Wayne "Wheaties" Wallin, a long-time sports booster for the Pequot Lakes Patriots, passed away after a battle with cancer Saturday, Aug. 11, at the Cuyuna Regional Medical Center in Crosby.

The 77-year-old Wallin was known for his love of the outdoors and sports, especially following his alma mater, the Pequot Lakes Patriots, for the past 40 years as a sports writer for the Pine and Lakes Echo Journal weekly newspaper.
"(Wheaties) was an icon for Pequot Lakes sports for so many years," said former Patriots football coach Chip Lohmiller. "He engaged in all sports, and was so involved with the kids during their high school years and beyond. He knew statistics for every sport and every player. He really cared about all the kids. We will all miss him."
Wallin played three sports, including four seasons of varsity baseball, at Pequot Lakes High School before graduating in 1959. He also played amatuer baseball as a power-hitting first baseman for 30 years with the Nisswa/Pequot Lakes Lions amateur baseball team before it folded in the mid-1980s.
"Even at that later stage in his career, Wheaties was still one of the best hitters in the area," said Bret Sergent, who played amateur baseball with Wallin. "I remember him hitting a home run, into a gale-force wind, in the bottom of the ninth against Crosby to win 7-6. It was a big game that year when we went to state (1979)."
Wallin, who worked full-time for 40 years at area lumber yards, started his part-time career as a sports writer with the Echo Journal (known at the time as the Lake Country Echo) newspaper in the mid-1970s. He started by covering amateur baseball, but his writing quickly expanded to covering Pequot Lakes boys and girls school teams.
One of Wallin's strengths as a reporter was building relationships with coaches and players at all levels.
"He was not just there for the varsity games, but for the junior varsity games," said former Pequot Lakes boys basketball coach Garry Grewe. "Wheaties was unique because he took time to talk with all the kids. He knew their names and how they're doing. He also knew most of the parents because he probably covered their teams, too."
Sergent, who is also the Pequot Lakes softball coach, said Wallin often traveled with his Patriot teams to cover road games.
"He rode thousands of miles on the bus with us through the years, and he also rode with me in my truck to our Junior Olympic games in the summer," Sergent said. "He was such a big part of our softball program that I made sure that he received section championship medals in 2013 and 2016, and a state runner-up medal in 2016. He earned them."
Wallin also covered Pine River-Backus High School athletic teams for many years after the Pine River Journal was purchased by the Lake County Echo. Wallin would eventually focus mainly on covering Pequot Lakes teams as the two newspapers were merged into the Echo Journal in 2012.
For the past six years, an annual boys and girls holiday basketball tournament that is named after Wallin is played each December at Pequot Lakes High School.
"The kids all liked Wheaties," said Grewe, who helped start the Wheaties Wallin Basketball Tournament. "No matter how poorly a team played, Wheaties never said or wrote a bad thing about them. He really was a positive individual."

CROOKSTON PIRATE VOLLEYBALL - Coach Ashley Stopa

The Crookston Pirate Volleyball team has 35 girls out this year.  I asked Coach Stopa for her thoughts on the first couple of days -
"We are very excited as a program as we have had a great turnout for our first days of practice. We have been working hard on fundamentals and conditioning."
The Pirate Volleyball teams first match will be Thursday, August 23 at Bagley at 7:30 p.m.

CROOKSTON PIRATE GIRLS TENNIS - Coach Mike Geffre

The Pirates have 29 girls out for tennis with 16 of them in seventh and eighth grade.
Cody Brekken joins the staff as an assistant after doing a good job with the boys last spring. Coach Geffre adds, "We lost a lot of talent from last years squad we lost over half of our tournament team as well as our top three players. Early on there will be a lot of learning as we will be a young team. We are led by Three seniors, two who played a lot of varsity last year. We have a lot of young players 7-8th grade (16 as of now) who will be figuring into varsity and JV play time. Are goal is to be in the section mix coming tournament time."
The Pirate Varsity team will have their first matches on Friday at Park Rapids.

