Vikings – Page 126 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Tales Galore in Jonckowski’s New Book

Posted on July 29, 2018July 29, 2018 by David Shama

A grasshopper goes into a bar. The bartender says, “Did you know we have a drink named after you?”

The grasshopper replies, “You have a drink named Steve?”

That joke and many more are in Dick Jonckowski’s new book It’s All About Me. The well-known Minnesota native has giggled his way through life telling jokes and rubbing elbows with celebrities, most of them sports heroes.

Dick turns 75 in October but he’s still a kid at heart. Still ready to swap tales with a friend or stranger. Still looking to meet a new celebrity, or renew a friendship with an old one. Still ready to add a poster, photo, bobblehead or some other keepsake to the famous memorabilia collection housed in the basement of his Shakopee, Minnesota home. Still going about his day with a twinkle in his eye and ready to have fun because he believes “laugh, and live longer.”

Arlene and Dick Jonckowski in their sports memorabilia-filled basement.

Dick and his wife Arlene dipped into family finances to fund It’s All About Me, Dick Jonckowski: A Minnesota Treasure. It’s a project they talked about for years. As Arlene says in the book: “So I finally told him, ‘Now or never, Dick. You need to do this.’ “

With the help of writer Jim Bruton, Dick wrote a 130-page story about his life as a sports fan who became a field usher at Met Stadium, master of ceremonies for a long list of events near and far, PR man in pro basketball, professional rasslin’ ring announcer, radio host at stations in Wisconsin and Minnesota, and men’s basketball public address announcer for decades as the voice of the Golden Gophers.

There’s not only been a lot of kid in Dick all these years but some “hot dog too.” As a field usher for Vikings games, he liked to return errant footballs to game officials by throwing the balls around his back. When Vikings running back Chuck Foreman slid for about 10 yards on a slick field, Jonckowski rushed over to make the baseball safe at home sign. A video clip ended up on TV’s Tonight Show but Bud Grant labeled Dick a “hot dog” for his antics that played well with Met Stadium crowds but not so good with the Vikings head coach.

Dick’s most infamous incident is still talked about by Vikings fans. In the Vikings-Cowboys playoff game in 1975, Dallas wide receiver Drew Pearson caught a key pass that helped sustain a late drive and soon led to a Minnesota loss. It’s been widely acknowledged that Pearson was out of bounds when he made the catch but the play stood. The Cowboys went on to win the game with another controversial catch by Pearson. Here’s what Dick wrote about the out of bounds incident in his book:

“Drew Pearson was lying there on the ground, and I was so mad I walked up to him and I kicked him—just a little. It was a real sissy kick. I barely hit him at all. I just kicked the bottom of his shoe. I was just so mad and frustrated by the call.”

Dick’s kick was reviewed by NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle. He told the Vikings Dick couldn’t be a field usher for the next two seasons. “When I came back in 1978, all the fun was gone. They watched me like a hawk,” Dick wrote in his book.

Dick has lived a life a bit like Forrest Gump. He’s been on assignment in various roles at many sports events but sometimes he’s just crashed the party. After the Vikings-Kansas City Super Bowl he and Arlene were walking around New Orleans when they found the Chiefs’ celebration party. Chief players and former Gophers Bobby Bell and Bob Stein asked what the Jonckowskis were doing at the party? “So I told them we were invited,” Dick wrote in the book while mentioning he and Arlene hung around at the hotel victory party for about 90 minutes.

Dick’s mischief once prompted him to sit—uninvited of course—in the owner’s box of the Cincinnati Reds. When Marge Schott showed up, she hit it off with Dick and invited him to stay.

“There is an old saying, ‘If you play like you belong, you can get in anywhere,’ ” Dick says.

Maybe the first time he tried that out was in 1964 when sold-out Williams Arena was hosting a huge Big Ten game between the Golden Gophers and Michigan. Dick didn’t have tickets so he approached Wolverines star Cazzie Russell when he got off the team bus outside the arena. Dick asked if he could carry Cazzie’s bag to the locker room. That not only got Dick into the building, but he watched the game from one row behind the Michigan bench.

There’s a lot of fun in the book but some serious moments too. Awhile back Dick was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes and shortly thereafter was dealing with stage 4 non-Hodgkin lymphoma. The chemo treatments four years ago were rugged and at least once Dick wondered whether he would survive. He lost a lot of weight and his voice weakened for awhile but he recovered.

“I have been very lucky,” Dick writes in the book. “I only go in once a year now to be checked.”

