With Bryan Carpenter (left) and Mike Boomer looking on, football Head Coach Mitch Dorr gives former Viking football announcer Walt Mianowski a hug after presenting Mianowski with a plaque commemorating his 29 years as the voice of the Vikings. The award was made before the game against the East Central Eagles on Friday, September 13.
His 29 years as the voice of the Cook County High School Vikings over, Walt Mianowski was asked to lead the CCHS football team out onto the field last Friday night before the start of the game against the East Central Eagles, but he wasn’t sure why.
“The coach [Mitch Dorr] asked me to walk slowly onto the field ahead of the team. I suppose he thought I was too old to run out onto the field, but I would have done that if he had asked me to. When we got to the other side the players lined up and waved me through and I touched hands with them. Then they gave me the plaque and said some nice things, but I was so overcome with emotion I couldn’t talk. I never expected any of it,” said Mianowski of the ceremony.
When asked about his time with the Vikings, Mianowski said, “I have so many fond memories. For years Bob Spry and I did the announcing at home and away. Holly Nelson would film the games and Bob and I would also do the commentating for those videos. Chet Lindskog was the bus driver for a lot of those games. He really took care of the kids. It was great fun.
“One memorable event was when we were playing in western Minnesota. I don’t remember where, but I was on one side and my wife, Jane, was on the other side in the bleachers. All of a sudden the bleachers collapsed. A few seconds later the phone to the booth rang and it was someone telling me Jane was okay. A lot of people jumped off and were okay, but Jane had her leg caught but she didn’t get hurt at all. But the biggest thing I remember was that every single player on that team stopped and asked Jane how she was. She was their teacher and they had a lot of respect for Jane. That meant a lot to me.
“Another time we were supposed to play outside but the weather forced us to play in the Metrodome. Because it was supposed to be a home game for our team they said I had to do the announcing. But I wanted to be with the team and they got the coach from Silver Bay to do it. I always regretted not announcing the game in the dome. It was a once-in-a-lifetime chance and I turned it down. Looking back on it, I wished I would have done it.
“My favorite time was the six years we went to state, winning three straight years. Out of all of the great plays I saw, I think my favorite one was in the dome. Barry Pederson was back to punt. It was fourth and 15 and the center mis-snapped the ball and it hit a blocking back. Barry scooped up the ball and ran for 35 yards, giving us a first down. We later scored and won the game.
“Still, it’s easy to talk about the great quarterbacks, the great running backs, but the truth is we had star players on the offensive line, the defensive line—the linebackers, safeties, corners, ends. We had good players everywhere. They won together and they lost together. They played as a team.
“One of the things we always did was stop for coffee and pie on London Road after games. The pie shop is gone now. I think there is an Italian restaurant there now. Anyway, one time the pie shop was closed but they gave us a pie with some plates and forks. We stopped on a side road in Two Harbors and ate it.
“A lot of the kids who were there at the beginning are parents, even grandparents now. I feel very blessed to have been able to be part of their past. I feel very blessed to live up here. My neighbors and friends feel like my family. I don’t have a lot of family left back where I came from. This has been a great place to live.”
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