Editor’s Note: Tom Newgard was a star athlete at Pipestone High some 45 years ago and went on to a fine football career at Minnesota West (then Worthington CC). Then he returned to the farm. Tom and his wife, Sandi, are the parents of five — all were excellent athletes — and the grandparents of 15 and counting. Once a track and field star and rugged linebacker and running back for the PHS Arrows and WCC Bluejays — he also played a little basketball and wrestled for a year in high school — Tom is still working hard on the family farm just north of Pipestone. That’s where we caught up with him recently for our latest Conversation With Scott.
Question: Hello Mr. Newgard. How are you today?
Answer: It’s Tom (laughs).
Q: Thank you. I want to ask you some questions about your fabulous playing career and especially your family. It all must make you proud.
A: It does. Yep. Thanks.
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Q: When you were growing up on the farm, was your father (Clayton) someone who really supported you and encouraged you to play sports?
A: Well, yes. And also my mother (Mary). They didn’t ever stop us from playing. Back in the old days, we’d go over to the neighbors and we’d play whatever sport. They had two boys, close to being my brother’s age (Rob).
Q: I remember Rob.
A: Yes. He played on that football team that got second in State (early 1980s).
Q: Right. On the same football team with the Dahl boys (Mark and Scotty). I was there that chilly night in Crookston when the Arrows played for the state championship.
A: What a miserable cold son-of-a-gun that was (laughs). There was no reason to go that dang far to play that game.
Q: Coach (Dick) Fortier had a great team. I think he could have used you running the ball that night, though.
A: (laughs)
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Q: Was football your favorite sport growing up? I know you were a great high-jumper in track.
A: Oh, I did like track. But I guess football was my favorite. I kind of enjoyed running over people and hitting them hard.
Q: Any special football memories?
A: One of the main ones was over there in Worthington. I think we played Inver Hills and Jesse Ventura (former Minnesota governor) was playing. And we beat them, I believe. (Laughs) He had a different name then (James George Janos), and we didn’t really find out he was on that team until a lot later.
Q: And you beat that Inver Hills team?
A: I think we did, yes. It was always fun to go up to Minneapolis and win a game against those kids from the big schools. Especially when our team at Worthington had guys from all the little farm communities around here.
Q: Where exactly is your family farm?
A: We are on Highway 23 toward Marshall. I’m on my grandfather’s house. We grew up across the road. My son Wade is involved with me now in the operation.
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Q: That’s pretty neat.
A: Thank you.
Q: I knew some of those good Pipestone athletes who graduated with you (in 1974). Craig O’Hearn and Joe Bostic ...
Q: I played some baseball and knew those guys, especially Craig. They weren’t much fun to play against, Tom. Pretty great competitors. But real good guys.
A: (Laughs) Yep, I know. We also owned the Dari King (restaurant), the ice cream business in Pipestone.
Q: When you were a senior in high school, you must have played with Perry Kozlowski. What a great running back he was.
A: Oh yeah. Perry was tough. I blocked for him quite a bit. We had pretty good teams.
Q: Did you have other college football opportunities besides Worthington?
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A: That’s about the only place I considered. I was kind of in between, whether I wanted to farm or go to school. So Worthington was definitely the place for me.
Q: Did you enjoy your years there? I know the Worthington fans had to enjoy watching you play. (Tom was a two-time All-State pick for the Bluejays, who had a 13-5 overall record during the 1974-75 seasons. He rushed for 11 touchdowns in his WCC career and had 237 yards rushing in the aforementioned victory over Inver Hills in 1974). He’s in the Minnesota West Hall of Fame.
A: Yep, I sure did. Tyrone Wacker was our coach and I got along great with him.
Q: Still have buddies from those teams?
A: Yes. Some permanent friends. You lose track of them for a while, but it seems now that when you get a little older you catch back up with a few of them.
Q: What do you think made Tyrone such a fine football coach?
A: Good coach, a real good coach. He understood the kids and the game. He was almost like one of us, really (laughs). Because he wasn’t much older than us. And he liked to have fun.
Q: Competitive as heck, wasn’t he?
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A: Yes he was. (Laughs) I remember we once had an egg fight between the players and the football coaches. And we filled up Tyrone’s car with leaves and left it between the goal posts on the practice field (laughs). We got along great.
Q: What about special Pipestone memories?
A: Well, the state track meet was a good one (Tom set the school record in the high jump for the Arrows). I saw a guy jump seven feet. It wasn’t me, though (laughs). But back in the 70s that was something.
Q: Were you ‘Fosbury flopping?’