CROOKSTON PIRATE GIRLS SOCCER - Coach Sarah Reese

They Pirate Girls Soccer team has 23 girls out (7-12) and they will have their first game on Friday, September 24 at Fergus Falls vs West Otter Tail Central.

CROOKSTON PIRATE SWIMMING - Coach Marley Melbye

The Pirate Girls Swim team has eight girls out this fall.  The first meet will be Monday, August 27 at the Detroit Lakes Pentathlon meet.

Thea Oman - 12
Muira MacRea - 12
Elizabeth Erdman - 11
Victoria Proulx - 10
Mackenzie Aamoth - 9
Madison Hoiland - 9
Claire Oman - 8
Fallon Johnson - 8

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The East Grand Forks Green Wave Football team had a nice surprise this week when their new locker room was unveiled.  See the video from EGF Football below -

That moment when you show the team their brand new football locker room. pic.twitter.com/pbJA7tWpFy

— EGF Football (@EGFFB) August 13, 2018

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The new Perham High School is going to be nice and it has been fun to see everything they are doing.  They recently added high speed treadmills and new plyo bases in their new weight room.  If you aren't moving forward you are falling behind.   In EGF's and Perham's cases....they are moving forward!!

A picture of the plyo stands, and weight room at the new Perham High School

Two high speed treadmills being installed at the new Perham weight room

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The Crookston Reds are headed back to the Minnesota State Class C Amateur Baseball tournament after they beat the Bemidji Blue Ox on Saturday.  The Reds started slow, but they have been playing well in their last 23 games going 16-7.  Four of the seven losses are to the Ada Athletics!
The Reds will play in the first round of the State Tournament on Saturday at 5:00 p.m. in Shakopee.  You can hear the game on KROX with a 4:30 p.m. pregame show.

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I saw our friend Pat Sweeny share this on Social media and it is amazing how times have changed -

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Villa St. Vincent’s Foundation is sponsoring its sixth Annual Glow Golf Tournament on Saturday, September 8 at the Minakwa Golf Course.  Registration is at 3:30 with a prompt 4:00 shot gun start.  9 holes of golf will be played in the day light; with the last 9 holes played in the dusk/dark.  Registration is limited to 18 teams.  All proceeds will be applied to the purchase of updated and safer furniture for resident/tenant lounges, libraries and lobbies.  For more information to register a team or sponsorship, please contact Cindy Hulst, Foundation Development Director.  281-9713.  Email: cindy.hulst@bhshealth.org.

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The 14^th Annual Crookston Blue Line Club Golf Scramble will be held August 17 at Minakwa Golf Course. 
There will be five-person teams with registration at 8:00 a.m. and a shotgun start at 9:00 a.m.  
Team sponsorship is $350 and individual entry is $70.  With the entry fee you receive lunch, a t-shirt and prizes.  For more information, contact Kristy Swanson at 218-470-0423 or email crookstonhockey@gmail.com.  Or visit www.crookstonbluelinehockey.com.

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The Crookston Pirate Booster Club is gearing up for its annual membership drive. PIRATE BOOSTERS exists to support Crookston High boys’ and girls’ athletic programs.
The PIRATE BOOSTERS provide financial assistance which allows student athletes to obtain equipment, uniforms, warm-ups and facilities enhancements. Your annual investment will help the athletic needs of the Crookston High School student athletes.

With your contribution of $100.00 or more, you will have your name placed on the PIRATE BOOSTERS sustaining membership board which is located in the CHS Commons. In addition, your name will be placed in all printed programs for CHS athletic events.
The Contribution levels are broken down as follows:
$100.00-$249.00 - Blue Club Member
$250.00-$499.00 - Gold Club Member and will receive recognition as an event sponsor during the 2018-2019 academic year.
$500.00-$999.00 - Pirate Club Member and will receive recognition as a multiple event sponsor during the academic year 2018-2019.
$1,000.00 or more - Captain’s Club Member and will receive special recognition throughout the entire 2018-2019 academic year.

Although giving levels have been established, any contribution to PIRATE BOOSTERS will be greatly appreciated.

