On Caleb VanArragon's magical putter, the great Gene McGivern and Brainerd mud trucks

Caleb VanArragon is a graduate of Blaine High School, Class of 2019. The school is located 5 miles from the first tee at TPC Twin Cities, home of Blaine's moment in the national TV limelight as it hosts the 3M Open.

VanArragon is four days removed from completing a phenomenal domination of Minnesota's most prestigious state championships for men: He went 68-65-64 for 197 at Oak Ridge to win the State Open by nine shots on July 12. A week later, he completed three rounds at 23-under-par 193 — 66-62-65 — at Minneapolis Golf Club to win the State Amateur by 12 shots.

Which led to this question for Hollis Cavner, boss at the 3M Open that starts Thursday: "Are you going to get the local kid into the field?"

Answer: "I wish this had happened three weeks ago. I don't have any sponsor's exemptions left that are unrestricted."

VanArragon will play in the 3M Open qualifier on Monday at Victory Links. The odds against him are steep with four guaranteed spots available for 65 competitors.

Then again, maybe VanArragon's putter will remain white-hot as its name: Odyssey White Hot Pro 1.

"I'm pretty sure I got it off the rack at Second Swing when I was a junior in high school," VanArragon said. "I was putting poorly this winter and bought a new one."

"It didn't take long to decide the problem was me, not the putter, and I went back to the old Odyssey."

Which did its job in high style in the amazing Open-Amateur sweep.

"My head was in a good place, which isn't always the case," VanArragon said. "I mostly hit the ball well, but the biggest thing was making a lot of putts."

The sweep has not filled VanArragon with visions of grandeur. He will return to Valparaiso in Indiana and play golf as a fifth-year senior.

"We finished second in the conference [Missouri Valley] and have a good team coming back," he said. "I've already graduated with a double major in biology and statistics, so I can play golf and pick up a master's."

'Call Gene'

There are occasions when an individual will happen on an opinion offered by an old scribe and is in disagreement. When this occurs, a surprising percentage will offer a version of this comment:

"Why don't you write another column on St. Thomas? That's more your speed."

Presumably, these are intended as insults, although I don't see it that way.

St. Thomas athletics have been a worthy subject for a Twin Cities newspaper for decades — for the compelling rivalry with St. John's, for the Tommies' domination of the MIAC as a whole and for the dramatic move to Division I starting with the 2021-22 sports season.

An ally in these tales of the Tommies has been Gene McGivern, employed in sports communications since 1994.

Those PR folks in college sports who always say "yes" to finding information or lining up an interview are going the way of the ivory-billed woodpecker (believed extinct since 2022) and another will be lost when McGivern retires Aug. 1.

McGivern's first 27 of 29 years were with the Tommies competing in D-III, where coaches' egos are much lower, but the first reaction when intrigued by a potential St. Thomas yarn soon will be gone.

That being: "Let me call Gene."

McGivern started on the same day as the tremendous baseball coach, the late Dennis Denning, in July 1994 There were 30 coaches and staffers ahead of them on the seniority list.

When McGivern departs, it will be as No. 2 on the seniority list, trailing only Pete Wareham, who is heading into his 31st season as the men's cross-country coach.

Curiously, there are worshipers of Gophers coach P.J. Fleck who will take shots at Glenn Caruso, the Tommies football coach. They have the same high-voltage qualities, yet Fleck is excused for those and Caruso is not.

I consider interviews with Caruso to have been a triumph of McGivern's low-key approach. Call Gene, ask for some time with Glenn, it is arranged, you walk into the coach's office and there's the calm, soft-sell Caruso you don't get to see in public.

One more week. Then "let me call Gene" is extinct.

Fun in the mud

The first time I went to Brainerd International Raceway to write a column for a newspaper was in the summer of 1979. The topic became Werner Erhard, the founder of "est" — part of the new age, mind-expanding '70s, and without the requirement of acid tabs.

Werner was attempting to use positive thinking to compete in road racing in the Super Vee category. Not much success, but he looked extra-cool as a guru in his racing uniform.

Erhard is still with us at 87, apparently a world traveler, although unlikely to be spectating at BIR next Friday through Sunday for the entertainment planned by track owner/operator Kristi Copham.

MotoAmerica will return for super bike races around a 2.95-mile road course. Always entertaining as the racers take those curves parallel to the ground.

And then this, which will be many generations and racing worlds away from Erhard's Super Volkswagen as imaginable:

"We're going to have mud truck racing,'' Copham said. "You should see these hills we've made for the jumps. They are great. These trucks are unbelievable. I can't wait to see it.''

Copham has contracted with Mud Rhythm truck racing. Two guys from the area — Mark Pfankuch (Ogilvie) and Matt Lueck (Aitkin) — are partners in the promotion that's existed since 2014.

There are five classes, from stock trucks that owners might use on their backyard bog, to methanol-fueled monsters with as much as 2,000 horsepower and costing ...

"Many guys have $80,000 invested, and that goes all the way up to $200,000," Pfankuch said.

They aren't going to get that back in prize money. Mud Rhythm's purse next weekend will be $10,000, with $3,000 to the winner.

"The mud truckers are addicted to this," Pfankuch said. "And every time we go to a county fair, we're the event that fills the stands.

"We usually build jumps 10 feet high. But this is Brainerd. We've always wanted to be here. And Kristi's crew has built jumps that are 12 to 14 feet high."

Pause. "And you know who loves us?" Pfankuch said. "The kids. This is family entertainment."

Trucks splattering mud. Of course kids love it.