The Vikings have a game for the ages on Friday, September 18.
What?
The Minnesota Vikings’ schedule has them in Chicago September 20 for an NFC North Division game against the Bears.
We’re talking about the Minneota High School Vikings. And the good folks in the small southwestern Minnesota town of Minneota have a circle it date on the calendar for September 18.
Minneota has a citizenry of about 1,500 people, with the farm community’s population similar in size to the number of tailgaters outside US Bank Stadium at 6 a.m. on Vikings gameday. The football public in this state is more than aware where the Purple play on September 20, but folks ought to pay attention to what’s happening in Minneota two days prior.
It’s a compelling story about the town and the school with a grades 7-12 enrollment of approximately 300 students.
On that late summer evening the high school Vikings will host the Canby Lancers in a game that will be the talk of the town. The Vikings carry a 46-game win streak into the season and could set a school record on a night of celebration that includes honoring the legendary Gerhard Meidt. It was Meidt’s Minneota teams from 1986-1989 that won 48 consecutive games and set at that time a new state record for prep football in Minnesota.
This coming season K.P. Kompelien Field becomes Gerhard Meidt Stadium. Dedication ceremonies on the evening of September 18 will also include celebrations of a new stadium scoreboard, signage and lights.
If that weren’t enough, the Lancers are a rivalry team and it’s Minneota’s Homecoming Game. There will even be fireworks on the big night.
“…We’ll do the whole deal,” said Chris Meidt. “It’ll be a great, great event.”
Chris played quarterback for his dad in the 1980s. Last year he attended a game celebrating the 40th anniversary of the 1985 team that was the school’s first playoff group. The scoreboard malfunctioned in the second quarter and that embarrassment turned out to be a community changing moment.
Chris had a successful run as St. Olaf football coach, and his football resume also includes two seasons (2008 and 2009) as an offensive assistant coach with the NFL Washington Redskins. Now he’s president and CEO of North Risk Partners, a privately owned independent insurance brokerage and risk management firm headquartered in Minnesota. He understands finances and folks in Minneota turned to him to raise money for much of what the town will celebrate on September 18.
Challenge accepted. “I created a committee of one. I was the committee,” Chris said.
In a period of six months $500,000 was raised in donations. The money came almost entirely from Miinneota citizenry. About a dozen families pitched in for a fundraising effort Chris calls a “fun year” that included hearing stories about how Gerhard impacted the lives of people in the community.
It was an expression, too, of how proud donors are of Minneota. And beyond individuals, Chris said it was a “team effort” that also included help from the city and school district.
Gerhard passed away at age 88 in June of last year. What would he think of what’s going on now?
Chris said: “He would tell me, ‘What are you thinking? Why would you do this?’
“…But he passed away. So, he lost his vote. …”
Gerhard, known to many as Gary, arrived in Minneota in 1981 with wife Karen and his children. His background included a wonderful run of football success at Rothsay where his 1972 team won the first ever nine-man state championship. He moved on from Rothsay to Lyle where he was superintendent of schools.
In Minneota he was school superintendent, football coach and choir director. “He was an interesting guy,” Chris said, speaking for a legion of admirers. “He was a renaissance man probably a little bit before his time. But he did it all.
“He was a music major. He was a math teacher. He got his administrative degree. He loved football, loved the tactical side of it.
“He was ultimately just a team guy. He was all about creating team. Didn’t matter if it was music, band, (or) football. He wanted to collaborate together, cheer each other on. That’s what he instilled.”
It wasn’t just the “plug and play” youth that Gerhard cared about. The students who had what Chris referred to as an “edge” about them were not going to be left out of activities and attention if Gerhard could make a difference.
An educator to the core, he was diligent about finding a role for everyone to play and be successful at. “He never wrote anyone off. Ever,” Chris said.
One of his mantras was: “If you don’t love each other, you can’t win together.”
Chris played quarterback for his dad from 1984-1987. He was a prolific passer who once held the state caree record of 8,533 yards. His 1986 and 1987 teams won state Class C championships.
As quarterback, Chris was allowed to call his own plays, a demonstration of the commitment his father had in developing decision making and leadership in young people.“He just believed you coach them hard during the week and Fridays were for celebrating and letting the kids run the game,” Chris recalled.
Ron Stolski, the retired Brainerd football coaching legend and still the longtime executive director of the Minnesota Football Coaches Association, first met Gerhard in 1962. Ron followed and admired Gerhard’s career that had multiple stops.
“As a coach, he was very direct, well organized and demanded discipline,” Ron told Sports Headliners via email. “Traits he carried throughout his outstanding career. …
“It was in Minneota that he realized his greatest success. He was a change agent, an innovator who coached and introduced a multiple formations passing game featuring motion and spread formations that literally changed and affected the high school football landscape in Minnesota.”
Chris and his father are both in the Minneota Athletic High School Hall of Fame. This year a bust of Gerhard will be placed in the Hall of Fame as part of the grand celebration of their famed educator and coach. Gerhard was inducted into the Minnesota Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1999.
As for the 2026 Vikings, they’re coming off four consecutive Class 1 A state titles. Chris said good players were lost through graduation, but this year’s Vikings will be “formidable.”
The head coach is Chad Johnston. “He’s amazing. A wonderful man,” Chris said.
Johnston also led the Vikings to state titles in 2009, 2014, 2015 and 2017. “(Gerhard Meidt) was the guy that changed everything in Minneota football and it was his program,” Johnston told John Millea in a Minnesota State High School League story in December of 2022.
“There are shadows of what was done here before, and I think that’s what drives us,” Johnston said in the article. “And a lot of these kids have parents who have played in the Prep Bowl. That tradition means a lot to me, to be able to say that there has been no downslide in this program since the ‘80s. The kids have worked hard to keep us on the map and the credit goes to the kids, it really does.”
Gerhard, who won three Class C state titles at Minneota from 1986-88, had a head coaching record of 236-79 in 32 years at Rothsay, Minneota and Big Lake where he also coached after leaving the Vikings. He and wife Karen were married for 65 years and he was a proud father and grandparent.
He would be humbled and would no doubt deflect praise if present on September 18.
Skol!
2 comments
