Dick Roberts
My dad and I left our summer walleye fishing retreat on the Ash River Trail in northern Minnesota early that morning. We were headed to Warroad, 140 miles to the west, a good portion of the drive running along the south shore of the Rainy River — Canada on the other side.
We had a full day planned, starting with a meeting with Tom King, my old high school coach at Indus. I hadn’t seen Tom since I graduated high school in 1985 (the same year he took over the Warroad program), and it was comforting that he hadn’t changed a bit in all these years (same infectious smile, same hearty laugh).
From there we sat down at Frank Krahn’s house for a lengthy conversation about Warroad’s 1968-69 team and the fabled 1969 state tournament. Then we stopped briefly in downtown Warroad where I said a quick hello to Jay Hardwick, Warroad’s current head coach.
We saved the best for last, a sit down with Dick Roberts, Hardwick’s grandfather and one of Warroad’s most legendary native sons. And that’s a mouthful, given all the hockey luminaries the town of about 1,700 has produced. Roberts, a rugged, no-nonsense player (he was nicknamed "Dirty Dick") at Warroad High, the University of Minnesota and later for the Warroad Lakers senior team, was best known for perfecting the kick-shot. Roberts would kick his shin into the shaft of his stick, creating massive torque and wicked blasts that broke scoreboards and busted players’ jaws.
“It was good that they outlawed it,” said Roberts, who was in declining health but clearly excited to reminisce about his days coaching the Warriors, most notably Henry Boucha’s five-year run in the mid- to late-1960s as a high school folkhero.
We met Roberts and his wife, Marty, at their apartment in the plush Warroad Senior Living Center. We were joined by Dale Telle, Roberts’ longtime assistant coach. All three were incredibly gracious as they shared their time (pushing two hours) and memories. Roberts, who died at age 93 on Jan. 29, 2019, and Telle were incredible with their recollections, offering the smallest details from some of the biggest moments in state high school hockey history.
It was early in the reporting stages of Tourney Time, and that day — August 21, 2017 — is one I’ll never forget. There was a total solar eclipse that day, but we paid it no mind — nothing tops talking hockey with state icons such as Roberts, who was not only the Warriors’ coach but a teacher in the school, owner of a downtown hardware store and the town’s mayor.
On the way home we counted the deer grazing in the fields alongside the lightly populated stretch of Highway 11 between Baudette and International Falls — more than 60 of them in all — and then witnessed a most incredible sight as the sun was setting.
We noticed there was something unusual about the precipitation hitting our windshield — it was thick and sticky. Almost like … snow.
Yes, for about three or four minutes we drove through a mini snow flurry. In August.
What an incredible day.
— LRN —
