My alma mater in New Ulm inducts former athletes into the Cathedral High School Hall of Fame every year. I’ve always thought that was a pretty good idea, recognizing those former stars who helped lead the Greyhounds to glory and who also represented our school with pride and dignity.
Now, I’ll never be invited to one of those ceremonies. After all, my 13 career varsity basketball points and unmentionable baseball batting average aren’t exactly high qualifiers even to have my name brought up. And that’s okay. Not everyone is cut out to be great at sports.
For many years, I’ve thought we should start something like that at NRHEG. There is a long, storied history in place and we should acknowledge that. It would be important to go back to the pre-merger days and take a look at the New Richland-Hartland Cardinals and the Ellendale-Geneva Raiders. I wasn’t around for those days, but tales of people like George Jessen, football star from the 1970s, have filtered down through the decades.
When I started here, we had some incredible athletes like Kyle Schlaak and Amanda Moxon, kids who were setting school records, leading winning campaigns, and being all-around great people. You can also probably think of many names of student-athletes who were exceptional at NR-H, E-G, or NRHEG.
And now we’re starting a process of recognition, at least, of one very special NRHEG alum. I didn’t think I’d be writing another column involving Carlie “The Dagger” Wagner, but here we are.
NRHEG will be recognizing the accomplishments of the two state championship girls’ basketball teams from 2013 and 2014, as well as retiring the #3 jersey Carlie wore during her time as a Lady Panther.
This will be the second year NRHEG has hosted a Holiday Basketball Tournament. It’s fun to see other teams come into our school and put on a show, along with our own ladies. This year we’ll see Albert Lea, LCWM, and AC-GE. The tournament is a two-day affair, on December 27-28. Bracket play on that Thursday will see LCWM and AC-GE play at 5 p.m., followed by NRHEG versus Albert Lea. The losing teams will play Friday at 5 with the championship after that. The JV teams from all schools will also be competing in the middle school gym.
For the inaugural tournament last year, there were some exciting moments, and I expect we’ll see even more this year. Seeing the girls from the state championship teams will be extra special, and I’m glad that we’ll be honoring them and recognizing what a truly special player Carlie Wagner was and what she did for our school.
I still can’t go many places in the state, wearing NRHEG gear, and NOT be asked questions about those teams. I still get, “Do you have any more Wagners coming through?” (My response is always, “Not until Alex’s boys get old enough!”)
Those runs to the state tournament were among some of my best memories as a resident of this area. And, like I mentioned earlier in reference to the CHS Hall of Fame, the ladies who were part of that were wonderful people in addition to being part of great basketball teams.
As anyone who followed her career knows, Carlie Wagner was, perhaps, a once-in-a-generation talent. She had the second-most points in Minnesota girls’ basketball history (and could likely have had the record if she hadn’t been so unselfish and if Coach Schultz would’ve wanted to run up the scores, which he didn’t. Stay classy!), was named Miss Basketball in the state, and went on to an illustrious career with the Minnesota Golden Gophers.
I know there was talk almost as soon as Carlie graduated on whether her number should be retired right away or not. I’m glad we waited until she was done with college as well. It’s nice to let some time pass and to let the memories simmer for a while. In professional sports, you have at least a five-year waiting period, so we’re close with that. I do know that nobody has worn that #3 jersey since she left, and now nobody ever will.
I hope many of you will take the opportunity to come out on Dec. 28 for the ceremony. It will take place between the two games that evening and promises to be a night to remember. We’re working on all the specifics, but I know I’ll get a little extra energy from announcing the girls from those teams one more time and feeling the buzz that will inevitably occur as “The Dagger,” “The Blade,” “The Badger,” and “Fire and Ice” reverberate through the gym once more. (I’m all aquiver in anticipation just writing about it!)
I truly hope this is the beginning of some ongoing recognition of the great history of athletics in our area. There are so many people who deserve to hear their names again in the gym, and it would be a great way to keep everyone invested in the heart of our community, the school.
Let’s turn out for this celebration and also take the chance to watch our current crop of Panthers. All our athletes work hard, and even if not all of them will have their numbers retired, they’ll have a place in the pantheon of Panther athletics and will all be part of the ongoing story.
I’d like to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas! Apparently, we’re all taking a week off next week, so I’ll also extend wishes for a happy and safe New Year! Thank you for all the blessings you bring to my life through your readership, and may the birth of Jesus bring joy and contentment to your lives.
Word of the Week: This week’s word is kludge, which means an improvised solution to a problem, as in, “The announcer panicked briefly when he lost his script for the ceremony, then came up with a kludge to let the players do most of the talking.” Impress your friends and confuse your enemies!