Golden Gophers – Page 256 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Vikes Group Aims for Winner’s Circle

Posted on July 11, 2016July 12, 2016 by David Shama

A horse named Tiger D is on a deadline at Canterbury Park this month. The five-year-old thoroughbred will make its six-man ownership group happy if he can earn a win before the Vikings head to training camp by the end of July.

Track announcer and Vikings radio play-by-play man Paul Allen heads an ownership group that also includes Vikings coaches Norv and Scott Turner, offensive lineman Brandon Fusco, trainer Eric Sugarman and Wild goalie Alex Stalock. They purchased Tiger D in Florida last spring and have yet to see the horse win a race at Canterbury Park.

Because of illness Tiger D won’t run in races at the Shakopee race track this week. The horse has been unable to run for awhile, and Allen told Sports Headliners Tiger D’s owners are very much anticipating his return to health.

Tiger D has third, fourth and fifth place finishes but no firsts. “(But) we haven’t been despondent,” Allen said.

Allen put up the largest share of the $16,000 purchase price for the horse, while the five others invested equal amounts. There are also other costs involved with owning a race horse but Allen said return on investment isn’t the No. 1 motivator for him and his partners.

“The most important thing to us is a winner’s circle,” Allen said.

The Vikings report to training camp in Mankato on July 28. Tiger D’s owners want to be present for the first win and stand in the winner’s circle to celebrate. That means Canterbury Park’s live racing dates of July 21, 22, 23 and 24 are final opportunities for Tiger D’s owners—at least for awhile.

If Tiger D gets that initial triumph later in the summer, even Allen might not be around to cheer on his favorite horse. Allen will be out of town for two Vikings preseason games in August and the thought has crossed his mind he won’t be available to pose for a photo in the winner’s circle with Tiger D.

Allen has called nearly 25,000 races as a track announcer, working a few years in California and 22 at Canterbury Park. A sports talk show host at KFAN for 18 years, Allen starts his 15th year as the Vikings radio play-by-play man this summer. He will call his 300th Vikings game during 2016.

Growing up in southern California in the 1980s, Allen listened to radio play-by-play legends Chick Hearn of the Lakers and Vin Scully of the Dodgers. The two men left lasting impressions on Allen. The now deceased Hearn was known for his enthusiasm and creative expressions—e.g.“Elgin Baylor yo-yoing the ball near the top of the circle.” Scully, with his soothing voice, is still calling games for the Dodgers and describing baseball like a Pulitzer Prize winning author.

Allen is known for his passion and flair behind the microphone. “I am not afraid to describe things in an unconventional way,” Allen said.

Watch Allen call a race at Canterbury Park and you will see him following the horses with powerful binoculars. He also uses that tool while describing Vikings games. “I may be the only announcer in the NFL using binoculars,” he said.

The transplanted Californian has made a lot of friends here including at Winter Park where the Vikings train most of the year. A regular visitor there, including during the offseason, Allen was in the complex last winter when a conversation with Norv Turner quickly led to a six-man partnership to buy a racehorse.

Now all that’s left is a trip to the winner’s circle. At least once—and preferably before July 28.

Worth Noting

A local basketball source told Sports Headliners that highly recruited shooting guard Gary Trent Jr. “definitely” will not play his senior season at Apple Valley High School. Trent could name his college destination, and apparently he and his family believe an out of state high school can better prepare him for NCAA and NBA competition.

The decline of Gophers basketball in the 21st century means Minnesota apparently has the most minimal of chances to recruit Trent who is the son of former Timberwolves forward Gary Trent Sr. Junior seems likely to end up at a legendary college basketball school like Duke. That possibility is discouraging to Gophers fans who have watched Minneapolis area legends Khalid El-Amin, Cole Aldrich and Tyus Jones win national titles at Connecticut, Kansas and Duke.

Sports Headliners is told Jones has added about 10 pounds and lost approximately two percent of his body fat during offseason training. Jones, 20, was a first round draft choice of the Timberwolves in 2015 and his status for making the roster next season could be uncertain since the team used its No. 1 pick in June to select point guard Kris Dunn and also has five-seasons veteran Ricky Rubio. It’s not unusual, though, for NBA teams to carry three point guards on the roster.

Marcus Fuller, the Gophers basketball beat writer for the Pioneer Press, is moving from that newspaper to the same assignment at the Star Tribune. He replaces Amelia Rayno who will leave the sports department but remain with the Star Tribune and write about food.

Clyde Turner, a star on the Gophers 1972 Big Ten championship, is in his 30th year of running local basketball camps. Over 10,700 campers have participated including El-Amin, Jones, Devean George and Rashad Vaughn.

