1 week Ago By Scott Mansch
(Note: Juhl Erickson was an exceptional athlete at Westbrook, graduating from high school in 1991. A 6-2 point guard, Juhl and the W-WG Chargers of head coach Steve Kjorness lost only two basketball games in the 1990-91 season. One setback came in a holiday tourney game to Windom by a 48-43 margin.
The other didn’t happen until the Class A state championship game, when perennial power Chisholm edged the Chargers in overtime. Though Juhl played on highly successful prep football and baseball teams, it’s that sensational senior basketball campaign for which he’s remembered the most. Among the Chargers highly memorable victories that winter were triumphs against outstanding teams from Russell-Tyler-Ruthton, Jackson, Dawson-Boyd, Marshall and Fairmont.
Juhl’s family has continued to make basketball memories in recent years in Windom. That’s where we caught up with him for our latest Conversation with Scott.) Scott: Hello, Juhl.
ADVERTISEMENT Juhl: Nice to talk to you, Mr. Mansch. Q: Likewise.
What do you do for a living in Windom? A: I was a banker for 25 years here at Bank Midwest and last Labor Day I came to work for an organization that I had known and respected for a long time: Staples Oil. I’m their CFO. So I’m a short-timer at Staples Oil, but I’m a long-timer in Windom.
ADVERTISEMENT Q: Tell me about your family. I know you have two sons who are great athletes, Henry and Charles. Do you and your wife (Angie) have other children? A: Yes.
We have a daughter Sydney, who will turn 26 in June. She’s an attorney in Cedar Rapids. And Shelby is 23 and in her first year of law school at the University of Maine.
So I’m not sure why, maybe there was a lot of arguing at home (laughs), but the two girls got into law. Henry is a sophomore at Hamline, and Charlie is finishing up his senior year. Q: Is Angie a Westbrook girl? A: She is.
We’re a year apart. Her family owned Wester’s Locker. She was Angie Wester.
ADVERTISEMENT Q: Probably Angie was quite an athlete too? A: You know what, her dad played a lot of sports at Walnut Grove. Angie was more into the arts. My kids picked up a lot of their arts, music and things from her.
Q: Are your folks still living in Westbrook? What did your father do? A: Both of my folks (Franklin and Judeen) are in their mid-80s and doing well. I’m grateful for that. They’re still on the farm north of Westbrook, and my brother farms too.
I think my folks, between football and basketball here, missed only one of their grandson's games. Very grateful for that. Angie’s folks live in Willmar now and they don’t miss a game or an event, either.
ADVERTISEMENT Q: Well I don’t really know any Juhls, besides you. Where did that name come from? A: (Laughs) It was a family name. My dad was raised in a household with his folks and a couple of uncles.
He was really close with one of those uncles, and his name was Henry Juhl Erickson. So then we were able to honor him as well with our Henry. Q: That’s awesome.
How far back do your roots go in Westbrook? Was your dad born and raised there? ADVERTISEMENT A: Yes, for sure. The Ericksons go back many generations. Dad was born and raised there.
My grandpa was born and raised there, and his dad was born and raised there. So yes, the Ericksons go way back. And you could say similar things about my mom.
She grew up between Westbrook and Walnut Grove. Q: Well, how come you’re not a farmer like your dad and those who came before you? A: (Laughs) My brother Jason is five years older and he beat me to it, I think. He was always back at the farm.
He was a two-way starter on the ‘85 Westbrook football team coached by Bill White who won the state championship. (Pauses) I became a banker and always thought I would migrate back to the farm, but kids came and things got busier and I enjoyed what I was doing. I still used to get in the tractor at times, and when my brother’s family grew and got older I realized there wasn’t a real need for me to be back there.
Now when I do go back it’s mostly to ride in the combine with my dad. Farming roots are always with you. You can’t really take the farm out of a person.
Q: Well, as a former Slayton High boy myself I guess I can forgive you for having your sons play for the rival Windom Eagles, but I’m sure there’s a lot of folks back in Westbrook who wish your kids had played for the fine W-WG basketball program. ADVERTISEMENT A: It’s interesting. Growing up, of course, back then the most hated rival for us was Storden-Jeffers.
