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On Saturday, Oct. 22, 2022, the most winning Rochester high school coach ever, was taken from this earth.
That was the day that Lourdes Hall of Fame girls basketball coach Myron Glass was found dead in his home, having died from natural causes. Glass was 78.
Glass was an icon not only in Rochester, but the state. In his 31 years as Lourdes’ girls basketball coach, a span that ended with his retirement in 2014, the Minneapolis native finished with a record of 719-143. That included winning all eight of the state championship games it reached and advancing to the state tournament 15 times, both Minnesota records when he retired.
Glass was inducted into the Minnesota High School Basketball Hall of Fame in 2018, as well as countless other halls of fame through the years.
It was Glass who helped get girls sports off the ground at Lourdes. In an interview done with the Post Bulletin in March of 2018, Glass noted that a number of Lourdes girls entered his classroom one day in 1970, incredulous that they weren’t being offered organized sports.
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“They asked me why they can’t have sports,” said Glass, a longtime math teacher at Lourdes. “So I told them, ‘Let’s have a track team.’ The next day, I had 70 of them show up for (practice).”
Girls basketball was born at Lourdes one year later, led by original coach Dick Sherman.
Former longtime Lourdes Activities Director Marv Peters says that Glass’ pioneering of girls sports is his greatest legacy.
“What sticks out most to me is how much Myron did for girls athletics in the state, with him and Dick Sherman doing what they did,” Peters said. “I was a fledgling athletic director at the time and those guys came to me wanting to put together a girls basketball team. That was even before the Minnesota State High School League had it as a sport. (Glass and Sherman) wanted uniforms and gym time for their girls team. All of that was earlier than the public schools were doing it.”
After Sherman led Lourdes to a string of success, and then Jo Beber did the same after him, Glass took over as the Eagles’ girls basketball head coach in 1983. It was the start of a legendary career.
Anne (Breland) Webbles, a former star player at Lourdes who graduated in 2006 and played on state title teams in 2003 and 2005, was crushed by the news of Glass’ passing.
“My heart sunk when I received a text from a good friend saying Myron passed away,” Webbles said. “His mark on girls basketball in Minnesota will live on forever. He is a legend, and it is truly the end of an era.”
Girls basketball wasn’t the only sport that Glass coached long-term at Lourdes. He directed the boys and girls cross country teams at Lourdes for 41 seasons and led the Eagles boys to four state titles and the girls to two. He also had stints as a sub-varsity coach in boys basketball and football.
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— Pat Ruff
Taylor Heise led the Red Wing girls hockey team to four Section 1A championships and Class A state tournament appearances last decade. She needs the fingers on more than one hand to count the number of times she’s played for Team USA in international competition.
Last spring, the former Red Wing star etched her name in elite company at one of the most elite Division I hockey programs in the country. Heise became just the third University of Minnesota player to win the Patty Kazmaier Award , given annually to the best player in women’s college hockey.
Heise joins Gophers legends Krissy Wendell and Amanda Kessel as the only U of M players to have their names etched on the Kazmaier. In the 2021-22 season, the Lake City native scored 29 goals (second in the nation), had 37 assists and a nation-leading 66 total points.
Heise, the Post Bulletin’s 2022 Sports Person of the Year , took advantage of the extra year of eligibility granted by the NCAA to student-athletes during the COVID-19 pandemic. After being named the Best Forward and Tournament MVP of the 2022 Women’s World Championships in her first senior-level international competition, she returned to the Gophers this season for her fifth year. She has 13 goals and 21 assists (for a nation-leading 34 points) through 19 games for the 14-3-2 Gophers, who are ranked No. 5 in the country.
— Jason Feldman
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Already considered one of the best prep wrestlers in the history of Minnesota, Kasson-Mantorville’s Bennett Berge established his legendary status in March, capping his illustrious career with his fifth individual state championship.
The then Kasson-Mantorville senior became just the seventh wrestler in Minnesota history to accomplish that feat. Doing it in typical Berge fashion, the now-South Dakota State University freshman dominated Simley’s Soren Herzog, winning by technical fall for the Class AA 195-pound championship.
It finished a five-year stretch that saw Berge win five consecutive state titles at five different weight classes (138, 160, 170, 182, 195).
“As an eighth-grader, I just wanted one,” Berge said afterwards. “Five years later, I have five.”
Berge breezed through his portion of the bracket, collecting three pins en route to the title-match clash with Herzog (53-4).
The result wasn’t much different.
Berge put on a clinic, wracking up points in impressive fashion against Herzog. That included the rarely seen “winn dixie roll” — an incredibly complex and unorthodox move that involves the wrestler rolling over and hooking the opponent’s armpit with one’s leg. It often puts the opponent in what is called the cow-catcher pinning sequence, before ultimately setting up the takedown.
It was a thing of beauty from Berge.