Schedule makers for the Iowa Hawkeyes found a “pastry shop” to their liking this summer while lining up the team’s upcoming nonconference basketball schedule that includes “cream puffs” Delaware State, Kennesaw State, Regis, Stetson, Savannah State and Texas Rio Grande Valley.

The Twins’ front office has often stumbled making player acquisitions but Eduardo Nunez can make club officials smile this week, although it wouldn’t be shocking if his name comes up in trade talks. The 29-year-old infielder plays in his first MLB All-Star Game tomorrow night after a spectacular first half of the season including a .321 batting average—10th highest in baseball.

Nunez entered this season as a nonstarter and a career .267 major league hitter. The Twins acquired him in a 2014 trade with the Yankees, giving up left-handed pitcher Miguel Sulbaran who is with Trenton in the Double A Eastern League and on the disabled list. With all-star status and a reported $1,475,000 salary, Nunez could be attractive to a contending team that wants to make a trade with the Twins this month, perhaps offering a super prospect or two.

The Twins might have another success story developing with 24-year-old first baseman-outfielder Daniel Palka who they acquired from the Diamondbacks last November, giving up catcher Chris Herrmann. Palka, recently promoted to Triple A Rochester, hit 21 home runs and drove in 65 runs at Double A Chattanooga. In four games with the Red Wings, Palka has two home runs and is hitting .400. Herrmann, now in his fifth major league season, looks like a journeyman catcher but he is having a career best average at the plate with the Diamondbacks hitting .291.

1 comment

Claeys: U Football in Place to Win

Posted on June 30, 2016June 30, 2016 by David Shama

Tracy Claeys sat in his office last week and pronounced the Gopher football program as “very close” to competing for Big Ten titles every year. Claeys believes that more than five years after head coach Jerry Kill and his assistant coaches arrived in Dinkytown, the resources are in place to challenge for championships in the West Division and advance to the conference’s title game in Indianapolis.

Claeys can look out his office window and see the construction of the Athletes Village project that will include much needed new football facilities. Better places to practice indoors, train and develop players, and impress recruits with a state-of-the-art work place was the last impediment to overcome in rebuilding a program that hasn’t won a Big Ten title since 1967, Claeys said.

Officially known as the Football Development Center, there will be two buildings when construction is finished—the indoor practice facility and the performance center, with the latter offering locker room space, team meeting rooms, strength and conditioning equipment, and a recruiting room.

The Gophers already have other major resources in place, including one of college football’s newest stadiums. The roster of players, Claeys said, has improved over the years because of better recruiting. Recruiting resources include the vibrant Minneapolis-St. Paul area and fan loyalty because the University is the only major football program in the state.

Claeys joined up with Kill in 1995 as an assistant coach at Saginaw Valley State, handling the defensive line. When Kill resigned for health reasons as Minnesota’s head coach during the 2015 season, Claeys was promoted from associate head coach-defensive coordinator to interim head coach. Soon after that the University administration made him the permanent head man with a three-year contract.

With all those years working with Kill, it’s no surprise that when Claeys was asked by Sports Headliners about his vision for the program, he quickly referenced his former boss of more than two decades at various schools including Minnesota.

“Really, it’s just what we’ve been doing with coach Kill,” Claeys said. “I think that’s why I was with him for so long, for 21 years. We both had a lot of the same goals and the same principles. We both wanted the opportunity to coach college football at the highest level that (it) was played, and so we got hired here at the University of Minnesota. That was kind of both our goals.

“You can ask the kids now (about differences between Kill and him). There’s a couple personality things they’d probably tell you is different, but for the most part we feel good on the base that we’ve set. I believe in everything we’ve done with coach Kill. We’re on the path of what we need to do to be able to compete for a Big Ten championship. I believe that.

“There’s no reason we shouldn’t be able to compete for the Big Ten championship, especially now with the new facility. That’s the one piece I think we were missing, whether people understand that or not. The Twin Cities are great. The school—you get a great education—and the stadium is tremendous. We just didn’t have as good a facilities (in the past) where the kids spend 70 to 80 percent of their time day to day—and we’re going to have that.

“Everybody can argue who has the best (facility) or is going to have the best. At least we’ll be up there and we’ll have as good a facilities as anybody. So that should pay huge dividends for us to consistently be able to compete for a Big Ten (title).”

The 2014 Gophers team had a 5-3 Big Ten record, the best at Minnesota since 2003. Last season things got off track because of injuries and other factors. The Gophers were 2-6 in conference games (6-7 overall), but several prominent players return on offense and defense this year including Mitch Leidner who has drawn offseason mention as a senior quarterback prospect for the 2017 NFL Draft.

