08/17/2026
Celebrating the Frost Vikings
Their basketball team was the king of District V for two seasons in the 1970s
By Kevin Mertens - Staff Writer - Faribault County Register. Aug 16, 2026
For two years in the early 1970s, the Frost Vikings were the kings of boys basketball in the Border League and District V. Frost won the Border League and were crowned the District V champions in both 1971 and 1972.
A reunion to celebrate the Frost Vikings basketball teams of 1969 through 1974 will be held at Julie’s Bar and Grill in Frost on Aug. 22, beginning at 3 p.m.
“We were the first Border League team to win the District when we won it in 1971,” Rick Fisher, who was the head coach at Frost from 1968 until 1974, said. “And then we won it again the next year.”
It was quite an accomplishment for the smallest school in the district and one of the smallest schools in the state.
“My assistant coach, Ed Melcher, and I both arrived in Frost in 1968,” Fisher says. “We knew we had to change the culture. It used to be if you were a senior, you got to play. I grew up in a suburb of Detroit and that didn’t sit well with me. I wanted to put the players on the floor who gave us the best chance to win.”
Melcher shares his feelings on his first year at Frost.
“When Rick and I got to Frost, we were aware that their athletic program had experienced some unfortunate times,” Melcher comments. “They had to learn to win.”
The process got off to a slow start.
“Our first year there I think I started two seniors and three sophomores,” Fisher recalls. “And I think we only won two games.”
Things began to improve during Fisher’s second year at the helm.
“We won 14 games my second year,” Fisher remarks. “And we got seeded in the District V Tournament.”
Fisher felt there were two things in particular that his team had to work on to take the next step.
“We needed to get better defensively,” Fisher states. “And we needed to get stronger.”
During the 1970-1971 basketball season, Fisher’s third year as the head coach, the Vikings compiled a record of 17 wins and one loss during the regular season.
They won their first game of the District 5 tournament 76-48 over Kiester and then defeated Wells in the semifinals 56-36 to advance to the District V Title Game against the defending Class A Minnesota State Champion Sherburn Raiders.
The Vikings dispatched the Raiders 67-42 to advance to the Region II playoffs. During their victory over Sherburn, four Frost players reached double figures in scoring led by George Frandle with 20 points. Erik Monson tallied 13 points while Duane Tweeten and Ed Holland each finished with 12 points
The five starters for the Vikings averaged 6-foot-3 and an article in the Faribault County Register from 1971 stated: They play defense like they invented it.
Three members of the squad made the All-Border League Conference basketball team that year. Senior Frandle was named to the squad for the second time while senior Holland and junior Monson were named for the first time.
Frost scored an average of 73 points while holding their opponents to 48 points through their first 21 games and took their 20-1 record to the Regions to face the South Central Conference champion, the St. James Saints. The Vikings held the Saints to 48 points like they had done against their opponents all season. However, after scoring 30 first-half points, Frost had a cold-shooting second half and only scored five points in the third quarter and nine in the fourth quarter which resulted in a 48-44 Saints victory.
“When you get to that level it becomes a numbers game,” Melcher says. “Bigger schools had more depth than we had.”
The team certainly had the support of the town. When the schedule for the Region Tournament showed that Frost would be playing on Wednesday, the United Lutheran pastor, the Reverend Ostroot immediately announced that Lenten services would be shifted to Thursday.
The Vikings did not rest on their laurels and compiled a 20-0 regular season record during the 1971-1972 season despite having to replace starters Frandle, Holland and Bob Shure.
The Vikings completed their undefeated regular season with an 82-58 triumph over Alden in a game in which all five starters reached double figures in scoring with Duane Tweeten pouring in 24 points, Jeff Nodland scoring 18, Doug Willner 15, Brian Loge 14 and Erik Monson 11.
Their closest game during the regular season was a 62-61 victory over the Bricelyn Braves.
It is a game Fisher remembers well.
“One of our starters fouled out and I had to put Dean Johnson in. We were down by five points with something like a minute left in the game,” Fisher remembers. “Dean asked what I wanted him to do and I told him to guard the ball wherever it was. He was quick and he made a couple of steals. Loge made a couple of buckets and then Monson made the game-winning shot at the buzzer.”
The District V Tournament in 1972 included the five seeded teams – Frost, Sherburn, Fairmont, Wells, and Ceylon along with the three winners of the sub-district action. Those teams were Bricelyn, Winnebago and Welcome. At the time there were a total of 17 teams in the district.
