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Minnetonka Football Lore and Trivia
- The Skipper name was much debated but eventually accepted by all the old "Blue Jays" and "Wolves". It made sense due to our proximity to the Lake (Great Water) and so did the colors blue and white. The anchor outside the school was a gift from our Navy and serves as our memorial to the veterans (and past Tonka athletes) that died for this great country. We should all be proud of the name Skipper!
- Einar Anderson Field was established in 1954 (we played our first two years behind the old Excelsior High School) and was named for our long-time beloved mentor, educator, coach and driver trainer. All the kids flocked to Einar over the years but he never really coached football.
- The rivalry with cross-lake enemy Wayzata has been a wild one over all 52 years. Throw the records out when these two play. In 2003, we were 27-25-2 including playoff games with the Trojans over the half century!
- The MHS mascot and logo has varied over the years from ship to giant steerage wheel and ship's anchor to an Ohio State looking buckeye with tentacles (an octopus we think) to "Skip the Duck" to our current Popeye looking walking "Skipper"! The logo has evolved to the block "M". Stories abound about several movements to change to a more "aggressive" athletic mascot including the ill-fated 80s movement by students and boosters to go to a "fighting skipper" who looked more like an Oakland Raider emblem. But such macho movements were unceremoniously shot down during the dawn of political correctness!
- Tonka football alumni who played professional football number five! These are the "Hall of Fame" players who reached Professional Football ranks:
- Dick Donlin Baltimore Colts, 1951 (Excelsior Blue Jays 1951)
- John Seamans Houston Oilers, 1960
- Keith Nord Minnesota Vikings, 1974
- Jay Foreman Houston Texans, 1992 (transferred to Eden Prairie in his Senior Year)
- Ben Joppru Houston Texans, 1997
- Another old rivalry, Minnetonka v. Hopkins. Kids from both schools play together growing up, then split in high school because of district boundaries. Sixty percent of residents in the city of Minnetonka live in the Hopkins school district and Hopkins High is actually in Minnetonka.
- Long time legend Coach and Athletic Director Walt West, along with Howard Nerriman of Edina, helped start JV and night football in Minnesota in the early 1960s. Walt played briefly for the Green Bay Packers before a career ending injury after a successful career at the U of W Superior where he became good friends with Bud Grant.
- Coaches Myles Ginther (St. Norbert's), George Soukup (MSU) and Dave Nelson (UMD) had great playing careers at their respective schools. George is in the Minnesota State at Mankato Football Hall of Fame, and was recently named to the State High School Coaches Hall of Fame.
- Ben Joppru 1996-1997 is our only Tonka graduate currently playing in the NFL with the Seattle Seahawks!
- The Steve Zabel family lived in Excelsior but Steve played high school football in Denver. He went onto play for the Philadelphia Eagles.
- Long time Athletic Trainer Zibby Tully-Nunn has been with the football team now over 15 years.
- "Fast" Eddy Robinson retired with almost 20 years as Equipment Manager and Driver of the Blue Booster Wagon.
- Tonka's largest lineman Jake Kuppe 1997 stood 6'7" and weighed 330 pounds. Jake went onto become a two year starter at the U of M where he played at 350 pounds. He had an outstanding career and is currently helping coach basketball (lead the Tonka '98 state champion basketball team as well) for the Blue and White. He also had a try-out with the Tennessee Titans of the NFL.
- Minnetonka's All-Time Cumulative Won/Loss record (as of 2003):
W L T
187 275 7 469 games
(average of 9 games per seaon)
- Quickest TD's by Brian Cohen in 1991 vs Cooper scored four times on six touches in the first half (24 minutes). He had 1,532 yards in his career.
- Keith Nord became our only Skipper to play and start for our hometown Minnesota Vikings.
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