By Zach Jensen,
The recently-completed Legacy of Champions monument at Viking Stadium in Decorah. Mike Naslund, a 1988 Decorah High School graduate, headed a committee to create the monument, and he said it wouldn’t have been possible without generous contributions from Troost Monument Co., Northeast Security Bank, 1975 Decorah graduate Al Rosendahl and 1976 Decorah graduate Keith Bruening – whose names appear on the monument. (Photo by Zach Jensen)
Past members of the Decorah High School football program see a certain quality – a quiet confidence – among the players whenever the Vikings take the field. It’s something that has somehow been passed down from generation to generation as the school has marked five state championship victories since the mid-1970s. The program’s team spirit and history of state victories inspired Viking football alumni to erect a monument in honor of the Viking coaches, teammates and community members who helped make Decorah one of the best football clubs in the state — currently tied for sixth overall out of more than 400 high school football programs statewide.
Construction of the school’s “Legacy of Champions” monument, located near Viking Stadium’s entrance, was recently completed — spotlighting DHS football’s many achievements and honoring those who made them possible. Mike Naslund, who played for Decorah during the 1987 state football championship, said organizers had two goals in mind when they envisioned the monument — to recognize former coach Richard Wuest as well as the coaching staff and players who were part of Decorah’s championship teams, and to add recognition to the school’s overall program “by erecting a monument that would encapsulate the storied history of Decorah football.”
Wuest began coaching for Decorah in the fall of 1964, at age 27 — 10 years later, the Decorah Vikings won their first state football championship. There would be other championship victories as the years rolled on, but Wuest said there was no single best team in his mind.
“Each team played and won in their own era,” he said. “So, to me, there’s no comparison, because they’re all different. They all were what they had to be at that time. That monument epitomizes all our teams from the start until today. Our teams today have exactly the same attitude as all those before them, and I’m very happy with how the Decorah program has grown.”
Naslund said he and other past Viking footballers had often talked about creating a monument honoring Decorah’s history of success on the football field, and their nostalgic conversations began taking shape in early 2022. Naslund said the monument committee, which included Decorah alumni Dave Broghamer (‘75), Tom Hovey (‘75), Patrick Williams (‘88), Garth Carlson (‘88), Tom Ryan (‘89), Jason Olejniczak (‘89), Mike Lacey (‘89), Lee Anderson (‘89), Drew Moorcroft (‘90), Garic Hjerleid (‘91) and KD Wuest (‘91), organized the Legacy of Champions Banquet, which was held in September of 2022 at the Oneota Golf and Country Club in Decorah. The event attracted more than 100 Decorah football alumni and supporters who began raising funds for the project.
Drew Moorcroft, who played on the 1987 and 1988 state championship teams, designed the monument.
Moorcroft said the monument’s center piece — a bronze sword set in a pillar of granite — was inspired by the “Sverd i Fjell” monument in Hafrsfjord, Norway, which was unveiled in 1983 by King Olav V to commemorate the historic Battle of Hafrsfjord, which took place in the year 872 when King Harald Fairhair gathered all of Norway under one crown.
Iowa Hall of Fame Football Coach Richard Wuest, who first led the Vikings to a state championship victory in 1974, said that in addition to being honored and shocked by the completion of the monument, the sword in the stone is his favorite part of the design.
“The sword in the stone epitomizes what tradition is about, because it connects the players of today with the players of yesterday and the players of the future,” said Wuest, now age 90. “I’m hoping the athletes that use those fields will touch that sword as they pass — giving them that connection which will last throughout their lives. That’s what I’m most excited about.”
Decorah-based metal artist Kelly Ludeking, a 1991 DHS graduate, cast the bronze for the sword, and he said his design was taken from an authentic Viking sword which was donated to the Vesterheim Museum.
Full article and more photos available in the November 21 Decorah Leader.
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