Dick Jonckowski—a.k.a. the “Polish Eagle”—says no two days are the same for him. He wouldn’t have it any other way.
Jonckowski is 72 and has made a livelihood from stringing together small town radio jobs, speaking engagements and public address assignments at sports events. His trademark smile, vintage jokes and passion for sports have made him well-known in Minnesota for decades. His work and personality have landed him in eight halls of fame in the state including those sponsored by Minnesota high school coaches for baseball, basketball and football.
The money has not been that great but, what a fun ride! Having fought off cancer, and with his diabetes under control, Jonckowski has the same energy as 10 years ago—with no plans to change anything about a life that sometimes has him travelling from Shakopee to Dinkytown, from MSP Airport to Canada.
Jonckowski has lived in Shakopee with his wife Arlene for 50 years. He is one of only two public address announcers in Williams Arena history. The famous basketball home of the Gophers opened in 1928 and Julie Perlt was the P.A. man until Jonckowski succeeded him starting with the 1986-87 season.
Seven athletic directors and five coaches later, Jonckowski is still courtside providing fans with information during games. Sometime later this season a halftime ceremony at Williams Arena (date not announced yet) will recognize him for his 30 years behind the microphone.
Ask Jonckowski about the 30 years and the memories come so fast it seems like he doesn’t know where to begin telling stories. A classic memory was the night Northwestern coach Ricky Byrdsong left the team bench during the game and walked up an aisle while Gophers fans looked on with amazement. Byrdsong started wandering around Williams Arena after a disputed call by a referee. The coach’s brain cells seemed awry that evening, and Byrdsong even challenged the final score of the game—insisting to Jonckowksi the Wildcats, not the Gophers, won the game.
When Tubby Smith coached the Gophers he checked in with Jonckowski just before tipoff. He wanted a quick story—a funny joke—to loosen him up before the game.
Jonckowski might have told Smith he just got back from a pleasure trip: “I took my mother-in-law to the airport.”
In 2013 Smith’s Gophers upset then No. 1 ranked Indiana at Williams Arena. Jonckowski loved it and so did the fans who poured out of their seats and onto the floor when the game ended. “They jumped right over my head,” he said.
The Gophers’ 1994 triple overtime win against Iowa at Williams Arena is a special memory. “I was so exhausted at the end of that game—because I was really into it,” Jonckowski remembered. “I was actually hyperventilating at the end of the game.”
Voshon Lenard had 38 points for Minnesota in the game. Jonckowski lists Lenard as one of his favorite Gophers during the last 30 seasons. The others are Willie Burton, Austin Hollins, Bobby Jackson, Sam Jacobson and Jim Shikenjansky.
Jonckowski, who will be in his 28th season as the Gophers baseball P.A. man this year, got his start working U games because then athletic director Paul Giel liked him. He teased Giel about his major league baseball career as a journeyman pitcher. Jonckowski claimed there was a game when three consecutive balls thrown by Giel were knocked over the fence. The manager made a trip to the mound and asked the catcher what Giel’s pitches looked like to him. “I don’t know,” the catcher said. “I haven’t caught any of them yet.”
Jonckowski has been doing P.A. work for Shakopee High School basketball games since 1989. Before games he goes on the court and throws behind the back passes to players while they take their warm-up shots.
Jonckowski has been tossing behind the back passes for decades. For years he worked as a field usher for Vikings games at Met Stadium. A stray football might be returned to a game official with a behind the back pass. And as a kid he would practice the move with a basketball in his basement, inspired by 1950s Celtics guard Bob Cousy.
It was Cousy, playing on national TV, who dribbled and passed behind his back, threw no-look passes and inspired a generation of young admirers like Jonckowski. He loved the showmanship and tried the Cousy routine at New Prague High School where he was a starting guard.
Coach Doug Shonka wasn’t buying in. “Richard, we don’t play like that,” he told his maverick guard.
