News & Articles

At Denfeld Hall of Fame, Pat Francisco demonstrated playing first bass...or was it the cello? -John Gilbert

Scott Gernander, played baseball, football and basketball before becoming outstanding coach. - John Gilberts photo

The aftermath of the Penn State scandal surrounding assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky’s sexual molestation of at least 10 young boys over a 15-year period, continues. Sandusky is in prison, for life, we assume. Penn State’s president, vice president, and athletic director are dismissed in disgrace for agreeing to suppress the reporting of Sandusky’s hideous trail of the worst criminal conduct. And coach Joe Paterno was fired, and died, but continues to be disgraced because he promoted covering up the scandal for the sake of the Nittany Lions reputation.

   It is absolute overkill how vindictive the American public and sports media have been in trying to heap disgrace and punishment on Penn State’s football program. We can all agree that the law says anyone who knows anything, or suspects anything, about child molestation must report it to authorities or is guilty of violating the law as well, and at Penn State, they blew it.

   With that in mind, let’s reread a story on the front page of the Minneapolis Star Tribune last Thursday. It was well-written by Abby Simons, and told the story of Jim Keenan, 45, who claimed he had repressed memories about being sexually abused and molested by a former priest, Thomas Adamson, in 1980 or 1981, when Adamson was serving at Church of the Risen Savior in Burnsville. Adamson was defrocked in 1984.

   Keenan filed a lawsuit six years ago against the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, and the Diocese of Winona, claiming church officials there knew of the sexual abuses and covered it up. The church’s defense was that the six-year statute of limitations had run out, and Ramsey District Judge Gregg Johnson agreed, dismissing the case in 2010, ruling the repressed-memory stance was unreliable. But a Court of Appeals ruled in favor of Keenan and his attorney, Jeff Anderson, and reversed that ruling a year ago, only to have the Minnesota Supreme Court overturn the Court of Appeals decision last week.

   In the course of the litigation, the Star Tribune article says, Anderson obtained an archdiocesan list of 33 priests who had been accused of sexual abuse involving minors, and the Diocese of Winona has a similar list of 13 more such abusers. That’s 46 priests who have been accused of sexually molesting children. The Ramsey district judge ruled those lists should be sealed, pending the outcome of the Minnesota Supreme Court’s decision on the case.

    However, last week the Minnesota Supreme Court threw out the lawsuit by a 4-2 vote, with the majority saying repressed memory is not scientifically established. By throwing out the lawsuit,  the list of 33 priests in the Twin Cities and 13 in the Winona Diocese, will, incredibly enough, remain sealed indefinitely.

    How can that be? If it is a law that anyone knowing or suspecting child sexual abuse must report it, how can the Catholic Church and its regional hierarchy justify putting together a list of priests accused of sexual abuse of youngsters, and not have to make it public? How can they be innocent while knowingly suppressing this information?

   Where are the protests demanding dismissals, trials, and prison sentences for the succession of priests, cardinals, or whatever, in the Archdiocese of Minneapolis and St. Paul and the Diocese of Winona, who presumably put together and knew of some or all of the 46 abusers? Where is the media outcry from all those righteous, anti-Penn State columnists and editorialists who rightfully ripped Jerry Sandusky for using his power as a football assistant coach to abuse kids, and why aren’t they responding similarly to the dozens of cases of child sexual abuse by priests right here in Minnesota?

   In Rochester, Minnesota, former priest Thomas Adamson, age 79, is living his life, and despite being named in multiple lawsuits, he has never faced criminal charges. Maybe he feels lucky to have gotten away from all but his conscience. We can only wonder what he was thinking about as he watched, listened to, and read about the avalanche of venom aimed at Jerry Sandusky’s trial, and Penn State in the aftermath. Maybe he sympathizes with Jerry Sandusky, knowing his fate would have been a lot better if he had been a priest, rather than just a college football assistant coach.


HOW DO YOU FEEL,
WINNING GOLD?