In the end, he recorded the 22-7 win by technical fall to cap a second consecutive undefeated season with an eye-popping 52-0 record. In the end, Berge totaled 241 career prep victories, with a 124-1 record over his final three seasons at Kasson-Mantorville. He credited the people who helped get him there.
“The people in the program are amazing,” Berge said. “We have the greatest coaching staff in the nation. I’m 100 percent convinced of that.”
Berge kept the momentum going into the summer, earning a spot on Team USA for the U-20 World Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria. At just 18-years-old, he collected a silver medal in the 86-kilogram weight class, while helping Team USA place second as a team. He is now wrestling at 184 for SDSU, with a 5-3 record so far as a freshman.
— Alex VandenHouten
Ayoka Lee didn’t enter her game Sunday, Jan. 23, 2022, with anything special in mind.
The Byron native and All-America Kansas State University women’s basketball center was playing an afternoon game in Manhattan, Kan., as the Wildcats hosted No. 14-ranked University of Oklahoma.
“I thought it was just going to be another regular Sunday,” said the 6-foot-6 Lee.
There was nothing ordinary about it . Lee turned in a game for the ages, landing herself in the NCAA record books en route. She did it by scoring an NCAA record 61 points in Kansas State’s 94-65 win. That broke the former national single-game high of 60, set by Cindy Lange of Long Beach State (Feb. 16, 1987 vs. San Jose State) and Rachel Banham of Minnesota (Feb. 7, 2016 vs. Northwestern).
Lee was at her efficient best, hitting 23 of 30 field-goal tries and going 15-for-17 from the free-throw line. For good measure, Kansas State’s queen of the “double-double” also added 12 rebounds.
Lee got her 61st point with a routine lay-in through a double-team with 2:54 to play. Earlier in the game, she broke both the school (her own) and Big 12 Conference records for scoring with 45 and 51 points, respectively.
Besides her scoring total being an NCAA record, Lee also became the only Division I player since 2009-10 to shoot 75% (23-for-30) from the field on 26 or more attempts.
“It’s so crazy to me,” Lee said in a Zoom interview two days later. “It’s hard to wrap my mind around it, it’s so crazy.”
Lee’s jersey and the game ball are now resting at the Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield, Mass.
Lee is not setting any records this season. The Kansas State senior had off-season knee surgery but will return to the team in 2023-24.
— Pat Ruff
Chatfield senior Sam Backer capped his stellar high school football career as the state’s second all-time leading rusher.
Backer finished his four-year varsity career with a staggering 7,377 rushing yards, just 127 yards behind McLeod West’s Tyler Evans for the state’s all-time rushing record. That total included 2,782 rushing yards as a senior, as Backer averaged 214 yards per game for the 12-1 Gophers.
The 6-foot-1, 190-pound Backer played quarterback for the Gophers his final two seasons and he was primarily a runner. He rushed for 35 touchdowns as a senior, but also threw for 581 yards and nine TDs.
He helped Chatfield win a Class AA state championship as a junior, even though he had to sit out the title game due to an ejection in the state semifinals. During the 2022 season, Backer and the Gophers came up just short of repeating as state champions. Chatfield was riding a 25-game winning streak before falling 35-20 to Barnesville in the state championship game.
Backer’s standout season earned him plenty of postseason awards. He was named Associated Press All-State, was named to the Minnesota Vikings All-State Team, played in the Minnesota High School Football All-Star Game and was named the Post Bulletin Player of the Year in football .
He will continue his football career in college at Division II powerhouse Minnesota State University, Mankato. His older brother, Chase, plays at Winona State University, which is also a member of the NSIC.
— Guy N. Limbeck
The list of who’s-who in the hockey world who gathered in St. Paul on a late November evening is impressive: NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman. Minnesota Wild GM Bill Guerin. Nashville Predators GM David Poile. Goalie Ryan Miller, who holds the most NHL wins ever by a U.S.-born goalie.
They were all there to salute the U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame Class of 2022. In Miller’s case, he was there to be inducted. All of them, though, tipped their hat to another of the inductees, one who grew up in Rochester: Jim Johannson, or “JJ” as he was known to everyone in the hockey world .
JJ passed away unexpectedly in January of 2018 at just 53 years old, while in his 18th year working for USA Hockey. He was the assistant executive director of hockey operations and architect of many outstanding U.S. World Junior Championship and Men’s World Championship rosters.
He passed away just weeks before he could watch the 2018 U.S. Olympic Team — a roster that he assembled — play in the PyeongChang, South Korea, Games.
Johannson grew up in Rochester, played in a state tournament for Mayo in 1982 and helped the University of Wisconsin win a national championship the following year as a freshman. He played in two Olympic Games (1988, 1992) before moving on to an ultra-successful career as a hockey executive.
Poile described Johannson as “the heartbeat of USA Hockey for 20 years.”
JJ’s plaque was presented to his wife, Abby and their daughter, Ellie, who turned 7 two days after the ceremony.
— Jason Feldman
There aren’t enough words to describe Pat Lund.
