Minnesota
Who’s Minnesota’s ‘Blanket Lady’? More than a superfan, she was a women’s basketball pioneer
Minnesota is in a tough spot. The No. 4 Gophers are down 9 points to No. 13 Green Bay in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
They hadn’t been to March Madness since 2018. Not only that, but also the Gophers earned a host spot. They should win. But the pressure is mounting.
Luckily for them, the Gophers have something Green Bay doesn’t: Blanket Lady.
During a timeout with 6:01 left in the third quarter, the Blanket Lady begins her ritual. She raises the blanket, decorated with a Minnesota emblem, and she runs, waving the maroon and gold fabric as she goes, up the sideline and down the baseline. As she runs, the crowd cheers, louder and louder until she returns to her seat.
“I was saying in the locker room after the game, that’s probably the loudest it’s been, I think, the whole time I have ever been here,” senior Amaya Battle said. “It was a ton of fun. It was nice to have them rally around us.”
The timeout ends, but the energy hangs in the air. Minnesota responded with a 30-8 run, securing a comeback victory and a spot in the Round of 32 for the first time in eight years.
“I feel like we just won the NCAA Tournament,” the Blanket Lady says the next day.
You know who get this game turned around? BLANKET LADY.
She got this crowd on their feet when the #Gophers needed her most! pic.twitter.com/X6NzmSv85q
— GopherHole.com (@GopherHole) March 20, 2026
You can forgive the exaggerated excitement. She’s better known in The Barn by her Blanket Lady persona, but she’s really 81-year-old Elvera “Peps” Neuman. She’s a superfan who has been hyping up Minnesota supporters at home games since 2004. And she’s loved basketball long before the sport loved women back.
Neuman grew up on a farm in Eden Valley, Minn., with a basket attached to the side of her family’s barn. It was put there for her four older brothers, but Neuman took to the sport. She practiced shooting whenever she could, even when she was milking the cows.
“The milkers were supposed to be on the cows for like, three minutes,” she said. “Well, I thought I could go out there to shoot for three minutes. But sometimes it got to be five or 10 minutes. It probably wasn’t easy on the cows, but we got more milk.”
Neuman’s passion couldn’t be contained to her family farm. She wanted to play for her high school, but in the early 1960s, there were no teams for girls around her, and the boys wouldn’t let her play with them.
“Not to brag,” Neuman said with a laugh, “but I was better than most of the boys anyway.”
In an effort to stay close to the game, Neuman joined the pep club, supporting the same boys who refused to play with her. Then, a conversation with her English teacher changed everything. She told Neuman a team of women were coming to Paynesville, a town just 14 miles down the road, to challenge some of the local coaches.
Neuman went to the game and was in awe of the Harlem Chicks, a team of Black players. As soon as she got home, Neuman wrote a letter to the team’s promoter. She wanted to play for the Chicks. Segregation prevented that, so instead, Neuman joined the Texas Cowgirls barnstorming team. From there, her basketball career took off — at least as much as it could for a woman at that time.
Neuman played basketball until she was 44, and even founded her own barnstorming team, called the Arkansas Gems. Each season, Neuman played in around 140 games, traveling from town to town, sometimes driving 400 miles in one day. It was a grind, but it was all Neuman knew. And it was the only way she could play basketball.
“I loved it,” she said. “I absolutely loved it.”
Elvera “Peps” Neuman started her own barnstorming team when gender rules and segregation kept her from joining teams. (Courtesy of Elvera Neuman)
Every time Neuman walked on the court, she put on a show, once scoring 108 points in a game. That kind of vivaciousness doesn’t just go away, not even at 81 years old. Neuman still brings it to the court, only now, she’s on the sidelines.
“I get more attention from being the Blanket Lady than I ever did from playing basketball,” Neuman said. “That might upset some people, to not get the attention, or the money, but I’m just the opposite. I’m pulling for these girls at 200 percent.”
The Blanket Lady tradition started accidentally in 2006. Neuman serves as a caregiver for her friend and former basketball teammate, Vicky Nelson. Because Nelson is in a wheelchair, the duo sits courtside in an accessible seating section. The blanket was a gift from two other Minnesota fans who noticed that Nelson always draped her jacket over her knees in an effort to keep warm during games.
Overcome by the kindness of the gesture, Neuman held up the blanket to the crowd, and when she did, everyone cheered. Ever the showman, Neuman took the cheers and ran with it — literally — up the sideline. The Blanket Lady was born.
Elvera “Peps” Neuman brings the same energy she brought to the basketball court as a player to her Minnesota courtside seats. (Courtesy of Elvera Neuman)
Neuman and Nelson haven’t missed a Gophers home game since 2004, when All-America point guard Lindsay Whalen was a senior. They certainly won’t miss Minnesota’s March Madness second-round game Sunday against Ole Miss.
If the energy dwindles, Neuman will be ready.
She paved the way for the current Gophers during her barnstorming days, and she’s still doing everything she can to help them succeed.
“I’ll be there,” she said. “I’ll be there with the blanket and my Gophers gear. I love this team.”
Trump administration ends Minnesota immigration operation
Border Czar Tom Homan announced the end of Minnesota’s immigration operation after fatal shootings heightened tension and community backlash.
At a press conference in Minneapolis on Tuesday, June 16, the Justice Department announced criminal charges against 15 people for allegedly conspiring to impede or injure an officer during the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement immigration crackdown in Minnesota from about January to June of 2026.
Minnesota U.S. Attorney Daniel Rosen said the alleged conspiracy related to efforts by two Minneapolis-based antifa groups that violently opposed law enforcement. “Antifa” is a collective term for an assortment of groups in an anti-fascist movement, which President Donald Trump in September designated as a major terrorist organization.
