Dusting off the Archives
News from Verndale's Past
75 Years Ago, March 6, 1947
•The 1946-47 Verndale High School Basketball team: Roland Anderson, Morris Borchers, Marvin Desrocher, James Schuft, Richard Anderson, Richard Doll, Roger Conley, Coach E. Seaton, Leo Minnette, Gerald Gibbs, Alan Dalen, Gordon Dague, Wayne Kopp, Donald Greenwaldt, Lawrence Sharp, Raymond Pfeiffer, James Lepper and Richard Anderson.
•St. Frederick’s Church of Verndale will be one of 15,000 Catholic churches in the U.S. in which a special collection for the starving people of war-stricken countries will be taken up Sunday, March 16. With the cessation of government aid to war sufferers, the Catholic Bishops of America have appealed to all Catholics to unite in a concerted drive to raise money to buy food, clothing and medical supplies for people in more than sixty nations where want and misery are still rampant.
•Fire Chief Lester J. Marquardt, Joe Webber Jr., Wm. Juergens and May A.F. Bergquist went to Minneapolis Sunday and drove back Verndale’s new fire truck. The truck was bought over two months ago, and since that time has been in Minneapolis having the new equipment installed and special painting done.
40 Years Ago, March 11, 1982
•Verndale firemen responded to two chimney fire calls on Tuesday. The first, at 7:20 a.m., was to the Bently Conn home on the northeast side of town, and the second at 12:10 p.m. to the Ron Buderus farm home three and a half miles east. No serious damage was done to either. Verndale Fire Chief Duane Davis advised all those who burn wood to keep a close watch on their chimneys, especially now when the weather warms up and fires burn less intensely. It is during this time that creosote builds up in chimneys causing them to become blocked.
•The future of Verndale’s agriculture program remains in the abyss at the recommendation of a committee that had been named to study all avenues. Principal James Madsen made a report on behalf of the committee to the board at its regular monthly meeting. He reported that a meeting had been held with the Wadena Board and that Verndale was no longer interested in joining forces with them. They have since voted to drop their ag program.
•The semi-finals were a classic for tournament games. There were hot outside pressure shots, tough inside rebounding, and rugged defenses. The Seatons-Deer Creek meeting was a see-saw battle of rebounds and fast breaks. The halftime score was an exciting 24-24 tie.
15 Years Ago, March 7, 2007
•The referee raised Ethan Kern’s arm in victory on Saturday at the Minnesota State Wrestling Tournament at the Xcel Center in St. Paul. Kern placed third at the tournament in the 112 lb. weight class.
•On Saturday, March 3, the Verndale Pirates girl’s basketball team’s season came to an end with a disappointing loss to Northland. In the first round of subsection play, the Pirates started out strong with 36 points in the first half to Northland’s 33. But they came up short in the second half with just 21 points to Northland’s 29. Leading in points for the Pirates were Cayla Collison, Stephanie Dailey and Megan Hejhal.
•The Verndale Pirates boy’s basketball team traveled to Nevis last Monday night. The Pirates were able to come out on top by a score of 71-58. The Pirates were led in scoring by Wayne Kopp with 23 points, Shane Finck with 13 and Josh Kern 12.