The games were played and Frost once again advanced to the District V championship where they would face Bricelyn for the third time that season.
Unlike their earlier one-point victory, this time the Vikings pulled away for a 20-point, 70-50 win.
Loge scored 29 points while Monson, Jeff Nodland and Duane Tweeten handled the rebounding.
“Having two Border League teams in the District finals was a sensational thing,” Fisher says. “We were coming onto the floor and I heard the crowd doing some kind of Border League chant and it was an unbelievable experience.”
Fisher shared he was kind of sad to hear that the Pemberton gymnasium was going to meet its demolition in the upcoming years.
“I coached a number of games in Pemberton,” Fisher comments. “It was the biggest gym in the area.”
Unfortunately, Frost faced a strong Windom team in the opening round of Region II play and lost their first game of the season and had their season come to an end.
But there are many happy memories.
“It was a great experience,” Nodland states. “We were a very small school – maybe the smallest or second-smallest school in the state. I got to play with a bunch of good guys who were very close knit. We were just a bunch of farm kids who tried to take it to the next level.”
Nodlund said coach Fisher was a big key to the team’s success.
“He drove us towards excellence and really thought we could be better,” Nodland remarks. “He knew how to get the best out of people.”
Not that it was easy.
“He instilled in us a desire to work hard,” Nodland says. “We were never going to get outworked. We worked hard, we practiced hard and we played hard.”
Nodland states he learned a lot of lessons as a member of the team that he has used throughout his life.
“I thought coach Fisher taught us a lot about situational leadership,” Nodland comments. “What can I do to get the best out of each individual.”
Like Fisher, Nodlund has fond memories of the games Frost played against Bricelyn.
“It looked like we were going to lose that one game and somehow we won,” Nodland says.
“I feel very fortunate that Frost gave me an opportunity to start my career here,” Melcher comments. “I enjoyed working with Rick. We were both very energetic coaches.”
While Fisher was building the basketball program, Melcher was the head coach of the football program with Fisher as his assistant.
“My second year at Frost, in 1969, we beat Alden in football and broke their 71-game winning streak,” Melcher recalls. “That helped us turn the corner.”
Melcher also remembers the city of Frost being very supportive of the teams.
“Good teams don’t just happen. It’s not just talent. You need hard work and preparation,” Melcher remarks. “You have to have a core group and a supporting cast.”
Fisher left Frost in 1974 to replace the legendary Lloyd Stussy at Wells-Easton as the Wildcats’ basketball coach but he will always value his time at the small southern Minnesota school of Frost.
“I got to coach with Ed who was a great coach and a good person who wanted to help kids become better men,” Fisher says. “I always told the kids, don’t ever apologize for graduating from a small school because you get opportunities you don’t get in a big school.”
Fisher retired from coaching in 1998.
“I figured it was time to call it quits when I started coaching against one of my ball boys from when I was a coach at Frost – Gary Holmseth,” Fisher concludes.
During Fishers time at Frost, the Vikings captured three Border League titles and two District V championships while compiling a record of 91-37.
He coached basketball at Wells-Easton for 21 years where the Wildcats appeared in nine District V finals, winning championships in 1979, 1984 and 1988. His 1984 team won the South Central Conference, District V, Region II and the Minnesota State Consolation Championship. He coached his entire career at schools that were the smallest in their conference and had a lifetime coaching record of 324-222. He was District V Coach of the Year five times and Region II Coach of the Year in 1984.
Melcher went on to coach at Braham and was inducted into the Braham Hall of Fame in 2012 after being the head football coach at the school from 1974-1997 and leading the team to the Minnesota State High School Football Playoffs in 1995.
The Frost Vikings of the Border League won the District V tournament at the end of the 1970-1971 season and again during the 1971-1972 season. Pictured below are the members and coaches from the 1971-1972 season that went undefeated during their regular season and won the District V championship with a victory over another Border League team, the Bricelyn Braves. Kneeling in the photo, left to right, are assistant coach Ed Melcher, manager David Furland and head coach Rick Fisher. The players, left to right, are Randy Oswald, Tim Nelson, Doug Willner, Rich Helgeson, Joe Maland, Duane Tweeten, Erik Monson, Jeff Nodland, Steve Karge, Jerry Bromeland, Brian Loge, Jason Mortvedt, Dean Johnson.
