Playing baseball at the University of Minnesota was a dream come true. Legendary head coach Dick Siebert had led the Gophers to the National Championship in 1956, 1960 & 1964. I was proud to be a student athlete at a Big Ten university. John Matetich, a shortstop from Hibbing, and Bill Novak, an outfielder from Virginia, were the only two Iron Rangers on the team. I batted left-handed and threw left-handed.

Baseball at Minnesota was divided into four seasons. Fall baseball, Winter workouts, Spring regular season and Summer baseball. Division I sports are a year round proposition. Among my two year highlights were being a teammate of future Hall of Famer, Dave Winfield, winning the batting title my sophomore year during Fall baseball and attending an awards banquet with special guests, Hall of Famers Hank Aaron, Willie Mays and Harmon Killebrew.

My favorite baseball teammates:

Dave Winfield, Minnesota Gophers
John Matetich, Minnesota Gophers
Dave Foy, Virginia
Mike Carlson, Virginia
Neil McKenzie, Virginia
Mike Mohar, Virginia
Paul Starkovich, Ely
Greg Marn, Ely
Vince Hren, Ely
Jimmy Novak, Ely
Frank Lahti, Ely
Frank L. Novak, my dad

Have a great day,

Bill