Training Camp History

Hello from MavBlog!

University press release announcing that the Minnesota Vikings
would begin holding their
summer training camp in Mankato beginning in 1966

This post is going to bring you a little history about training camp, and insight from Shirley Piepho, the Assistant Director of Scheduling and Conference Service for Minnesota State University, Mankato.

Shirley Piepho

The Minnesota Vikings first held their training camp from 1961-1965 at Bemidji State University. In 1966, the camp was then moved to Mankato, where John Hodapp was the current Director of Men’s Athletics, from 1964-1968. This was also the year that Minnesota, and its neighboring teams, Chicago, Detroit, and Green Bay were re-aligned and made into the Central Division of the Western Conference.

Hodapp and Bob Otto, (the MSU head football coach at the time) had some correspondence with the former Vikings coach, Bud Grant, and former general manager, Jim Franks, which were recorded in some documents from that time and were found in a box in the Athletic Office. These documents contained some information from the year that they came down, with some interesting numbers. In 1966, the cost for one meal for a player per day was $7.90. The cost of the rental fee to use the football fields and other facilities was $1,000. Also, in 1966, training camp ran July 12 through August 31 whereas now, camp is July 24-August 14^th, a great deal shorter.

Shirley, who is in her 39^th year (yes, 39^th!) is in charge of all the scheduling that takes place on MSU’s campus. She is the one that communicates with the Vikings every year about coming to training camp, the requests, scheduling, when and where, how much, etc…

Talking about how training camp works now, Piepho, who hails from Jasper, Minn., said she works directly with the Viking’s operations staff starting in February/March, where she starts trying to figure out what their needs are, starts reserving all the classrooms and all the athletic space that they need.

Matt Golf, from Residential Life here on campus, takes care of the residence halls and getting those in shape for them to come. “So basically I’m kind of like the coordinator for all the different groups on campus whether it be facilities, which helps with the field preparation or other campus services that help with the setup,” said Piepho. “I just coordinate between all of the people and then I’m the one that communicates back to Paul Martin (Team Operations Coordinator/Training Camp for the Vikings).”

When asked what she likes or dislikes about her job, she replied, “I don’t dislike anything. Part of why I do like it so much, is I have really good people to work with. The Vikings are exceptionally good people to work with; very organized. Then we have good people on this campus to work with as well. We all pitch in and get the job done.”

She commented that the only thing that has really changed over the years for camp was that Gage went down, where the Vikings always stayed in past years. Now they stay in Julia Sears. Other than that, they use most of the same facilities. She says “every once in a while, they will want to bring in a hot tub or a pool to change it up, but normally year to year it’s about the same.”

Talking about the benefits to campus, she said there are many. “It’s good exposure for the University to have that many people on this campus. Last year they said they parked over 9,000 cars in the short period of time. So if you figure 3-4 people per car, you’re getting a lot of people. For the community, it’s win-win. It’s economic development, and huge economic driver for it. The restaurants, gas stations, grocery stores, Wal-Mart. So training camp is huge, and if we lost it, it would be a huge impact on the school.”

Regarding the speculation that some fans are having about whether or not the Vikings will continue to come to Mankato for training camp,  Piepho stated, “I can’t say for certain, but I know they don’t have any training facilities being built near the new field. So it’ll be a while. I would suspect, and hope, that because they do like us, and next year will be the 50^th year, that they’re not going to leave for at least 3-4 years, if ever.”

Weggy's On Campus

Hello MavBlog readers!

Anybody care for some pancakes?  

If so, you've found the right place. Today we are going to highlight one of the best places in Mankato to go for a delicious plate of pancakes, bacon and eggs (according to Adrian Peterson).

The Vikings coming down is a huge impact on the Mankato community and brings in a lot of revenue for neighboring businesses every summer. One such business, Weggy’s, is a Maverick favorite. Weggy’s On Campus has been around four years, and is located in U-Square right across from campus. The owner, Steve Wegman, originally owned Weggy’s in Lake Crystal, but said the city was pretty stagnant and he wanted to make a change.  He had been doing some work at U-Square one year, when he found an opportunity to purchase a space for it and decided to purchase it and make it his new Weggy’s. He thought it would bring in more revenue, more exposure, and would give them more opportunity to grow. So four years ago, Weggy’s Bar and Grill in Lake Crystal became Weggy’s Bar and Grill On Campus.

