New Ulm Club celebrates 50 years of existence

By JEREMY BEHNKE

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- What started out as what could be called a little bit of competition between area newspapers has grown into what is believed to be the states longest running banquet honoring student-athletes.

The New Ulm Club celebrates its 50th anniversary on April 3 at Martin Luther College with St. John's football coach John Gagliardi as the guest speaker. The idea of the banquet came from then Journal Sports Editor Herb Schaper, who saw that Mankato held a similar event honoring its athletes, and Schaper envisioned New Ulm doing something similar.

"I saw that Mankato had one, so I thought we could do the same thing," Schaper said.

The club honors senior letterwinners from New Ulm High School, New Ulm Cathedral, and Minnesota Valley Lutheran. From there, a girl and a boy from each high school are chosen as Athlete of the Year.

A total of 4,624 athletes have been honored in the history of the event.

Schaper felt having the event was a good idea, even though New Ulm wasn't exactly a hotbed for sports when it started in 1955.

"Motivation was a factor," Schaper said. "New Ulm didn't have a successful sports reputation at the time. "We asked, 'what can we do to stimulate the kids to be letterwinners'?"

The program was originally part of a national organization with stricter rules, but the club wanted to set its own rules and broke free about 15 years later.

Schaper also said that the club had a hard time making ends meet in the beginning, but the addition of a souvenir program and bringing in high-profile speakers made the banquet more successful.

"We struggled in the early years," he said. "We had a hard time making financial ends meet, so we got the idea to sell a souvenir program. We went after the big speakers. The first major non-Minnesotan speaker we had was Rev. Bob Richards, who was an Olympic pole vaulter."

Other guest speakers included Jesse Owens (1961), WCCO's Mark Rosen in 1989, and former Viking quarterback and current ESPN football analyst Sean Salisbury in 1993.

To help the club become more successful, Schaper, along with Don Gollnast and Harold Fenske, went downtown to all the businesses and sold advertising, which also helped financially.

Schaper said the club, which has had 250 members, hasn't changed much over the years, other than with the addition of girls sports in 1975. Some of the athletes have gone on and achieved success in the collegiate and professional ranks. Among the more famous of this group is Terry Steinbach (NUHS, 1980), who played for the University of Minnesota collegiately and with the Oakland A's and Minnesota Twins professionally for 14 years. Steph Klaviter, a graduate of New Ulm Cathedral in 1995, pitched for the Gophers and later played professionally.

Jim Unke, the current president of the club, said that there is a fair amount of staff and a lot of willing helpers with everyone pitching in. Unke will emcee the event.

John Vetter, the athletic director at Cathedral and a member of the club for 20 years, said the club contributes money to each of the three schools. He thinks that being able to draw Gagliardi is good for the club.

"I would think so," Vetter said. "This was really the year to get him, because he won a national championship and set the record for wins. We've tried to get him for a couple of years, but this year we're thankful to get him."

This year the club is also honoring the athletes of the year from 50 years ago and from 25 years ago.

Schaper, who estimates he has missed maybe one or two of the banquets, left little doubt to whether he'd be there for the 50th.

"Oh yeah," he said.