Claeys wants his teams, starting with the 2016 group, to be in the “discussion” at the end of November each year for a division title and path to Indy for the league’s championship game against the East Division. “Eventually we gotta get it done, every now and then,” he said. “Two years ago if we beat Wisconsin in the last game of the season, we go to Indianapolis and play Ohio State.

“I don’t think we’re that far off from where we want to be. This last season there was a lot of strange things that happened. I mean injuries were one of them, but then with what happened to coach Kill. I mean I thought those kids did a tremendous job, and so we didn’t finish out the year in a position that we wanted to be, but you lose seven games and six of those teams win 10 games or more. That’s a pretty good schedule that you played. A lot of those games in the fourth quarter we still had opportunities…to win, and so we gotta finish some things better and play better at certain times. …”

Iowa and Wisconsin certainly stand between the Gophers and more success in the West Division. The Hawkeyes won the division last season, the Badgers the year before. Minnesota’s record against Iowa since 2000 is 5-11 and the Gophers are winless in Iowa City. Dating back to 1990, the Gophers are a dismal 5-21 against Wisconsin including 12 consecutive losses beginning in 2004.

Visions of winning Paul Bunyan’s Axe back from the Badgers have turned into nightmares for Gophers fans. The argument can be made the series between the two programs isn’t even a rivalry any more. Claeys is annoyed too about all the losing to Wisconsin.

“They made decisions to advance their football program farther, earlier, than what the University of Minnesota did…but I feel like we’re making progress,” Claeys said. “The first time we show up and play four quarters, and play better than they do for four quarters, than we’ll get that axe back and deserve to win.

“We haven’t been able to do that since we’ve been here. It bothers the hell out of me. We’re on our way to try to get that back to where it’s a rivalry. We gotta win sooner or later for it even to be considered a rivalry anymore.”

There is one trade-off Claeys will make that would have the Gophers continuing to lose games against the Badgers. “I can also tell you this…I’d sleep pretty good at night if that’s the one game we lose and we still go play for the Big Ten championship in Indianapolis. But there’s no question that for the fans and everybody…it’s always fun to win the rivalry games, and we need to get back on top of that one.”

Worth Noting

Big Ten teams will each play nine conference games this season, not eight as in the past. Schools in the West Division will play four at home, five on the road. East Division teams have five at home, four on the road. That scheduling flips next year, and Claeys suggests the unbalanced home and away games will factor into final results.

Almost all of the Gophers’ players had recruiting rankings of three stars or less coming out of high school. “People think we don’t try and recruit four and five-star players,” Claeys said. “That’s not true but there has to be an interest both ways. You recruit the kids that want to be here.”

True Thompson, formerly of Armstrong High School, plans to play football this fall as a wide receiver for Iowa Western Community College. True is the son of Gophers’ career leading rusher Darrell Thompson.

Race Thompson, who will be a junior this fall at Armstrong, is an outstanding 6-8 basketball player who has received scholarship offers from multiple schools including Minnesota and Marquette, according to his dad.

Former Gophers football player Jim Brunzell, who made a career as a professional wrestling star, will sign copies of his Matlands book at the St. Paul Saints baseball game July 17. “I’m also throwing out the first pitch!” Brunzell wrote via email. “I’ll do my best impression of Ryne Duren, flame-thrower from the Yankees, early 60’s.”

Comments Welcome

100th Birthday Humbles John Kundla

Posted on June 28, 2016June 28, 2016 by David Shama

Former Gophers basketball players and family paid tribute to John Kundla yesterday at his assisted living residence in northeast Minneapolis. The former Gophers and Minneapolis Lakers coach turns 100 on July 3.

Kundla played for the Gophers in the late 1930s and coached at his alma mater from 1959-1968. Ex-Gophers Paul Presthus, Bill Davis, Don Linehan, Al Nuness and Larry Overskei presented the coach with a No. 100 Minnesota jersey. “We celebrated the 100th birthday of our coach, friend and a true gentleman,” Presthus said.

Kundla has lived a remarkable life. He coached the Lakers to five professional basketball championships from 1949-1954. Only Phil Jackson and Red Auerbach have won more titles. Kundla’s players included center George Mikan, who is often recognized as the greatest basketball player during the first half of the 20th century.