Today I got the opportunity to sit down with Steve Wegman and talk to two of his employees, Evan and Jill. I asked Steve how they handle training camp every year, if it’s stressful or exciting. For them he said, it's basically raining camp, too. Once summer hits, employees leave, and knowing that the Vikings are coming, it forces them to hire more staff and get everybody trained in, not only for training camp, but for the rest of the year. He said, “it’s kind of a cycle, we’ll have the school year, then summer break, then Vikings training camp, which is our time to start getting our act in to gear for the school year. We stop taking so much time off, have more staff on, we're more prepared, do more prep work. We hit it straight and just keep going until the next break, which would be Christmas break."

Wegman said that getting ready during the Vikings' time in Mankato is also different. “We have to stock up on ingredients. We do more prep work, have more people on and staff up. We don’t over staff, but it seems like it works out just great. If it’s busy, we can just call someone and have them come in. They’re all college students, so they want the money."

The Vikings themselves have also been in to visit. “We have our new favorite I think, Adrian Peterson. He comes in, and he’s been in the past five days in a row now. Pancakes every time. Even when he comes it at 6:00 at night.” Evan, coworker at Weggy’s chimed in chuckling, “Yeah, it really is always pancakes. Pancakes, bacon and eggs.” They said every time he comes in, an entourage follows him. Today when he came in, he was taking food to go, but there was a group of fans peering and watching from the doorway, so Steve told Adrian he could hide in the kitchen if he wanted, or go to their upstairs level. He chose the upstairs level. They said that he also told his last server, “These are some of the best pancakes I’ve ever had!”

Weggy’s has also had visits this year from Chad Greenway, Jarius Wright, and former Maverick Adam Theilen. “Theilen has always come in and brought other players. It’ll be 6:00 at night and he’ll bring in twelve players, so we must be doing something right.”

You just never know who might come in or what might happen during this time of year. "Matt Kalil (Vikings offensive tackle) would come in everyday and eat five or six sandwiches in one sitting. Everyday. And another time Channel 9 Fox News came in and did a show live from inside, which was kind of special," he said. “Training camp here is just fun in general. I’m a Vikings fan too, so it’s kind of like Christmas time. You get that fourteen-day window of hustle and bustle. You get to see everyone wearing purple. It’s fun.”

Evan said, “It’s just a lot more exciting. The people are way more fun. The fans that come in are always really excited. It’s a whole different environment when they’re around and everyone’s in that mindset. Everybody’s ready for more exciting things to happen.”

Jill agreed, “My favorite part is seeing the festive and spirited fans that come in. And of course, Adrian Peterson.” 

Jill, Weggy's Employee

Evan, Weggy's Employee

Weggy's Lower Level Booth Section

Viking's Memorabilia in Weggy's

Weggy's On Campus Logo

Quarterback Signing Day

Dear MavBlog readers,

I’m going to start off this post by asking you a question.

Have you ever had a time when you and your friends/family, whoever it may be, waited in hour-long lines for something? Maybe it was for a midnight movie premiere to your favorite movie, like Harry Potter, with long lines of people dressed as wizards, with capes and broomsticks and lightning bolts etched into their foreheads. Or maybe it was the Twilight premiere, with people sauntering around with vampire fangs and signs blaring Team Edward or Team Jacob. Maybe it was for an event to meet your favorite celebrity, like Justin Bieber or Taylor Swift at Mall of America. Maybe it was camping outside Target with your family at four in the morning on Back Friday to be one of the first 50 people to get the latest video game system, or at Best Buy to get the half-priced 72-inch flat screen you want. Whatever it may be, I bet once in your life you have done something like this.

Today, the reason behind those long, long lines that we speak of, are for the Minnesota Vikings quarterbacks, Matt Cassel, Christian Ponder, and Teddy Bridgewater. It’s quarterback-signing day today, and if you’re a die-hard fan, those lines are worth the wait.  

Some fans were showing up as early as 5:00 am to get their first spots in line for the 11:30 signing time. I got to go and interview some of these fans that were waiting in line. 

Let's take a look. 

Bill, 52

Bill here is 52, and was in the autograph line for Matt Cassel. I asked him why he was waiting for Cassel’s instead of the other two quarterbacks, and he said “I take pictures of him myself when they’re practicing on the field. So today I’m getting one of the pictures I took of him signed.” Bill has always been a Vikings fan, ever since he was born. He said that after he gets the autograph he will frame it and put it on a will in his living room, where other memorabilia hangs. As a last question, I asked what his favorite part about training camp is and he replied, “My favorite part is that you can get up close and personal with the players. If you go to a game, you just can’t do that. You don’t even get close to them. Coming to training camp, I’ve actually become good friends with Jerome Simpson.” Bill and his wife drive back and forth from home everyday to attend camp, and usually get here 7:30-8:00 but said because tomorrow is running back day, it might be 6:00am.