And then all of a sudden we’re paired with them in football, we’re paired with them in track, and we’re paired with them in baseball. Without social media, you actually had to meet people to get to know them, and then you figured out you kind of liked these guys (laughs). So you still really wanted to beat them in basketball season.
.. but ultimately the most hated rival was always Windom.
The largest school in District 7. The one with the biggest enrollment. The old joke was they had a few stoplights and a Hardee’s or a McDonald’s, and the smaller schools had to find their way through Windom to ever move on.
And now here I am with hated Windom (laughs). But it probably took a few years to realize that this is a pretty fine place as well. And then you really want to beat the place where you grew up.
So it comes full circle (laughs). Q: Well you know, I know from my days in the old Southwest Conference that Jack Kelly (highly successful Windom basketball coach) and his teams were so dang good and we all respected him so much, but he didn’t exactly project ‘Mr. Warmth’ to rivals over there on the opposing bench.
A: You described him so well (laughs). You always had so much respect for him as an opponent. And getting to know Jack was a great thing.
When he passed a few years ago it certainly left a mark. Q: I know coach Les Knutson has written excellent stories in the Globe in the past about the great basketball teams you played on in high school, but I want to ask you this: Holy smokes, the people you played against is like a ‘Who’s who’ of southwest Minnesota high school basketball. I mean the Bouman boys of R-T-R, Jeff Nordgaard of Dawson-Boyd, Trevor Winter of Slayton.
.. A: Absolutely.
Q: And then at the state tournament your Westbrook team played against Joel McDonald of Chisholm. Man, it must make you proud that your teams were so successful against those fantastic players. A: Yes.
You know you’re literally on the football field with greatness when you see Todd Bouman, the legend (and eventual NFL quarterback), kick field goals in pregame practice. Nick Kuehl and Jason Bakke, we were all there ..
. And Todd is kicking field goals and backing up five yards and stopped when he made a 50-yarder. Then I’m trying to return the guy’s punts, and the ball is literally getting above the lights in Tyler.
The guy was unbelievable; we all know that. I’m proud to say we beat him two out of three years in football. Only played him once in basketball and that was a pretty amazing day in Westbrook.
They had been good for so long and we were trying to prove we belonged in the same sentence (Westbrook won 69-58 before a standing room-only crowd). So there’s definitely some pride in that. And then you play Trevor Winter two times a year.
I had graduated, but I remember the night in Worthington and Trevor’s team was playing Southwest Christian and in walks Clem Haskins. He turned a lot of heads. Of course Clem had just come off a great run with his Gophers and here he was recruiting a guy from our conference .
.. And now Trevor’s son (Nolan) is doing so well at the hated Wisconsin (laughs).
And of course Jeff Nordgaard’s sister’s boy is Kon Knueppel of Duke. Q: What great players Jeff and his sister were at Dawson-Boyd. And what a great player the Knueppel boy is.
A: I find a lot of this kind of stuff out, Scott, because I’ve reconnected with my old friend Shawn Fury. We played one year at Worthington Community College. Shawn (an author living in New York City) is back to Janesville often, so we connect once in a while.
He’s just got an unbelievable basketball memory. And what Jeff did at Wisconsin-Green Bay was amazing ..
. Joel McDonald is another one that I’ve followed a little bit. Our boys were at similar AAU tournaments.
Joel has always been a real gentleman. Shawn, again, interacts with the McDonalds quite often and that’s kind of how I first got in contact with Joel (who was once Minnesota’s all-time leading scorer in high school basketball). He was a wonderful player.
You know, he didn’t look like he was as good as he was. He had unbelievable strength and balance and always seemed to make a tough shot look easy. Q: Well, Shawn is a great guy.
You know, I read an old diatribe that he wrote about how, because of an old grudge, he hated Westbrook basketball until he met some of you guys (laughs). A: That’s just how it goes, doesn’t it? (Laughs) Yes, he references the 1982 Janesville team that lost to Westbrook, a close game. Tim Boeck (on the ‘82 team) is my brother-in-law.
