Lynx – Page 23 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

‘Wally the Beer Man’ Keeps Pouring

Posted on March 30, 2016April 1, 2016 by David Shama

“Wally the Beer Man,” 81, has been hawking beer at various Minneapolis and St. Paul venues since 1970, but something is different this winter and spring. When Wally McNeil returns to his Plymouth home from the Xcel Energy Center after selling beer at Minnesota Wild games, Joyce McNeil, his wife for 28 years, isn’t there to greet him.

Joyce passed away on January 25 at age 85 from heart problems. An empty house can’t be very welcoming to Minnesota’s favorite beer vendor. To help deal with sadness Wally has sold beer at almost every Wild game this season.

Wally and Joyce met while employed at Twin City Wholesale Drug. She worked in city desk sales; he was vice president of operations. They were married June 23, 1988.

Joyce wasn’t a passionate sports fan but attended games when Wally was selling beer in the stands. About 16 years ago Joyce and Wally got into horse racing ownership at Canterbury Park. The couple bought race horses with Canterbury owner Curtis Sampson. Over the years the McNeils owned more than a dozen horses but none more successful than Wally’s Choice, whose lifetime earnings at the Shakopee racetrack and elsewhere are the second highest ever for a Minnesota bred.

Wally’s Choice was inducted into the Canterbury Park Hall of Fame last year. Wally attended the ceremony but Joyce’s health kept her away. The Hall of Fame recognition brightened Joyce’s spirits. “She was excited,” Wally said.

During baseball season Wally will again be a celebrity beer seller at Sneaky Pete’s downtown and on special event dates at Canterbury Park he will also be selling beer. What’s his favorite brew?

“A cold one that somebody else pays for,” he answered.

Although he didn’t need the money and still doesn’t, Wally started selling beer at the Minneapolis Auditorium in 1970 for attractions like professional wrestling. He enjoyed being around people at various events. Customers liked him, too—drawn to his deep voice and friendly manner.

For decades part of the fun at a Twins game was buying a beer from Wally. His association with Target Field ended several years ago, though, after he and other beer sellers were targeted in a sting operation involving sales to underage drinkers. A Hennepin County jury found him not guilty, but Wally has chosen not to work anymore at Target Field.

Wally will turn 82 in August but has no plans to stop selling beer. He has no health issues after triple bypass heart surgery in 2009. “My blood pressure is 110 over 66,” he said.

Some Minnesota retirees move to Florida. Others sit in rocking chairs on their porches. Wally, a fit 6-2, 210 pounds, just keeps going as the king of Minnesota beer vendors.

“As long as the good Lord lets me,” he said. “One day at a time.”

Worth Noting

Former Gophers All-American safety Tyrone Carter is working with potential 2016 NFL draft choices including cornerback Rashard Robinson who Carter said is a first round talent but likely to be selected in the third round. Carter operates the Tyrone Carter Elite Training Schools in the Twin Cities and Robinson is from Carter’s prep alma mater, Ely High School in Pompano Beach, Florida.

Robinson’s playing time at LSU was reduced because of a suspension for violation of team rules. The 6-3, 177-pound player is gifted but Carter said his pupil will not go in the first round because of his off-field “baggage.” Carter, who won the Jim Thorpe Award at Minnesota honoring the nation’s best college defensive back, said Robinson had the skills to also win the award. “He is a talented young kid for his size,” Carter said.

Varmah Sonie, who is from Burnsville and was a senior cornerback for Northern Iowa in 2012, is also receiving instruction from Carter. Sonie hopes to join an NFL team as a free agent. Carter is also working with former Gophers David Cobb (Titans running back) and Ra’Shede Hageman (Falcons defensive tackle).

An announcement soon seems likely that the Vikings will name Adrian Peterson, who led the NFL in rushing last season, as their 2015 MVP. The Vikings will honor team award winners in multiple categories including MVP at the Hilton Minneapolis April 17. That evening the Minnesota Chapter of the National Football Foundation and College Hall of Fame hosts its 9th annual Minnesota Football Honors event. See the March 16 Sports Headliners for more about the event that also honors high school scholar-athletes.

Spring football continues this week for the Gophers with two practices open to the public scheduled at the Gibson-Nagurski Football Complex. Practice tomorrow (Thursday) begins at 3:45 p.m. and activities Saturday start at 11 a.m. (A Gophers spokesman e-mailed that practice locations can be switched to TCF Bank Stadium. Fans can check for updates on Twitter @GopherFootball.)

The Wild, with five games remaining to make the playoffs, may catch a weary opponent tomorrow night at Xcel Energy Center when playing the Senators. Ottawa plays at Winnipeg tonight before travelling to St. Paul. The Wild have won six consecutive games after last night’s victory over the Blackhawks.

