A "Championship Ring Tour" exhibit, sponsored by the Minnesota Super Bowl Host Committee and Jostens, is at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester beginning today.
Minnesota-based Jostens has designed 33 Super Bowl rings over the years and an exhibit of those championship rings will be on display from today to Friday. The exhibit is at the Hage Atrium in the Siebens Building (200 First St. SW) and will be open to the public each day from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m.
This is one of eight stops for the tour this fall. The rings will also be on display in Owatonna. U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis will be the site of Super Bowl this season.
"We want all Minnesotans to share in the excitement that comes with hosting Super Bowl LII," said Maureen Bausch, CEO for the Minnesota Super Bowl Host Committee. "The 'Championship Ring Tour' gives Minnesotans from across the state a chance to get up close and personal with Super Bowl history, while learning about a great hometown company that has their own Super Bowl story to tell. This is a fun way to kick off the 2017 football season and gear up for Super Bowl LII."
The exhibit will include not only Super Bowl rings, but the stories behind their creation. Since being asked by Vince Lombardito create the first Super Bowl ring in 1966, Jostens has been hired to craft 33 of the 51 Super Bowl rings.
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The Rochester Honkers have named Thomas Walkeras the team's manager for the 2018 Northwoods League season. Walker was an assistant coach this past season under Trevor Hairgrove.
"I'm very grateful for the opportunity that Kim (Archer)and Dan (Litzinger)have given me to come back to Rochester next summer," Walker said.
Walker, 23, was the hitting coach and third base coach for the Honkers in 2017.
"I thoroughly enjoyed breaking the team's home run record as well as witnessing the NWL home run record broken by (Zach) Zubia," said Walker. "Working on a daily basis with a hitter like Zach Zubia was special for my first real opportunity as a hitting coach."
Under Walker's tutelage, the Honkers led the league in home runs (76) and were second in slugging percentage (.398).
Walker started his playing career at Oregon, before moving on to Golden West College and finishing his last three years at the University of California Riverside. The native of Long Beach, Calif., began his coaching career at Cal Riverside as the assistant director of baseball operations in 2017. He was just named the outfield/hitting coach at Golden West College.
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USA Wrestling will host the U23 World Team Trials at the Mayo Civic Center this weekend.
The meet will be held from Friday-Sunday and is the qualifying event in all three Olympic disciplines for the U23 World Championships, set for Bydgoszcz, Poland, Nov. 21-26.
This is a new World Championships being hosted by United World Wrestling for the first time. Athletes who are between 19-23 years old can enter (born 1994-1998), with 18-year-olds (born 1999) able to compete with a medical and parental certificate.
The age group will cover a variety of athletes, including wrestlers who are college graduates, others still competing in college and even some of the nation's best high school upperclassmen.
The championship finals in all weight classes will be a best-of-three series between the winners of the semifinals.
Women's freestyle and four Greco-Roman weights (66 kg, 75 kg, 85 kg and 98 kg) will be contested on Saturday. Men's freestyle and four Greco-Roman weights (59 kg, 71 kg, 80 kg, and 130 kg) will be contested on Sunday.
Check-in, weigh-in and seedings will be held on Friday. Wresting will begin at 9 a.m. both Saturday and Sunday.
The events is being sponsored by the Rochester Amateur Sports Commission and Minnesota USA Wrestling.
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All participants must hold a 2017-18 USA Wrestling Open license, which can be purchased on-line at usawmembership.com.
