There were few in Trempealeau County who didn’t know him, or know of him. Residents of Whitehall, Wisconsin, remember the basketball coach and teacher well. Basketball players throughout the Dairyland Conference remember him. Referees from decades of games probably feared him, or at least his temper when calls didn’t go his way. His name was Ken Stellpflug. He passed away in July.

Friday night’s football game brought the worry of most athletes’ parents to my wife and I - watching our child get hurt.

Can you imagine a town in the United States with no baseball, soccer or football fields? No volleyball, basketball, hockey, or softball teams for students to play on. That seems sad to me, but it is reality for students in Germany.

Can you imagine coaching a high school football team to a 14-0 conference record and still not be illegible to make the playoffs? That’s exactly what happened to the Whitehall (Memorial) High School Norsemen football team in 1979, my junior year.

At Pinkerton Academy in Derry last weekend, the mercy rule was announced over the loud speaker at half time. I hadn’t every heard of it before, but it exists.

Here’s a few pictures from the Pinkerton Academy vs. Manchester Memorial football game last Saturday in Derry. Not the greatest field conditions in the rain, and the game didn’t go the Crusaders way. But, with several underclassmen in the starting lineups, they are a team building and hopefully improving as the season goes on.

Baseball players learn the technique at a young age. When the ball is thrown at you, turn your other cheeks forward and take one for the team.

That’s no Gatorade or Powerade recipe for a sports drink. I’m sure my coaches weren’t thinking of e-coli bacteria, deadly viruses or poisoning when my teammates and I at Whitehall High School in Wisconsin, had to chug water during a break from football practice using an outdoor hose faucet and our football helmets. Looking back [...]

The Manchester School District passed a budget including extracurricular user fees for the city’s schools. Pay-to-play has spread to the queen city like a disease among behives.

I was an extremely proud parent after watching a junior varsity baseball game last week at Manchester Memorial high school. It wasn’t the efforts of the players on the field, but what happened before the game started.