Dick has kept his sense of humor through his fight with cancer and other ordeals including a basement flood. I always was confident Dick would keep a positive attitude. Years ago he told me it’s important to laugh in life “because no one gets out alive.”

Dick’s book can be purchased by calling him at 952-261-3013.

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Kelly Iffy on Managing in 2018 Baseball

Posted on July 19, 2018July 19, 2018 by David Shama

Tom Kelly is in the Twins Hall of Fame and his uniform number is retired. He’s the only manager in club history to win the World Series—doing it in both 1987 and 1991. When he retired after the 2001 season he was the longest tenured manager or coach in major professional sports.

Kelly was also only 51 years old when he gave up his job. He hasn’t managed for the Twins or anyone else since he quit in Minnesota. The club’s current manager, Paul Molitor, is only six years younger than the 67-year-old Kelly who is revered for a big league managing career with Minnesota that began in 1986.

Yet Kelly would probably be the longest of long shots to manage again. Baseball is so different now with its avalanche of data driven information impacting decisions. How the game has to be managed now appears almost perplexing to Kelly.

Kelly talked about his feelings on “Behind the Game,” a Twin Cities cable TV show. “There are things…I would probably have a hard time with,” Kelly told hosts Patrick Klinger and Bill Robertson. “I am probably not capable of managing now.”

Kelly said things are “pretty technical” in baseball with information dictating all kinds of things like shifts and positioning of players in the field. There seems no end to even the most miniscule of details about how to strategize against hitters and pitchers in an attempt to gain an edge on opponents.

Hitters give the impression they are more interested in “launch angles” to increase their home run totals, than in making consistent contact with the baseball. Stealing bases seems like a lost art and bunting appears to have passed away, too. Hit-and-run in today’s game? Not much. “I guess they have numbers that prove these things (what to do), so they go with the numbers,” Kelly said on the show.

Kelly saw his job as manager to be creative when his club was not scoring runs. That’s where he would call for a hit-and-run, sacrifice bunt or stealing a base.

Also to Kelly’s chagrin, teams no longer take pregame infield practice. He believes the practice helped prepare his teams to potentially start games efficiently and even get off to an early lead.

“The game still comes down to the basics of pitching and fielding,” Kelly told TV viewers. “You pitch the ball decent and catch the ball when you’re supposed to, (and) you find a way to score three or four runs, and you have a chance to win.”

Tom Kelly (photo courtesy of Minnesota Twins)

Kelly referred to himself on the show as a “dinosaur” and acknowledged more than once how difficult it would be for him to manage today. “I probably would have a hard time because I would get told, ‘We don’t want to do this. We don’t want to do that.’

“I would probably say, well, I am going to do this, and I am going to do that. And (then) I am going to be shown the door. They’re going to replace me with somebody that will do what they feel…through their numbers and analytics that this is how you should do it.”

Kelly told a story about his friend Tony LaRussa, the Hall of Fame manager who is a contemporary. LaRussa went to a meeting where 12 baseball people from his organization were looking at their computers . He didn’t even know many of the people but they were telling him things like why the data said so-and-so should hit second in the batting order. “That’s when he knew he had enough (managing),” Kelly said.

These days Kelly is a special assistant for the Twins. Molitor might call and ask advice, but mostly his role is that of an ambassador for the organization. He watches games now and enjoys them more as a fan than a manager.

“Things you miss are the camaraderie the game affords,” Kelly said. “The competitiveness that the game presents each and every night. You miss those things.”

Worth Noting

Adrian Peterson, the 33-year-old former Vikings running back, is a free agent and needs one more rushing touchdown to total 100 for his career. Playing for the Saints and Cardinals last season, he scored just two touchdowns rushing.

Vikings’ nemesis Aaron Rodgers told Peter King of NBCsports.com, “I’d love to play to 40.” The Packers’ 33-year-old quarterback referenced Brett Favre’s success at 40 when he was quarterbacking the Vikings to a 12-4 record.

The Vikings, who will hold their first training camp in more than 50 years not in Mankato, are part of a trend by NFL teams to hold summer practices in the home towns of franchises. The percent of home training camp teams has increased from 32 percent in 2000 to 66 percent this year and last.

Gopher senior Rodney Smith has 3,850 career all-purpose yards (2,805 rushing, 419 receiving and 626 on kick returns). He ranks eighth in program history. He needs 1,260 all-purpose yards this season to break Darrel Thompson’s Gopher record of 5,109.

Smith will be one of three Gophers and 42 total players attending the July 23 and 24 Big Ten Media Days and Kickoff Luncheon in Chicago. The other Gophers are junior linebackers Thomas Barber and Carter Coughlin.

