Joe Grobereceived a call on Thursday from a relative with news about an area boys high school basketball player who had just posted a monster scoring number.
On Tuesday, Triton senior Logan Spitzackscored 60 points in a game during an 88-76 overtime loss at Cannon Falls.
Grobe, who farms about a 1,000 acres with older brother Jimnear Millville, doesn't watch much high school basketball these days. But hearing of a 60-point game brought back memories. Grobe was a high-scoring forward who had a 60-point game of his own as a senior at Elgin-Millville on Feb. 19, 1982.
"I remember I got a bloody nose halfway through the second quarter and I couldn't get it to stop," Grobe recalled of his own monster game at St. Charles.
And as usual, the muscular 6-foot-4 Grobe was a dominating and overwhelming inside force. He made 28 of 42 shots from the floor and four more free throws for the 60 points against the outmatched Saints.
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"It was one of those games where everything went in," Grobe said. "I had a lot of put-backs and rebounds."
Grobe had 47 points through three quarters and ended up fouling out late in the game, which proved to be an easy win for Elgin-Millville. A high school basketball game back then consisted of four eight-minute quarters, and was four minutes less in time than today's 36-minute game. Plus there was no three-point line, not that Grobe would have been a big long-ball threat.
Grobe averaged a stunning 33.4 points a game as a senior. He wasn't too shabby as a junior either, averaging 30.8 a game, including a high of 51 against Peterson.
He finished his career with 1,718 points, a very high total considering teams played just 18 regular-season games then. Counting the playoffs, Grobe played in just 20 games his junior and senior year.
He went on to play two stellar years at Rochester Community College, leading the Yellowjackets to a state title in 1983, before retiring from basketball and heading back to the farm.
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A current high-scoring member of the Plainview-Elgin-Millville boys basketball team, Cole Olstad, is one of the top 20 finalists for the 2011 Mr. Basketball in Minnesota.
Olstad, a guard/forward for the Bulldogs is averaging 30.9 points a game this season. The 6-foot-4 senior, who has scored more than 2,500 points in his career, has helped guide the Bulldogs to a No. 1 ranking in Class AA this season. P-E-M has placed third in the state the past two years.
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Olstad is the only player in southeastern Minnesota to be a finalist for Mr. Basketball.
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Eric Butoracof Rochester and doubles partner Jean-Julien Rojerhave moved up the professional tennis doubles rankings after a successful Australian Open.
Butorac and Rojer advanced all the way to the semifinals of the first grand-slam event of the season before falling. As a result, they are now the No. 3-ranked doubles team in the world. Both players are 29 years old.
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Mayo track and field standout Kalesha Tayloris looking for sponsors for the Mini-Olympics, for which she has been chosen to compete. The event will be held in June in Australia. Those who would like to help should call 254-4033.
Taylor, a senior at Mayo, announced Wednesday that she is committing to Howard University in Washington, D.C., for next fall.
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UW-Eau Claire men's indoor track and field member Tony Sigristof Byron has been named a Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Athlete of the Week.
Sigrist won one event while taking second in another at last weekend’s Warren Bowlus Open at UW-Stout. In the shot put, Sigrist grabbed the top spot with a toss of 15.03 meters (49 feet, 3 3/4 inches). In the weight throw, he took second place with a mark of 18.17 meters (59, 7 1/2), less than four feet from the top finisher and an NCAA Division III provisional qualifying distance.