   The 30th Summer Olympics, or the XXX Summer Games, or the London Olympics. Whatever you want to call them, they are a wonderful diversion to the late, hot summertime. And we’re just talking about the broadcast; the games are also exciting.

   NBC-TV has the rights to the Games, and some tough choices had to be made. First, NBC knows that its ratings will suffer mightily of they show the key events live, because not a lot of American sports fans will get up at 6 or 7 a.m. to watch. So they tape the best events, and then show them during prime time, from 7 p.m. to nearly midnight.

   That, of course, has stirred up a lot of controversy, and the complaints are valid, too. I mean, if NBC is in business to give us the news, in a straightforward and objective manner, then how can it justify trying to keep the key Olympic events secret until they can be shown 12 hours after they’ve happened, on network prime time?

   To its credit, NBC has done a couple of good things. It has gone to affiliates on satellite or cable, such as NBC-Sports, and even Bravo, to show conflicting events. In some cases, you can catch live events in the morning on those stations. Even better, it is allowing its morning show to carry some stuff live in the mornings. There were some glitches. One of my favorites was when the network was keeping an event secret, but one of its entertainment shows came on and congratulated the gold medal winner -- before NBC had announced the outcome!

   Some things came out just right, through it all. By watching NBC after midnight, we saw the men’s gymnastics team final, and it was gripping, even though the U.S. was out of contention. China had it in the bag, and Japan was a strong second with the final rotation of events to go, while Great Britain was fighting it out with Ukraine for third, and the bronze. It turns out, Great Britain had not won any kind of a medal in gymnastics since 1912, and the home crowd was going properly crazy, urging its foursome on through its floor exercise. They were doing very well, when suddenly the scoreboard showed that something had happened to Japan, and the Japanese score had dropped down to fourth, just as the Brits finished a strong performance and with the crowd cheering, they were elevated to second -- the Silver medal.

   The celebrating was properly unrestrained, and then we saw what had happened. The Japanese were doing the pommel horse for their last event, and their last performer was doing what appeared to be an impressive job. He was supposed to go up into a handstand, and then do a fancy dismount of some sort. But as he rose to the handstand, suddenly he simply fell off the pommel horse. Showing impressive poise, the young athlete caught himself as he fell, and turned it into a remarkable dismount. He “stuck it,” as they say in the gymnastics biz.

   However, the judges dismissed the Japanese because of that miscue, dropping them to fourth. The head of the Japanese delegation hustled to complete some proper paperwork, and got to the judges just in time with an official protest. The Brits were jumping around, hugging and cheering and celebrating their Silver, but then they became aware of the protest. After a lengthy delay, while the judges efficiently went about their business of watching video and analyzing what had happened, the ruling came out: The judges agreed that while the Japanese gymnast had to lose points for botching the handstand, he had come very close to completing it, and he also should get credit for a quite amazing midair recovery on the dismount.

   The Japanese team was awarded just enough points to regain second place, going from fourth to claim the Silver, which bumped Great Britain from Silver to Bronze, and poor Ukraine from Bronze to nothing. But from everything I saw, they got it right.

    There were a few controversies, and maybe none bigger than the U.S. women’s soccer team, which was being covered by analyst Brandi Chastain, a former star defender best known for pulling off her jersey and running around in her sports-underwear when her team won Gold. She rated the U.S. victory an A-minus, and named one defender for playing poorly. Current U.S. goalkeeper Hope Solo went to bat by tweeting that Ms. Chastain should brush up on her knowledge of the game, and that the game has changed since she played, and she had no business singling out one player for being the worst. That caused Chastain to defend herself for her objectivity, while Solo suggested that the team deserved praise for winning and heading for its fourth straight Gold.

   That’s where we’re at in sports -- television broadcasters are so accepted as boosters and cheerleaders that athletes over-react whenever they are criticized. Neither Brandi Chastain nor Hope Solo is wrong in this one. But one thing would seem certain: Ms. Solo will probably play her absolute best from here on, just because she has properly deflected criticism from a teammate, and focused attention right on her job in goal. If she lets in any goals, it will be interesting to see if Brandi Chastain gets on her case.

