1972 Legion State Champs Reunite

On Saturday, July 2, players from the state champion 1972 New Rockford Legion Baseball team gathered for their half century reunion.

They were joined by the 1996, 1997 and 1998 Black Sox teams, celebrating a quarter century since they qualified for the state tournament three years running.

Herb Hofer, second baseman for the team in '72 and assistant coach in '97 and '98, helped organize the reunion and began the event with a slideshow presentation.

The players and their families reminisced about life in the '70s and '90s, shared laughs about their fashion choices at the time, and reminded themselves of their respective teams' success.

In 1972, New Rockford ended the regular season with a respectable 10-5 record, but took their play to another level when it mattered most.

"What I remember most is that it was kind of unexpected," recalled Hofer. "We kind of snuck up on everybody. Nobody in the state had really heard of us, but we had guys from a couple different towns and they all came together about the middle of the season on, and did pretty well all the way through the state tournament."

The team qualified for the State Class B Tournament held in Casselton thanks to stand-out performances in their district and regional playoff tournaments - the rest, as they say, is history.

The championship game was played against a strong American Legion Team from Fairmount, but they weren't stronger than New Rockford that day, allowing the locals to head home with a 4-1 win.

An article published in the "New Rockford Transcript" on August 9, 1972, tells exactly how they pulled it off:

"New Rockford had only four hits but made them all count; Guler had two each and Len Vetsch and Christopherson one each. Both Schmid and Guler had masterful control as each issued but one walk during their stay on the mound.

"For Schmid it was his second win in two days. The entire team played with great poise; with no sign of championship-game pressure."

Hofer recalled the feeling he had late in the game, after Gordy Schmid had reached his inning limit on the mound and was relieved by Tim Guler.

"I think my favorite moment was in the sixth or seventh inning, when a guy realized, 'hey, we are going to do this,'" said Hofer. "... When Tim was coming in we knew we were going to have a pretty good shot."

Roughly 25 years later, the SNR Black Sox found themselves in contention for state championships.

In 1996, 1997 and 1998, Head Coach Jamie Risovi, along with assistant coaches Rick Swenson and Herb Hofer, led the team to three consecutive state tournaments.

During those three years, the Black Sox boasted an impressive 111-32 record, as few in the entire state could keep up with their offense.

"We were all hitting," said Dan Larson, first baseman for the Black Sox in 1996. "We didn't have much pitching but we out-hit every team."

That's not what Larson believes to be the primary reason for his team's success, however.

"There were just 11 guys on the team, so everyone played everything," he said. "We definitely spent so many summers together leading up to that, and then we had coaches that gave us endless amounts of their time. Jamie Risovi did everything to make us better and to give us the best experience we ever had."

In a speech at Saturday's reunion, which took place at the Eagles Club, Larson added that much of their success came thanks to the merging of Sheyenne and New Rockford, which he also thanked Risovi for.

Every player at the reunion, whether from the championship winning team in 1972 or the teams of the mid to late '90s, were asked to stand and be recognized for the success they brought to their communities all those years ago.

Some of the players later took to the diamond on Sunday for some batting practice and catch at the New Rockford ballpark, before taking part in the Fourth of July parade with their own float on Monday.

Congratulations to the players for all the success they brought to New Rockford and the surrounding community!