Athletics thletics A Dragon Athletics
Austin went to sudden death. I asked coach Kerrigan what should we do if we get the tip? Do you want us to go right down and shoot it? He said ‘shoot it.’ We got the tip, and I dribbled right down to the top of the key and made it. Game over. I was never bashful about shooting!” The coaching tandem of Kerrigan, a music major from St. Olaf, and MacLeod, a seasoned World War II veteran and skilled basketball and baseball player at Mayville State, was an unusual but highly productive blend. “They worked very well together,” said Serum. “Kerrigan was more of a psychologist than a tactician, and MacLeod came in and filled that void very well. Larry was very knowledgeable and did a good job.” “Jim Akason was arguably the star of the team, and later played at North Dakota State,” said Hesby. “Jim and I knew each other since we were four years old and both started in the ninth grade. He was always the mature guy and a good player.” Hesby had ample praise for Serum and Thompson as well. “Dale was a good player; he played smart. He was a late maturing guy with big hands, and he took advantage of that. He wasn’t an outside shooter, but he had a good senior season. Don played center at a shade over six feet tall. He was a tough center who could play with the bigger guys and score inside.” Hesby speaks lightly of his own role. “I guess I was an OK player. I could shoot the ball a little, and was quick enough. At 5-9 and 160 pounds you better have some quickness or you’re not going to play much. I was alright.” Athletics were always a rallying point for Halstad. “They started six-man football when we were juniors, so I played a couple of years,” Hesby said. “We were pretty good but didn’t get to play many games. Baseball was big stuff. We played town ball when we
were 15, and by the time we were in high school, we were pretty good and went to the state tournament in 1950. I played third base, centerfield, which I really liked, and later at MS, I played second. In high school we did a little track stuff, too. I kid people that I was the District 30 high hurdles champion.” Halstad was still relishing its role of Goliath at the basketball tournament when the Pirates added more luster to their trophy case by capturing the 1952 Minnesota State High School Baseball Championship. Ironically, Halstad defeated Austin 9-2 in the championship game and Hesby, who drained the winning field goal in the basketball showdown with the Packers, caught the final out on a fly ball to centerfield. MacLeod was appointed head basketball coach at Moorhead State College in 1954 and would soon be joined by a couple of his former players. Hesby left Valley City State after a brief stay and Serum, a transfer from North Dakota State, forged rewarding athletic careers and secured their degrees at State. For many, it was the best of times. “I enjoyed my time at Moorhead State; I had a chance to start a couple of years and had fun,” Hesby said. When MacLeod joined Moorhead State, it opened the door for Serum. “I was border line in basketball, but I wanted to play, and I thought I had a better chance over there. I was very happy to play for him, and one of the reasons I went there was because of Larry. I thought he was a very good coach, and he was also a close family friend.” Hesby and Serum filled starting roles with the Dragons in both basketball and baseball. Hesby spent 35 years teaching mathematics at Wayzata while Thompson retired after a lengthy teaching career at Mahnomen. A starting catcher for the Pirates’ state championship team and later a fixture in the Dragon starting lineup, Serum attracted serious attention from major league scouts.
“In college Joe McDermont of the Yankees had scouted me, and I was all set to go to Grand Forks and play for the Grand Forks Chiefs, but I had only one quarter of school left, and I turned it down.” Serum moved to Alexandria after graduation and served as both director of recreation and athletic director at Alexandria High School. While his dreams of a major league career never materialized, Dale later had the good fortune to watch son Gary become a member of the Minnesota Twins starting rotation in the late 1970s. John Haugo starred at nearby Waubun High School in the early 1950s and had a front row seat to watch the magic unfold at Halstad. Now, after nearly 60 years, he still vividly remembers those special Pirates of yesteryear. “They were a legend in their own time,” marveled Haugo, a 2006 inductee into the Dragon Hall of Fame. “They were true gentlemen. They went to State in baseball, too, but most of those guys also ran on the track team. They were wholesome kids, and even when you lost to them, you know they played it to the hilt and were very good sportsmen.” “Even today, I run into people who ask me where I was born and when I graduated,” Serum said. “When I tell them Halstad, they ask me if I was a part of that team. They (still) remember it.” The story never gets old. If Hesby has any regrets, it’s that his career unfolded too soon. “The three-point shot revolutionalized the game; it’s an entirely different game today. I would have loved to play with the three-point. Now, it’s encouraged; years ago outside shooting wasn’t.” Still, after all these years, he can still loft up an occasional long shot. “I’ll be 77 this summer, but I’ve been going to the Ridgedale YMCA close by where I live for 19 years, every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I quit playing golf years ago; I can get five times the exercise in one fifth the time. I can hardly do anything, but if I’ve got room, I can still put it up.” > LARRY SCOTT, Athletics Columnist and Retired Sports Information Director
Alumnews Winter 2011
35