“These defendants have been charged not for what they said, but for what they did,” Rosen said.
“They all joined an agreement, a conspiracy, to interfere with lawful immigration enforcement operations,” he added. “The conspiracy was not to interfere by their voice, but to do it by force.”
Lawyers for the defendants weren’t immediately identifiable.
An indictment unsealed June 16 alleges the defendants tried to halt immigration enforcement operations with “hard blockades” such as wood, leaf blowers and vehicles to impede officer movement, and with “soft blockades” such as homemade shields to resist and wedge between officers.
One defendant, Kyle Wagner, is also charged with soliciting another person to commit a crime of violence. During the June 16 press conference, Rosen played a video that he said was of Wagner.
“My name is Kyle, I’m antifa, and there’s so much rage in me that I’ve had to record this, like, 15 times, trying to get the message out,” the man in the video said.
“Not talking about peaceful protests anymore. We’re not talking about having polite conversations anymore,” the man said in the video, adding that he was speaking specifically to his followers.
“Get your f—— guns and stop these f—— people,” the man added.
Charges follow immigration crackdown and mass protests
In December, the Trump administration began a surge of thousands of federal agents to Minnesota as part of an immigration crackdown. That sparked heightened tensions in the state, with some locals organizing against the crackdown, including by using whistles to alert others to approaching immigration agents.
Interactions between federal immigration enforcement agents and protesters turned increasingly heated and even violent in January, after federal law enforcement shot and killed Minneapolis mother Renee Nicole Good while she was driving a car, and later shot and killed Minneapolis nurse Alex Pretti, after tackling him and discovering a gun that, in videos of the incident, appeared to be secured in his waistband.
On Jan. 16, FBI Director Kash Patel posted on social media that the FBI was working around the clock to crack down on “violent rioters.”
In February, the Trump administration announced an end to the surge.
Since then, the Justice Department has brought charges against dozens of defendants for allegedly interfering with or assaulting federal agents during the surge, but about a third of those cases have been dismissed, according to an analysis by The Minnesota Star Tribune.
Asked about cases that have been dismissed or failed in some way at the June 16 press conference, U.S. Attorney Rosen stood by the cases his office has brought.
“I don’t think any cases have failed in any way, but I will tell you, read the indictment and you’ll understand the full magnitude of this case,” Rosen said.
Minnesota
Severe Thunderstorms Expected Wednesday In Southern Minnesota With Large Hail And Strong Winds
UNDATED (WJON News) — A strong surface low-pressure system will move through the region on Wednesday and will be the driver of scattered showers and thunderstorms during the afternoon/early evening hours.
Severe thunderstorms are possible across southern Minnesota, with the primary threat of large hail (~1.5″). Damaging winds and a few tornadoes are also possible.
St. Cloud has officially had 1.32 inches of rain so far in June, which is 0.53 inches below
normal.
Dry weather returns Thursday and most of Friday, but will be followed by storm chances for the first half of the weekend.
Humourous St. Cloud Sign
For over two years, the sign outside the St. Cloud Vacuum and Sewing Center has been bringing smiles to drivers on Division Street. Check out some of the creative and funny signs that have been brightening the mood of St. Cloud.
Minnesota
Rosemount vs. Champlin Park: Live Score Updates of 2026 Minnesota High School Baseball Class 4A State Championship
MINNEAPOLIS — The No. 2 Champlin Park Rebels (22-6) play the No. 4 Rosemount Irish (24-5) in the Minnesota high school baseball Class 4A state championship game on Monday at Target Field.
Neither team has won a baseball state championship in its history.
The Rebels have won both state championship games by one run. They defeated No. 7 Andover 3-2 in the quarterfinal before outlasting Edina 8-7 in extra innings in the semifinal. The Rebels are led by senior catcher Cal Ockuly, who was scheduled to be in San Diego on Monday for Marine Corps training, but he is allowed to play.
Rosemount won its two state championship games via blowout. They defeated No. 5 Monticello 11-2 in the quarterfinal, and they defeated No. 1 Farmington 11-1 in the semifinal. The Irish scored 12 runs the section final, so they’ve scored 34 runs in the past three games.
Junior outfielder Oliver Anderson had four RBIs in the semifinal win against Farmington.
High School On SI will have half-inning recaps and score updates throughout the game.
Rosemount vs. Champlin Park: Live Score Updates of 2026 Minnesota High School Baseball Class 4A State Championship
Refresh for the latest update.
Live score: Rosemount 0, Champlin Park 0 — Top 2nd
SECOND INNING
FIRST INNING — Champlin Park 0, Rosemount 0
Senior Evan Boll is pitching for Rosemount to begin the game.
Rosemount gets a runner two second base with two outs, but Vendel gets a strikeout for the final out.
Champlin Park’s Donovan Vendel throws the first pitch of the game, and we’re underway after a long rain delay.
More from High School On SI
Follow
-
Finance1 minute agoKey Equipment Finance Adds Foley to Bank Channel Team in Chicago
-
Fitness4 minutes agoAn expert personal trainer says this practical exercise boosts core strength and upper-body stability more than planks
-
Movie Reviews19 minutes ago‘Find Your Friends’ Movie Review: Helena Howard Standout Performance Nearly Saves Shudder Misfire – Deepest Dream
-
World31 minutes agoVideo: Among Mexico’s World Cup Fans: Merlin the Duck
-
Lifestyle1 hour agoDMV artist turns belts into a conversation about discipline
-
Technology1 hour agoThe Complete Calvin and Hobbes is a great last-minute Father’s Day gift
-
World1 hour agoAnti-G7 protest turns violent as demonstrators torch Tesla and smash UN office windows
-
Politics2 hours agoDems pick potential successor to DC’s congressional delegate after decades-long incumbency