As a part of your annual membership, you are assured CHS athletic team members will not solicit you or your business with smaller fundraisers. You will have a choice to approach a specific team if you desire to provide additional support. If you are interested in joining PIRATE BOOSTERS, please make your check payable to PIRATE BOOSTERS by April 30, 2018. You may bring your donation to Greg Garmen at Crookston High School or Charles Reynolds at Fitzgerald, Reynolds, Harbott, Knutson & Larson, PLLP.  If you would prefer to have your donation picked up, please contact Greg Garmen or Charles Reynolds. You can send a check to Crookston Pirate Boosters - 402 Fisher Avenue, Crookston MN 56716.

The Crookston High School Athletic Department student athletes and coaches and the entire PIRATE BOOSTER CLUB appreciate your generous support.

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There has been a lot of interest from people after we posted this so we will post it again.  If you have any info on Pirate sports records or want to help tracking them down read below!

Crookston High School, namely Ed Nelson, has been working on getting all the records for the Pirate Sports teams updated and it has been a process.  Ed is looking for any records, stats, state participants, etc from the following sports.

Boys Tennis
Girls Tennis
Football
Girls Soccer
Volleyball
Baseball

If you have Crookston Times articles with information, yearbooks with team and/or individual records, scrapbooks, or anything with any information that you might think would be of interest to Ed email him at ednelson12@yahoo.com. 

With that said we have links to the Crookston Pirate records pages for the following sports.  If you see something that is incomplete, or maybe an updated record let Ed know at the above email address.  I have listed the team and click on the team to see their records. 

Here is an update on the various sports covered by the website as of December 1, 2016

Sports that are done and will not change without additional information:

Boys’ Basketball
Girls’ Basketball
Boys’ Golf
Girls’ Golf
Boys’ Soccer (Poor or no records were kept over the years.)
Girls’ Soccer
Boys’ Track & Field
Girls’ Track & Field
Wrestling
Softball
Swimming
Volleyball
Girls’ Hockey will be complete by the end of 2016 and join the above.  I am currently looking for “Team:  Game” and “Player: Game” records for the first 5 years of the program.

Sports being worked on:
Baseball (Justin Johnson is doing the research and has completed the last 16 years)
Boys’ & Girls’ Tennis (Mike Geffre has the information and is scanning everything.  When he is done, the records will be posted.)

Sports not yet started:
Football (I will be starting Football this winter.)
Boys’ Hockey (Frank Fee has agreed to research the records.) 

Fall Sports -
Boys Soccer       Girls Swimming      Girls Soccer      Volleyball

Incomplete records     Girls Tennis         Football                  

Winter Sports -
Boys Basketball           Girls Basketball          Boys Hockey         Girls Hockey         Wrestling

Spring Sports-
Softball            Boys Track        Girls Track         Boys Golf         Girls Golf      -

Incomplete records  Boys Tennis         Baseball

Sports that are no longer offered-
Boys Swimming           Girls Cross Country           Boys Cross Country

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JOKES (Do you have any good jokes - email them to chrisjfee@yahoo.com and I will put them in the feever

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I will start updating athletes and coaches next week.  Let me know if you have anybody to list!

How are former Crookston Pirates athletes doing in college or elsewhere?
 ****LET ME KNOW OF OTHERS TO ADD TO THE LIST *****

Paul Bittner, is playing for the Cleveland Monsters (AHL – minor league affiliate of Columbus).

Marietta Geist, a Junior on the Carleton College Women’s Cross Country and Track and Field teams. 

Luke Edlund, is a Senior linebacker on the Crown College football team. 

Elise Tangquist, is a Sophomore golfer for the University of Northwestern in St. Paul. Northwestern will be off until the spring.

Isaac Westlake, a Junior playing golf for the Winona State Warriors.

Brita Fagerlund, is a Sophomore on the University of Jamestown Jimmy Women's Track team.

Aaron Hollcraft, is a Senior playing basketball and baseball for the UMC Golden Eagles.

Amanda Trandem, is a Sophomore on the University of Minnesota Crookston Golden Eagle Softball team.

Bobby Tiedemann, is a Junior on the St. Mary's University Men's Tennis team in Winona.

