voice of Ridgewater basketball this winter has been Chuck Gremmels, retired coach of the women's basketball team at Mayville (N.D.) State. He coached five conference champions over 20 years and also assisted in football as line coach for five years.
When he retired five years ago, Gremmels became the public address voice at Comet football games. He still goes back Saturday's in the fall to announce the games with is wife Ann as spotter. It's a chance to also visit with their son, Jim, an assistant football coach at Mayville.
That extensive experience helps account for his professional style on the public address system. He and Ann moved here two years ago to be closer to their three children in the Twin Cities. Including high school, Gremmels coached for 41 years. He is a member of the Mayville Hall of Fame.
He also announced the regional baseball tournament here last May. Chuck's cousin, Jim Gremmels is a member of the Minnesota State-Morris Hall of Fame as a coach and the Augustana Hall of Fame as a player.
Mother of all games
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Carrie Ogdahl hasn't let motherhood interrupt her coaching career at Ridgewater College. Neither has Suzy Hebrink, head coach of the Riverland College.
The two coaching mothers have a total of nine children.
Their respective basketball teams played at Willmar last Wednesday with the Lady Warriors coming from behind in the second half to win. Hebrink is married to James Hebrink, a 1986 Clara City graduate. They have six children, the oldest is a senior on the girls Austin team and is closing in on 1,000 points and expected to play for her mother next season.
Coach Hebrink gets a lot of help caring for the smallest children (ages 3 and 6) from James, a construction contractor, and her parents who live in Austin. Coach Ogdahl gets help on game days caring for her three youngsters from her parents (Janice and retired Ridgewater coach Mike Johnson). Her husband, Darrin, works courtside at home games imputing statistics.
Combined the two coaches have 20 years between at their current posts.
New scoreboards
Three new Daktronics digital scoreboards are in place at the senior high gymnasium -- all paid for by private donations. They debuted on Tuesday at a Cardinals wrestling meet.
The basketball boosters spearheaded the project. Individuals, businesses and other booster clubs kicked in. The school did the installation. The end boards will be moved to Kennedy.
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The new end boards have been slightly repositioned for better spectator viewing while still remaining in full view for the players. The middle board, often faulty, has been replaced with a much larger board with stat panels on the sides.
Also above the main entry, an old scoreboard is now displayed. It formerly hung in the Kandiyohi School. It was donated by the City of Kandiyohi and is intended as a visual reminder of the vitality of the many rural school buildings that once dotted the countryside.
On the fly
* The Willmar wrestlers have wrestled seven dual meets in six days, going 4-3. Individually, senior 160-pounder Brandon Reickman has six pins and a decision in the stretch. Drew Larson also went 7-0 at 140.
* Peter Grahn, former Cardinal athlete who suffered a spinal cord injury in 2005, is starting his second semester at Southwest Minnesota State in Marshall this week. From September '05 to May '06, the former All-Area forward took intensive physical therapy at Abbot Northwestern and then at Courage Center in Golden Valley. He has passed his driver's license test qualifying him to drive a van using hand controls.
* Coach Carl Shuldes was pleased with the swimming team's finish behind only Fergus Falls and Hutchinson at True Team. Junior Jackson Roberts and sophomore Andrew Johnson have emerged as fine racers on a young team. Shuldes singled out sophomore Kyle Schmidt, freshmen Reid Olson and senior Jason Cain for strong races at Hutchinson that ended a three-event week.
* Alison Adamson had a huge game for Augustana Saturday. The 5-5 senior guard scored a season-high 24 points, grabbed a career-high 8 rebounds and also had 4 steals and 4 assists as the 16th-ranked Vikings beat St. Cloud State 79-70 for their 19th straight win at home. The Augie women improved to 4-0 in the North Central Conference and 19-2 overall. Adamson will play at St. Cloud State on Feb. 17.
* In one of the warmest winters on record, the city rinks at Garfield, Lincoln, Northside and Hilltop, have ice as smooth as glass. "It's awesome," said varsity hockey player Jordan Gauer who skated at Garfield last weekend. The New Year's weekend thaw nearly destroyed the rinks, but Public Works, helped by week-long temperatures ranging from zero to the mid-teens, brought them back. The city has three tank trucks and a driver may empty the smaller 400-gallon capacity tank 20 times in one day.