While coaching the Gophers, Kundla led teams to second and third place finishes in the Big Ten but never a championship. He helped pioneer opportunities for black players at Minnesota and in the Big Ten. Kundla’s 1964-65 team had three African-American starters—something that was unusual in the 1960s. Those starters were Lou Hudson and Archie Clark, who both became outstanding NBA players, and Don Yates who was another athletic contributor for Kundla.

Kundla’s son Tom said yesterday his dad spoke out against segregation in the 1950s when he was with the Lakers. “I couldn’t have had a better role model,” Tom said.

Overskei, Davis, Presthus, Nuness, Linehan, Wilson surround the coach.

Coaches are known for a “my way or the highway” mentality, but that wasn’t Kundla’s personality. He coached with a caring manner and his demeanor is recalled with fondness by former players.

A native of Minneapolis, Kundla attended the old Central High School on the city’s south side. He was a starting forward for the Gophers in the late 1930s. After college he coached at DeLaSalle High School and St. Thomas before becoming the Lakers coach in 1948 for an annual salary of $6,000.

A June 2nd online issue of the New York Times included a lengthy story about Kundla, referring to him as the oldest living hall of famer in any of the four major American sports. Louie Lazar’s article said the former coach is still active despite being in a wheelchair and having hearing aids.

Kundla lives now at the Main Street Lodge, and he has almost come home again. He is only six blocks from the apartment building he lived in when he first coached the Lakers.

Able to dress and cook breakfast for himself, Kundla plays bingo and cribbage. He credits being a gym teacher with forming good health habits. “I still to this day ride the (exercise) bike to stay in shape,” he said yesterday.

Karen Rodberg, Kundla’s daughter, joked (I think) that if yesterday afternoon had been a bingo day her dad wouldn’t have been available for the party. Yes, Kundla’s competitive nature is still on display when enjoying bingo or cribbage.

Jim Kundla, another son, lives near his dad’s residence and the two play cribbage every day. The older Kundla said the game is good for his mind. “We enjoy playing and it also kills time,” he said. “Jim is a great cribbage player and I learned a lot from him.”

The soon to be centenarian wouldn’t boast about his cribbage and bingo skills. Not bragging and giving credit to others is a trait that goes back to coaching days with the Lakers and the Gophers. It was the players that deserved credit, not the coach.

“He doesn’t pat himself on the back,” Presthus said. “He taught us a lot of life lessons.”

Presthus played for the Gophers in the mid-1960s and as the years have passed he has come to appreciate his former coach more than ever. “He did things the right way,” Presthus said.

That included encouraging players to give best efforts and attend classes. But there was something else that was part of Kundla’s “DNA” and it makes an impression on Presthus to this day. “Family was always No. 1,” Presthus said. “Faith, family and friends. Those are the three things (with Kundla).”

Kundla’s wife Marie died several years ago but his children share major roles in his life. They now have the opportunity to give back to the father they admire so much. “I couldn’t have had better parents,” Tom said.

The group at the party included not only family and ex-Gophers players but former U trainer Jim Marshall and ex-basketball student manager John Bell Wilson. Yesterday there was reminiscing, photo taking and cupcakes with the number “100” on each of them. There were also a lot of smiles and congratulations in the room.

“It was pretty nice of them to come,” the old coach said. “I sure appreciate the honor. I never thought it would be a hundred years. What a break!”

Worth Noting

Gophers coach Richard Pitino will headline Thursday night’s “Post Time” fundraiser at Canterbury Park. The event is open to the public and is organized by the Golden Dunkers organization that has supported Gophers basketball for more than 40 years. Fans can learn more about an evening of basketball conversation, horse racing, and food and beverage hospitality at Goldendunkers.com.

Jimmy Williams was one of the most effective recruiters in the history of Gophers basketball. After he left Minnesota in 1986 his coaching stops included Nebraska, and while with the Cornhuskers he recruited and instructed Tyronn Lue who now is head coach of the 2016 NBA champion Cavs.

It looks like almost $100 million in fundraising has been committed for the University of Minnesota Athletes Village project. That’s about two-thirds of the necessary total for the project that is already under construction. Part of the project is the new football facilities which the Gophers are likely to occupy by 2018.

Former Gophers and Notre Dame football coach Lou Holtz is rebuilding his Orlando home that was struck by lightning last year. Holtz, 79, coached the Gophers in 1984 and 1985 and still has friends in Minnesota.

Among those Minnesota friends is Minneapolis businessman Harvey Mackay who wrote about the late Muhammad Ali in his syndicated newspaper column last week. In a story headlined “Lessons Learned from The Champ,” Mackay referenced the “1,000 megawatt smile” of Ali. “He knew smiling was the universal language,” Mackay wrote.

1 comment