Ryan Bittner, is a Senior playing hockey for the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. 

Brady Heppner, is a Junior playing hockey at St. Johns University in Collegeville.

Haley Roed, a Junior on the Minnesota State Moorhead Women's Swim team.

Josh Edlund,  is an assistant football coach and phy ed teacher at Flandreau, South Dakota.

Crookston School District Coaches -
Brody Davidson is an Assistant Pirate Football coach.
Tyler Brekken is a Pirate C team football coach and junior high Pirate Softball coach
Jeremy Lubinski is a Pirate 8th Grade Football coach.
Amy Boll is the head Pirate Girls Track head coach and assistant volleyball coach
Sarah Reese is the Pirate Head Girls Soccer coach
Shelly Erdmann is the Assistant Girls Soccer coach.
Cody Brekken is the Assistant Pirate Girls Tennis coach, Pirate Boys Tennis coach and Crookston Community Pool Supervisor
Marley Melbye is the Head Girls Swimming coach
Mitch Bakken is the head Pirate Baseball coach.
Justin Johnson is the Pirate Junior Varsity Baseball coach.
Brock Hanson is the Pirate Baseball volunteer assistant coach.
Jeff Perreault is the Pirate Girls Golf head coach
Wes Hanson is the Pirate Wrestling Head Coach and assistant boys golf coach
Wade Hanson is the 8th grade boys basketball coach
Travis Ross is the 7th grade boys basketball coach
Kevin Weber is a Pirate Boys Basketball volunteer assistant coach
Connor Morgan is the Pirate Boys Hockey assistant coach
Sam Melbye is the Pirate Boys J.V. Hockey coach
Chris Dufault is an Assistant Wrestling Coach
Nate Merten is an Assistant Wrestling Coach

Non Crookston High School Coaches-
Allison Lindsey Axness is Assistant Varsity Volleyball Coach in Champlin Park

Jeff Olson is Head Wrestling coach and Assistant Baseball coach at Delano.

Jake Olson is an Assistant Football Coach and Head Boys Tennis coach at Delano.

Todd Kreibich, is the Coach and General Manager for the Minnesota Iron Rangers Junior Hockey team our of Hoyt Lakes.

Carmen (Kreibich) Johnson, is Head Volleyball coach at Little Falls High School.

Katy Westrom, is Head Girls Tennis Coach and Head Boys Tennis coach at Monticello High School.

Matt Harris, is a Director of Athletics at the British International School of Houston.

Marty Bratrud is the Superintendent and High School Principal at Westhope High School.
 
Gordie Haug is an assistant football coach at the University of Wyoming
 
Mike Hastings is the Minnesota State Mankato Men's head Hockey coach
 
Mike Biermaier is the Athletic Director at Thief River Falls High School
 
Stephanie (Lindsay) Perreault works with the North Dakota State stats crew for Bison football and volleyball and basketball in the winter. Stephanie’s husband, Ryan, is the assistant director for the Bison media relations 
 
Jason Bushie is the hockey athletic trainer at Colorado College
 
Chris Myrold is a Tennis Pro on Nevis Island in the West Indies
 
Kyle Buchmeier is a Tennis Pro at the Reed-Sweatt Family Tennis Center in Minneapolis
 
Erika Wheelhouse is serving in the Peace Corp in the Philippines.
 
Jarrett Butenhoff is serving our country with the U.S. Navy
 
Joshua Butenhoff is serving our country on a Submarine with the Pacific Fleet with the US Navy.
 
Alan Mart, 2009 Crookston High School graduate, is currently serving his country for the US Army as a Cavalry Scout in Afghanistan.
 
Peter Cournia is a 2002 Crookston High School Graduate and also a grad of West Point and is currently is serving in the U.S. Army.
 
Erik Ellingson is serving our country with the U.S. Air Force at Minot.
 
Philip Kujawa class of 2004 from Crookston Central is stationed at Hohnfels in Germany for the next 2 or 3 years.
 
Scott Riopelle is head of Crookston Parks and Recreation
 
Rob Sobolik is the General Manager of the Fargodome