New Hampton will celebrate history making teams this fall

 
Scott Hogeland led five New Hampton teams to the state boys basketball tournament in the 1990s, but one moment inside Veterans Auditorium so many years ago still stands out.
“I coached 11 games in  Vets, and I can tell you right now, I was never as nervous as I was when Chad took the mat,” he said.
Chad is Chad Utley, Hogeland’s stepson whose win in the 189-pound championship match gave the Chickasaws the 1993 Class 2A state wrestling title and put New Hampton on the path to making history.
A few weeks later, Utley’s stepfather coached New Hampton to a resounding 77-51 win over Carroll Kuemper that gave the Chickasaws their first — and so far, only — state boys basketball championship.
With that, the Chickasaws from New Hampton made history — becoming the first school to ever claim state wrestling and boys basketball titles in the same year.
And those boys, who are now in their 40s, are coming home later this year — Saturday, Nov. 18, to be exact — to take part in a unique reunion that will also serve as a fundraiser to help provide the “extras” to New Hampton’s new gymnasium that will be built as part of the $19.415 million bond referendum that was approved by voters earlier this year.