HSGN Turns Six August 1

 To quote the title of an AA Milne classic anthology of poems Now We Are Six, that's how many years HSGN will be on the blogosphere Monday, August 1.  

HSGN was started after the author's previous website examiner.com went out of business in 2016.  Since then, there have been more than 700 posts on high school sports and game shows, focusing on St. Louis Park games, since the author of this blog is a long time public address announcer for Oriole athletic events.  

One of the big highlights of the last high school sport season other than writing about St. Louis Park or state tournaments was the volleyball match between two perennial small school powerhouses, the Southwest Christian Stars and the Mayer Lutheran Crusaders in the Stars home gym in Chaska.  Before a packed house, Southwest Christian defeated Mayer Lutheran in five sets.  It was a very well played match and it showed that Minnesota, thanks to the perennial success of the University of Minnesota and Concordia University volleyball teams has become a hotbed just like hockey.

Now for some highlights on the high school front.  Larry McKenzie, who coached the Minneapolis Patrick Henry Patriots to four consecutive state Class AAA titles and added two more when he moved over to Minneapolis North, retired with 481 wins.  He also had a stint on the bench at Holy Angels.  

Kristofer Hokenson, who helped lead the St. Louis Park baseball team to their first state tournament berth since 1952 and will play next season for head coach John Anderson at Minnesota, is playing for the Northwoods League's Minnesota Mud Puppies.  They are the road team of the Thunder Bay Border Cats, due to COVID travel restrictions.  Hokenson the StarTribune Metro Player of the Year has played in 11 games and his batting average is .194.  He has struck out nine times in 36 at bats.  It takes awhile to adjust from high school to college baseball and hopefully he will have a successful college career.  

A sign that summer is  starting to wind down.  Fall sports practice begins in two weeks.  HSGN will have dates for St. Louis Park teams opening games around that time.  

The Passing of a Game Show Pioneer

 Before Wayne Brady asked the audience "Who wants to make a deal?" and Steve Harvey turned the syndicated version of Family Feud into a hit, he was the first African American to host a game show.  

On July 7, Adam Wade, who hosted the short-lived CBS game show Musical Chairs, passed away at the age of 87.  

Musical Chairs featured four contestants who competed to complete the next line of lyrics sung by Wade or a musical guest.  Among the guests who appeared on the show were a young Irene Cara, Search for Tomorrow star Mary Stuart and groups such as The Spinners, The Tokens and Sister Sledge.  Also appearing was kids show host Shari Lewis.  Let's not forget Derek Smith and the Musical Chairs Orchestra.  

In some instances, instead of contestants trying to choose the next line, they were asked a trivia question. 

The show was created and produced by Jerome Schnur and Don Kirschner.  The show's announcer was then WNBC-TV sportscaster, who also worked for NBC,   Pat Hernon.  

Three rounds were played on each show and the contestant who had the lowest score in the third round was eliminated.  Their chair was pulled back, just like the MTV game show Remote Control more than a decade later.  There were two different bonus rounds and in some shows, the winning player had their earnings doubled.  

Unfortunately, the show was a ratings flop and CBS canceled the show after 16 weeks.  But the show's cancellation wasn't all bad news for Wade.  He met his future wife Jeree on the show and in 1989, they were married.  

A footnote on Wade.  He made an early game show appearance in 1960 on the original version of To Tell the Truth after he had a couple of hit songs The Writing on the Wall and Take Good Care of Her.  He also worked with Dr. Jonas Salk on the polio vaccine.  

But for 16 weeks in 1975, Wade was a game show pioneer when he came on stage and sang the last line of the show's theme song "Let's play a game of Musical Chairs and give ourselves a round of applause."