Prescott Hall of Fame Banquet and induction ceremony tickets will soon be available for purchase via the Prescott School District website. Steve Block, Ryan Berg, and Jaci Kosin will be the fifth Hall of Fame class and will be inducted on Saturday, Sept. 30 at Prescott High School. Doors open at 6 p.m. with dinner catered by Ptacek’s beginning at 6:45 p.m. The student council will serve the dinner with members of the band providing music throughout the event. The induction program is scheduled to begin at approximately 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $25. 

The Prescott Cardinal football “home opener” will be played at David Smith Field on the campus of the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. The Cardinals will host the Eau Claire Regis Ramblers, who won the WIAA Division 7 State Championship last year. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m. This Friday the Cardinals will participate in a scrimmage along with five other schools. Along with host Osceola, St. Croix Falls, New Richmond, River Falls, and St. Croix Central will participate in the hours-long event that begins at 11:30 a.m. 

The Prescott cross country team begins practice Aug. 14. But this year’s course will be used by more than Prescott Cardinal Head Coach Tim Phillips and his harriers. The University of Wisconsin-River Falls will be hosting two meets at Prescott High School this fall. On Sept. 8, the Falcons will host the WIAC Cross Country Preview and even more exciting the 2023 Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Conference Championships.

"I could not be more excited to host two meets and the conference championships this year,” said UW-River Falls Head Coach Meaghan Koski. "We have been working hard to set up a brand-new course at Prescott High School that is sure to be a true cross country course, filled with plenty of hills. We'll be able to practice there often so our team will be ready to show up and show out when championship day arrives." 

Expect big crowds at both events. 

Speaking of cross county, Phillips is heavily involved in the sport of harness racing. Phillips is the proud owner of three equines: Southwind Molly, Set on Cruise Control, and Rough Rock. Phillips and his horse trio do their racing at Running Aces in Columbus, Minn. Incidentally, the very first horse Philips owned, Beachy Boy Hill, is what he and the cross country team have named the large hill back on the course at Prescott High School. 

This Friday, Head Girls Golf Coach Chad Salay and the three-time defending state champion Cardinals will travel to Reedsburg to compete in an invitational tournament involving teams from Stevens Point, Wisconsin Rapids Lincoln, Onalaska, Tomah, Wisconsin Dells, DeForest, Fort Atkinson, Monona Grove, Mount Horeb, Prairie du Chien, Waunakee, Lancaster, and Baraboo. The Cardinals will open against Middle Border Conference opponents on Aug. 17 at Pheasant Hills Golf Course in Hammond. Coach Salay expects St. Croix Central, Somerset, and the Altoona-Regis Co-op to be among the top teams in the conference this year. There are a total of 17 girls out for golf this year. 

Prescott Activities Director Andrew Caudill reminds everyone that season tickets are on sale via GoFan for the 2023-24 athletic season. An all-season pass is available along with individual season tickets in football, girls volleyball, boys basketball, and girls basketball. Individual game tickets can be purchased in advance online or at the door.

The year was 1973. Richard Nixon was president of the United States. Roberto Clemente and Warren Spahn were inducted into the Hall of Fame. And Denny Olson began his first season as a member of the Prescott High School Football chain gang. The longtime resident and Cardinal football alumnus plans to return to the sidelines of Laney Field for what he says will be his 50th and final year carrying the yard marker. 

Looking for a good sports documentary to watch? Look no further than the recently released “It Ain’t Over” about the life and playing career of New York Yankee Hall of Famer “Yogi” Berra. The St. Louis native won 10 World Series championships during his outstanding career. 

Hats off to Prescott High Schoolers Grayson Riley and Joaquin Magee. Last week a call went out to help an area resident move some furniture and boxes out of their basement. The two juniors showed no hesitation in volunteering their time to help out a Prescott local. Well done young men! You are a credit to not only yourselves but also to your families. 

Last Thursday Prescott alumnus and Fargo-Moorhead infielder Peter Brookshaw clubbed his first professional home run - a grand slam - against the Sioux City Explorers. Brookshaw’s round tripper gave the RedHawks a 4-0 lead in the third inning but the Redhawks were held scoreless the rest of the way as they fell to Sioux City by a score of 5-4. Fargo Moorhead enters the weekend with a record of 36-35, six games behind the West Division leading Kansas City Monarchs. 

From the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources: Last week, the DNR announced that bonus antlerless harvest authorizations, formerly known as tags, for the 2023 gun deer season will be available for purchase online through the Go Wild license portal and at license sales locations starting at 10 a.m. on Monday, Aug. 14, 2023. Bonus authorizations are sold at a rate of one per person per day until sold out or until the 2023 deer hunting season ends. Bonus authorizations are $12 each for Wisconsin residents, $20 each for non-residents and $5 each for youth ages 11 and under. The first three days of bonus sales are management zone-specific, and the fourth day is open to all zones: Aug. 14, 10 a.m. – Forest Zones (Northern and Central), Aug. 15, 10 a.m. – Central Farmland Zone, Aug. 16, 10 a.m. – Southern Farmland Zone, Aug. 17, 10 a.m. – All zones available. 

The Prescott CAB Company will be hosting three baseball tournaments over the next two months at Firehall Field. The first, a Prospect Select Tournament, will be held Aug. 17-20, with two other tournaments Aug. 26 and 27, and Sept. 16 and 17. Groundskeeper Dennis Gagnier has his fingers crossed that players will not use sunflower seeds in the dugouts nor fans in the stands consume the filthy baseball snack in the bleachers in the final three tournament series at Firehall Field this season. 

Headshaker of the week: Growing up in Hastings I and a lot of my friends would practice our autographs, dreaming that one day we would make it to the big leagues. None of us did, but it was still fun to dream. In the realm of sports today, unfortunately it’s more than their autographs professional athletes practice today. Home run trots, goals, touchdowns, strikes, aces, and three pointers have become celebrations planned like a Hollywood script. The spontaneous reactions of athletes at all levels is sadly waning. Oh, you can still find it at times. When the Little Leaguer gets his first hit or the little boy catches his first keeper fish. Those reactions are truly joyful. Today when watching athletes revel in their own accomplishments, I often wonder if the celebration is genuine or something the athlete planned well in advance. Choreographed merriment in sports?  It’s a headshaker.