Thousands of Moorhead Spuds, from vintage grads to the current crop, came together after Christmas to share a last hurrah for the old Moorhead High School gym.
Dec. 27 was a night to celebrate the generations of memories made in the venerable facility. Dubbed a “decommissioning event,” the evening included matches between the girls and boys basketball teams and the Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton Rebels. The Spuds won both semi-final games in the annual holiday tournament – the women, 62-36, and the men, 74-44. (Playing the next night in the brand-new gymnasium 100 yards to the north, the Spud boys won the tournament by topping Roseville, 90-81, while the girls team fell to DeLaSalle, 44-65.)
But Wednesday’s biggest winners were the throng of old classmates and friends who packed into the gym. Among them were hundreds of former athletes and their coaches, as well as musicians who’d played with the Spud pep band during their own high school days. As Larry Knutson, the “Voice of the Spuds” since 1979, announced the games, the stands buzzed with men and women reconnecting years after they first forged bonds.
Among those honored were members of the first boys team who competed there in 1967-68 and the first girls basketball squad. That team was assembled in 1973-74 after passage of the federal Title IX statutes, led by the late coach Paula Bauck.