Editor’s Note: The WIAA recently canceled spring sports due to the COVID-19 pandemic. At the Times-Tribune, we’d like to give recognition to the athletes and coaches who had their seasons stopped prematurely.
So over the next few weeks, we’ll run a series of stories on the teams that didn’t get a chance to perform in 2020.
Brent Jorgensen wasn’t about to go “Broadway” Joe Namath.
But that type of proclamation might have been apropos.
In 1969, Namath — a brash, young quarterback for the New York Jets — “guaranteed” his team would defeat the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III. The Jets, an 18-point underdog, went on to stun the Colts and the rest of the football world with a 16-7 win.
Jorgensen, Middleton’s baseball manager, saw that his team was picked to finish in the middle of the Big Eight Conference this season. Jorgensen channeled his inner-Namath, but stopped short of any guarantees.