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Tom Novitzki
tomnovitzki@aol.com
Dear Tom:
Re: your call from Eagan today, from 651-216-1227, asking about the
possibility of getting an Army hockey jersey from John Birkholz.
I will copy him on this e-mail and ask him to directly contact you regarding
that matter as well as providing you with his phone number.
From the West Point Yearbook, the Howitzer for the Class of '59, I had
Kinko's mount on posterboard, a copy of the page with the picture of
the 1958-59 Army Hockey Team. That object is now in the hands of Mike
Buringa, FHS Activities Director. My brother Norman Lubke
delivered it to him personally with instructions to hand it over to
you at your request. You can see a photocopy of the display at my web
site at: http://www.ojlubke.com/pixseries/pixbirkholzhockey/01pix59armyhockeyteam.html
Then, I wrote the words to accompany the display of this picture in
your dad's memorial. It is on page 2 of the link above, specifically:
http://www.ojlubke.com/pixseries/pixbirkholzhockey/02pix59ayearbookpage.html
There was a period of ice and ice hockey before Louis Schmitz.
The Farmington businessmen, in the form of the Commercial Club, saw
to it that several spots were flooded by getting the cooperation of
the school and the fire department. My dad, Oscar Lubke, had
a major hand in that program after we moved to Farmington in 1945. They
also built a wooden warming house on school property east of the old
high school building. Of course, they then built the hockey rink across
the road from the warming house, just east (back of ) of Tom Jensen's
house. My dad was project coordinator. I helped hold up some of the
sideboards as they were nailed in. Besides Birkholz, I remember
Myron Stapf and Marvin Reihsen were among the first to skate.
Donnie "Slapshot" Summers, (winters in Florida, plays
a lot of golf) was in the middle of the fray.
There was some disagreement over the role of the school in the hockey
program and whether or not hockey would become a high school sport.
My dad who was the Chairman of the Farmington Youth Commission
which provided the coaching and organization of the non-school sport,
resigned his chairmanship because of the way that he felt he had been
misportrayed during the discussion of the issue. His letter of resignation
is in my archives somewhere, somewhere, in the hidden recesses. Louis
Schmitz can give you the details on the issue. I think the major
controversy was about conflict with the basketball season and whether
the town's high school would want to lose some of the basketball talent
to a hockey team.
It is a great and noble idea to preserve the memory of your father,
Leonard Novitzki, with this memorial. I wish you all the best
and look forward to stopping by on my next visit to Farmington. I first
met your dad when I was a seventh grader and a pee-wee football player.
Our practice field incidentally was the site of the skating rink in
winter, right across the street from the Marshall Bus Lines just east
of the old high school. Your dad was the coach. He was the first person
I ever saw do 25 push ups. He apparently had done plenty of them in
the Navy.
Alan Lubke
14 June 2004
Copy:
Myron Stapf: boncooks@aol.com
John Birkholz: jcbirk@yahoo.com
Norman Lubke: nlubke@attglobal.net
Mike Buringa: mburinga@farmington.k12.mn.us
Mary Lubke: mlubke2@charter.net
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