In 1951, when Ike Pesonen started teaching at Orono, he knew he wanted to start a football team. In the beginning, home games were impossible due to a lack of a field at Orono. 60 years later at OHS’s Homecoming game, crowds full of blue and red cheer on the Spartans, all thanks to the man the stadium is named after, Pesonen.

Pesonen has always had an interest in sports. In high school, he played several sports, but when he got to college he realized playing football was not an option, and at that point he turned to coaching.

Pesonen stated that when he started working, Orono was “brand new. Students from Wayzata, Mound and Deephaven now called Orono home.

“It was a big job to start up a team because none of the kids had ever played before. We started from scratch and it took us five years to win our first championship. After that, we won eight more. At one point we were winning quite often, 31 games in a row was our longest streak,” stated Pesonen.

Being a coach was much different than it was today. For example, Pesonen himself painted the helmets. “I really did a lot of the work by myself. It wasn’t like how football is today, with five or six coaches,” he said.

To celebrate the 60th Homecoming, Orono held its first-ever parade.  The parade included all varsity sports teams, a float for each high school grade and the homecoming court. Community members along with students grades K-12 gathered on Old Crystal Bay to watch.

Local schools such as Wayzata and Minnetonka also have parades. They are a popular way for a school to showcase sports, activities, and royalty all at once. “It was so fun to see the whole district come together,” stated senior Mackenzie Carlson. Junior Mitch Miller said, “It was a great addition to Homecoming week and I really hope we do it next year.”

Senior football captain Grant Schoen also thought the parade was a hit. “I thought the parade was an awesome experience to show the Spartan pride to the community. Most of the schools in the Wright County live in small towns, and Friday nights are what the community lives for. It is their entertainment. In Orono, sometimes it’s hard to get the community involved in our school because of how spread out our district is. The parade was a great way to bring everybody together,” stated Schoen.

All of the captains on the team really believe they must be role models for their players. Schoen stated, “It has been great to lead the team by example and help pass on what I’ve learned to the younger players.”

-Talia Zadeh is the Editor in Chief of the Spartan Speaks