In the days since Prince’s death last week, it seems like most of the world has a story about him. I thought I had one, too.
Back in the early 1970s my ninth grade boys basketball team, the Ramsey All-Stars, played Bryant Junior High whose roster included a really small kid with a big Afro. After Prince became famous, I thought the little guy was him. This made a nice memory for a long time because not only did my Ramsey team defeat our south Minneapolis rivals, but we played against a future music legend.
Uh, oh.
A couple of days ago I called one of the Ramsey players I coached. He let the air out of my balloon pronto, telling me Prince was a few years younger than my bunch and the mysterious little guy we played back in the day wasn’t Prince Rogers Nelson.
So I turned to my friend Al Nuness, the former Gophers basketball captain who has true Prince stories in his “memory bank.” Nuness took a job as a physical education teacher and basketball coach at Central High School in 1971. At the time Prince was at Bryant, the junior high school located near Central. Prince was drawn to basketball and so was his brother Duane and Prince’s best friend PaulMitchell.
Al Nuness
It didn’t take Nuness long to meet up with the threesome who regularly rode their bikes over to Central. “These guys would sneak into the Central gym, and they would bring their dog with them,” Nuness told Sports Headliners. “My office had a window that looked right into the gym. I would see these kids and I heard this dog barking. I’d chase these guys out of the gym at least three days a week. I have no idea how they got (in) there. …They were good kids.”
Prince eventually played on the Central sophomore team but never the varsity. “He was a good player,” Nuness remembered. “He loved basketball. He was quick, (but) he was small. Prince was 5-6 in his high heel shoes. He was probably 5-2 in his stocking feet.”
At Central it was evident music, not hoops, was Prince’s future. Nuness and others saw he was a natural. “This kid could not read music. He played everything by ear. He could play five instruments. He was the music guy in school.”
Prince was even part of a band while at Central. “They were playing for adult parties back when they were in high school,” Nuness said.
When Nuness became a sales and community affairs executive for the startup Timberwolves franchise in the late 1980s, he called Prince’s office. Nuness wanted to make sure the basketball-loving Prince had the opportunity to purchase prime seats to watch Minneapolis’ new NBA franchise.
The person who answered the telephone at Prince’s office didn’t know Nuness and said he didn’t believe his boss was interested in tickets. “I said, ‘Will you tell Prince coach Nuness called?’
“The guy called me back five minutes later and said, ‘Hey, I am really sorry. I didn’t know. Yes, Prince wants to talk to you. Yes, he wants season tickets.’
“The guy was very apologetic.”
There was another time Nuness learned the famous entertainer hadn’t forgotten about the coach who many years before had chased him out of the gym. Kelly Smith, a young lady who was a friend of the Nuness family, was a Prince fanatic and formed a Prince fan club in Chicago. Smith called Nuness because she remembered his Central connection to Prince. Nuness responded by sending her an old Central yearbook that included Prince—but that wasn’t the end of hearing from Smith.
“She just went crazy (after receiving the yearbook), and so she calls me back and she says, ‘I need something.’
“I said, ‘What do you need now, Kelly?’ She says, ‘Can you get a picture of Prince in front of his house?’
“I said, ‘What? Prince doesn’t give pictures out. He doesn’t do stuff like that.’
“She said, ‘Oh, but I know you can get it for me.’
“I called his brother Duane. I said, ‘Duane, I need you to get me a picture of Prince in front of his house.’
“He said, ‘Coach, you want me to do what (then)’?
“I said, ‘Duane, this is coach Nuness. You tell Prince that coach Nuness wants a picture of him in front of his house.’ This is when he lived on Lake Riley in Chanhassen and had that purple house.
“He said, ‘All right, coach.’
“A week later I got a picture in the mail—Prince sitting on top of his car in front of his house. I sent it to Kelly.
“I said, ‘Kelly, don’t ask me for anything else.’ ”
The Wild opens its Stanley Cup first round playoff series with the Stars tomorrow night in Dallas—and it looks like more than the usual postseason pressure is on Minnesota.
Critical evaluations and judgments about the Wild appear probable whenever this spring’s playoffs end. The franchise that initially began with the 2000-2001 season has never won its way into the Stanley Cup Finals and only once made the conference finals. Although the Wild has qualified for the playoffs each of the last four years, Minnesota didn’t advance beyond the second round.
General manager Chuck Fletcher and new coach John Torchetti may need an impressive stretch of playoff hockey by their team to further secure their positions. Fletcher has been the franchise’s general manager since 2009 and the Wild hasn’t been able to make a deep playoff run during that time. Twice the club didn’t make the playoffs.
Fletcher has hired three coaches during his era—Todd Richards, MikeYeo and Torchetti. Yeo was dismissed in February when doubts prevailed about the team making the playoffs. Under Torchetti the club played well enough to just qualify for the postseason, but the inconsistency of play during 2015-2016 continued.
