In the summer of 1995, I worked a three month internship at The Warroad Pioneer, which I'm sorry to say has since ceased operation. This was the first professional newspaper that I worked for in my career, and it turned out to be a wonderful experience. I had only worked at Bemidji State University's newspaper for about a year and half before landing the internship. At The Pioneer I gained experience in sports, feature, beat and government reporting. I designed pages, took and developed photographs and was responsible for community relations. The best part is that I remain friends with the owners nearly 30 years later.
July 25, 1995
By Devlyn Brooks
Many of the celebrities who participated in the Saturday, July 22, Celebrity Golf Tournament wouldn't have been here without the help of the free airfare provided by Marvin Windows and Doors and the Twin Cities' Hubbard Broadcasting.
Doug Woog, head coach of the University of Minnesota's Golden Gopher hockey team, is one of those celebrity players who would not have been here if it were not for the two planes.
Woog was in Hibbing's Saturday morning where the Hubbard Broadcasting plane picked him up. He said that if the Hubbards would not have been kind enough to pick him up, he would not have been able to play in the tournament.
"Those planes are important," Woog said. "We're in Warroad which is out of the way for a lot of these guys, and they couldn't be here without the free flights."
Woog said that he has been able to make it to Warroad for the tournament "about a half a dozen times" over the years.
"I can't come every year," he said, "but I try to come as often as I can."
Woog said that he is not a good golfer, but admitted that he really enjoyed the fishing trip that is provided to the celebrities Sunday after the tournament.
"It's more a matter of it being a good idea for us to be represented here," he said.
"The community gets behind the tournament so it's kind of enjoyable to see that," Woog said. "(The celebrities) realize how nice an event this is, and they keep jumping back in."
Woog and others like him could play in two celebrity tournaments a week, he said.
"But you pick one like this because it's pretty special," he said. "This is just a hockey town. Warroad is one of the unique towns in the country."
He said that it is fun for him to see all the different hockey people that gather for the tournament "There are a half a dozen former Gophers here," he said.
Larry Olimb, of Warroad, was one of those Gopher players who played in the tournament Saturday.
"Larry Olimb was a great player," Woog said. "He is one of the most popular Gopher players in the last 10 years. The fans really enjoyed him."
Woog was only one of the many celebrities that represented the hockey world here Saturday.
Tom Chorske of the 1995 National Hockey League Stanley Cup winning New Jersey Devils was also in town. He said that he had been in Warroad one other time when he was here playing on the U.S. national team in 1987.
There were a number of other past and present NHL players also on hand.
Henry Boucha, Bill Christian and Corwin Saurdiff were some of the hometown hockey celebrities that took part in the tournament.
All the celebrities that attended proved that hockey was not the only sport that they excelled in.
Celebrity Bob Mason's team took home this year's title with a 12-under-par 60 for the course. Bob Mason has played with the Washington Capitals in the NHL. The other three on Mason's team were Erick Knutson of Grand Forks, North Dakota; Ken Johanson of Minneapolis, who played with the Lakers in 1957-58; and George Guibault of Warroad.
The second place team was comprised of celebrity Landon Wilson, who was a University of North Dakota hockey standout which just signed with the NHL's Quebec Nordiques; Ryan Christian of Warroad; Jim Dick of Altona, Manitoba; and Mitch Iverson of Grafton, North Dakota.
Celebrity Bob Germander captained the third place team. He is the head scout for the NHL's Dallas Stars. Brian Hardwick of Warroad; Jay Hardwick also of Warroad; and Tim McClure of Toronto rounded out the rest of Germander's team.
Don Shaugabay won the Minnesota Moose hockey jersey; Patrick Stoskopf took home the New Jersey Devil's Neil Broten jersey; and Paul Carlson was the recipient of the Eric Lindros hockey jersey.
Bill Christian, organizer and participant, said that he felt the tournament was a success, and the only improvement that was needed was to start advertising earlier next year.
Comments