Saturday, October 12, 2013

On This Date in Minnesota History: October 12

October 12, 1989 – Vikings General Manager Mike Lynn acquired running back Herschel Walker from the Dallas Cowboys on this date in what many Minnesotans consider the worst trade in sports history.

“The Vikings coaches reluctantly accepted Walker after the trade [but] never totally used the tool they had been given. From the moment he arrived in Minneapolis there was Herschel Mania everywhere he went. After a 2 ½ hour practice session where he was just taught 12 offensive plays, Walker had an incredible debut against the Green Bay Packers, where he produced the best rushing game by a Viking back since 1983 and the first 100 yards rushing performance by a Viking since 1987, gaining 148 yards on 18 carries.

He received three standing ovations from the record Metrodome crowd of 62,075, with the Vikings winning the game after previously having lost four successive games and 14 of 18 games to the Packers. His production went downhill from there, with the team questioning his talent and commitment to football, especially after he got involved in the Bobsled program of the United States Bobsled and Skeleton Federation, [which] eventually led him to participate in the 1992 Winter Olympics.”1

Walker, who generally referred to himself in the third person, revealed that he suffers from dissociative identity disorder, formerly known as "multiple personality disorder,” in his 2008 autobiography Breaking Free.1

http://min.scout.com/2/11653.html
1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herschel_Walker




Herschel Walker1




Friday, October 11, 2013

On This Date in Minnesota History: October 11

October 11, 1952 - Paulette Tenae Carlson, a country singer-songwriter who rose to fame in the 1980s as the founder and lead vocalist for the country band Highway 101, was born on this date in Hutchinson, Minn. With Highway 101, she charted four No. 1 hit singles, seven Top 10 hits, a gold album and two back-to-back wins for Vocal Group of the Year from both the ACM and the CMA Awards in 1988 and 1989.1





Paulette Tenae Carlson3


Paulette named the band Highway 101 for Highway 101 in Minn. where she was from, thinking that it was a great connection to her Calif. band mates with a highway of the same name in their home state.2


Highway 101 - Minn.4


1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paulette_Carlson
2http://www.cmt.com/artists/paulette-carlson/biography/
3http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Paulette_Carlson.jpg
4Photo taken by Pamela J. Erickson. Released into the public domain Oct. 11, 2013,   as long as acknowledgement included.  




Wednesday, October 9, 2013

On This Date in Minnesota History: October 10

October 10, 2001 – The Downtown Minneapolis Target Store opened on this date. “This particular Target was many years in the planning, and was the subject of heated political and community debate all the way up until the grand opening. The store features a three-story glass entrance and a design that sets it apart from most suburban Target stores...this store alone cost Target $16.3 million USD, and the city of Minneapolis $59.9 million USD to develop.

One unique feature of the multi-level Targets are the special escalators, called Vermaports, that customers can use to transport their shopping carts between the levels. You push your cart through the gates, and it automatically makes the trip up or down, while you ride right next to it on the normal escalator!”

http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM3FWD_Target_Downtown_Minneapolis_MN



Downtown Minneapolis Target Store
Photo taken by Pamela J. Erickson. Released into the public domain Oct. 10, 2013,
as long as acknowledgement included.
 



On This Date in Minnesota History: October 9

October 9, 1933 - On this date, “William H. Jensen, an amateur archaeologist, uncovered the badly broken skeleton of a man in a gravel pit on the plateau visible about ½ mile south of this marker. The plateau was formed as an island in the ancient River Warren, an outlet of Glacial Lake Agassiz [in Traverse County, Minn.].

From flint spear points of the parallel-flaked type found in the grave and from the surrounding geological evidence, University of Minnesota archaeologists estimated that the burial dated to about 6000 B.C.

The skull of Browns Valley Man reconstructed and measured at the university was that of a man between 25 and 40 years of age who possessed many of the physical characteristics of the North American Indian. No additional traces of his culture have been discovered in the immediate vicinity.

The skeleton disappeared sometime after it was returned to Jensen, deepening the mystery surrounding the Browns Valley Man. It was rediscovered by the Jensen family in 1987. The radiocarbon dating has now dated the skeleton to 9000 years ago. This makes the skeleton one of the earliest ever found, to date, in the New World.”1 

“Browns Valley Man has been reburied according to NAGPRA regulations.”2

1http://img.groundspeak.com/waymarking/3746355c-1dad-460e-b4bf-9d8fd1ad13cf.jpg

2http://www.examiner.com/article/browns-valley-man-the-oldest-human-remains-found-minnesota




http://img.groundspeak.com/waymarking/3746355c-1dad-460e-b4bf-9d8fd1ad13cf.jpg



Tuesday, October 8, 2013

On This Date in Minnesota History: October 8

October 8, 2003 – “Peter Agre, M.D., 54, professor of biological chemistry at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, today was awarded the 2003 Nobel Prize in Chemistry by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. The Academy recognized him for his laboratory's 1991 discovery of the long-sought "channels" that regulate and facilitate water molecule transport through cell membranes, a process essential to all living organisms.”

“Born in Northfield, Minn., in 1949, Agre went to Theodore Roosevelt High School in Minneapolis, and in 1970 earned his bachelor's degree in chemistry from Augsburg College in that city.”
 

http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/press/2003/october/031008a.htm





Peter Agre
http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/press/2003/october/031008a.htm

Monday, October 7, 2013

On This Date in Minnesota History: October 7

October 7, 1949 – “Hailed as the tallest illuminated sign between Chicago and the West Coast, the 12-story Weatherball [atop the Northwestern National Bank building in downtown Minneapolis] was introduced amid great fanfare on this date. Built to withstand winds of up to 140 miles per hour, it survived hurricane-force gales just three days after it began operating.” The jingle that referred to the weatherball went like this:

“When the Weatherball is glowing red, warmer weather's just ahead.

When the Weatherball is shining white, colder weather is in sight.

When the Weatherball is wearing green, no weather changes are foreseen.

Colors blinking by night and day say, precipitation's on the way.”

http://suzannesselections.blogspot.com/2010/07/northwestern-national-bank-weatherball.html




http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/d/d3/Northwestern_Banks_weatherball_logo_1970s.JPG


Sunday, October 6, 2013

On This Date in Minnesota History: October 6

October 6, 2000 – Marian Gaborik scored “the first ever goal for the Wild in their franchise debut [on this date] at Anaheim.”

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Wild




Marian Gaborik
http://people.famouswhy.com/marian_gaborik/