I was cleaning my office Saturday, something I should do regularly but don’t. I’ve been in this office at the radio station since 2009. One thing became very clear to me when I started cleaning out my filing cabinet, my desk drawers and taking pictures down from my wall. I don’t throw anything away!

I had a lot of stuff! I kept many newspaper articles and pictures from the Western Guard, the Minneota Mascot, Dawson Sentinel and The Canby News. Most of them were about high school sports teams winning championships and going to state. I have many posters that teams have given me and the kids having signed the poster. It was a walk down memory lane Saturday. I put everything in two big tote containers. I did throw a few things away but kept most of it.

Three pictures caught my eye while cleaning. The first was a picture of me  interviewing Steve Bly at the Appleton golf course after a cross country meet. I had it displayed on top of my desk. Steve loved running for the LQPV/DB cross country team. Steve always did a great job when talking on the radio with me. He had a big personality and it came through on the radio. He was fun to be around. As I stared at the picture I got a little emotional because Steve is no longer with us on this earth. He died in a car accident while in high school. It’s a picture I will always display.

The second picture is of me interviewing Kelsey Hennen of the Minneota volleyball team back in the day. Now Kelsey is married with three children.  I’m not sure of the year but it was a long time ago. She has a medal around her neck and I could see we were at the RA Facility at SMSU in Marshall. The reason this picture means a lot to me is because of my friendship with the Steve and Missy Hennen and their family over the years. I remember broadcasting Kelsey’s volleyball match when she played in the back row as a 7th grader on varsity!!! After graduation Kelsey broadcasted many volleyball and basketball games with me and we made some great memories broadcasting section and state tournament games. This picture really ages me and I’m thankful that I’ve been broadcasting sports for a very long time.

The last picture I found while cleaning was a newspaper article about Dick Newman making it into the Minnesota Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame. There was a picture of the 1974 Madison Dragon baseball team and Dick was the assistant coach. What a great picture! I was a sophomore in high school and played on a great team. I think it was one of the most talented teams I’ve ever played on. We had great pitchers and really good hitters. It was a fun team. If I remember correctly we were conference champions and played in the district championship game against Bellingham at Granite Falls and lost in a very close game. What amazes me about this picture from 1974 is that I’m still good friends with a lot of my teammates and Dick and I work together at the radio station.

My plan is to go through everything in those two totes and take my time soaking in all the pictures and reading all the articles remembering all my friends and what a great time it was broadcasting sports and getting to meet so many people. I’m sure glad I cleaned out my office Saturday.