The St. Croix Valley was well represented during the 60th Annual Minnesota Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame Banquet on Saturday, April 6 at the DoubleTree Park Place Hotel in St. Louis Park.

Stillwater Gazette sports editor Stuart Groskreutz was inducted into the MFCA Hall of Fame in the Citation Division, which “honors support to the promotion of high school football over a long period of time.” Coaches Carl Fruechte of Caledonia, Dan Essler of New London-Spicer, Mike Kleinschmidt of Albany, Jeff Williams of Owatonna and Wayce “Ribsy” Petermeier of Browerville were inducted in the High School Division.

In addition, Stillwater Ponies football coach Beau LaBore was presented the Jerry Kill Power of Influence Award, which honors a Minnesota head coach for “effect on his players, school and community.” LaBore also becomes eligible for the national Power of Influence Award that is presented by the American Football Coaches Association and the American Football Coaches Foundation.

Groskreutz joins Jim McLaughlin, whose “Jim’s Jabs” column was a fixture in the Gazette and was inducted in 1977. Legendary football coach George Thole, who guided the Ponies to four state championships, was enshrined in the MFCA Hall of Fame in 2000 and his long-time assistant coach Jerry Foley was added in 2013.

The induction comes just two weeks after Groskreutz, a Litchfield native, was honored by the Minnesota State High School League as the 2024 recipient of its Outstanding Media Service Award in the print division. That award was presented during the finals of the boys state basketball tournament on March 23.

LaBore also received awards from the MFCA as the Metro East Sub-District Coach of the Year and the Section 4AAAAAA Coach of the Year. His team was also presented an Academic Gold Award in the fall.

The coach guided the Ponies to their second straight state tournament appearance and the program’s fifth sub-district championship in his 13 seasons. Including six years as head coach at Woodbury, LaBore’s teams have provided more than 20,000 hours of community service to youth football, nursing homes, adaptive athletes and the local food shelf — living up to the contention that “giving is receiving.”

LaBore has also served on the Tackle Cancer Board and the Ponies have been among the biggest supporters of the cancer research foundation, raising $26,784 last fall and a total of $162,021.99 since the initiative began in 2012.

The coach was previously recognized with the “Friendship Award” from the Randy Shaver Cancer Research and Community Fund in 2015 and also serves on the MFCA Executive Director’s Committee after a term as MFCA President in 2019-20. LaBore, who is also the committee chair for the Community Service Award, garnered the “Don Swanson Award” for exemplary service to the MFCA in 2021.

For more: MFCA Hall of Fame - Citation Division

For more: MFCA Power of Influece