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Trophy Case

Trophy Case / By Rod Kausen

Gene Cotter's Basketball Jones

(September 16, 2021) "Then one day my momma bought me a basketball and I loved that basketball; I got a basketball jones." — "Basketball Jones," by Cheech Marin and Tommy Chong I...

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Trophy Case / By Rod Kausen

To Choke

(August 19, 2021) I watched a home high school sectional basketball game years ago against a very athletic team from the Bay Area. The game came down to the final minute and one...

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Trophy Case / By Rod Kausen

Of Basketball and Role Models

(July 22, 2021) The first time I met Jain Tuey, she was starting her freshman year at Fortuna High School, where I was teaching. After work, I ran into her dad Skip at...

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Trophy Case / By Rod Kausen

The Race to Bring Horse Racing Back to the Fair

(July 1, 2021) The Humboldt County Fair homepage says, "While there are still uncertainties as we move through 2021, plans to have a full fair including horse racing, vendors, carnival, exhibits and...

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Trophy Case / By Rod Kausen

Thoughts on Winning

(June 17, 2021) Watching the NCAA Track Championships last weekend, I witnessed an athlete win a title and position herself for an Olympic team berth. I'd coached an athlete who competed evenly against...

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Trophy Case / By Rod Kausen

Coach Leonard Casanova's Lucky Roll

(May 20, 2021) My old man grew up a couple years behind the Casanova brothers on the outskirts of Ferndale in the early 1900s. All through my growing up my dad admired them...

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Trophy Case / By Rod Kausen

The Fastest of the Fast

Sprinters from throughout HDNL history

(April 29, 2021) My virtual 100-meter dash is composed of two heats of eight sprinters from the Humboldt-Del Norte League record books (16 fast boys) and then the finals, made of the...

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Trophy Case / By Rod Kausen

Kids and Sports

Why don't they play like they used to?

(April 15, 2021) Plenty of adults label this generation of kids as lazy and spoiled. That is what older generations do: label the younger generations as not as tough as they were —...

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Trophy Case / By Rod Kausen

High School Sports Revisited

(March 18, 2021) March 4 brought more hope to high school sports and to youth and club sports. It also brought a lot of confusion. The California Interscholastic Federation has agreed that all...

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Trophy Case / By Rod Kausen

Quarterback Rich Mayo

(March 11, 2021) With the local high school football teams scheduled to begin amid these strange times, it seems like a good time to reflect on a Humboldt County football legend. Raised on...

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Trophy Case / By Rod Kausen

Junior Albers was a Contender

(February 4, 2021) Born in 1951, Wilfred Albers Jr. learned to fend for himself at the dinner table as one of nine children. Then, as a Yurok tribal member growing up in Eureka,...

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Trophy Case / By Rod Kausen

Pitchers — Past and Future

(January 21, 2021) Recently I spoke with the best pitcher in baseball, this year's American League Cy Young award winner Shane Bieber, who was in town visiting his girlfriend's family. He is a...

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Trophy Case / By Rod Kausen

The Scoop

A sports reporter of a bygone era

(January 7, 2021) As a 15-year-old student at Eureka High School in the roaring '20s, Laurence Beal got a job with the Humboldt Times newspaper as a part-time high school sports reporter and...

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Trophy Case / By Rod Kausen

Cinder Elta

(December 24, 2020) After breakfast at the Blue Room on the outskirts of Ferndale, my dad was taking me to see a group of turtles his friend Menard Hendrickson had found in a...

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Trophy Case / By Rod Kausen

The Death of Leo Gallagher

And 16 years without Fortuna High Football

(December 10, 2020) These three headlines tell a story: "Ferndale Invades Fortuna," Humboldt Times, Nov. 3, 1928. "Fortuna High Student Dies after Football Accident," Humboldt Times, Nov. 5, 1928. "Leo Gallagher Funeral...

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