Jerome "Jerry" Spitzner: It is certainly possible that Jerry Spitzner would have been the Saints first wrestling Minnesota state champion in 1960. Unfortunately for the Saints wrestling history, Jerry had an even bigger opportunity to tend to on the day of the Minnesota State Wrestling Tournament, a chance to become a winner of a $7,500 Westinghouse Science Scholarship in Washington D.C. He certainly made the right decision for his future because he did become the winner defeating some 29,000 high school candidates across the nation for the award. "The most famous citizen of St. James, Minnesota", from the Minneapolis Sunday Tribune, was also known as a great Saint athlete in his time at St. James High School. Jerry played football as a halfback, wrestled and excelled at track and field. He qualified for the Minnesota State Wrestling tournament winning the South Central Conference, District and Region titles along the way in his senior year. In track and field, he competed in the pole vault, high hurdles and anchored the relay. Unfortunately Jerry passed away at the young age of 43 back in 1985. But his legacy has lived on with his children, Lara, Joanna and Dan. St. James will never forget their most famous citizen as Jerry becomes a member of the St. James High School Hall of Fame in 2022.
Natalie Runge Oldenburg: As an athlete looks back on their playing career, not many have the opportunity to reminisce about their highly successful high school and college days. Natalie worked to be one of the best volleyball players in Saints history during her time at St. James High School. Hall of fame inductees can look back on success in different sports as she was able to compete at high levels on the basketball court and in track and field lettering four years of her high school career. On the hardwood court, Natalie received two All-South Central Conference awards. She also competed in track and field in events at the Sub-Section and Section meets through her high school career. While Natalie earned a total of twelve letters at St. James High School, she will be better known for her time in the gym playing volleyball, Natalie earned All-South Central Conference honors over three years, KNUJ Player of the Week and KEYC Prep Athlete of the Week. The Saints also competed at the state level during her time at St. James. Natalie went on to play at Southwest Minnesota State-Marshall for four years, lettering all of those years becoming the first Libero position player in their school history. Today, Natalie has the oppotunity to coach and shape the new Saint volleyball players dishing out lessons learned from her high school coaches Eggen, Bannerman, Allen about how important the whole team is so putting aside the differences off the court to respecting teammates, officials, coaches and fans. Natalie and her husband Jake live in St. James with their two children, Brenna and Evan. She currently is the Vice President of Retail Sales Management at Pioneer Bank among many other activities for our community.
Anne Branstad: Athletes today believe that concentrating on one sport helps their future athletic career beyond high school. Anne Branstad may disagree as she was able to excel as a three sport athlete at St. James High School and still extended her great playing career playing college volleyball at Luther College. Anne participated in volleyball, basketball and track and field while attending St. James High School and played a role in the volleyball and basketball dominance of the Saints in the mid-1990s earning Minnesota state tournament bids in multiple years. As a Saint volleyball player, Anned earned athlete of the week honors from KEYC, KNUJ and KEEZ. She ended her career at the top of the career charts - third in kills, third in digs, eighth in blocks, fifth in serves and second in service points. She had the school record for most kills (354) during her senior campaign. Anne also completed her senior year setting a school record with the most serves without a miss at 193! An accomplishment that may never be matched by her perfection of the serve. Anne went on to continue her volleyball success at Luther College playing all four years at Decorah, Iowa. Today, Anne is a Speech-Language Pathologist for the St. Paul Public Schools.
Gary Rettke: As a longtime teacher and coach of thirty-five years at Spring Lake Park, Gary Rettke continued to show excellence from his time as a student-athlete at St. James High School. Gary was a 1961 graduate of St. James High School and contributed to the football, wrestling and track programs at the highest level possible in each of those sports. On the gridiron, Gary was named honorable mention Minnesota All-State his senior year. Next on the sports calendar was wrestling. As a wrestler, Gary won championships in the South Central Conference, District and Regional tournaments along with winning the Mankato State Invitational twice. He also advanced to the second round of the Minnesota State High School Wrestling tournament helping the St. James' team place sixth. In the spring, Saint supporters could find Gary throwing the shot put as he also competed well in District play in track and field. After Gary received his diploma from St. James High School, we went on to compete in football and wrestling at Gustavus Adolphus College. He played two years of football and all four in wrestling. Gary was named team captain three years after winning the MIAC championship twice and competed twice in the NCAA national tournament. Gary's career ended giving back to the future athletes of Spring Lake Park. He coached wrestling for thirty-five years and held the assistant football position for twenty-eight years. In his wrestling coaching career, he was able to win 339 dual meets coaching a total of seven state champions. Since retiring from teaching and coaching in 2000, Gary has continued to be active in the financial services industry. Gary has also worked golf course security at Augusta National during the Masters Golf Tournament. Gary stated, "St. James High School was a great place to grow up! I was blessed." The fans of the Saints would agree that St. James was blessed to have the opportunity to watch Gary in action on the football field, the wrestling mats of southern Minnesota and on the track.