Rick, 55

Rick here is 55 years old, “or one day older than yesterday,” he joked, and is one fan that probably sticks out to even other loyal Vikings fans. Rick attends almost every practice, showing off his full ensemble of Vikings gear and drumming the Vikings horn. Today he was in line for the new quarterback, Teddy Bridgewater. He said that coming to training camp has been a special tradition for him, and when asked how many autographs he’s gotten, he pointed to his flag and said “More than I can count.” Rick collects the autographs on his flag, and brings it back to camp every year for more. I then asked why getting an autograph is special to him, and he replied, “Well, they’re players to remember. Before you know it, the year has come and gone. You never knew if their name will still be on that roster." 

Sally, 27

Sally, 27, might be one of our furthest travelers to attend training camp and one of our most devoted Matt Cassel fans. She is from Rochester, Minnesota, but drove all the way from Richmond, Virginia, where she currently lives. She said she makes a trip home to Minnesota every year but this will be her first year attending training camp. When asked why she makes such a long drive, she replied, “I just love the Vikings so much! And Matt Cassel is my favorite player so this will be my first autograph too.” She, as I might add, was the first person standing in line waiting to get Cassel’s autograph. I asked her how early she got here to be first in line and she said, “Honestly, I got here at like 9:00am. I should’ve been here at 7:30 though, but I had someone holding my place.”  

Paul, 27

Paul here is 27, and has been coming to training camp for the past five years. Him and his wife are both teachers, so they get to enjoy the summers off and are able to attend camp, except this year, his wife couldn’t be with him due to some piano lessons. Their entire basement is decorated in memorabilia, autographs, cards, signed photos and other signed memorabilia. When I asked what have been some of his favorite autographs he’s gotten, he said, “favorite autograph would probably be when I got Adrian Peterson’s in his Cadillac Escalade. He was driving by and I held up my canvas photo and he stopped, turned around and I ended up getting his autograph. It was pretty cool. Another would be when I got Jared Allen’s. I waited and got here at three in the morning and was fourth in line. I got his signature on the 9 of a jersey and now have it hanging up in a jersey frame.” I then asked if he had more than one of the quarterback’s autographs. He said he got Ponder’s when he was a rookie, on a Florida state mini helmet, and now today, he left his house at 4:00am to get here at five in the morning for Bridgewater, and had a Louisville mini helmet for that.

Mikko, Malena and Their Father

This family has been to training camp for four years in a row now. This picture is of Mikko, Malena, and their father. Mikko is seven years old and Malena is five years old. They were here just for the day, and were very excited to be getting an autograph.

Tyler, 9, Paige, 8 and Father

Here we have a family that was at their first ever Vikings Training Camp, calling themselves “rookies.” Paige, 8 and Tyler, 9 were standing in line with their father waiting to get Matt Cassel’s autograph. Paige said that they have gotten two autographs in the past, and when asked who their favorite player was, both in unison said, “Adrian Peterson!” After autographs, their plans were to go to the Gaterade kids camp which they were both excited for.

George, 37, Mark, 35 and Sons

Here is George, 37, Mark, 35 and their sons. George said that they are very big on getting autographs. They have been here for the past five years, and have gotten multiple of everyone now. Mark said he’s been coming for the past ten years, and used to get them when he was his sons age. “We bring our kids down, just our tradition to do it. We got our Vikings memorabilia room. The basement is full of it. Every autograph if a memory.” I asked what has been his favorite autograph that he’s gotten and he replied, “Adrian. I also got Chris Carter back in the day. Chris Carter…. That ones special. He’s my guy.”

After talking to the fans, I went by the entrance to where the players come out, and waited for 11:30 to strike. Once it did, this is the excitement that I captured. 

Autograph Zone

Fans Lined Up

Christian Ponder

Matt Cassel

Cassel

Teddy Bridgewater

Bridgewater Signing #5 Jersey

Bridgewater

Bill Getting His Photograph Signed

Cassel

Ponder

Why Is Campus So Pretty?

Today we are going to highlight someone that has been a great influence on training camp and a great influence here at Minnesota State; Bruce Leivermann.

