PAST INTEREST OF COKATO FINNS IN GYMNASTICS AND WRESTLING

​Article by William A. Eliason from the Cokato Historical Society's newsletter In the Midst Of, December, 1985, Vol. 3 No. 4. ​

1910 Temerance Corner Youth League Gymnastics Club. William Eliason is front row far right

Having been invited to contribute something on the above subject I am glad to offer some reminiscences from my early teens (on the 23rd of November [1985] I was 89).

Our rather sudden interest in athletics may have been a result of the success of Finland's entrants in the 1912 Olympic Games, in several gold medals won by them in the long distance races. Be that as it may, about that time an athletic club was organized, which held its meetings at the Temperance Hall—a center of the Finnish community. The leader of the group was my neighbor Peter Thompson, who was a respected farmer and well qualified to be an athletic director, since he possessed an admirable physique.

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