By Bill Anderson
Mother Nature gave Rutland and vicinity a 2 day reprieve
from the siege of Arctic weather on Friday and Saturday, February 1 & 2,
just enough time for the Ground Hog and about 120 pinochle players to make
their annual appearance in the little city that can. The Ground Hog was pretty
quiet. The pinochle players, though…well, they’re another story. The following
report was received from Sonja (Anderson) Christensen, one of the organizers of
the 24th Annual Rudy Anderson Memorial Pinochle Tournament: “As the
sun rose at 7:48 a.m. on February 2 in Rutland ND, Mr. Groundhog, aka Rutland
Roscoe, was busy checking out the weather conditions. Seeing his shadow, he
jumped right back into his hole after he saw all 120 pinochle players arriving
in town. Mother Nature knew how
important the first Saturday of February is to all of those eager pinochle
players. Raising the temperature from minus 36 degrees on Tuesday and Wednesday,
She cranked the thermostat up into the plus 20’s for pilgrims to make their way
to the 24th Annual Rudy Anderson Memorial Pinochle Tourney on
Saturday. Jason Hayen formerly of Cogswell, now living in Oklahoma, traveled to
Rutland just for the weekend to play his favorite card game with his mother
Kathy. Judie Seavert flew in from Port Aransas TX to partner up with her niece,
Jessica Hayen of Fargo, for the tourney. Two newcomers were Charlie Makovsky
and his daughter Madison from Grand Forks. Madison was recognized as the
youngest player, saying, “This was so much fun. I will be back next year.” When
asked how they knew about the day of pinochle, Charlie said he read it on the
Rutland website. Due to Madison’s participation, players ranged in age from 20
years to 97 years, the latter honor going to Heb Diederick of Wahpeton, an
All-Star baseball player back in the 1940’s & 50’s who is a contemporary of
the late Leif Sundlie, Harvey Shasky and the other great players of Rutland
Rooster fame. Sadly missed was Jack Brummond of Havana, The Sage Of Weber Township,
who passed away shortly before the tourney, on January 29. Jack had played in
the first 20 tournaments and must have decided he couldn’t stand to miss any
more pinochle, so he wanted to be there in spirit to assist his former partner,
Roger McLaen. Playing in all 24 tournaments were Roger McLaen, Norman Preble,
and Stella Bell. Their devotion to hand after hand of pinochle is to be
admired, as they teach others the love for the game. Roger and Benita Ziegler
of Forman took first place with 1,818 points. Benita said, “It only took 23
years but we finally made it!” Congratulations to the persistent couple. Like
the little train who kept saying, “I think I can, I think I can,” they made it
to the top. Former Rutland residents who returned for the big day were Harvey
Preble, Joel Hoistad, George Resler, Judie Seavert, and Norman Preble. Despite
Harvey’s regular partner, Ed Christensen, not being able to make it to Rutland for
the day, he quickly found a partner from Ellendale, Darlene Schock, to put up
with his sense of humor and infectious attitude, reminding many of his days
back in Rutland High.
Continue reading “The Rooster Crows – February 8, 2019” →