Bruce Leivermann

Bruce is head of the grounds crew, and him and his team are the reason that Minnesota State University has the stunning and beautiful campus that it does.  They are the reason for the crafted landscapes that are scattered all over campus, that includes the trees, gardens, and perfectly clean cut grasses. They are the reason the sport fields on campus are so beautifully kept and mowed, with straight lines and fresh bright paint. They are the reason that the Minnesota Vikings can come to MSU every summer and expect a nice location to host their pre-season training camp. Him and his crew do a lot for our university and the reason it looks so good, which is why we wanted to put him in the spotlight.

 I had heard from a fellow intern that Bruce was a funny guy and today I got the chance to meet him. He picked me up at the media entrance and gave me a ride on his golf cart over to the crew. I got to take a picture of the crew and then sat down to interview Bruce. (In the golf cart. I felt pretty lucky)

My first question to Bruce was what he has to do to prepare for training camp, and if it’s different than how he does things during the year.

He responded, “Training camp consists of more preparation in regarding to more painting, more field preparation, such as; we do divots, more cutting, more fertilizing. Stuff like that.”

I then asked what kind of interactions he has with the Vikings when preparing for camp. He said, “ I meet with their field guy, basically once a week prior to camp. Then once camps going, we talk everyday.” Following up on that I asked if he ever gets any special requests.  He said, “The latest one this year was, we actually painted the fields, and then were told they weren’t bright enough. So, we repainted them the same day. They looked very nice.”

Relative to the amount of time of preparation it takes to get the field ready for the three weeks the Vikings are in town, Leivermann said that things get rolling in the spring,

“The field work starts in May, preparation for camp ramps up roughly around the end of June," he said.  "Then really starts intensively once camp's involved."

A typical day for Leivermann and his crew during camp starts with field maintenance.  “First thing every morning we go out and fill divots that the players make that mess the fields up. We do divots first, then we move, clean up any debris, then depending upon the paint, we have to paint and that’s it.

For those not in the trenches, it would seem that hosting and being responsible for the practice fields for a National Football League franchise would be stressful and daunting.  Not so much, says Leivermann. “We look forward to its. It’s fine.”

Leivermann, who is in his fourth year at MSU and is responsible for the look of the entire campus, credits his background in working in the golf course industry as one of the reasons he was ready for the challenge he faced in coming to oversee things at the University.  “I’ve been here for four years and I started in the golf industry and I just got the niche for it. I like playing golf and I like the outdoors. But I'm fortunate with the crew we have here that consists of fourteen people. We all share the responsibilities on campus. Everything is pretty equal as far as time on different areas. 

But, as Leivermann notes, it's all in the approach. “We are happy when the Vikings are happy or MSU is happy. If we can please both athletics departments, we’re happy.” 

Leivermann And The Crew 

Saturday Night Recap

Hello from MavBlog!

Looking forward to another great week at training camp. Today being Monday, I wanted to include some photos from Saturday’s night practice at Blakesee Stadium. The practice went from 7:30-9:30 and was followed by fireworks. It was a great way to end Family Football Day.

Here are some moments I captured during the practice:

Kurt Coleman and Jabari Price

Sendejo Prater and Posey

View From End Zone

Xavier Rhodes Looking On

Blair Walsh

Joe Banyard

Cheering Vikings Fan 

Big Stretch

Adam Thielen

Cordarrelle Patterson Signing For Fans

Josh Robinson Roles Reversed 

Jarius Wright With Begging Fans

Vikings Heading Off The Field

End Of The Night Fireworks

Family Football Day

Happy Friday and Happy Family Football Day!

Today is an exciting day here at training Camp, It’s Family Football Day today and as you can see this morning, the stands were filled. For Family Football Day, the Verizon Vikings put on special activities throughout the day that the whole family can enjoy.

Here is the schedule for today’s festivities:

Saturday, August 2^nd – Family Football Day at Verizon Vikings Training Camp
9:30am-10:30am Vikings Village is open for the day
10:30am-11:30am Morning Walk-Thru
1:00pm-2:00pm Gatorade Jr. Training Camp
2:00pm- 3:00pm Jr. Cheerleader Clinic
7:30pm-9:30pm Practice
9:45pm Fireworks

So hope all you fans can come out, enjoy the day and some football fun.

Because of the festivities today, this post is going to be a shorter post, but would like to touch on a couple things. First are a couple of questions Coach Zimmer answered during his press conference about the practice tonight.   

First question to Coach Zimmer was what situations he plans on working on tonight.