Connie Edgerton: For over thirty years Connie Edgerton has been contributing to St. James Public Schools and the Athletic Department in many different roles throughout her career. Connie was the Athletic departments Adminstrative Assistant helping in many different ways and continues to be a vital contributor throughout the District. Saints fans will see Connie taking tickets at football games, gymnastic meets, basketball and baseball games, and the Fine Arts performances. Connie continues to help at volleyball, cross country and track events as well. One sport that she was instrumental in helping to run a well-oiled tournament machine was wrestling. For years before a computer changed everything, Connie would have to by hand fill out brackets and charts and still be able to keep matches on time and running for an efficient tournament. Once the computer technology came with wrestling programs, Connie mastered that to ensure the process continued to be at the highest level for the Saints tournaments and Sectional wrestling tournaments. Many people over the years have commented to just how good tournaments at St. James were ran much the same process as a state tournament setting. Connie is now retired but still continues to help the elementary school and high school if they are short on paraprofessionals or admistrictive staff. And Saints fans can still catch her taking tickets and helping all over the map of athletic contests here at St. James.
Phil Tangen: Phil Tangen was a three sport standout for the Saints as an outstanding individual athlete in cross country, wrestling and tennis. Phil was a three time letter winner in tennis and showed his leadership skills being named captain for two seasons. He was the number one singles player his junior and senior campaigns winning most valuable player honors along with the hustle award. Phil is best known for his dominance on the wrestling mat. Over his wrestling career as a Saint, he won 73 matches and accumulated 406 team points in those wins (5.6 points per win). He was South Central Conference champion twice and finished second his junior year. Phil was also Section champion his junior and senior year. Phil's senior season ended with the Saints third Minnesota State Wrestling Tournament Champion. Phil went on to wrestle at Mankato State for four years. Today, Phil and his family live in Illinios and is a sales representative for Phoenix Footwear.
Tyler Kaus: Tyler Kaus graduated from St. James High School in 2004, leaving a legendary Kaus legacy in the Saints athletic history. Tyler earned a total of twelve letters as a Saint in four different sports (football - 3, basketball - 4, baseball - 4, and track and field - 1). His senior year, Tyler competed in track helping the 4 X 200 relay team to eighth place at the Minnesota State Track Meet in 2004. On the football field, Tyler was named All-South Central Conference in 2002 but his senior season was cut short due to an injury. In baseball, Tyler was named All-South Central Conference in 2003 and 2004 and earned Minnesota All-State honors in 2004. Tyler is probably better known for his hardwood skills. He earned All-South Central Conference honors in three years and Minnesota All-State honors for two years (2nd team and honorable mention). Tyler ended his high school career with school records at the time in points in a game, season, career, assists in a game, season and career. Needless to say, Tyler shattered previous records across the board in Saints basketball history. According to Steve Walker, "when I think of Tyler, the first thing that comes to mind was his ability to change the game quickly on the offensive end. Ty was the most prolific three point shooter I ever coached. He had the ability to get to the basket off the dribble, and could make a pass setting up a teammate to score off of his drives." After his high school career, Tyler went on to excel again at the collegiate level at Gustavus Adolphus in basketball and baseball. After a five year stint coaching basketball at Gustavus, Tyler went on to teach and coach at Waterville-Elysian-Morristown and currently is the head girls basketball coach.
Les Zellmann: The long time Saint coaching legend Les Zellmann continues to rack up wins and awards. In the summer of 2022, Les was named National High School Tennis Coach of the Year. The program consists of a brief bio of the accomplishments and achievements that each coach had earned during their coaching career. Mr. Zellmann has no doubt had a career coaching tennis to boys and girls at St. James that may never be seen again. His dedication to his former and current athletes is truly unmatched. Since 1980, Les has accumulated over 1,186 total wins combining boys and girls competitions. Over the years of coaching high school sports, Les has coached tennis, basketball, football and baseball. In St. James, Les spent time as the boys basketball head coach and currently is the co-head coach of both girls and boys tennis. He holds a record of 513 wins in boys and 673 in girls tennis going into the 2022 campaign. He has led the girls to 15 state tournaments finishing second (1), third (2), fourth (6), fifth (3) and sixth (1) during those years. Les started his career back in 1977 at Sioux Valley High School coaching boys basketball and baseball before moving to St. James in 1979. Les also has been the Saints athletic leader since 1994.
Roger Nelson: Saint graduate Roger Nelson, lettered a total of six times in football, wrestling and track. On the football field, the 1964 St. James High School graduate lettered twice and was named Minnesota All-State running back as the Saints captain dominated the South Central Conference opponents. Roger went on to be a two time Region Champion in the winter on the wrestling mat winning twenty-nine times in a condensed wrestling schedule from the early 1960s. In the spring, Roger also excelled in track and field. He was a two time Minnesota State meet qualifier in high and low hurdles. Roger held school, conference and district records in high hurdles at the time of his graduation. After high school, Roger went on to compete in college in track, football and wrestling at Worthington Community College and Bemidji State University. He places sixth in the Junior College Nationals and fourth in the NAIA nationals at Bemidji State University. Once his athletic days were over at Bemidji, Roger went into coaching. He spent time as a youth baseball coach and Virginia's Head Football Coach. He was also the founder of the Virginia wrestling program in 1969 and went on to be the program's head coach from 1969 to 2003.
Ashley Eckstrom Wellman: Due to conflict, Ashley will be honored during the 2023 Hall of Fame Celebration.