Gust, Rupp loved world of sports

By Tom Hintgen (Contact) | The Daily Journal

Published Monday, November 12, 2007

People who love and follow athletics — at the local, state and national levels — are saddened with the passing of Paul Gust of Fergus Falls and Craig Rupp of Elbow Lake. Hundreds of sports fans in Otter Tail and Grant counties shared the same passion those men exhibited in recent years.

Adding to the sadness, of course, are the circumstances related to their deaths. For many years Gust, 76, battled Multiple Sclerosis — with his battle ending Monday, Oct. 29. Rupp, 60, died in a hunting accident on Saturday, Nov. 3.

Many baby boomers my age recall, as kids, seeing Gust become the leading scorer for a local team in April 1960 when a group of all-stars played Elgin Baylor and the Minneapolis Lakers, one year before the Lakers moved to Los Angeles. This was a Jaycees benefit basketball game held at the Fergus Falls High School gymnasium.

“I was at the game, and I remember it well, even after all these years,” 1966 Fergus High grad Roger Bjorklund said from his home in Newport Beach, Calif. “Paul Gust and the Fergus guys went up against the pros, and it was a fun game. I obtained autographs from Baylor, Hot Rod Hundley and other Laker players.”

In the late 1940s Gust was an all-around athlete in four sports — football, basketball, baseball and track — at Fergus Falls High School. He was a member of the Gust Elevators City League basketball team that won seven consecutive titles in Fergus Falls from 1955 through 1961. In 1990 he was inducted into the Fergus Falls Area Chamber of Commerce Sports Hall of Fame.

In his latter years, at Pioneer Home, friends and relatives visited him as well as local athletes and also former Minnesota Twins star Tony Oliva. Frequent visitors such as Sonny Mjelde said Gust took pride in displaying a photo of himself and Oliva hanging on the wall.

“Paul was a great athlete, strong competitor and a super guy,” said Gordy Bakken who also played with his brother-in-law on the Gust Elevators basketball team. “What he enjoyed most, however, was the camaraderie with a great group of guys.”

As a kid growing up in the 1950s, Craig Rupp — like me and many other baby boomers — purchased baseball cards. We stuffed a few into boxes and used other cards to attach to the spokes of our bicycles to make flapping sounds. Only a few were kept in safe storage places.

“Baseball cards and baseball memorabilia became my passion 20 years ago,” Rupp told me in late July during an interview at his home in Elbow Lake. “Along with 1950s cards, I’m also interested in those from the 1960s and 1970s.”

Rupp, a 1965 Elbow Lake High School graduate, said this past summer that it’s an entirely different world for baseball card collecting today compared to when he was a kid back in the 1950s. Gone are the corner grocery stores. Today, many collectors purchase cards at baseball card shows or pick up some favorite cards on eBay.”

Rupp also took the leap along with the most avid baseball baby boomers by taking his passion and love of the game to the next level — attending fantasy camps. They played baseball and rubbed shoulders with major league stars from bygone years. He became a personal friend of former Twins pitcher and current Twins TV color man Bert Blyleven.

My fellow Daily Journal staff member — Tom Grout who works in advertising and who hails from Elbow Lake — knew Craig much better than me. You can check out Tom’s column about Craig on The Daily Journal web site.

For me and countless others, Gust and Rupp — although gone — will not be forgotten.

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Tom Hintgen is a reporter with The Daily Journal. His column appears Mondays.