He replied, “We have a no-huddle situation, we’ve got a two-minute, a red zone, short yardage, I think we have a couple of move-the-ball situations. Regular game-like things, so quite a few.”

Next question was on if he is going to do any live contact tonight.

“No, I do not think that we are going to go live. This was my thinking going into it: when you scrimmage against yourself, you have twenty-two of your players out there, so the odds are twice as good that somebody has a chance of getting hurt. I think that with the preseason games, we will have enough time.”

Another questions asked was “What’s the latest on Robert Blanton and Josh Robinson?”

Coach Zimmer responded, “Robert Blanton still has a hamstring injury. I don’t know how long that is going to be. Josh Robinson is really close. He probably could go tonight but we are probably going to hold him out because we have a day off tomorrow, and then he should be good to go next week.”

The last question I would like to include from the press conference is one that addresses next weeks game against the Raiders. It’s just six days away and will be an exciting start for the Vikings. A reporter asked, “What are you doing as coaches to get ready for the pre-season game?”

Zimmer’s response,

“I won’t do it tomorrow, but some of the coaches have started looking at the Raiders a little bit as far as where we’re going. We talk about game-like situations, challenges, when to use time outs, go for field goals, things like that.”

“The coaches will start looking at the Raiders but honestly, and I told our players a little bit last night, we’ve got a game in six days now. To me, this is about us and us getting better and evaluating our guys against other guys. I don’t want to go out there and trick the Raiders. I want to go out and play solid, fundamental football. Where guys aren’t thinking and their athletic ability doesn’t show up.”

“I want to find out if we can cover and can line up and play the run, and if we can block people in the running game, and if we can get open on offense and throw the ball in the right places.”

That upcoming pre-season game will be Friday, August 8, at 7:00pm.

The People of Training Camp

What a great day to start off August! 84 degrees and sunny. 

To start off with this post, I want to say that part of this blog is to include the community of Mankato, and how the Vikings coming here, affects different aspects of it. For 49 years, the Vikings have been coming down to Mankato to put on their pre-season training camp which is a great kick-off for their season. It brings down tons of well-known media crews, radio stations, sports writers, and bloggers that report the ins and outs of the Vikings practice, team, and organization. I however, want to tell you some of the ins and outs of the people affected by training camp. I want to bring you stories from behind the scenes. Stories on how training camp affects the town, the community, the people, fans, workers, interns and others... that don't usually get reported. 

So for my first inside story, I am going to talk about my experience at this Friday morning's practice with a particular touching group of people. 

As I was waiting for the post-practice press conference, I noticed a group of people waiting in line to get autographs in the area that players pass to return to campus. Curious, I approached the woman who looked in charge and asked politely what this group was for. She sweetly informed me that their group is from an organization called Ventures Travel. She, Lisa Moore, is the director and said it is an organization that provides trips and vacations for people with disabilities. Touched by what she told me I asked if I could take some pictures during the autograph signings, and ask some of the group members a couple questions about the team and training camp. 

As the Vikings players started proceeding through the gates, this is what I captured:

Cornerback Xavier Rhodes

Quarterback Matt Cassel

       

Andrew With Adrian Peterson

Here is a picture of Adrian Peterson signing a poster for a group member named Andrew. I got to speak with Andrew and asked him who his favorite player was.

He responded, "Matt Cassel, Adrian Peterson, and fourty-eight."

I then asked how he enjoyed training camp today and he said with a big smile, "Very good!"

I also got a picture of Andrew with Marcus Ableman, who was in charge of the group today. Ableman is an Operations Intern for the Minnesota Vikings and a graduate assistant with Minnesota State Athletics.

Andrew With Marcus Ableman

Tarlisha

This next picture is of Tarlisha. I had remembered waving at her earlier on in practice as I was walking by and getting an energetic wave and huge smile back. Director Lisa Moore said she would be a fun one to interview.

When I asked Tarlisha who her favorite players on the team were, she couldn't stop listing names.

Some of her few favorites included Adrian Peterson, Matt Cassel, and Christian Ponder. When I asked why she liked them she said, "They're really good at football and they have huge muscles."

Tarlisha With Harrison Smith

Cassel 

Running Back Joe Banyard

To sum this up, all I can say is that I was completely touched. It was amazing to see the how the Vikings players interacted with each one of the group members of Ventures Travel. They didn't act as if they had just had an hour of practice right before, or that they wanted to sign the posters and be on their way. Each Vikings player I saw go through that line today, took the time to say hello, interact, and make the group member feel just like a friend.