Happy Thanksgiving!!!
This past year has been an interesting, challenging, rollercoaster, and at times a terrible year. At the same time, we have seen a lot of great things. We have seen kids enjoying going to school. Kids have loved competing in high school activities and just competing (win or lose) has been a joy. Kind of what high school sports is supposed to be (something kids are doing for the “fun” of it.
I am going to go through what KROX and Chris Fee are thankful for, especially this year.
- RiverView Health – Dr. Fasharo and all the nurses and staff that took care of my dad while he was there for nine days while battling COVID. We are also thankful for all the doctors, nurses, and staff of all healthcare facilities. They have gone far above and beyond what they are “expected” to do. They are heroes and we will be forever grateful for their efforts.
- Activity Directors – The Activity Directors in the area have had a difficult start to the school year with hundreds of postponements and cancelations in northwest Minnesota alone. They found ways to give their teams the most games possible. It was a long three month fall sports season and this month-long pause is tough for teams, but also a time for the A.D’s to catch their breath before the winter sports season.
- KROX advertisers/sponsors – Again, it has been a tough year for many businesses in Crookston and around the area. Throughout the entire COVID pandemic, the businesses have been great to us and we couldn’t be more grateful to them during this time and we remind you to shop LOCAL first this holiday season. They are great people and give back so much to the communities!
- KROX listeners/website visitors – We are thankful for all of our faithful KROX Radio listeners (they are truly the best!!!) and our website visitors. We continue to build our listenership numbers with the addition of broadcasting KROX on 92.1FM in Grand Forks/East Grand Forks. Our online listeners continue to grow as well. The website visitors continue to grow even without sports for most of the last nine months!
- Volunteers – We are thankful for volunteers in the communities. Volunteers are so important to each community in the KROX area. I look at an Ecumenical Thanksgiving Dinner that is served by a group of Crookston families. It is a free meal and anywhere from five to eight families put it on each year. People that don’t have anybody to celebrate Thanksgiving with, don’t have the financial means, or anybody that wants a meal can get one every Thanksgiving. There are so many stories like this across all the communities in the area and we are so thankful for all the volunteers that help out in our communities.
- KROX employees – We are lucky to have the best group of employees at KROX! We have been blessed by people that get KROX’s commitment to the communities we serve. While employees come and go throughout the years, KROX doesn’t change and our employees are a huge reason. I was in quarantine a few weeks ago and KROX didn’t miss a beat. While I did a lot from home and phone, our employees stepped up as they have the last nine months and most people didn’t know I was gone.
- Family – One positive aspect of the shutdowns is the fact we have been able to spend more time with family than we normally do. I have enjoyed having the kids around and seeing them for more than a few minutes a day. I will admit, it has been nice being home more often at night.
- Technology – Technology has allowed us to have meetings through Zoom or Google, etc. Technology has allowed us to video stream sporting events. Technology has allowed church services to stream and we have been carrying church services on KROX for a long-time, but now there are options for every church to reach as many people as possible in a time when god and positive messages are needed more than ever before.
That is just a small list of what we are thankful for. Once again have a Happy Thanksgiving!!
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I am happy to report that my dad (Frank) is back home after nine days in the hospital after getting COVID-19 and pneumonia. He still has a long way to go before he is fully recovered, but he is happy to be home and celebrated his 71st birthday on Wednesday.
Frank would like to thank EVERYBODY for their prayers, thoughts, cards, and everything else over the last several weeks. Everybody that has reached out to him directly, through me, social media and everything else had a huge impact on him getting better.
So thank you to everybody and it is APPRECIATED more than you know!!
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Fosston Greyhound Volleyball’s Tayor Kroening (a senior) passed 1,000 career digs last week.
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JOKES
Here are some bad Thanksgiving jokes –
Q: What always comes at the end of Thanksgiving?
A: The G.
Q: Why did the turkey refuse dessert?
A: He was already stuffed.
Q: Why was the turkey asked to join a band?
A: He could bring his own drumsticks.
Q: If Pilgrims traveled on the Mayflower, what do college students travel on?
A: Scholar ships.
Q: Why did the farmer have to separate the chicken and the turkey?
A: He sensed fowl play.
Q: What happened to the turkey that got in a fight?
A: He got the stuffing knocked out of him!
Q: Is it possible for the turkey to jump higher than the Empire State Building?
A: Yes, because a building cannot jump anyway.
Q: Why was the turkey put in jail?
A: The police suspected fowl play.
Q: Why did the turkey bring a microphone to dinner?
A: He was ready for a roast.
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How are former Crookston Pirates athletes doing in college or elsewhere?
****LET ME KNOW OF OTHERS TO ADD TO THE LIST email me at chrisjfee@yahoo.com
Brady Butt is a freshman playing football at the University of Jamestown.
Paul Bittner is playing for the Cleveland Monsters, the AHL affiliate of the Columbus Bluejacket.
Brady Heppner, is playing hockey for the Roanoke Raildogs in the SPHL.
Aleece Durbin, is a Junior on the University of North Dakota Women’s Track and Field team.
Brita Fagerlund, is a Senior on the University of Jamestown Jimmy Women’s Track team.
Ben Trostad, is a Junior member of the University of Minnesota Crookston golf team.
Elise Tangquist, is a Senior golfer for the University of Northwestern in St. Paul.
Mason LaPlante, a sophomore, is playing soccer at the University of Jamestown.
Rachel Hefta, a Sophmore, is playing volleyball at Hastings College in Nebraska.
Cade Salentine is a redshirt Freshman playing football at the University of North Dakota.
Nick Garmen, is a sophomore playing basketball and tennis at the University of Minnesota Morris.
Caden Osborn, is a freshman playing basketball at the University of Minnesota Morris.
Thea Oman, a sophomore, is swimming at St. Ben’s.
Crookston School District Coaches –
Emily Meyer is a girls hockey and softball assistant coach.
Carrie Clauson is a Junior High girls tennis 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
Cody Brekken is the Head Pirate Girls and Boys Tennis coach and Crookston Community Pool Supervisor
Marley Melbye is the Head Girls Swimming coach
Mitch Bakken is the head Pirate 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
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 a youth wrestling Coach
Blake Fee is an assistant wrestling coach
Colton Weiland is an assistant wrestling coach
Non-Crookston High School coaching –
Cody Weiland is an assistant wrestling coach at Proctor/Hermantown
Kaylee Desrosier is a softball coach for Fargo Davies Middle School.
Justin Johnson is an assistant softball coach at the University of Minnesota Crookston.
Josh Edlund is an assistant football coach and phy ed teacher at Flandreau, South Dakota.
Allison Lindsey Axness is Assistant Varsity Volleyball Coach in Champlin Park
Jeff Olson is Head Wrestling coach and Head Baseball coach at Delano.
Jake Olson is an Assistant Football Coach and Head Boys Tennis coach at Delano.
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
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.
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 High School. He is an Army recruiter in Rochester.
Scott Riopelle is head of Crookston Parks and Recreation
Rob Sobolik is the General Manager of the Fargodome
That’s it for this week. Thanks for the comments and if you have anything to add or share, please e-mail chrisjfee@yahoo.com or call. Thanks for reading and listening to KROX RADIO and kroxam.com
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