Minneapolis native Larry Fitzgerald Jr. will again honor his mom, the late Carol Fitzgerald, at an April 8 fundraising dinner and celebration at the Minneapolis Event Center (St. Anthony Main). His mom passed away in 2003 and the Carol Fitzgerald Memorial Fund was established to assist charitable causes important to her. Guests at next month’s Carol’s Night will include Fitzgerald and ESPN’s Josina Anderson. VIP ticket guests receive photo opportunities with Fitzgerald, the nine-time Cardinals NFL pro bowler. More information is available by calling 612-770-4575.

Monday’s announcement the Lynx will play a preseason game in Rochester on May 8 prompts speculation the WNBA team might play more exhibitions at the Mayo Civic Center in 2017 and beyond. The Lynx have a multi-year partnership with the Rochester-based Mayo Clinic. The Lynx haven’t played a game in Rochester since 2003 and no doubt will be interested in gauging fan response this spring. The defending WNBA champion team will play the Mystics in a Sunday game beginning at 4 p.m.

Lynx guard Lindsay Whalen joins commentators Dave Benz and Jim Petersen tonight on the Fox Sports North telecast of the Timberwolves-Clippers game from Target Center. Whalen is the Lynx franchise record holder in assists (1,072), and ranks third all-time in the WNBA for career assists (2,033). She is one of six players in WNBA history with 3,000 points, 1,000 rebounds and 1,000 assists. The Minnesota native starts her 12th WNBA season this spring, seventh with the Lynx.

The St. Thomas men’s basketball team will be honored for their NCAA Division III national championship prior to the Timberwolves game. Earlier this month the Tommies won their second national title in the past six years.

Bill Robertson, WCHA commissioner, e-mailed his league is represented by 33 current or former players at the women’s International Ice Hockey Federation World Championships that started Monday and continues through April 4 in Kamloops, British Columbia. Annie Pankowski from the Badgers and Lee Stecklein of the Gophers will compete for the United States and are among 11 student-athletes who played during the 2015-2016 college season. Pankowski will be a junior at Wisconsin next season, while Stecklein will be a senior at Minnesota.

Author Patrick Mader’s official book launch is tomorrow (Thursday) for “Minnesota Gold: Conversations with Northland Athletes Competing on the World Stage.” Mader’s book profiles 57 Minnesotans, including past Olympians, and details their lives and accomplishments. His event will be from 6 to 9 p.m. at Braemar Golf Club in Edina, with a program at 7 p.m. Seven of the Minnesota athletes from the book are expected to attend: Trina Radke (swimming), Tami and Toni Jameson (team handball), Jim Mastro (wrestling), Mark Lutz (track), Van Nelson (track), and Janet Gerhauser (pairs figure skating). More at Patrickmader.com.

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Flip’s Setback Surprised Wolves Owner

Posted on October 19, 2015October 19, 2015 by David Shama

Highlights from an interview with Timberwolves and Lynx owner Glen Taylor regarding various subjects:

Taylor said the setback in Flip Saunders’ health last month surprised him, and he acknowledged the return of his coach and basketball president is completely unknown. Reports in August were the 60-year-old Saunders had Hodgkin’s lymphoma but that it was treatable and curable. However, now sources are saying he has been hospitalized because of a serious—perhaps life-threatening—infection.

“We’re just patiently waiting and hoping that he recovers,” said Taylor, who wouldn’t confirm Saunders is hospitalized. “…You think he is coming along and all of a sudden he’s just had a setback and now we just have to wait.”

Earlier this month Taylor gathered Wolves players, coaches and others with the organization at his Mankato home for the annual lasagna feed. He spoke about the group being family and how Saunders had brought so many players and staff to the organization. “I just talked about the importance of him and how we missed him,” Taylor said. “How we’re going to pray for him, and how we’re all going to do well.”

Kevin Garnett is one of the players brought to the Wolves by Saunders who acquired the 39-year-old former superstar in a trade last February with the Nets. Garnett, who originally had been drafted by the Wolves as a teenager, has expressed interest in team ownership some day but Taylor said no deal is in place and can’t be because of NBA policy.

“No, it’s not something I can talk to Kevin about,” Taylor said. “He’s a player and I am an owner, and that would be a conflict of interest. I’ve never talked to Kevin about that issue. All I know about it is that I think that he has stated a couple different times that he would be interested in that when the opportunity comes. We have to just wait until that opportunity is there and it won’t be while he is playing.”

While the Wolves haven’t qualified for the playoffs since 2004, Taylor’s WNBA Lynx have won three league titles in five years with the latest earned last week. “It still just feels wonderful,” he said about winning another championship.