Tickets were still available this week for the WNBA All-Star Game at Target Center on July 28. Stubhub.com listed availability yesterday starting at $59.

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Moss Wouldn’t Change Lambeau Incident

Posted on July 17, 2018July 17, 2018 by David Shama

Enjoy a Tuesday notes column:

Randy Moss, speaking on a conference call with reporters yesterday in advance of his induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame next month, said he “wouldn’t change” his January 9, 2005 infamous incident at Lambeau Field.

In that wildcard playoff game Moss helped the Vikings to a 31-17 win by making big plays, but he infuriated Packers fans and amused some Vikings faithful when he feigned pulling down his pants as if to moon Green Bay fans in their home stadium after catching a touchdown pass. Moss was mocking the tradition of Packer fans who mooned the buses of Green Bay rivals when they came to Lambeau. He said yesterday his actions weren’t a celebration but “more for the fans.”

Fox play-by-play announcer Joe Buck called the incident a “disgusting act,” and fans regionally and nationally were divided in their views. “I didn’t know it was going to really get that kind of negative attention,” Moss said. “Of course, I wouldn’t have done nothing like that. I’ve never done nothing like that in my career. But it’s not like I pulled my pants down or anything like that.”

Among the greatest touchdown makers who ever played wide receiver, Moss’s career was characterized as much by controversy as big plays. He grew up poor in West Virginia and carried a chip on his shoulder, convinced that attitude would help him succeed. “Football is a brutal sport,” he said yesterday reflecting on his football days that included 14 seasons in the NFL.

The Vikings drafted Moss in the first round in 1998 and he was an immediate star who played in Minnesota until the 2005 offseason when owner Red McCombs sent him to the Raiders in a trade that still irks many local fans. Moss will be one of eight inductees into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton on August 4.

Buck, who calls his 20th MLB All-Star Game tonight on TV, is married to Michelle Beisner, the niece of longtime Gopher public address announcer Dick Jonckowski of Shakopee.

Best player in tonight’s game? Sports Illustrated and a lot of sources claim that distinction belongs to Mike Trout of the Angels. In the magazine’s current issue S.I. lists “the highest WAR (wins above replacement) by a position player in his first eight seasons.” Trout, at 61.1, trails only Ted Williams, 72.6; Albert Pujols, 64.1; and Mickey Mantle, 61.4.

Any passionate baseball fan has favorite All-Star Game memories. Mine is the 1999 game in Boston when the immortal Williams, nearing the end of his life, was brought out on the field in a wheelchair to thunderous applause and tears of appreciation across the country.

A favorite of Twins president Dave St. Peter is the 1993 All-Star Game in Baltimore when the late Kirby Puckett was named MVP. “He loved the All-Star Game,” St. Peter said.

The Twins have hosted three All-Star Games in their history, 1965, 1985 and 2014. St. Peter said that because MLB likes to move the game around to various cities, it probably will be 20 years or more before Twins decision makers will even consider bringing another game to Minneapolis.

The Twins are 7.5 games behind the first place Indians in the Central Division. Twins catcher Bobby Wilson said on WCCO Radio’s “Sports Huddle” Sunday that the situation reminds him of his 2015 Rangers who were 8.5 games out of first place in the AL West on August 1 and won the division.

The Twins, 44-50, start a 10-game road trip after the All-Star break with a series against the struggling Royals that Minnesota needs to win. The Indians come to Target Field for a series starting July 30.

Minnesota probably needs to be about four games behind the Indians by mid-August to have a realistic chance of winning the division.

The Twins have named Double-A Chattanooga outfielder/first baseman Zander Wiel and Single-A Cedar Rapids right-handed pitcher Bailey Ober Minor League Player and Pitcher of the Week. Wiel played in seven games for the Lookouts last week, hitting .333 with one home run, three RBI, five walks and a .448 OBP. Ober, honored for the second consecutive week with the award, made one start for the Kernels, pitching 6.2 shutout innings while giving up five hits, with 10 strikeouts and allowing one walk.

Niko Guardado, the 21-year-old son of Twins bullpen coach Eddie Guardado, is an actor whose career includes TV appearances on “The Goldbergs” and “The Fosters.”

There is speculation about what’s wrong with the defending WNBA champion Lynx including that core players are declining because of age. These same players, though, have so much experience in knowing how to win they could be a surprise team later in the season and in the playoffs. The Lynx are 12-10, after losing only a total of seven games last season.

Elgin Baylor’s new book, “Hang Time,” includes his early NBA years in Minneapolis when he was almost a one-man team.

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