Tiger alumnus becomes captain at Crown College

Sports Memories by Tom Jones

Tom Jones

15 years

• Greg King collected first place and a trophy as he knocked out Kelly Ellingson in the full-size division finals of the Masters of Disaster demolition derby at the Freeborn County Fair. Mike Boettcher took home $500 for first place in the truck division.
• Holly Thompson of Clarks Grove took first place in the 13 & under age group riding Indy at the Stampede Barrel Run at the Freeborn County Fair.
• The first-ever memorial softball and volleyball tournament for Ryan “Pie” Truesdell was being planned at Snyder Fields. The event was to kick off with a softball game between the Albert Lea City Council and staff against the Freeborn County Commissioners and staff.
• Francisco Lariano pitched seven innings and Delmon Young connected on a two-run home run as the Minnesota Twins defeated the Kansas City Roys 7-3.

20 years

• In the U-18 girls’ state tournament soccer championship game being played at the National Sports Center in Blaine, Albert Lea fell 1-0 to Shakopee. They finished their season with a 9-3-1 record.
• Also at the National Sports Center, the Albert Lea U-11 girls soccer team lost a hard-fought 3-1 game in the championship to Prior Lake to finish their season 14-3-3. The team was coached by Jeff Miller, James Cope and Dwaine Winkels.
• Scott Kast of Freeborn won a trophy and $833 for winning the compact car division of the Albert Lea Jaycees demolition derby at the Freeborn County Fair.
• Former Albert Lea Tiger Andrew Davis was named a captain for the Crown College football team in St. Bonifacius.

50 years

• Tom Norby of Albert Lea was the first-place finisher in the feature event of the Albert Lea Jaycees Demolition Derby at the Freeborn County Fair. For his effort he collected $300. Donnie Jensen of Albert Lea took home second and collected $200.
• Hank Aaron was 13 home runs away from Babe Ruth’s all-time home run record as he smashed his 701st career home run against Cincinnatti’s Pedro Borbon.
• In “A” league softball, Melody Bar I defeated Harold’s Bar 8-7. Vic Nelson picked up the win with John Willmert taking the loss.
• Roberto Clemente and Warren Spahn were inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. Monte Irvin, a slugger in the Negro Leagues and former American League umpire and baseball executive Billy Evans were also inducted.
• The Albert Lea junior high summer three-on-three basketball league concluded with championship games for seventh, eighth and ninth grade. In the eighth grade finals, Team One from Southwest took the title. Members of the team included Steve Marlin, Larry Nelson, Steve Hogan and Rick Nelson.

Hardball history

According to an article in the 1934 Albert Lea Tribune, Charlie Briggs, pitcher and manager of the Albert Lea Park Baseball Team was credited with introducing the curve ball to town in the early days. Hotly contested games were held between the Park Team and the Town Team of Albert Lea.

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