TOP STORY: An era will end Friday night at Viking Stadium in Decorah

Posted: Wed, Oct 16, 2019 8:28 AM

Friday night will mark the end of an era in Decorah. It's the final home football game of the season for the Decorah Vikings—and also the final time that Viking Stadium PA announcer Elliott Christen will be behind the microphone.

The game will bring to a close an era spanning 50 years. Christen started being the PA announcer at the stadium in 1970 when the HS teacher who had been doing the job retired. He came to the announcing job with experience that dated back to the 1950s, when he worked as a high school student at KDEC, and included time in Newton at station KCOB.

Now it's time for him to retire and he'll do it the way he has done it for all that time—by announcing the names of the players who compete on the football field. "I did it because I liked it," he tells decorahnews.com of a career which also included 30 years announcing Luther College football games.

He liked it in part because of the people he met along the way, including the students. He remembers particularly the players on the state championship football teams, especially those from 1987, 1988 and 1989. That's because he was the freshman football coach also during that time and remembers how the players were "good kids" with no problems and willing to work hard.

He also remembers the coaches during his 50 years of announcing, including Dick Wuest, Dennis Olejniczak and Bill Post. And he remembers the people who worked alongside him in the press box, especially the spotters, including Jack Boehm, who all helped him to keep track of the action on the field.

It will be a low key finale Friday night for a person who admits it's pretty rare for him to scream or holler while doing PA announcing. He'll take his place in the press box, press a button and talk about "Your Decorah Vikings," the same way he has done for all of the past 50 years.