Cardinal Alumni basketball tourney fun for players, fans

The tournament was very fun and probably more successful than we could have hoped for the first year. 

Not only did multiple teams register to give us a blast from the past, but players embraced the alumni theme by creating retro Cardinal jerseys, digging up old uniforms, inviting old legends to be honorary coaches (Ray Gildow, Paul Mithun), and playing with a competitive but fun and respectful spirit. 

It’s easy for people to roll their eyes with these events and act like they are above the hoopla, but every person there embraced each moment of it, from the national anthem, team announcements, awards ceremony between games, including naming Tom Wolhowe as the Most Valuable Player. 

Outside of the player involvement, the fans and parents were phenomenal. They resurrected old Cardinal cheers, donated money for admission, socialized with one another, and helped out where needed. 

All in all everyone was very respectful. Over the course of two days, there were probably a couple hundred spectators who enjoyed watching games. 

I’d like to extend a special thank you to Paul Anderson for donating his time and energy for two full days. Thanks to Craig Wolhowe for setting up everything and working on this event for months. Thank you to: the school district, custodians, players, fans and the sponsors. Sponsors included: Mid-Minnesota Federal Credit Union, Trident Seafoods, Dan Orth Insurance Agency, First International Bank and Trust, Tower Pizza, Ernie’s Food Market, SuperAmerica, Lakewood Health System, Giza Plumbing & Heating, LMH Embroidery and Thompson Land & Cattle.

We hope to hold  this event again in 2017 and only expect it to grow in popularity. After 2017, we’ll decide as a group whether to hold the event annually or every other year.