Sorry, coach, but Jonckowski is still doing a little showboating. “I can (still) throw it 45 feet behind my back,” he said.
Jonckowski’s father George owned movie theaters and the family lived in various Minnesota towns. “Between first and ninth grades we moved six times,” Jonckowski recalled. “I didn’t like that.”
George had a good sense of humor and advocated enjoying life. “No one gets out alive,” he told his son.
That zest for life attitude is Jonckowski’s mantra. “Some of my friends are pretty negative people. Every day is a negative day for them. I just say, ‘You’re alive, you might as well make the best of it.’
“I always say you’re dead a long time, so you better do what you can while you’re here.”
Jonckowski had a brief try at minor league baseball after high school and then started a radio career that includes KSMM in Shakopee. He was on the station for 38 years with various assignments including his popular “Coaches Round Table Show.”
The last 10 years the focus has been on public address work and emcee and speaking assignments. Well-known in Minnesota, Jonckowski has networked with contacts that led to engagements out east and also in Canada. The assignments can be sporadic but Jonckowski always shows up ready to have fun and provoke laughs with jokes like this one:
A burglar breaks into a couple’s home and goes to the bedroom. He asks the terrified wife what her name is. “It’s Betty,” the woman answers.
“Oh, my God,” the burglar said. “My grandmother’s name is Betty. My mom’s name is Betty. My wife’s name is Betty. I couldn’t possibly think of harming you.”
Then the burglar asks the husband for his name.
“It’s Frank—but all my friends call me Betty,” the husband answers.
Jonckowski tells that story and laughs hard. He guesses he could recall 50 or more jokes without skipping a beat.
That humor helps feed his soul. So, too, does the museum-like sports memorabilia dominating the Jonckowski residence in Shakopee.
Drive up to the home and the first thing you might notice is the Philadelphia Eagles styled mailbox. Or maybe it’s the statue of an eagle near the front door. And there is no missing the personalized license plates on his Chevy Malibu: E GLE 1.
As a kid Jonckowski fell in love with the Eagles. During a short stint as a car salesman in Shakopee his boss told him everyone working at the dealership needed a nickname. He was dubbed the “Polish Eagle” because he is Polish and for his fondness for the Philadelphia NFL team.
Jonckowski became an avid collector of sports memorabilia while growing up and he’s spent much of his adult life acquiring more. He has a couple hundred bobbleheads and all kinds of other stuff ranging from pennants to programs, from magazines to autographed photos, and from vintage clothing to models of stadiums.
The memorabilia fills an upstairs bedroom, part of the basement and the walls of the garage. It’s fascinating to look at memorabilia spanning seven decades but all that stuff takes up a lot of space.
“Well, it’s been a challenge—have to say that,” Arlene said. “Recently he’s downsized, so that has helped a lot.”
Dick and Arlene met at New Prague High School. He was a jock and she was a cheerleader. Dick was two years ahead of Arlene in school but once they started dating that was it. A courtship followed and 50 years of marriage will be celebrated on April 30 of this year. The Jonckowskis have two adult children, Jennifer Eich, 48, and Jeff Jonckowski, 44.
Arlene is retired after a career that included nursing. She is a sports fan but sometimes she and Dick aren’t always on the same page. Last Sunday their interests collided when the Broncos played the Patriots for the AFC Championship. Arlene likes the Patriots, while her husband was for the Broncos. The couple had to separate on Sunday. “We couldn’t be in the same room (watching on TV),” Arlene said.
Arlene has a vintage telephone with a crank handle that once belonged to her grandparents. She also has a collection of copper kitchen items, but she has no ambitions to fill rooms with memorabilia like her husband.
Arlene, however, does have a poster down in the basement where a lot of Dick’s stuff dominates. On display is a full color poster of a sexy soap opera actor. It is personally inscribed like this:
“Arlene, with lust. Drake Hogestyn.”
Even with all his array of sports memorabilia, Dick might not be able to top that poster from the “Days of Our Lives” heartthrob.
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