Author: David Shama

The late Pete Boerboon was among those most involved with the tournament.  Bob Jr. recalls an amusing tale about Boerboon when the tournament was on local cable TV years ago.

“His ball was in a bunker near the green and on his first shot he could not get out,” Bob Jr. said.  “On his second shot he knocks the ball across the green and into another bunker.

“By his ninth shot he was on the green.  Pete thought his saving grace was that the TV cameras had only been covering him from the start of playing No. 17, not all the way through his shots near and on the green.

“A few days after the tournament, he was taking the garbage outside when a neighbor said, ‘Hey, Pete, I saw you on TV and you had a rough time.’

“Pete replied, ‘Yeah, I had nine blows.’  The neighbor disagreed and countered, ‘No, you had 11.’ ”

There are a lot of Tapemark stories but the best one is its success all these years.  The tournament is pretty much year to year but it keeps coming back, and there are no plans to change the commitment now, particularly during these difficult economic times when funding for nonprofits is challenging.

And the philosophy of the Klas family remains the foundation for the pro-am. Bob Sr. talks about how none of us know what abilities and handicaps we will be given.  “You have to play the cards you are born with,” he said. “You can’t change in the middle of the hand.”

His son said the tournament puts life in perspective. “It gives you a sense of balance in life,” he said. “It reminds you there are others in the community who need help.”

The tournament website includes a request for donors to consider a $40 special gift to recognize the 40^th anniversary.  https://tapemarkgolf.org/.

Jerry Kill’s busy to-do list as the Gophers’ new football coach includes aggressively monitoring the academics of his players.  It’s no secret some have lagged in classroom performance and Kill said during an interview with Sports Headliners “the truth” comes out at the end of May.

He receives daily updates on what’s going on with his players and no one will be more interested in the academic results when spring semester ends.  “I think we’re working together to do the best we can. …Trying to salvage some things,” he said.

Kill wouldn’t predict how many players might become academically ineligible to play. “Hopefully we can save the majority of them that were in difficult situations,” he said.

The Gophers have an already thin roster as Kill prepares for the season opener at Southern California on September 3.  But regardless of the depth impacted by academics later this spring, Kill knows there’s a lot of future work to be done in recruiting better players and students.

He has seven coaches on the road recruiting, and looks forward to having high school players and potential recruits on campus next month when they participate in camps.  He and his assistants took over the Gophers program too late last fall to put their mark on recruiting.

“This past year (the 2011 recruiting class) we really can’t take a whole lot of credit one way or the other, except for about four, five, six kids” he said. “But going to this year, it’s critical for us to have a good class.

“And we need to do a good job in the state of Minnesota.  We need to recruit to our culture.  We need to recruit the kids that are going to be successful here at the University of Minnesota.”

Kill said it will take a lot more than one class to improve a program that was 3-9 last season and has been floundering for years.  “If you’re going to turn around a program, you can’t build it off mistakes,” he said.  “You gotta do well.”

Other than Minnesota, Kill wouldn’t single out states his recruiting will focus on, but the Midwest is the first target.  He and his assistants will rely a lot on relationships to help them with players regardless of where they are from.

“We want to concentrate in the Midwest as much as we can, and recruit kids that understand the weather conditions, the school etc.,” he said.  “And then what we can’t get here, you go back to relationships, people you trust.”

Twins trivia question:  Who is the only player ever to wear uniform No. 0?  (See answer at bottom of column).

The Twins, who open a four-game series in Boston tonight, haven’t won at Fenway Park since 2007.  The Red Sox haven’t had a losing record against the Twins since 2006 when Minnesota won five of six games.

Outfielder Aaron Hicks, who after the 2010 season was ranked the No. 1 prospect in the Twins’ farm system by Baseball America, is off to a slow start with the Class A Fort Myers Miracle hitting .202 in 94 at bats.  In three previous minor league seasons Hicks has hit .318, 251 and .279 with a total of 16 home runs and 105 RBI.

Coach John Anderson’s Gophers baseball team, 8-7 in the Big Ten race, is two games behind in the loss column from conference leaders Michigan State and Purdue, both 10-5.  The Gophers, who have won five of their last six league games, are at Michigan today, tomorrow and Sunday for three games.  Minnesota has six regular season games remaining after Sunday.

Hopkins Class 4A state championship coach Ken Novak is the ESPN RISE Boys Basketball Coach of the Year.  The ESPN RISE for High School Athletes website said Novak is the only Minnesota coach to win the award since its inception in 1970.

It was 20 years ago this month the North Stars, with a losing record during the regular season, made their improbable run to the Stanley Cup finals where they lost in six games to the Penguins.  The North Stars, who began in 1967 and participated in only two finals, played two more seasons here before moving to Dallas.

The team had some entertaining characters through the years including a European player who was asked if he had a Minnesota driver’s license.  “Sure,” he said, showing off his foreign license.