Duluth Central High School Class of 1961
Classmates
Roger Hanson (Deceased)
Comments
Work: Financial Planner
Partner: Carolyn Boberg
7 children
9 grandchildren
Information update: 06/11/2021

Most of you know the success that we had in High School, winning the State Basketball Championship in 1961. I thought I could continue to play basketball at a higher level. The NBA was difficult to make, but there was a level just below that was called the industrial league. The two best teams were Akron Goodyear, out of Akron, Ohio and Phillips 66 Oilers, out of Bartlesville, Oklahoma. I tried out and made the Akron team. I was paid a salary working for Akron Goodyear and the company also paid me 16 hours overtime per week from October 15 through April 1 to play basketball for them. We won the National AAU Championship in Denver beating out 64 other teams. Because of that, we represented the USA in the World Games. In Rome, we won the World Games and I even got to meet Pope Paul IV at the Vatican. Two of our players were on the 1968 Olympic Team.

After playing basketball for two years I moved back to Duluth and went into the investment and insurance business. I just sold my investment practice to my son, who had been working with me for the past 17 years. So now I am semi-retired. I am divorced, but live with my partner Carolyn Boberg for the past 20 years. We have seven children and nine grandchildren that keep us busy. I have traveled to Europe, Japan, Hawaii and many other places. I got into running with Tom Andrew and have done a lot of marathon and shorter races. I have two new hips to prove it. I played basketball into my 50's and was inducted into the UMD Hall of Fame in 2001.

We own a condo on Anna Maria island in Florida. I watch a lot of UMD sports and occasionally go on basketball trips with the UMD team, and am looking forward to seeing classmates in July.