Lest we forget, he is still dearly missed

Coach Vos with Tyler Tensen at the 2012 state wrestling tournament.

At the 2011 Section 5A wrestling tournament at Minnewaska Area with Josey Tensen.

The 2012 B-B-E Jaguars volleyball team paid tribute to Coach Vos. They are shown here in a photo taken the day after he died, after they beat Eden Valley-Watkins in the last Central Minnesota Conference match of the season.

...and the football team praying the Lord's Prayer:


The first writing of mine after I heard the terrible news on Tuesday, October 16, 2012:

...then I wrote this:
http://bbejaguars.blogspot.com/2012/10/b-b-e-suffers-unimaginable-loss.html

...and then this:
http://bbejaguars.blogspot.com/2012/10/still-cant-believe-it.html

Rich Vos Memorial Tournament preregistration

**Here's video of part of the introduction to the 2012 Rich Vos Memorial Tournament, which was held just two months and a couple weeks after Coach Vos's tragic death on October 16, 2012.


Greetings Jaguar Country and our neighbors!!

The pre-registration period for the third annual Rich Vos Memorial Old-Timers tournament ends in two days. Let's do what we can to spread the message to would-be wrestlers who can or should be a part of this terrific event that is scheduled for Saturday, December 27.

For Facebook users, visit this link to read more:
https://www.facebook.com/events/390301021122681/permalink/403999086419541

DETAILS:

Weigh-ins are from 9:15 to 10

Wrestling starts at 10:30

You must be 1 year removed from organized wrestling

$25 per Wrestler

Go online to www.wrestlereg.com or e-mail Beth Vos @ bethlieser@yahoo.com  by December 10th to guarantee yourself a t-shirt.

https://wrestlereg.com/mysql/index.php?id=190

This event supports the Rich Vos Memorial Scholarship given out each June to a worthy graduating B-B-E senior.

Here's some action from last year's tournament finals:



Here's former head wrestling coach BJ Friedrichs winning in three overtime periods during the first annual Rich Vos tournament in 2012:

Let's make sure this tournament happens!

3rd annual Rich Vos Memorial Tournament

Sign up today! You do not have to be a graduate of B-B-E to participate, but simply a graduate of a high school. The event is Saturday, December 27, 10:30 a.m. This is a wonderful fundraiser to help future B-B-E students while also carrying on the wonderful memory of the late Coach Rich Vos (RIP).

Weigh-ins are from 9:15 to 10
Wrestling starts at 10:30

You must be one year removed from organized wrestling. Cost is $25 per Wrestler.
Go online to www.wrestlereg.com or call Beth Vos by December 10th to guarantee yourself a T-shirt. (I cannot post her phone number here.)

Fall Fitness Finale coming

Click on the graphic for better viewing.

Sign up today for a very special fundraiser supporting the Rich Vos Scholarship at B-B-E. The event takes place on October 4, and you get a discount if you sign up by September 14.

High school and elementary students get a big discount to encourage participation. Kudos to all those who are supporting this!

Rich Vos Memorial tournament results

A team of three coaches and a recent state tournament wrestler emerged as champions of the second annual Rich Vos Memorial Old Timers tournament, including Jeff Granrud (Howard Lake-Waverly-Winsted), B.J. Friedrichs (Sauk Centre), Danny Borgerding (B-B-E) and Seth Hofland (New York Mills). Hofland is a 2011 graduate who wrestled in the Class A state tournament in 2010.

A very nice turnout of 27 wrestlers, their families and a total of a couple hundred fans and volunteers showed up today to support the Rich Vos Memorial scholarship and Jaguar wrestling programs.

Two of Rich's brothers and one of his sisters made the trip today to the B-B-E high school, along with a host of other family members.

Here's some action from the finals today, starting with part of Mark Vos's match:


**Update: as I was heading out from the high school I heard that the Class A division in Alexandria was completed already. The BBE Dazzlers ended up competing in the varsity kick and jazz divisions. Due to the weather and bad roads, the number of varsity high kick teams who were scheduled to compete plummeted into the single digits. Yikes!

It's been a wild weekend, with all sorts of cancellations and postponements. I've gotta hunker down and get our dog, vehicles and other property geared up for the next three days of a pure arctic blast.

Looking back to a dark day at B-B-E: October 16, 2012

Coach Rich Vos with Ross Rath at the state wrestling tournament on March 2, 2012.

