Curt Connaughty, who just turned 92, celebrated his special day in style, donning the same gray suit he wore 68 years ago on his wedding day. Photos by Daniel Huss Curt Connaughty showed up to last Sunday’s celebration dressed to the nines, nines and twos actually. The cause was Connaughty, as the celebration featured Eden Prairie Mayor Ron Case’s reading of an official city proclamation designating Sunday, April 30, as Curt Connaughty Day. Eden Prairie Mayor Ron Case presents Curt Connaughty with a proclamation honoring his 65-plus years of community service. Connaughty, who had just turned 92, was wearing the…
Author: Daniel Huss
Jermaine Johnson II pictured during his time playing for the Eden Prairie Eagles. “He wasn’t 6-6 and 250 pounds in high school,” laughs Eden Prairie football coach Mike Grant. “He was 6-5 and maybe 210. He was naturally strong, but he was thin. Now, he looks the part and plays the part.” There are no shortcuts when you take the road less traveled. Jermaine Johnson II starred on the Eden Prairie High School football field in 2017. As a senior, he was a Minnesota All-Star. Since, his football career has had stops in Kansas, Georgia and Florida. On Thursday, April…
Lee Smith remembers driving through Eden Prairie with his dad and grandpa back in the 1980s. What does he remember about that drive? “It was gorgeous,” said Smith. “I wanted to be in the cities, but Eden Prairie looked like home.” Home was Willmar, Minn., and 1980s Eden Prairie looked a lot like Willmar. Thirty-three years ago, Smith, then a recent Mankato State University graduate, accepted a teaching job with Eden Prairie Schools. Twenty-nine years ago, he signed on as head coach of the Eden Prairie High School boys hockey team. Smith knew he’d retire from teaching at the beginning…
The 16-, 17- and 18-year-old boys on the Eden Prairie High School football team weren’t thinking about being their school’s first-ever conference champions in 1970, but simply being conference champions. “I don’t remember being first as being any part of the narrative at the banquet,” said George Adzick, a sophomore receiver on the 1970 team. “It was never, now we’re finally champions. It was just we are champions.” 1970 Eden Prairie football coach John Ryski celebrated his team’s good fortune. Eden Prairie High School fielded its first football team in 1958. “That senior class included four boys,” recalled Curt Connaughty,…
Humans can be both dogged tired and doggone hot, but so can our dogs. Now is the season. Walking Sport or Fido around the block might be a good summer pastime, but is it a good training regimen for a hunting dog, a dog that might be tasked to cover 20 miles of cover per day? Eden Prairie’s Jim Wood, a veterinarian who practices at Glen Lake Animal Hospital, knows of dogs who have been pushed too hard and too fast when it’s been too hot. “They’re canine athletes, but you have to ease them into it, especially early season…
The game of cricket is the world’s second most popular sport When asked what he likes most about playing cricket, 13-year-old Mayank Jain mentions bowling and batting before deciding on “everything.” Jain, whose dad used to play the sport, was attending an MVP Youth Cricket Try-it Free event held at Eden Prairie’s Nesbitt Preserve Park. A number of local youth were in attendance, some even not so local. “I’m not surprised by the interest,” said organizer Sanjaya Ranasinghe. “There’s a need and there are few local programs.” MVP Youth Cricket’s first summer session, which runs through the middle of July,…
In his first week as Eden Prairie High School’s new activities coordinator, Trevor Mbakwe experienced his first Minnesota State High School Hockey Tournament. OK, he may have experienced his first high school hockey game. Having served as Irondale High School’s assistant athletic director, Mbakwe comes to Eden Prairie with activities experience. In addition, he’s nearly completed his master’s degree in sports management. Worldly experience? The former Big Ten rebounding champion played seven years of professional basketball overseas. His teams have hailed from Italy, Germany, Israel, Russia, Japan and Greece. “I saw a lot of the world,” said Mbakwe. He started…
‘I still hear about it, and it (game-winning goal in triple overtime) happened 10 years ago’ Ten years ago to the day (March 12, 2011), Kyle Rau had the senior moment of all senior moments, the walk-off of all walk-offs. Rau, then an Eden Prairie High School senior, scored the game-winning goal in a 3-2 triple-overtime win over Duluth East in the Class AA Minnesota State High School League state tournament championship game. He scored the goal while sliding across the Xcel Energy Center ice on his belly. The first assist went to his twin brother Curt. “Because of the…
While Dick “Emmy” Emahiser’s most recent address was listed as Crosslake, Minnesota, his home will always be Eden Prairie. Still, if you said his real home was a hockey rink, you wouldn’t be wrong. Emmy passed on Friday, February 19, when his big heart was attacked, mercilessly. “I first met him when I was senior at Edina,” said Mike Terwilliger. “He was helping coach the JV team with Bob O’Connor. O’Connor would go on to work for USA Hockey and serve as the assistant coach of the 1984 and 1988 Olympic teams. Emahiser was USA Hockey’s first-ever Developmental Coach of…
Former Eden Prairie Football Association standout is Buccaneers starting safety It’s a good bet Antoine Winfield Jr., the son of three-time Pro Bowl cornerback Antoine Winfield, recorded his solo first tackle in his family’s living room. Fast forward to his grade-school days and you have Antoine Jr. playing his first organized football as a member of the Eden Prairie Football Association. On Sunday, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers rookie takes his game to the Super Bowl. “I remember watching him play in the third, fourth and fifth grade,” said Eden Prairie High School football coach Mike Grant. “He was always one…