Although Taylor didn’t have the figures in front of him, his “sense” is the franchise may turn about a $1 million profit because of its successful season. That’s likely the best year financially ever for the Lynx and stands in contrast to most WNBA clubs that lose money.

Minnesota native Lindsay Whalen, a key contributor to the Lynx championships, was frustrated with injuries this past season and is 33 years old. Taylor hasn’t spoken to the point guard about how long she will continue playing. He is a Whalen admirer and thinks she could eventually have other responsibilities in the organization. “It’s not something we’ve discussed (though),” Taylor said.

Taylor is committed to partnering with Dr. Bill McGuire and others in an ownership group to bring an MLS franchise to Minnesota. Taylor, who operates his Wolves and Lynx at city-owned Target Center, thought Minneapolis elected officials would show more interest in having a soccer stadium built in the Farmers market area, a project and site that could create jobs and offer other benefits to the city economy.

Taylor said he sent a letter to Mayor Betsy Hodges awhile back about a Minneapolis soccer stadium. “I didn’t even get a reply, so I assume that’s telling me something—that they don’t see it as a possibility or they aren’t encouraging it,” said Taylor, who is now supportive of the proposed Midway stadium location in St. Paul.

Taylor owns 17,000 acres of farm land in Minnesota and Iowa. Raised on a farm in Minnesota as a youngster, he still likes to be close to the land and planned to spend part of last weekend riding in a combine on one of his farms.

Worth Noting

The Lynx were honored by the Vikings at their game with the Chiefs yesterday at TCF Bank Stadium. Maya Moore sounded the Gjallarhorn prior to the game. Against three different opponents in the playoffs, Moore averaged 23.4 points, 7.3 rebounds and 2.6 assists. She has experienced a remarkable first five years as a pro. She has been WNBA Rookie of the Year, league MVP and a force on three WNBA championship teams.

Augsburg alum Roger Griffith is executive vice president and chief operating officer of the Lynx. He has been a part of the Timberwolves/Lynx organization since 1994.

Former Gophers Big Ten championship basketball coach Jim Dutcher will speak at the next CORES luncheon on November 12 at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Bloomington, 1114 American Blvd. CORES is an acronym for coaches, officials, reporters, educators and sports fans. More information about CORES is available by contacting Jim Dotseth, dotsethj@comcast.net.

While the Gophers men’s hockey team is off to a 0-3 start, the No. 1 ranked women’s team is 6-0.

The office of former Gophers athletic director Norwood Teague is being used as a conference room in the Bierman Field Athletic Building. Interim athletic director Beth Goetz’s office is nearby.

The late Steve Wilkinson, the Gustavus legend and winningest head coach in collegiate men’s tennis history, was honored by the USPTA when the organization named one of its top awards the “Steve Wilkinson Collegiate Coach of the Year Award.”

Congratulations to prep football coaches Jeff Gronner from Cromwell and Dan Essler of New London-Spicer for achieving 100 career wins this month. Gronner’s record is 100-34 in 12 seasons. Essler’s record is 101-64 in 16 years.

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U Looks for 3rd Straight Over Nebraska

Posted on October 12, 2015October 12, 2015 by David Shama

Things I think I am clear about after getting out of bed at 3 a.m. Saturday morning for travel to West Lafayette for the Gophers-Purdue football game:

Be skeptical of anyone telling you he is mostly correct about which teams will win college football games each week and how they’re going to do it. Second-year Texas coach Charlie Strong was all but fired before his 1-4 Longhorns went to Dallas last Saturday to play No. 10 ranked Oklahoma. Washington State was more than a two touchdowns underdog at once mighty Oregon. The Gophers managed only 10 first half points against Purdue’s lowly defense and the Minnesota offense, entering the game last in points per game among Big Ten teams, looked stalled out again.

Well, Texas and Washington State pulled off upsets, and the Gophers produced 31 second half points to pull away from the Boilermakers with a 41-13 win. The offensive line lifted the spirits of worried Gophers fans by opening some of the biggest holes of the season after halftime, and freshman running back Shannon Brooks left no doubt he is by far the team’s most explosive player by gaining 176 yards including a 71-yard touchdown run.

It was a must-have win for the Gophers, now 4-2 and within two wins of bowl eligibility. The one thousand or more Gophers fans at the stadium knew, or should have known, the win over Purdue could be followed by a victory this Saturday against 2-4 Nebraska.

Hard to believe but the Gophers can win for a third consecutive time against Nebraska, one of college football’s winningest programs. The Gophers had 16 straight losses to the Cornhuskers from 1963-2012. After the Nebraska game at TCF Bank Stadium this Saturday, Minnesota will look for additional wins during a daunting remaining schedule that features national powers Iowa, Michigan and Ohio State, plus a pair of 4-2 teams, Illinois and Wisconsin.

