Viking golf team's number one fan celebrates their state title

Willard Linnevold (third from left) with the Decorah Viking boys golf team

All of Decorah celebrated on Saturday when the Decorah High School boys golf team won the Iowa Class 3A championship.  But the celebration was especially sweet for one Viking fan.

96-year-old Willard Linnevold has a special connection to the boys golf team--a connection so strong that he was at Ames Golf and Country Club on Saturday when the Viking boys clinched their state title.

Decorah Viking golfer Maynard Newhouse and Linnevold play golf together.  Linnevold, a longtime golfer, was faced with giving up the game because of his failing eyesight.  That's when the Linnevolds approached Newhouse to become Willard's playing partner.  Their shared  passion for the game bridged the 78-year difference in their ages.

So on Saturday, the Linnevolds were watching as Newhouse finished fourth among all golfers in Class 3A--and the entire Viking boys golf team won the state championship by 34 strokes.  "I was so happy for them," Linnevold tells decorahnews.com.  "They're a great team."  He says the Vikings "made up their minds" they were going to win the state title--and they did.