Chuck Fletcher
Torchetti’s job security could be tied to Fletcher. If Wild owner Craig Leipold decides to replace Fletcher, it’s certainly plausible the new GM will want another coach.
When the Wild is given a final report card after the playoffs, the players won’t avoid judgment either. There is speculation disgruntled players pushed Yeo out. If so, Leipold can ask how did his personnel respond to Torchetti?
Torchetti hasn’t hesitated to be direct with his players, letting them know what he thinks and sometimes telling them they need to just watch and learn. Whether this team has the skills and chemistry to beat the Stars will be interesting. Dallas won the Central Division with 109 points. Minnesota, with 87, had the fewest points of any Western Conference club qualifying for the playoffs and finished fifth in the seven team Central.
The Wild don’t have superstars but when Leiopold signed forward Zach Parise and defenseman Ryan Suter to $98 million deals in 2012 it raised expectations these two might do more for the franchise’s Stanley Cup ambitions than what’s happened so far. A playoff run where Parise and Suter have their best springs for the Wild will make fans feel the club has received more value from the expensive contracts. But Parise’s contribution toward that looks in doubt because of a back injury that will at least keep him from playing in the first two playoff games, according to numerous news reports.
There might not be a more worn out cliché in sports than a hot goalie can take a team deep in the playoffs. Goalie Devan Dubnyk reportedly signed a $26 million, six-year deal last summer to stay with Minnesota. Much will be expected of the 30-year-old Dubnyk whose regular season goals against average of 2.33 didn’t earn a spot among the NHL leaders but was certainly better than the league average of 2.51.
The franchise is increasing ticket prices for next season. Part of the fans’ perspective and attitude about those prices will be impacted by how the team performs. Customers will obviously feel better about the extra expense with a big playoff run.
Worth Noting
The Wild will have home playoff games against the Stars next Monday and Wednesday. Both are certain to be sellouts. The club has sold out 106 straight regular season games and all 26 playoff games in franchise history—with each postseason game surpassing 19,000 in attendance. The official seating capacity for games at Xcel Energy Center is 17,954. Standing-room-only tickets allow for additional capacity.
The franchise set a regular season home attendance record during 2015-2016 by averaging 19,062 fans per game. Thirty-five of the club’s 41 regular season home games drew over 19,000 fans.
The Twins announced this morning they have placed left-handed pitcher and All-Star closer Glen Perkins on the 15-day disabled list with a left posterior shoulder strain, retroactive to April 11. To replace Perkins on the 25-man roster, the Twins have recalled left-handed pitcher Taylor Rogers from Triple-A Rochester. Rogers will make his major league debut with his first appearance—possibly tonight when the Twins play the White Sox at Target Field. He has a career minor league record of 37-28 with a 3.27 ERA.
The Twins, Rod Carew and the American Heart Association will promote the Heart of 29 Campaign at Target Field with a pregame ceremony tonight featuring heart disease survivors including Carew. Twins players will wear Heart of 29 patches on their red jerseys.
Dave Mona
WCCO Radio Sports Huddle host Dave Mona and his wife Linda drove around Ramp A for 37 minutes searching for a parking space prior to Monday’s Twins opener at Target Field. Frustrated, they ultimately skipped the game and went home to watch on TV.
Bob Lurtsema presented a gold football to his old high school earlier this week. In recognition of the Super Bowl’s 50th anniversary, the NFL is providing players who participated in the games with gold footballs to give their high schools. Lurtsema, who played for Ottawa Hills High School in Grand Rapids, Michigan, was a defensive lineman on Vikings Super Bowl teams in the 1970s.
While in Michigan, Lurtsema also stopped at his college alma mater, Western Michigan in Kalamazoo. His Broncos jersey is on display in the team’s weight room.
Lurtsema is a believer in Teddy Bridgewater, the Vikings’ 23-year-old quarterback who starts his third NFL season next September. “The media is way too rough on him,” Lurtsema said.
Look for media reports about Gophers men’s basketball tonight and tomorrow after head coach Richard Pitino meets with journalists this afternoon to talk about the program’s offseason. Media will also watch player workouts.
The Lynx have two second round draft choices (No. 14 and 22 overall) and one third round (No. 35 overall) in tomorrow night’s WNBA Draft. ESPN2 will televise the first round starting at 6 p.m. Minneapolis time. ESPNU will televise the second and third rounds.
Former Gopher Rachel Banham, the 2016 Big Ten Player of the Year and the conference’s all-time leading scorer for women’s basketball, will be the No. 4 selection in the first round after being chosen by Connecticut, according to Bleacherreport.com’s mock draft. Draftsite.com predicts Banham will be the No. 5 selection by Dallas.
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.
Dick Jonckowski
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, BobbyJackson, 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.
Arlene and Dick in their basement surrounded by memorabilia.
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 JeffJonckowski, 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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