Dear Crookston Community,
Almost 32 years ago I graduated from Crookston Central High School, that seems like a long time. This past Tuesday I was lucky enough to return as the Bagley Flyer’s Boys Basketball JV Coach and Varsity Assistant. Of course, this isn’t the first time I’ve been back since graduating…I have been numerous times to visit friends and attend games that my two kids Peyton and Ethan have played in. But this was different. Having grown up in Mentor, I had the opportunity to choose what high school I wanted to attend when I reached 7th grade. Of course my parents had their idea of which school they thought was best, let’s just say we weren’t in agreement. After some discussion and with a few stipulations, I was ultimately allowed to make the decision for myself and I chose Crookston. Being a “new kid” in a much bigger town than I grew up in was intimidating and I quickly realized that sports would be my way of fitting in. 7th Grade football was my first attempt. Being a part of that team helped me belong and helped me start to develop lasting friendships that are still important to me today. Having coaches that took an interest in teaching me the game and how to be a good teammate has had a profound effect on my life. I was incredibly fortunate to have coaches throughout my 7th-12th grade football, basketball, tennis and track seasons that continued to teach me life lessons along with being excellent and caring coaches, some of whom I still keep in contact with.
I had the chance to coach 4 years of elementary basketball when I lived in Argyle and I helped out one year coaching my daughter’s 4th grade team in Bagley. Last year when the opportunity presented itself to become the Bagley JV Boys coach, I had a long conversation with my wife Lori about how I had wanted to get back into coaching at some point and how it would change our lives. As she always has been, she was 100% supportive of this dream of mine and also brought up the most important point…it wasn’t about how it would change our lives but how I could be a positive influence and change the lives of the boys I’d be coaching. She was right. I thought back to all of the coaches I’d had, the impact they had on me and the memories of being on all of those teams. We agreed… I had to do it!
As a coach, I’ve quickly realized that it’s much harder than you think to teach your team to do what you want them to or what they should do and I’ve also realized how much anguish I must have caused my coaches by the way I played. During the past two seasons it has been very rewarding to see these kids’ improvements and watch them grow as players and young men. The boys on the team know I played at Crookston, they honored my request of dressing up for the trip to my alma mater and they played their hearts out to come away with a 1 point win. Adam Broten, the Bagley head coach referred to it as my “Super Bowl”. Chris Fee acknowledged my homecoming on the radio and the fact that he and I were teammates during my senior/his sophomore year. As I was walking past the scorers table I heard a familiar voice call out “Matt!”, it was one of my former coaches Rod Olson who I was able to visit with briefly. It was a wonderful full circle night for me to come back and coach at the place that has given me so much. I doubt there were many people in the stands on Tuesday night that remember when I played… but I remember.
I remember the coaches who spent their time and energy with me and the bus drivers that brought us safely to games and home again, I remember the teachers who taught me, I remember countless fun times with my classmates, I remember all of the parents of my teammates that graciously offered me a place to stay or invited me for meals before our games because my home was 30 minutes away, I remember the Mentor mom who picked me up every morning before school for 7th grade basketball and drove us to Crookston so her son Mike and I would never miss a practice, I remember the many teammates I had that shared in the successes and failures as athletes, I remember Jerry Dahlberg and Frank Fee who dedicatedly broadcast our games on KROX radio, I remember the fans and the community that cheered for me and embraced that little kid from Mentor.
Thank you to all of you! The older I get the more I appreciate the influence you had on me and how it has shaped my life. Crookston is a wonderful community and I know how lucky I am to have experienced that. I still follow Pirate athletics, I feel proud when they have success, I feel sad when they struggle and I always will. Best of luck to all of the Crookston Pirate teams and thank you again to all of you community members and businesses who support them and supported me.
I LOVE YOU ALL
Matt Proulx
Crookston Pirate
Class of ‘92