But let’s not go too far into the future. Let’s return to the wisdom of paragraph No. 2 above. Who knows for sure how the remainder of the schedule will turn out for Minnesota and other teams? What is known about the Gophers is that despite playing without more than one-third of their starters lost to injuries, they managed to win last Saturday. No, it wasn’t a tear down the goalposts victory against 1-5 Purdue, but it kept the word hope alive in the Gophers’ vocabulary for a successful 2015 season.

An early flight to Chicago with friend Tim Murray and drive to West Lafayette had us on the Purdue campus by early afternoon. At Mackey Arena the Purdue band entertained mostly Boilermakers fans before the game. The arena public address announcer acknowledged the Gophers fans in attendance and the band dialed up the “Minnesota Rouser.”

All afternoon we experienced Purdue hospitality. Even walking out of the stadium after a Gophers rout we were wished safe travels. Boilermaker fans certainly had reason to be in a bad mood. Purdue is struggling through yet another discouraging season, and both its offense and defense were inept last Saturday. Purdue’s tackling was at times awful and Boilers’ defensive coordinator Greg Hudson, who once held the same position at Minnesota, had reason to be livid.

Yet despite Purdue’s performance we never saw or heard a boobird all day. I have travelled to Gophers games at Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Nebraska, Northwestern, Ohio State and Wisconsin. The most classless experience anywhere was in Ann Arbor awhile back when our group was harassed after the game while walking on campus.

Our crime? Wearing Gophers clothing. It wasn’t enough the Wolverines had won another yet game against Minnesota. These jerks had to mouth off after the win.

A trip to West Lafayette provided a lesson in hospitality and kindness. Go Purdue fans!

Worth Noting

Brooks, who averaged 10.4 yards per carry against Purdue on 17 carries for 176 yards, was named the Big Ten’s Co-Freshmen Player of the Week along with Michigan safety Jabrill Peppers. Chris Streveler, then a quarterback, was the last Gophers player to win the award (September, 2014). Streveler, now a receiver, caught his first college pass in the Purdue game.

It’s interesting to note that three coaches who once had their names in credible rumors about the Gophers head coaching position are now either out of work or under fire. Brady Hoke was at San Diego State and Randy Edsall at Connecticut when Minnesota was looking to replace Tim Brewster who had been let go during the 2010 season. The Gophers hired Jerry Kill while Hoke went to Michigan and Edsall moved on to Maryland. Hoke was fired after last season and Edsall dismissed yesterday. Texas head coach Charlie Strong was the defensive coordinator at Florida when the Gophers were replacing Glen Mason in early 2007. Strong moved on to Louisville and is now at Texas where he is under intense pressure.

Vikings wide receiver Mike Wallace didn’t practice today. Head coach Mike Zimmer wouldn’t disclose why at his news conference this afternoon. Wallace reportedly didn’t practice last Tuesday—the last time the team worked out prior to its bye on the schedule this past weekend.

Will Wallace play on Sunday against the Chiefs? “We’ll see. The injury report will come out on Wednesday,” Zimmer answered.

Mike Wallace (Photo courtesy of Minnesota Vikings)

A starting wide receiver acquired from the Dolphins in the offseason, Wallace had his best regular season game as a Viking on October 4 against the Broncos. He caught eight passes for 83 yards and a touchdown.

Some Vikings players put in extra time to improve during the bye week. Zimmer indicated rookie center Nick Easton, acquired last week in a trade with the 49ers, was one of them. Asked about the learning curve for Easton, Zimmer said, “He spent a lot of extra time last week (learning). He’s a pretty sharp guy. I think he’ll get up to speed quickly.”

This week Zimmer will watch to see if his players are tuned in after returning from extra time off because of the bye. “For awhile, a year ago, we’d give them a long weekend or something like that. They’d come back and they weren’t as crisp or sharp as when they left,” he said.

Twins president Dave St. Peter talking about his franchise that finished 83-79 this season after a record of 70-92 in 2014: “I think advancing to postseason play has to be a goal for us next year. I’d like to think we could put ourselves in a position to contend for the American League Central.

“The Royals are good and I think the path to winning our division certainly goes through Kansas City. …I expect the Royals will be the favorite to win our division next year. I don’t expect we’ll be picked (again) to finish last in our division but none of that matters unless we get it done on the field.”

The Lynx hopes history repeats Wednesday night at Target Center. Minnesota plays the Fever in the deciding fifth game of the WNBA Finals. The franchise is 3-0 in close-out playoff games at Target Center.

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