A: I never got to ‘Flop’ because we didn’t have a good enough mat and (coach) Bob Nangle wouldn’t let me. (Laughs). I had to do the ‘Western roll.’
Q: You set the school record at 6-3. How big were you in those days?
A: Probably 6 foot and 175. I did beef up in Worthington after getting married and getting some good cooking from my wife (Sandi).
Q: I knew a lot of those fine men from Pipestone who were coaching 40 years ago: Bob Nangle, Eldon Dahl, Warren Bailey and Dick Fortier.
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A: I enjoyed them all. Eldy Dahl was my eighth-grade basketball coach and I remember when he used to bring his two young boys to practice. I also liked Warren. He was a nice fellow. And Nangle ... a few of my own girls (Kerri and Kati) used to call him ‘Dad.’ (Laughs) I liked him. He was a good guy.
Q: (Tom and Sandi are the parents of Wendi, Kerri, Kati, TJ and Wade. Kerri and Kati are in the Arrows’ Athletic Hall of Fame, along with their father). Was Sandi (Moore) a great athlete, too?
A: She was a cheerleader. But she was a free throw champion at the college in Worthington (laughs). Underhanded, Wilt Chamberlain style.
Q: Do you have any special football memories while playing for the Arrows.
A: (pauses) Well, I guess one time I did score four touchdowns against Marshall. And I got a concussion once and missed a half a game (laughs). Luverne was always a big game for us. And Worthington was always tough.
Q: There was nothing like the old Southwest Conference.
A: Yup. That’s right.
Q: I remember the old Pipestone football field in front of the grandstand in the outfield of the baseball stadium at the old fairgrounds. It was cool to play on Friday nights there.
A: Yep. But I actually got in trouble there once (laughs). I hit a Worthington guy into the centerfield wall. I got a penalty and Nangle yelled at me pretty good. I was playing linebacker. I’d started at middle linebacker ever since I was a sophomore.
Q: Good fans in Pipestone, aren’t there?
A: Yes. Compared to a lot of places. Good people.
Q: What about that special football game against Inver Hills in 1974?
A: Sandi was in the hospital. That’s when Wendi was born.
Q: Holy smokes. That was a big night then.
A: It was a big weekend. Yes it was. A big weekend.
Q: What went right for you that game against Inver Hills?
A: Everything. (Laughs) Probably the line was doing a real good job. They couldn’t bring me down for nothing. I must have been full of adrenaline that day.
Q: Could you have played some more college football after your Worthington JC career?
A: I had a few schools looking at me. But I dislocated my shoulder, and I kind of wanted to get back on the farm.
Q: Have you ever regretted not playing more football?
A: No. I probably wouldn’t be walking now if I had. I had both knees replaced a couple of years ago.
Q: Are you feeling well otherwise?
A: Yep. I’ll be 65 in March. My knees are the best part of me now (laughs).
Q: What is so special about farm life here on the prairie, Tom?
A: Things have changed a little. You know, back in the day we had neighbor kids to play with. Well, you know what it’s all about to live out here. Even though it’s got its ups and its downs, you know, it’s a great life.
Q: Yes it is. OK, here’s a tough question: Who’s the best athlete in your family?
A: (pauses) Oh, you know better than to ask me that ... I suppose Kati would be the best athlete. Sandi says she was probably the most dedicated to it.
Q: Were Wade and TJ also running backs?
A: Yes. They did two spring sports, baseball and golf. I’m very proud of my entire family.
Q: Did you play much baseball back in the day?
A: I played VFW and Legion. I also played some fast pitch softball with Woodstock teams. With Ed O’Hearn and Scott Heidebrink. The Woodstock Woodchucks. (Laughs)
Q: What are your boys doing now?
A: Wade farms with me and TJ’s the head girls basketball coach in Luverne.
Q: That’s right. I knew that. How about the girls?
A: Wendi (Biever) is a teacher here in Pipestone and Kati (Bobeldyk) teaches in Slayton. Kerri (Hoover) is a lawyer for the teacher’s union in Ohio.
Q: And grandkids?
A: Fifteen. And TJ’s family has one on the way (laughs).
Q: Congratulations. That’s great.
A: Thank you, Scott
Q: How many football players in that bunch?
A: Wendi’s third boy, Maddox Biever, is playing for Pipestone now.
Q: The Newgard name sure brought a lot of glory to Pipestone and Arrow athletics. Congratulations, Tom. It’s sure nice to visit with you.
A: Thank you very much, Scott.
Conversations with Scott appears periodically in the Globe and is produced by Scott Mansch, who can be reached at smansch5rockets@gmail.com