Simply put, the guy you saw on your TV screen while watching the KTTC Sports at 6:20 and 10:20 every night for 30 years was exactly who he was. Sadly, Lund died in April at age 59, just more than a year after retiring.
Lund was larger than life . He knew everyone in southeastern Minnesota and we all knew him, whether we ever actually met him or not.
He was serious about delivering a professional broadcast and he was serious about having fun doing it.
He loved to laugh, often at himself. And more than just about anything, he loved to be the one to deliver the scores and the best sports highlights to people in his hometown of Rochester, and all of southeastern Minnesota.
Lund was unquestionably a sports icon in our corner of the state.
— Jason Feldman
One by one, Jarod White kept toppling them.
By the time he’d completed his Pine Island High School pole vaulting career, the high-flying pole vaulter had in his name all of the records he coveted most.
On Tuesday, May 31, 2022, came the all-time state mark in the pole vault. White nabbed it by clearing 16-feet-2 in the Section 1A meet in Dodge Center, bettering the previous mark of 16-1 3/4 set by Mounds View’s Calvin Ciganik in 2018. White went the dramatic route to do it, clearing 16-2 on his third and final attempt at the height.
Nine days later came his second state mark. This time it was White breaking a state meet record he’d set the year before but wasn’t completely content with. White had sailed 15-9 to win the meet in 2021.
But one year later, White knew he could do better than that. On Thursday, June 9, 2022, at St. Michael/Albertville High School, the muscular and explosive senior proved himself right. White updated his own state-meet record by clearing 16 feet, giving him the state crown and a meet record for the second consecutive year.
But he still wasn’t done . White had begun the season reaching for the sky, a seemingly outrageous height of 16-5 on his wish list.
On Thursday, July 14, 2022, performing at the Grand Haven Beach Vault in Michigan, with Lake Michigan as a backdrop, it was as if White had been dropped from the sky.
He did it, all right, clearing 16-5 and then some, soaring 16-9. That was 7 inches higher than he’d ever sailed before.
— Pat Ruff
The Vikings had a “dream season” for the second straight year as they repeated as the Class A state champions in boys basketball.
Hayfield capped a stellar 32-2 season by nipping Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa 51-49 in the state championship game . The Vikings had defeated Russell-Tyler-Ruthton 66-49 and Cherry 72-61 in the first two rounds of state play.
The Vikings had four returning starters from the school’s first-ever state championship team in boys basketball during the 2020-21 season. Hayfield was ranked No. 1 the entire season in 2021-22, and was the top seed in the state tournament. But the Vikings shrugged off any pressure they might have felt to bring home another title.
Junior guard Isaac Matti led Hayfield with 27 points in the championship game. He was named to the Class A All-Tournament Team along with teammates Easton Fritcher, a senior forward, and junior guard Ethan Pack.
— Guy N. Limbeck
With former minor-league pitcher Matt Meyer leading the charge, the Rochester Royals won the Class B amateur baseball state championship in thrilling fashion.
The Royals defeated Champlin Park 4-3 in 12 innings in the championship game . In the late stages of the game, which was played in Dundas, there was a lot of dew on the grass which greatly impacted the defense in the decisive 12th inning.
The Royals had a pair of throwing errors which led to a Champlin Park run in the top of the 12th. Champlin Park then had two throwing errors which led to both Royals runs in the bottom of the inning and decided the game.
Meyer, the tourney MVP, was 4-0 with a 0.75 ERA in the tournament and he got the win in relief in the title game. He was named All-Tournament as were teammates Drew Block, Logan Milene and Bo McClintock.
It was the third Class B state title for the Royals and the first since 2006.
— Guy N. Limbeck
The third-seeded Chatfield softball team had already made history, clinching the program’s first-ever state tournament victory that wasn’t in the consolation bracket with a win over Mounds Park Academy in the quarterfinals.
Yet, the Gophers weren’t satisfied. They wanted to bring that first-place plaque back to Chatfield.
In the end, they were able to just do that.
The Gophers only mustered two hits but used a three-run first inning, the arm of Claire Springer and some timely defense to capture the program’s first-ever state softball title with a 3-2 victory against Proctor in the Class AA championship game on June 10 at Caswell Park in North Mankato.
It was the first state title in any girls sport in school history.
“I could start to cry,” Springer said after the game. “It’s just insane that we were able to do this.”
Springer was a big reason why.
The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse commit was great all tournament, being named to the Class AA all-state tournament team, but saved her best for last. With a prolific fastball-changeup combo, the then junior scattered eight hits, while allowing just two runs in a complete-game effort.
Though the offense only had two hits, it gave Springer breathing room early, staking her a 3-0 lead with a bases loaded walk and two runs scored on an error, even before she stepped into the circle.
With great defense behind her and a senior catcher in Peyton Berg, Springer and the Gophers were able to ride it out for a nail-biting win against the Rails. It was the second state title of the school year for Chatfield, which saw its football team bring home a Class AA title as well.
— Alex VandenHouten
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