He married my sister. So Mitch Boeck, the head boys’ coach here in Windom, is my nephew ..
.You know, talk about great players and the success our team had against those guys. How fortunate we were to have Nick Kuehl and Jason Bakke and Troy Steen and Tim Fowler.
I could go on and on. Tim, Troy and Jason were all 1,000-point scorers when they graduated. Nick was close.
To have those kind of athletes and be able to say you beat a Jeff Nordgaard, and a Todd Bouman, and a Trevor Winter, you don’t do that because of one player. You do that because of a team, and because of good coaching. So I feel pretty blessed to have had those teammates and those coaches.
To be able to play football for Bill White and then Gary Gillis, and basketball for Steve Kjorness ...
We were just so fortunate. Q: I have a high regard for the current Westbrook-WG coach, Derrick Jenniges. A: I do, too.
Q: Coach Jenniges’ son Hudsen was certainly a great player on the Westbrook team last winter. A: He absolutely was. Q: So Mr.
Fury is pretty famous, too. He knows more about the jump shot than anyone else because he wrote a book about it. Tell me, Juhl, how good WAS his jump shot? A: (Laughs) It was pretty good.
Yes, Shawn was pretty good. Of course when we were young we didn’t know he was as cerebral as he is and the amount of basketball knowledge he has without having to look it up ..
. I know Les Knutson pretty well. And he and Shawn have a similar ability to recall.
If you get those two in a room together it would be like a couple of Einsteins when it comes to basketball and sports in general. Q: Well, I think this might be the first time an old sports writer has been labeled an Einstein (laughs). Les is certainly a unique individual.
Of course, coach Knutson and the remarkable Pat Burns won a girls’ state championship at Heron Lake-Okabena back in the day. A: Les is a great guy. Q: I’ve heard a lot about Troy Steen and his baseball exploits.
He was fabulous, right? A: Yes. I haven’t stayed in touch with Troy like I should, but I did connect with him when he was inducted into Augustana’s Hall of Fame for baseball and football a few years ago. He was probably about 6-5 when I played with him, and just kept growing and growing.
I believe he ended up about 6-8. He threw really hard and had a great curveball. He was a great natural athlete.
Q: Tell me about your son Henry’s career. How is he doing on the basketball team up at Hamline? My little brother, Larry, actually played basketball and baseball at Hamline years ago. Also I know your younger son Charles had a great season last winter at Windom High.
That’s got to bring you a lot of pride. A: Yes, I think any dad or parent will say that there’s really nothing more fun than watching your kid play. I can’t tell you how much fun that’s been.
And my daughters as well. (Pauses) I’m really at a loss to tell you what it means to me. It’s been a lot of fun and Henry’s got a couple more years at Hamline.
Charlie’s playing baseball now. Q: What are Charlie’s college plans? A: It looks like the U of M. He’s always had his sights set on that.
Both my girls went there. The metro area must beckon for my kids. Growing up in a small town, it’s not as appealing to me, but they like it.
The girls certainly like the Division I sports aspect. My oldest, Sydney, was in the marching band and her first year there was (Gopher football coach) PJ Fleck’s first year. And my second daughter Shelby was a manager on Lindsay Whalen’s team (Gopher women’s basketball).
So to rub elbows with someone like Lindsay is never a bad thing. Q: Didn’t Charlie throw in like 11 3-pointers in one game last winter? Maybe he has some college offers? A: Yes, that was a fun night. It was crazy.
Carter Rossow puts in 11 3-pointers on a Thursday night and we turn around on Monday and Charlie ties him (laughs). Charlie slung the football around pretty well last fall, so we’ll see. Q: It’s great to talk to you, Juhl.
A: If I could say anything, I’d say I am extremely grateful for teammates, coaches and family. As you know, sports emulates life so much. You learn to be gracious, you learn to be humble, you learn to take defeat .
..About the time you think you’ve got it figured out, it humbles you.
Kind of like life. Q: Thank you for the time, sir. A: I appreciate you thinking of me and feel fortunate to be considered for this interview.
(Scott Mansch can be reached at [email protected] ).
