An Unhappy Triad

In college, one of our required coaching courses was Prevention and Care of Athletic Injuries.  One of the topics discussed was knee injuries.  Jim Booher (he, along with Tom Osterberg, was on the Spies slo-pitch team that won numerous state titles in the 1970's.  Aurora Body Shop, mainly composed of our class members, played them in our first game ever.  We lost badly; the score may have been 44-4.  As we improved over the years, the scores became closer, but we could never gain the upper hand) was the instructor at the time, and he noted common knee injuries involved the anterior cruciate (ACL), the medial collateral ligament (MCL), and the meniscus.  These three structures were commonly known as the "unhappy triad of O'Donoghue.   (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unhappy_triad).  During these past several days, there have been three rather unhappy events for our classmates.  

Last Friday, August 6, funeral services were held for John Steen, brother of Susan (Steen) Tatro of our class (https://www.rudesfuneralhome.com/obituary/john-steen).  He was only 61, so his passing was unforeseen.  It was good to talk with Susan for a short time after the service and express our condolences.  John's daughter Lara was a fine soccer player for BHS about 15-20 years ago.  She played collegiately at Northern State University in Aberdeen, and now teaches and coaches in Sioux Falls.  She will be the assistant soccer coach at the new Jefferson High School this fall. 

On Saturday, services were held at Greenwood Cemetery for Helen Linn Albright, mother of Gerry of our class and Carmen of the class of 1968. 

I believe she is the cousin of Stew Linn's father.  Does that make Gerry and Stew second cousins? (Corrrect me, Stew, if I am wrong)  While there, I was able to visit with Stew's mother and sister.  Stew's mother is 96, and still sharp as a tack.  She has been very involved in the Brookings County Museum in Volga, and showed me some of the genealogy charts, press clippings, and other archives that she has amassed through the years.  She created a wonderful scrapbook of our junior and senior basketball seasons, which are now proudly in Stew's possession.  Every once in a while those articles come in handy at team reunions when we have some differing opinions about what happened during certain games and stages of our careers.  

Gerry and Stew are also related to Bob Shelden, BHS class of 1959.  Bob was an honor student, but was probably better known for his athletic ability.  He earned varsity letters in football, basketball, and track and field four times, one of the few athletes to achieve that feat (another one who did so was ""Bud" Billings, father of Beth of the class of 1970, and father-in-law of Tom Bozied).  I was fortunate to talk with Bob's sister at the reception.  She graduated in 1955, so knew of some of my siblings who were about the same age.  My brother George was senior on the basketball team when Bob was a freshman.  One of my older sisters graduated with Bob in 1959, so we had many fond memories to exchange.  When the "new" high school was completed in 1967, the baseball field there was name in memory of Bob Shelden (https://www.brookingsbaseball.com/page/show/2935139-bob-shelden-field). 

One interesting tidbit about Bob is that he has one of the top single game basketball scoring records for BHS.   While gathering information for our last reunion in 2019, we discovered an article in the paper that Bob scored 36 points in one game when he was only a sophomore.  That was one short of the record that Roger Nelson had set three years earlier.  Lee Colburn broke that record by one  when we played at Pierre our senior year.  Lee's record was finally broken by two in 2013 (thanks to the 3-point shot).  Bob, then, is still number four on the all-time list.  

Points scored	Name	Opponent	Date
40	Connor Beste	Rapid City Central	3-16-2013
38	Lee Colburn	Pierre	2-28-69
37	Roger Nelson	Mitchell	2-19-54
36	Bob Shelden	Watertown	2-7-57
34	Lee Colburn	Huron	12-20-68
34	Brayden Carlson	Mitchell	1-22-2009
34	Brayden Carlson	Pierre	2-6-2009
33	Lee Colburn	Madison	3-5-69
33	Brayden Carlson	Rapid City Stevens	1-30-2009
32	Jeff Booher	Aberdeen Central	1-29-88
31	Arnold Ginn	Huron	2-25-50
31	George Iverson	Rapid City Central	12-27-55
31	Brayden Carlson	Yankton	2-12-2009
30	Arnold Ginn	Webster	2-18-50
30	Roger Nelson	Yankton	12-15-53
30	Bob Shelden	Huron	3-23-57
30	Lee Colburn	Huron	2-7-69
30	Lee Colburn	Belle Fourche	3-14-69

  

Vern Olson and his wife were also at the service and reception.  Vern grew up in the same neighborhood as Gerry, and also had many memorable childhood memories of their times together.  Is it possible for young children to live such independent lives today?  

Yesterday, Aug. 9, Paula Platz informed me that a mobile home in Volga belonging to Walter Osterberg was destroyed in a fire.  Paula's niece (Heidi Hoffman Gullickson) works with United Way here in Brookings, and they are doing their utmost to help Walter out by exploring a number of possibilities.  When they find out more, we sill send out an email notifying everyone what can be done to assist Walter during this tragic ordeal.  

On a positive note, we had a nice turnout at last Thursday's Downtown at Sundown.  Hope to have another nice gathering this week.  

Problems Solved?

 With the help of a more informed friend, we seem to have solved some of the problems involved with posting new items on this blog.  This new Chromebook posed numerous problems in that area.  However, after a few frustrating hours, we seemed to have solved them.  The proof will be if this post publishes.  Pray for the best.