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View from the cheap seats

View from the cheap seats View from the cheap seats

A weekly perspective on sports

Casey Krautkramer Reporter The Record-Review

The Marathon community recently lost a great man, John Westfall, who passed away on June 20.

John was instrumental in the Marathon High School varsity baseball team’s tremendous amount of success it has achieved over the past several years.

He served as a Marathon High School volunteer baseball assistant coach for eight seasons from 1989 until 1996, head coach for one season in 1997 and he was a volunteer pitching coach for the past 22 seasons from 1998 until he passed away.

I remember watching the Marathon baseball team win its first WIAA state championship in 1992, in which John’s son, Joe Westfall, was the squad’s ace pitcher. Joe also pitched for the University of Minnesota from 1993 until 1996.

John was instrumental in the Marathon baseball team winning its three state titles in 1992, 2008 and 2010. The Red Raiders also were state runnersup in 2009 and state semifinalists in 2015.

He helped with improvements to the Marathon High School baseball field since 1999 with the new lights, hitting cages, bullpens and press box.

He and his wife, Jean Westfall, also contributed their time and resources in fundraising to develop the Marathon High School and American Legion baseball programs.

John’s presence in the Marathon High School baseball field dugout will certainly be missed by coaches, fans and players alike in the future. His countless dedication to Marathon’s baseball program won’t be forgotten.

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My girlfriend, Amy, and I love to take local adventures.

For example, on Monday morning we ate breakfast at Wild Steer Diner, which is attached to Equity Livestock Sales in Stratford.

I couldn’t resist sharing a slice of Dutch apple pie with whipped cream on top.

We also loved the diner waitresses’ t-shirts they wore so much that we bought the same t-shirts as souvenirs for ourselves.

Since it was a warm summer morning, I decided to drive my truck with the windows down on my way from Wild Steer Diner to the newspaper office.

I also drove as many country back roads as I could, with all of them beginning in alphabetical letters.

For example, I drove from the diner onto Equity Street onto County Highways E to F to N. I did need to get on State Highway 13 off county road N to finish my route to my work office.

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