At the risk of sounding like LeBron James of the Miami Heat, I would first like to introduce myself as I “take my talents” to the “Icebox of the Nation.”
My name is Kevin Boneske. I’ve been hired as the new sports editor of The Journal. My background includes several years of both news and sports reporting at newspapers in northeast and northcentral Wisconsin, so I’m familiar with the Badger state’s sports rivalries with college and pro teams in Minnesota.
Like nearly one in 10 Americans in the labor force, I found myself out of a job late last year, just prior to the newspaper where I had worked as a reporter in Rhinelander being sold. I’m glad to be working again full time as a journalist.
As for the possible ramifications of now having a sports journalism job in the state known for Golden Gophers, a retired proofreader who I worked with during a previous reporting position in Kewaunee County, and who also provided me with a spare ticket to attend a Green Bay Packers preseason game at Lambeau Field, has jokingly reminded me that I cannot become a Vikings fan.
Besides the decades of NFL games I’ve followed on TV between Minnesota and Green Bay dating back to when Bud Grant and Vince Lombardi were the respective head coaches, I’ve also reported on and photographed high school sports of various sorts.
Team and individual successes on the local level have made it possible for me on multiple occasions to report at state meets and tournaments. Hopefully those opportunities will also materialize as I cover International Falls and Littlefork-Big Falls.
In addition, I’ve covered athletes as they advance to the collegiate ranks and look forward to following Rainy River Community College.
I’ve begun to meet with the local coaches and players of the spring sports as I seek to become familiar with the teams I will be covering. Wondering about when the weather will be nice enough for teams to begin competition outside in the springtime is something I have already become accustomed to in Wisconsin.
Speaking of the weather, it was an interesting ironic twist after I arrived at The Journal last week when the snowstorm through much of Minnesota and Wisconsin missed International Falls, which has a reputation nationwide for severe winter weather, while close to 18 inches of new snow had been reported in Green Bay.
The Sears DieHard car battery commercial that helped make International Falls famous was the first thing an older brother of mine made reference to when I informed him I was hired at The Journal.
He coincidentally has also moved within the past year from Wisconsin to Minnesota where, upon his retirement from teaching, he now lives close to the Twin Cities and his oldest daughter. (The level of property taxes living near Madison was also a factor in his decision to relocate.)
I’ve seen how Minnesota-Wisconsin rivalries, hopefully friendly, can even exist within families.
My brother attended college at Wisconsin and his oldest daughter, via the reciprocal agreement that has been in effect between the two states to pay in-state tuition, went to Minnesota.
I ended up earning a bachelor’s degree at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, where the women’s basketball team this season advanced to the NCAA Division I “Sweet 16” for the first time in school history.
The Packers had trouble even qualifying for the playoffs when I attended UWGB around the time the Chicago Bears won the Super Bowl.
Hopefully I won’t be perceived in International Falls as being a “fair-weather football fan” by having supported the team in green and gold that won the last Super Bowl.
I didn’t have the luxury of having watched local sports in International Falls first-hand since the time of when a Hall of Fame Chicago Bears player, Bronko Nagurski, lived here, so I hope to soon become familiar with local player names, team histories, etc.
I’d like to cover more successful sports seasons locally as they unfold in the future.
Boneske may be reached via e-mail at kevin@ifallsjournal.com.
