North Dakota
North Dakota Skydiving Museum takes off in West Fargo
WEST FARGO — Cooperstown has the “National Baseball Hall of Fame.” Cleveland has the “Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.”
But West Fargo has just become home to the North Dakota Skydiving Museum.
The museum pays tribute to the sport and the pioneer who jumped out of planes for 50 years and helped “jump-start” skydiving in this part of the Midwest.
Just off main avenue in West Fargo, tucked in next to a Subway, a new space packed full of everything related to North Dakota skydiving.
“These are the skydiving suits from the 50s and 60s,” Megean Solberg, museum director and daughter of Don Solberg, said. “This is a Pegasus suit from 1978, one of his parachutes he jumped with for a long time,” Megean said.
Megean Solberg is talking about the man behind the parachute: Don Solberg, her father.
“To be dedicated to a sport that many years, and especially skydiving, he just had so much passion for it,” Megean said.
Don started skydiving at age 22. His skydiving groups changed names over the years, but in the end, “Skydive Fargo” became the popular organization where hundreds of people in our region learned to skydive. Don would teach it in the basement of his house and then jump with those students. He loved the sport that much.
“It is just a feeling, that he was so proud of it , and I was so happy to be a part of something he was an entrepreneur in,” Megean said.
The museum is packed full of jump suits, photos, awards and history of skydiving in North Dakota.
“It is a testament to what one person can do,” Jim Krogh, longtime skydiver, said.
Krogh learned to skydive from Don Solberg back in the 80s.
“He was a character, and even if you didn’t know him, you would find out quickly that he was a skydiver,” Jim said of Don.
Jim has been jumping a lot since. A lot.
“4,610 jumps, actually,” Jim said of his jump total, so far. He is in Arizona this week for a big formation jump.
He called Don the constant promoter of skydiving in North Dakota. Never missing a chance to talk about it. When Don passed last year at the age of 79, he left all this behind. Decades of skydiving, along with close to 3,000 jumps and hundreds of people who now jump because of him.
“He was just one of those people who wanted to share his love for the sport,” Megean said.
There is no fee to see the museum.
The ND Skydiving Museum is located at 113 E. Main Ave. in West Fargo. For more information on the museum, you can reach out to (701) 866-3317 or
mlsolbergjobcoach@gmail.com
North Dakota
North Dakota voters to decide single-subject requirement for future constitutional amendments on June 9
BRECKENRIDGE — Coaches, teammates, friends and family gathered in the south parking lot of Breckenridge High School for another state tournament sendoff.
Corbin Abner Lee / Wahpeton Daily News
This year, it was Troy Berndt taking the ceremonial convertible ride. He is headed to St. Michael-Albertville High School for the Minnesota Class A State Track and Field Meet on June 4-6.
Corbin Abner Lee / Wahpeton Daily News
He will be running in the third heat of the 400-meter prelims, scheduled for 4:52 p.m. June 4. There are seven athletes in each heat, 21 total, and nine will advance to the finals at 6:20 p.m. June 5.
The top two finishers in each heat advance, along with the next three best times. Berndt’s personal best time of 50.67 has him seeded 13th, but the 10th-, 11th- and 12th-seeded runners are less than five hundredths of a second ahead of him. The eighth- and ninth-seeded runners are also close, at 50.33 and 50.39, respectively.
Berndt dropped nearly seven-tenths of a second from his previous personal best at the Section 6A West Subsection Meet on May 21, running 51.35, and shaved another 0.68 seconds off at the Section 6A Championships on May 28 with a time of 50.67. If he keeps lowering his time, he will have a shot at reaching the podium against the best runners in Class A.
Corbin Abner Lee / Wahpeton Daily News
Results and photos will be available online immediately following the race June 4 and in the June 10 print edition of the Wahpeton Daily News.
Corbin Lee is a sports reporter for the Wahpeton Daily News and Richland County News-Monitor. Corbin can be reached by calling (701) 291-3551 or emailing corbin.lee@wahpetondailynews.com.
On this day in 1971, Rugby repeated as North Dakota’s high school sand greens golf champion behind medalist Dwight Stempson’s winning performance.
Here is the complete story as it appeared in the paper that day:
Rugby Repeats As Sand Greens Golf Champion
RUGBY, N. D. — Rugby repeated as North Dakota high school sand greens golf champion here Wednesday, posting a four-man total of 293 strokes for 18 holes.
Led by medalist Dwight Stempson’s medalist 36-35 — 71, the Panthers were eight strokes ahead of runnerup Stanley, which had a 301. Following were Garrison 311, Beulah 315, Leeds 322, Ashley 323, Bottineau 328, Pembina 329, Tioga 332, Parshall 341 and Hettinger 342.
Stempson and teammate Bruce Carlson each had one-under par 71s, but Carlson was unable to be at the regional and wasn’t qualified for individual honors.
Rounding out the Rugby totals were Delwin Wilson 40-37 — 77 and Dennett Hutchinson 35-39 — 74. Gary Kirchoffner, 41-39 — 80, was Rugby’s fifth entrant with the best four-of-five scores counted.
Runnerup Stanley was led by Steve Springan’s 34-38 — 72 and Joe Springan’s 36-38 — 74. Their two-man total of 146 strokes was good enough for the doubles title. Two strokes back with a 148 was the duo of Stempson and Wilson. Stan Saathoff and Mike Stepina of Garrison each had 76s for a 152 total and the Ashley combo of Steve Maier (76) and Dave Kretschmar (78) was fourth with a 154.
Stempson was the driving contest winner with a distance of 280 yards. Chris Knutson of Garrison headed the pitch and putt competition.
Kate Almquist is the social media manager for InForum. After working as an intern, she joined The Forum full time starting in January 2022. Readers can reach her at kalmquist@forumcomm.com.
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