Lighting up Minneota football on Friday nights
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Friday night lights were shining bright over Gerhard Meidt Stadium last week. I just didn't realize how much more brighter than last season.
As soon as I walked across the bridge over the Yellow Medicine River and onto the hallowed grounds of Gerhard Meidt Stadium I realized right away this was a special place to play football.
I don't believe using the term "hallowed" is an overstatement. The Vikings have recorded 11 state football championships -- and aiming for a fifth straight in recent history.
I was attending my very first Minneota Vikings football game Friday night. I entered the stadium as the Minneota starting lineup was being announced with exuberance.
It didn't take long for Minneota to score a touchdown that sent the scoreboard into flashing mode and displaying the Viking logo.
At the end of the first quarter I found Minneota Athletic Director Patty Myrvik standing guard in front of the seating area inside the stadium. That's when I found out that the scoreboard wasn't only bright addition to the stadium.
"The original lights were 76 years old. They were put up in 1946," Myrvik said. "They were starting to fail. Just age of the time. The birds would sit and pick at the wires, and banks (of lights) would go out during the middle of a game."
She explained that a fundraising effort was launched, spearheaded by "one of our amazing alumni."
She was referring to Chris Meidt, the son of legendary football coach Gerhard Meidt. He is known for building the football powerhouse at Minneota. His teams captured consecutive state titles in 1986, 1987 and 1988. At one point, his teams recorded a 48-game winning streak. He was inducted into the Minnesota Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1999.
"His son Chris Meidt played for him, coached for some local colleges. He helped raise, start a fundraising campaign, rallied some alumni, rallied community members, and within I will say less than a year -- raised well over $500,000 for a new scoreboard," Myrvik said. "The city helped fund new lights, a venture with the school."
She also explained that a "huge celebration" was held the previous weekend to name the football portion of K.P. Kompelien Field after Gerhard Meidt
"A nice little joint venture recognizing two amazing men that just really cared about kids and the school and the community and just a really awesome way to recognize," Myrvik said.
She recalled the second game of the 2025 season when she got a call from the press box letting her know half the scoreboard "was out."
"Chris (Meidt) and a group of alumni were back for that game because we were inducting them in the Hall of Fame," Myrvik said. "So that’s sort of what spearheaded a lot of this. Because they were announcing it up there. They had ball kids running around trying to tell people the score of what was going on ... it was about a 30-year-old scoreboard. So it lived its life too."
The light and scoreboard projects were completed in August.
"It got done the week of the first game," she said. "I was saying lots of prayers The farmers are now mad at me because I asked for no rain in August and now it's raining."
Myrvik not only praised all the alumni involved, but community members who showed up to take down the old parts and broke it all down.
I asked her what kind of reaction did the lights and scoreboard receive at the first home game.
"Everyone was really excited. The nice part is, is it was all privately funded, so no taxpayer money is going toward it. So that’s really nice. So everything that we do in advertising, all that money can go back to our kids. That was really important. To our alumni, that we’re giving that back to directly support our school and our kids and our programming. So it’s been amazing. The turnout has been good. The support, the positive comments. Everybody’s just really excited," Myrvik said.
The stadium improvements come on the heels of a referendum passed by voters.
"It’s a really exciting time to be in Minneota, where we got a lot of really great things going on," she said.
Myrvik is a Southwest Minnesota State University graduate who is originally from the Willmar area. She played softball for the Mustangs, majored in sports medicine and eventually became a full-time athletic trainer. After stepping away from a her career to become a mom for a period of time, she was hired as athletic director at Minneota five years ago.
Not exactly a technology background, so I asked about dealing with the effort to implement new electronics.
"It's really fun," she said. "It’s been amazing to get to witness it. I’ve learned a lot. I say every day I learn something more about technology that I never thought I was going to have to learn in my entire life, which has been great, great, great challenge for me," she said. "It’s been really fun to connect with alumni ... Meet new people, learn new things, make new relationships, and mesh the new kids with the old guard."
She shared about a visit with students who were working on "school PR pieces." She mentioned they will be alumni one day.
"You don’t have to have money to pay it forward," she told them. "Give them your time. Go coach. Go do whatever. If you can financially support it, go help. Whether it’s this community or the next community ... Pay it forward and continue on. Continue the tradition wherever you’re at."
That's good piece of advice
In Minneota, that philosophy shows up on Friday nights and leaves Minneota football with a bright future.