In 2019 Gordy Kvern, a 1960 FFHS graduate, and former Pelican Rapids football player Wes Halbakken had not met face to face since they battled on the football field 60 years previously on Labor Day evening in Fergus Falls.

They met for coffee at Perkins in Fergus Falls for a newspaper interview.

Kvern and Halbakken recalled that game in 1959 when Fergus Falls won the game 7-0 on a third-quarter touchdown run by Dale Vance. A year later, in Pelican Rapids, the Vikings won on Labor Day evening on a first-quarter touchdown by George Gorton.

“We respected Pelican Rapids and they respected us,” said Kvern, a 200-pound senior tackle on offense and defensive center for the Otters in 1959.

Halbakken, during the game in 1959, was a 185-pound junior offensive and defensive tackle for the Vikings.

In those days, following World War II in the late 1940s, Fergus Falls and Pelican Rapids played each other on Labor Day evening. This held true until the early 1960s.

Kvern was named captain for the north team in the Minnesota high school all-star football game in the summer of 1960. His team played against the south team at Parade Stadium in the Twin Cities. Also on the north team was Otter quarterback Tom Glorvigen.

Kvern was named Otter football MVP his senior year, receiving the prestigious T.H. Johnson Award for his outstanding play as a Fergus Falls lineman.

“We had an outstanding coach in Rocky Elton, who sadly passed away just recently,” said Kvern on July 16 at the coffee table when interviewed at Cally’s coffee house in downtown Fergus Falls.

“Rocky was very good at teaching the proper ways to block and tackle. I can’t say enough good things about him as Otter football coach.”

Elton previously said that Kvern was by far the best Otter lineman he coached during his five years as a teacher and coach at Fergus Falls High School.

Former Otter players, Kvern included, say that Elton had the uncanny ability to implement the proper motivational technique, depending upon the player’s personality.

Head football coach for the Otters his sophomore year was the legendary Norm Galloway.

Kvern was Homecoming attendant his senior year. He expresses his appreciation for classmates from the FFHS Class of 1960 who in September 2021 will host their 60th reunion, postponed from a year ago due to the pandemic.

He also was a catcher on the Otter baseball team and for several years played city league softball. Over the years Gordy has been a big supporter of all athletics at Fergus Falls High School.

Gordy and his wife, Sandy, have operated a dairy and grain farm near Fergus Falls. They enjoy life with their three children, 11 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.