Tag: Sports

Changing the Redskins nickname a difficult task

Did you know the Washington Redskins were originally the Boston Braves and, for a time in the 1930s, played their home games at Fenway Park?

That was when the team’s nickname was changed to the Redskins by their owners. It made sense in those much simpler times. For the sake of symmetry, it was the Boston Red Sox for baseball and Boston Redskins for football. In 1937, the team relocated to Washington and has since been known by their current moniker.

Today, a political and ideological push to get the NFL team’s latest owner, Dan Snyder, to change the nickname is in full force. Many groups, including the Mandan Hidatsa & Arikara Nation in North Dakota, find the nickname offensive, demeaning or racist.

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Moore set a standard for DSU athletes

Dickinson State forward Janae Moore dribbles past a Jamestown defender in a women’s basketball game on Nov. 23 at Scott Gymnasium. Moore, who would have been a junior at DSU in the fall, died Wednesday in a one-vehicle accident near her hometown of Sidney, Mont.

Janae Moore set an enviable standard for Dickinson State student-athletes. She was strong in the classroom, and fearless and physical on the basketball court. When it came to Blue Hawks, she was about as good as it got.

On Wednesday, DSU lost one of its shining examples of a student-athlete when Moore died in a car accident near her hometown of Sidney, Mont.

She was only 20 years old, would have been a junior for the Blue Hawks next season, and was well on her way to establishing an excellent career as she played a key role in trying to build the women’s basketball team into a perennial success.

Moore’s death is the second time in four years that DSU has had to deal with the untimely death of a standout athlete.

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Golfing gem: The Links of North Dakota deals with oil’s impact

Ronnie Swartz, the head professional at The Links of North Dakota golf course near Ray, stands on Hole No. 2 at the course on June 6.

RURAL RAY — When it began gaining national recognition more than a decade ago, the Links of North Dakota golf course was known for its Scottish flair that harkened back to the game’s earliest days with a tranquil setting along the banks and bluffs of northern Lake Sakakawea.

Today, the course that bills itself as the best in the state — and has hardware to back up that claim — is in the middle of the western North Dakota madness that is the Bakken Oil Patch. When people use the word “flare” there, it has a widely recognized and wholly different meaning.

Ronnie Swartz, the head professional at The Links, said oil’s impact on the area surrounding the course can be seen in plain view at dusk.

“You can stand up on pretty much any hole and see them,” Swartz said. “At night, it looks like the hillsides are on fire just from the flares blowing off the natural gas.”

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Glasser hanging up whistle, ready for winter vacations

Basketball official Jim Glasser tosses the opening tip during the Region 7 girls basketball tournament championship game on March 14 at Knights of Columbus Activities Center. It was Glasser’s last game as a basketball official after 24 years.

Jim Glasser is ready for some vacations to warmer climates in the winter.

At least that’s what his wife, Terry, tells him.

“She’s got plans for the winter time,” he said with a laugh.

After spending the first 21 years of his post-playing basketball career as a coach and the next 24 as an official, the 62-year-old Glasser is stepping away from the game.

“I think I’ll miss reffing more than I did teaching or coaching,” Glasser said. “It sounds funny. But, (you make) so many friends. You know all the coaches. I coached before, so I know how they were feeling during a game. You make friends with all the referees. We’ve got some good guys in southwest North Dakota.”

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Schrempp trying to be a strong influence for son, hometown kids

Dickinson State senior Cameron Schrempp, right, holds on to Montana State-Northern’s Jared Miller on Jan. 19 during the Tyler Plummer Classic at Weinbergen Gymnasium.

Whenever he enters a competition, Cameron Schrempp said he sets the bar high.

Whether it has been boxing, mixed martial arts or wrestling, the 25-year-old Dickinson State student-athlete has made it his job to do as well as he possibly can.

He said his inspiration has been his 4-yearold son, Aiden, and the countless other children from his hometown of Eagle Butte, S.D., an area where nearly half the population lives beneath the poverty line.

“Setting the bar not just for my son, but where I came from, a lot of kids don’t have anyone to look up to,” said Schrempp, a graduate of Cheyenne-Eagle Butte High School. “I kind of want to set the bar for kids, for someone to look up to.”
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