Donnie watching the ‘quest’

Don Hammer sits quietly, listening, cheering for the Minneota Vikings in his own way.
These days he’s a retired farmer and listening, or watching when he can, his days are filled with basketballs.
Donnie eyed the list of teams that have played in the Region 3 Championship games since 1946. Minneota is nowhere to be seen. But now, the quest is on. “That would be something. They’ve got a good opportunity to do it. They’ve got a good chance,” Hammer said.
The Vikings took their first step toward their first Region 3 title with a 79-48 win over Canby on Saturday.
And Don Hammer was listening.
While he’s cheering for his home team, a bit of pride swells up inside when the eye is drawn to the top of the list.
In 1946, Lynd beat Montevideo, 53-46. Donnie Hammer was a member of that team.
Edgerton has always gotten all the glory for their miraculous state title — but back in 1946 the tiny town of Lynd was all the rage.
Yes, 72 years ago Lynd made history.
Don Hammer was a senior and a reserve on a team with nobody taller than six feet tall.
Yet this squad ran up a 29-0 record, beat much larger towns such as Marshall in the District finals, by one point and Hutchinson in the Sections before dumping Montevideo for a spot in the state.
Once there they beat Crosby-Ironton and Stillwater.
“We had only six players of quality but we drew the biggest crowds I’ve ever seen. Then we played before 16,000 fans in the state finals,” Hammer said.
“They were very, very exciting games,” he added.
In the state finals they lost to Austin and a 6-7 center that was the only tall man Lynd had seen all year.
But before that, “As we kept winning, the excitement got greater — more hyped up,” Hammer said.
Lynd was a town with a post office, pool hall and a couple of churches, Hammer recalled, “But not a lot more.
Nobody thought much about them until they kept winning and ran their record to 20-0. “We started getting ideas,” about how far they could go, said Hammer.
When the dust cleared, tiny Lynd had a 29-1 record and ended up with a second place trophy at the state tournament.
As for Hammer, who said, “I didn’t play alot but I did play,” the dramatic drive to the state tournament is one of those memories that keeps you warm on a cold winter day.
“It was kind of a fluky thing. Minneota didn’t have a bus out to us and Lynd did, so after my freshman year at Minneota, I went to Lynd. It was closer for me,” Hammer said.
He has lived his entire life in the same home about eight and a half miles from Minneota.
But there was that one time when he ventured out to Lynd — and created a memory.
He and his wife Audrey were dating back then and Audrey was a cheerleader for the team that took the little town of Lynd and made it a big memory for everyone.
Audrey eventually went to St. Cloud Teachers College and became a teacher. Donnie started out in St. Cloud, but came home to farm — and did that until he retired.
Now the two have six children; 16 grand children and 25 great-grandchildren.
The memory of Lynd’s one and only basketball triumph is still fresh in his memory, 72 years later.
But now, he’s hoping the Vikings can add a new page to the Region 3 history books and do something they’ve never done — win a championship.
Minneota has never been to the Minnesota State Tournament and the quest is still just a hope and a dream away.
They have to play Renville County West, then, probably Dawson-Boyd, one of the three teams that have beaten them this year.
Then, chances are good it will be Russell-Tyler-Ruthon waiting in the section finals.
Minneota and RTR have split games this year.
Looking back on the Region 3 tournament, a lot of familiar names pop up as Section 3 Champions — names like Dawson in 1949; Canby in 1950 and 1951; Granite Falls in 1953 and others like Appleton, Renville, Danube, Marshall, Clara City, RTR and even Storden-Jeffers in 1993.
As you continue through the list there is one town missing — a town that doesn’t show up in the championship or runnerup list that span the years from 1946 to 2017.
The name of Minneota is missing.
Could this be the year?
Donnie Hammer says, “They’ve got a chance.”