My column from the Oct. 18, 2012 issue of the Sauk Centre Herald:

In the blink of an eye on Tuesday morning, unimaginable tragedy struck Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa. In a bicycle/semi accident that took the life of Rich Vos, the B-B-E community lost a father, husband, coach, teacher, friend, neighbor and role model.

Coach Vos was more than just the head wrestling coach for the past 11 seasons. He was a church member, community volunteer, a family man and most of all, a well-respected math teacher. As B-B-E Athletic Director and Principal Rick Gossen stated very eloquently in the West Central Tribune, the impact Vos had on the school and community reached far beyond his work with the Jaguar wrestling program.
"Rich was one of those guys, from an educational standpoint, had a lot going for him,” Gossen said in the Tribune. "As a math teacher, his students enjoyed him very much and as a coach there were a lot of kids in the school who were committed to him and the program. Guys who can do it in the classroom and on the court, in the wrestling room or on the field are hard to come by. He will be missed."
Here are a couple noteworthy figures: in only seven hours after it was created, a Facebook tribute page titled "R.I.P. Mr. Vos" accumulated 2,684 "likes" from visitors to the website. At the B-B-E Jaguar Sports blog that I created six years ago, a total of 3,777 visitors clicked by on Tuesday.
The previous one-day record at my blog was 859 visitors set on the opening day of the 2012 state boys' basketball tournament.
As I read through tributes given by B-B-E students about Vos, what really stands out are the comments given about how he got the most out of those in his math classes. The impact he had on those students will yield rewards for the rest of their lives.
From my perspective, Vos was an incredibly good-natured, friendly and hard-working teacher and coach at B-B-E, where he has worked since 1998. Vos was very passionate about the B-B-E wrestling program. He worked tirelessly to build up the youth wrestling program and get parents involved as volunteers in the system. He was also instrumental in leading the school to converting unused classroom space into a badly-needed wrestling practice facility.
B-B-E is a very closely-knit school district and community. We take immense pride in how hard we work, how hard we play and how much we help one another when times are tough.
The downside to living and working in a small community is that when tragedy strikes, it hurts a thousand times worse because everyone is considered like family.
In this difficult time, what is the best way to respond?
In the words of B-B-E English teacher Carol Sanders via Facebook, here's a few things we can do.
"Honor him...Learn your math. Take good care of your body. Love your children. Smile."

Rich Vos Memorial tournament

A photo from the 2011-12 wrestling season at the Jaguar Invite on January 6, 2012.

The second annual Rich Vos Memorial Old Timers wrestling tournament is on Saturday, January 4 beginning at noon at the high school gymnasium.

Facebook users are encouraged to visit the event's Facebook page to read all the details:
https://www.facebook.com/events/419619684833713

It's been about 14 months since we faced the unimaginable tragedy when Coach Vos was killed south of Belgrade in a bicycle/truck accident. I'll never forget that morning, sitting in my office when a co-worker came downstairs to tell me the horrific news. I sat at my desk for two hours in stunned disbelief while gathering my thoughts and writing about what happened: http://bbejaguars.blogspot.com/2012/10/b-b-e-suffers-unimaginable-loss.html

Undoubtedly the loss still weighs heavily on the Vos and Lieser families, but now we all have the opportunity to come out and show our support for the scholarship program as well as the B-B-E Jaguars wrestling team.

Here's the official website that has all the specific details about the tournament:
https://www.smore.com/mrbc

Mark your calendars, 2nd annual Rich Vos Memorial tournament

It's Saturday, January 4 in Belgrade.

More information is at at http://www.smore.com/mrbc.

With us in spirit

Three B-B-E students taught by the late Rich Vos gathered on the football field after B-B-E's 26-6 win over Eden Valley-Watkins on October 17, 2012. Early in the previous day, Vos died in a bicycle accident in rural Belgrade.

A year ago today the B-B-E community was coming to terms with a terribly tragic loss when Coach Rich Vos died after a bicycle accident south of Belgrade. After school that day, the Jaguar football coaching staff guided their players through a difficult practice that was held simply as a way for the team to start coping with a flood of dark, confusing and bitter emotions.

The following evening, they came together with a strong performance against Eden Valley-Watkins and beat the Eagles 26-6 to finish the regular season 4-4 overall.

This year, they'll go for win number 7 on the season with a short trip to Eden Valley.

