No winter wonderland out there, NDSU trapped at a truck stop

The Forum, Fargo, North Dakota

01/19/1996

No winter wonderland out there, NDSU trapped at a truck stop
Column by Jeff Kolpack

It could be sunny and 70 degrees across the entire United States, Canada and Europe. Except, of course, for one stretch of Interstate 29 in northeast South Dakota.

It never fails. It's Tornado Alley, Cyclone City and Lightning Lane all rolled into one. On Wednesday afternoon, it exploded into Blizzard Bay. Obviously, it was big enough to blanket everybody else in the area. But if there's one place not to be, it's the Coffee Cup Fuel Stop in Summit, S.D.

It's like standing at the top of a 10,000-foot mountain with a 9-iron during a lightning storm.

"It's just been great," said North Dakota State coach Bucky Maughan.

It was the classic facetious comment. On their way to wrestle Augustana in Sioux Falls, S.D., on Wednesday, the Bison bus got as far as the Coffee Cup.

That was at 3:30 p.m.

Twenty-four hours later, the coffee was really cold. The prospects looked grim for a quick get-away. The match with Augustana Thursday night was canceled.

But at least we'll find out the identity of the team pinochle champion. Some of the 17 wrestlers are having the mother of all round-robin card games.

They're also watching a video for the third time. Let's hope it's "Rocky IV." If the Bison take on South Dakota State tonight as they hope, NDSU can just pretend the Jackrabbits are like Drago, the Russian who Rocky pounded.

Eye of the Tiger.

It's better than the eye of the storm. Maughan said the locals around Summit say it's the worst weather they've seen. On Storm Street, that's saying a lot.

On a drive back from Brookings, S.D., late last Saturday night, after the Bison men's and women's basketball games, the weather was fine. Except, of course, for thick fog on Storm Street.

"It's just unbelievable," said Maughan, while looking out the Coffee Cup window at a pickup truck almost buried by snow.

The worries for a wrestling coach are multiplied because of the nature of the sport. The athletes need to maintain, or in some instances, lose weight and the Coffee Cup isn't exactly loaded with fat-free food.

"We can't go down there and expect to make weight," Maughan said. "Our kids are so cramped up from sitting around. All we have is junk food. If they don't adjust the weight, which they should, then we'll have to reschedule." It could be worse. The Bison could be stranded in the same rest area as, gulp, the University of North Dakota. That almost happened to the Sioux and Bison men's basketball teams several years ago.

It was during the days of Erv Inniger vs. Dave Gunther. While coming back from the North Central Conference holiday basketball tournament, bad weather became too extreme north of Blizzard Bay.

So the Bison pulled into the rest area north of Wahpeton, N.D. The Sioux had beaten the Bison to this punch.

The UND players were already sleeping in their vans.

"It was an experience I don't want to go through again," said Gunther, now the coach at Bemidji State. "We were very fortunate to get in there." With a bigger bus, the Bison decided to plow ahead to Fargo. Inniger, in one of the most thoughtful gestures of all-time, offered the Sioux a warm, cozy night at a fabulous NDSU dormitory.

"They didn't want to come in," Inniger said.

Said Gunther: "He was in a larger bus. All we had were vans." Maughan wasn't expecting the highways to open until Thursday night. Asked if he expected to spend another night at the Coffee Cup, he said, "Most likely." More pinochle, anybody?