Rob Beer

1 week ago | inforum.com | Rob Beer

After several months of writing the “Sports Time Machine,” it’s been incredible to turn through the archives of our company newspapers with the ease of a mouse click. Forum Communications has dedicated itself to preserving its newspapers, some going all the way back to the late 1800s with our first microfilm rolls. And yes, you can have access too through Newspapers.com. There’s a magnet on my family’s refrigerator that I bought at the Newseum in Washington, D.C., years ago.

2 weeks ago | inforum.com | Rob Beer

WEST FARGO — On a chilly 50-degree night on the last day of April in 1993, Red River Valley Speedway public address announcer, the late great Rod Miller, enthusiastically told an interning reporter that 15-year-old Donny Schatz would be running sprint cars for the first time at the track. Thirty-two years later, this same reporter wanted to clarify something. So now I had to ask, was that Schatz’s first race?

3 weeks ago | inforum.com | Rob Beer

FARGO — It was the spring of 1988 when a high school teammate of mine pulled a metal club from his golf bag. “You’ll never hit that straight,” was my reaction at the time. It had a stupid sound, but he hit it straight. Repeatedly. The Sports Time Machine sought to find out the first state high school winners in the Dakotas and Minnesota who won a state championship for the first time using a metal driver, a quest that brought back plenty of memories for those players.

4 weeks ago | postbulletin.com | Rob Beer

GRAND FORKS — It was the little marathon that could, until it couldn’t. But as it neared its 10-year anniversary, the North Dakota Marathon had a difficult time being recognized in its own community, even with front-page coverage in its daily newspaper. Five years later, as the number of runners dwindled, the marathon itself crossed its own finish line. Running from 1972 to 1985, the North Dakota Marathon wasn’t a marathon to begin with, at least by distance. The brainchild of Eric T.

4 weeks ago | inforum.com | Rob Beer

GRAND FORKS — It was the little marathon that could, until it couldn’t. But as it neared its 10-year anniversary, the North Dakota Marathon had a difficult time being recognized in its own community, even with front-page coverage in its daily newspaper. Five years later, as the number of runners dwindled, the marathon itself crossed its own finish line. Running from 1972 to 1985, the North Dakota Marathon wasn’t a marathon to begin with, at least by distance. The brainchild of Eric T.