One important quality encouraged and promoted by Coach Vos at B-B-E was that every single last student in the building was important to him. Their talent, ability, test scores or any other trait they have didn't matter. He was there for everyone. In order to properly honor his memory, it's important that students and parents alike remember to always treat one another with kindness and fairness. While I firmly believe that B-B-E is a GREAT school system, it could be even GREATER if we treated everyone just as Vos treated his beloved students.

Make him proud.

Coach Vos

It's still not right that he is gone. It never will be.

Tomorrow morning marks the one year anniversary of the tragic loss of Coach Rich Vos. It was one of the darkest times in the 26-year history of our school.

Please wear your Mr. Vos or wrestling shirts tomorrow.

His memory will live forever at B-B-E.

Click here for a look back at that awful morning:
http://bbejaguars.blogspot.com/2012/10/b-b-e-suffers-unimaginable-loss.html 

Here's a neat link to more comments about Coach Rich Vos:
http://bbejaguars.blogspot.com/2012/10/click-on-video-to-hear-part-of-special.html

Photo posted at the Sauk Herald website

Here's a link to see a photo including some of Coach Vos's family yesterday at the tournament: http://www.saukherald.com/main.asp?SectionID=8

Coach Friedrichs wins his first round match in 3 OT!

Here's action from Coach Friedrichs facing off with Minnewaska's state champion Brandon Manderscheid...when Friedrichs wrestled at Sauk Centre in high school, he also competed at the state tournament under the guidance of Coach Ken Vogt. Manderscheid is a 2010 Minnewaska graduate and a three-time state entrant who won the 215-pound Class A championship during his senior year.


Below, B-B-E graduate Adam Marks squares off with B-B-E graduate Andy Larson, both former Jaguar wrestlers...

Here's the link to the Sauk Centre Herald photo gallery that has over 80 pictures from the wrestling tournament today at B-B-E: http://saukherald.mycapture.com/mycapture/folder.asp?event=1588800&CategoryID=69413&ListSubAlbums=0

**Added Saturday night: here's a link to a video at the Sauk Centre Herald website from the beginning of the tournament:
http://saukherald.com/main.asp?SectionID=94&SubSectionID=381&NewsVideoID=178

saukheraldreporter@gmail.com

Over 80 wrestlers signed up today!

The gymnasium bleachers are at about 80% capacity, with a large number of fans in attendance for the first annual Rich Vos Memorial Wrestling Tournament. Over 80 wrestlers, including at least 35 walk-ons, will compete today in the two divisions.

The wrestlers gather for a large group photo prior to the start of the wrestling this afternoon...

*Don't miss a special news clip from today's action at the B-B-E High School on the 5:00, 6:00 and 10:00 evening news tonight on WCCO Channel 4!!

Announcing the athletes prior to taking the mat.

A large number of recently-graduated athletes competed from New London-Spicer, Paynesville Area, Minnewaska Area and Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City high schools. A huge amount of former B-B-E Jaguar wrestlers also competed as well.

Please be sure to attend the Rich Vos Memorial Tournament

The Rich Vos Memorial Tournament is tomorrow, Saturday, December 29, at the B-B-E High School.

It's the continuation of what Coach Vos had going as a fundraiser for the B-B-E wrestling program, an old-timers tournament. Doors open at 10:30am with wrestling to begin at noon. There will be two divisions, ages 19 to 25 and 26 and up. All competitors will be one year removed from high school or collegiate competition.

Concessions will be available throughout the day, with a spaghetti feed from 2 to 6pm and a silent auction from 1pm to 5pm.

All proceeds goes to a scholarship which will be given in Coach Vos's name.

At the Section 5A individual wrestling tournament at Minnewaska Area High School in February 2011.

It is very difficult to imagine the 2013 state wrestling tournament, at which I am sure B-B-E will have representation from the Jaguar team, and realize that Coach Vos won't be matside helping his guys be as competitive and successful as they possibly could be under the bright lights of the Xcel Energy Center. The fact that his team is having a remarkably strong 2012-13 season is a testament to the foundation that's been put down by Coach Vos and the rest of his coaching staff and parent support system at B-B-E.

It's even more difficult thinking of the family left behind by that fateful accident. My daughter is battling Influenza A (which has been going around at a rampant pace in central Minnesota), and this has been a difficult week for my family with that going on. It's kept my blogging time on this website to a minimum, which is too bad since I should've been promoting tomorrow's wrestling tournament all week long. While caring for my daughter, I think of Coach Vos's two young children...and I cry.

We're still in the healing process at B-B-E.

P.S. - I'll have no basketball score updates for tonight.

saukheraldreporter@gmail.com