The Longsdorf Legacy: Jonas 5 wins from 100

Broadcasting trio calls their final Northern Badger

By Greg Peters
Posted 12/31/24

In the basement of Meyer Middle School, the practice home of River Falls' wrestling, reads a sign that says: "In this world a man must either be an anvil or a hammer."

Make no mistake about it, …

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The Longsdorf Legacy: Jonas 5 wins from 100

Broadcasting trio calls their final Northern Badger

Posted

In the basement of Meyer Middle School, the practice home of River Falls' wrestling, reads a sign that says: "In this world a man must either be an anvil or a hammer."

Make no mistake about it, Wildcat senior 138-pound wrestler Jonas Longsdorf is a hammer. He earned his team's weekly "Hammer" award for notching four wins at the recent Dual in the Dells Tournament in Mauston, Wis., all four wins coming via pins.

"The way I see it, it's the best way to win the match," said Longsdorf. "If I pin them, I win. I don't have to worry about anything else."

Longsdorf was just five wins shy from reaching 100 for his career before the 39th annual Northern Badger Classic in River Falls this past weekend.

"I haven't thought too much about it (100 wins)," said Longsdorf, "But I guess it means a lot of hard work behind each of those wins. I like the grind of it. You have to come in every day no matter what."

"Last year, Jonas would get taken down and he'd get a reversal and pin the kid, said River Falls Sports Broadcasting wrestling analyst Tim Burns. "It seemed like it happened about every other match. Jonas is just so dominant on top and that's what's fun to watch. Jonas has a power half that is second to none."

"One of my strong suits is the top position," said Longsdorf. "I've worked on top a lot and it's something that I'm pretty solid at."

Jonas Longsdorf is in his final year with the Wildcat wrestling program and so is his dad, Jon. Jon has been a play-by-play wrestling commentator for the River Falls Sports Broadcasting YouTube channel for the last decade, along with Tim Burns and Aaron Cudd. Those three called their last Northern Badger Tournament last week, as the trio of Tim Burns, Jon Longsdorf, and award-winning Aaron Cudd will be retiring their head sets at the end of the season. The two-day Northern Badger is a grinding live broadcast event, quite possibly the longest two-day live sports broadcast ever aired in the state of Wisconsin.

"It's over 12-hours each day for two days," said Jon Longsdorf.

"We're not saying there isn't dead air time," quipped Burns.

"I think it's a huge bonus if Cudd doesn't get punched," said Longsdorf. "As soon as Cudd sits down, he doesn't give Tim and I a chance to get a word in edgewise. He can be a word hog."

Cudd snapped back when notified, "Jon is a trainwreck on air. I've been carrying him for 10 years and he knows it, but, hey, I'm a team player. Great broadcasters make those around them better. His kid, Jonas, though, he's a beast."

"Those guys (broadcast team) are sometimes more entertaining than the match itself," said Jonas Longsdorf about his dad and the rest of the volunteer broadcast crew.

"Being serious for a minute," said Jon Longsdorf, "It's a ton of fun."

"It's awesome," said Burns. "It's totally awesome. There is the aspect of broadcasting so people that can't be there in person get a chance to watch it."

"But," interrupted Jon Longsdorf, "We also do it for ourselves because it's so much fun. We’re all on the same page, well, Tim and I are anyway. I don’t know what Cudd’s doing most of the time."

Northern Badger, wrestling, River Falls Wildcats, Jonas Longsdorf, broadcasters