November 10, 2023

Gopher State Officials Association will be hosting our first ever officials’ recognition event on Sunday, April 7, 2024 beginning at 5:30 pm. The Board of Directors is looking forward to celebrating and recognizing all Gopher officials with a fun and collegial evening. The event will be held at the Minnetonka Community Education Center.

Many things are planned for April 7 and your presence is requested. Officials and their guests can look forwards to a great meal, officials awards for years of service, recognizing retired officials, lifetime achievement awards, rookie officials of the year in each sport, and recognizing the individual who will receive the first ever Bozo Wincek Award.

Jason Nickleby from the Minnesota High School League will be our featured guest speaker. We have many door prizes to give out from some of our officials supply partners. It promises to be a fun and unique evening. Watch your email or the Gopher website in early January for your official invitation. Please save the date – Sunday, April 7, 2024. Thank you!

October 30, 2023

Gopher leadership

At a meeting last night, the Gopher State Board selected Matt Olson to be the next President of the Association. Matt is excited to build on the leadership of Rick DeGardner, Bozo Wincek, Mike Madden, Greg Swan, and all the great leadership our Association has been blessed with over the years. He looks forward to working with the Board and members of the Association to strengthen Gopher’s relationships with ADs, schools, and our officials. And Matt looks forward to working with the board to do what Gopher does best - train, recruit, and assign high quality officials for every game. 

If you have questions or want to reach out, Matt can be reached at (612) 202-4601, or matthewolson9671@gmail.com. 

Also at last night's meeting, Steve Makowski and Rolf Fiebiger were reappointed to At Large board seats for 3 year terms. The seat vacated by Rick DeGardner will be addressed at a later meeting. Thank you to all who have indicated their interest in that position. 

Football

Congratulations to the following Gopher crews that were selected to work the football state tournament this year:

Rick DeGardner and his crew of Scott Schulz, Ryan Luessenheide, Patrick Molan, and Joe Ganske will work the 6A Prep Bowl Final at 7pm on Friday 11/24 at U.S. Bank Stadium. They will also work a 4A quarterfinal game at Monticello High School on Thursday, 11/9 at 7PM. 

Tim Litfin and his crew of Jim Larson, Aaron Nordling, Chris Tengwall, and Nick Litfin will work the 3A Prep Bowl Final on Saturday November 25 at 1pm at U.S. Bank Stadium. The crew will also work a 5A quarterfinal game on Saturday, 11/11 at 12:00PM at Osseo High School.

Donald Adderley and his crew of Dennis Harris, James Ondrey, Mitch Lonnee, and John Ondrey will work a 6A quarterfinal game on Thursday, 11/9 at 7:00PM at Park Center High School.

October 19, 2023

Basketball

MARK YOUR CALENDARS!

The “Annual” Gopher State Basketball meeting will be held on Sunday, November 19th, 2023 at Brooklyn Park Community Center (5600 85th Ave N, 55443). From 6:00pm – 8:00pm

FILLABLE OFFICIALS FORM –

If you plan to work basketball games at any level this year we ask that you fill out the “BASKETBALL OFFICIALS INFORMATION FORM” that can be accessed above or by clicking here. This will assist Mike and Austin in the assigning process for the upcoming season.