    Otherwise, most of the interviews are tossing wiffle-ball-soft questions to the athletes. When teenage phenom Missy Franklin won a Gold medal, a breathless woman with an NBC microphone elicited my favorite answer so far when she asked, “What’s it like to win?” To which, Missy Franklin said, “Unbelievable.”

    Great answer; terrible question. Any announcer who ever interviews an athlete by saying, “What was your emotion as you won?” Or, “What were you thinking as you scored that game-winning goal, or basket?” Or, “Talk about that winning goal...” That last one is the worst, because it’s not even a question. Television sports has led us to this precipice of leaving rational thought behind. Everything is for a sound-bite. And try, their producers must be telling them, to get them to talk about their emotions. A skilled reporter can ask a question about a specific event, or play, or maneuver, or tactical execution that the athlete did, and by asking a good question, can lure the athlete into an explanation in which he or she will gush about the play, enriching the viewer’s appreciation for the key play, while getting the player to display all kinds of emotion by the response.

   I’ve had enough swimming, and while I admire diving, I can’t believe there is an official sport called “synchronized diving.” But I’m hooked on watching as much of the Olympics as possible -- and we’re not even to the track events yet, which are by far the most exciting.


DENFELD HALL
OF FAME


   Denfeld High School inducted 20 more alumni into its Hall of Fame last Saturday, and it was a very nice ceremony that included everyone from former teacher Janet Peterson, still full of fire at age 98, to Greg Anderson, who might be entering a bit early, since he currently is at the top of his profession of Pro Stock drag-racing, and will be making his 200-mph runs at Brainerd International Raceway in about two weeks.

   The group included a number of past coaches and teachers, plus familiar media stars such as Jack McKenna, Joyce Lamont, and Duluth Budgeteer scion Dick Palmer.

   But hockey ruled the day, as former hockey standouts Pat Francisco, Gary Harker, and Robb Stauber all were inducted. Francisco starred at Denfeld and then UMD when the Bulldogs first went Division I, and he has continued in a strong behind-the-scenes role promoting Heritage Center’s development, and a constantly positive force for area hockey and sports achievement. Harker has played and coached, and is still an NHL scout. Stauber, of course, is Denfeld’s biggest name in hockey, goaltending the Hunters to their first state tournament appearance in 1986, then starring for the Gophers. Stauber’s Gophers won two WCHA titles with Stauber in goal, and reached Frozen Fours in all three years he played. He also was the first goaltender to win the Hobey Baker Award as the nation’s best hockey player in 1988.

   Francisco told a great story about a youngster in a hockey school he was instructing, who said his mom remembered when Francisco played the cello in the school orchestra. Francisco, who had hoped the kid might recall his hockey accolades, drily explained that it was a bass, a big bass, not a cello. There were those who thought Pat fiddled while linemate Huffer Christiansen set the fires for the Bulldogs, and it turned out to be a big day for Pat the Fiddler.

   Scott Gernander, another inductee and the brother of former Greenway of Coleraine state hockey champion coach Bob Gernander, went on to star in basketball, football and baseball at Denfeld. At UMD, he played both football and basketball. Under Jim Malosky, Gernander played both quarterback and wide receiver, and may hold a record by leading the team in both touchdown passes thrown, and receptions. He also was captain, leading scorer, and MVP in basketball. He said he looked up to Pat Francisco as his idol. “I was a couple years behind him,” said Gernander. “I remember that he played the bass, so I did too. What I didn’t realize was that I had to carry the bass back and forth from school to home. My dad asked me why I wanted to play the bass, and I told him, ‘Because Pat Francisco does.’ He said, ‘Well, why don’t you have Pat Francisco come over and carry the bass for you.’”

   Gernander, by the way, said he doesn’t know how he ducked hockey and became enamored with basketball, but the youth hockey coach in his area never talked to him again. Gernander became head coach at San Jacinto Junior College in Texas, where his teams won 13 conference titles and eight regional championships, and compiled an amazing 640-158 record -- an .802 winning percentage.