Like any parent, Jerome Jorstad wanted to watch his children participate in high school athletic contests, and that’s what he did as four of his five boys moved through the La Crescent High School sports programs. That was decades ago.

But even today, Jorstad can be seen in the stands of LCHS and American Legion baseball games n and other sports, too. He cheers on the players, keeps an exact at-bat book, and hangs on every pitch as if his own children were in the game. He’s been doing this for as long as he can remember, and except in extreme circumstances n a health issue, for instance n the 85-year-old Jorstad hasn’t missed a single baseball game, home or away.

Lifelong love of sports

Jorstad, who for years owned a sporting goods store in what is now Tri-State Bait and Tackle, lived in La Crescent before moving to Montgomery, Minn., for a time. Following his retirement, he came back to La Crescent. As his sons grew up, four went to La Crescent High School n the other to Onalaska Luther n and they all played sports. Two of them, Brian and Bruce, played baseball with current Lancer head coach Rick Boyer.

“I’ve been a baseball fan ever since,” Jorstad said. “Followed along all the time.”

Jorstad himself was a young athlete. He played for a Houston High School baseball team that won the District 1 championship in 1940. He admits, though, that basketball was the game he excelled at when growing up. However after high school, he stuck with baseball and played on a town team in La Crescent and Hokah, where his last game, he said, was when he broke a bone in his big toe and couldn’t walk.

“Here I’ve got two kids and a wife, and I thought, ‘We’ve got to quit,’” he said.

Quit playing, sure. Quit watching, never.

His love of the game is infectious, and it’s spread to his wife of 4-1/2 years, Lenora. She admits she was never much of a sports fan, but when Jerome and she got married after both of their spouses passed away, she got hooked, and is now right alongside him at the events.

“She wasn’t too much of a big sport fan,” Jerome said, “but she is now.”

“Has been,” Lenora added, with a laugh.

‘They’re all my boys’

His children are now grown and far-removed from high school, but lately, he’s been able to watch his grandchildren play, the last being Drew Jorstad, a 1999 LCHS graduate. Although he doesn’t have any relatives currently involved, he still takes in every game because he loves the sport. But even more than that, he loves the kids.

“Number one, I love the game of baseball,” Jorstad said. “Number two is because you get involved with these boys, and the first thing you know, I think they’re all my boys.”

He points in particular to last year’s high school and Legion team. He has a fond admiration of the players because “they’re such good boys, and they’re all so polite and good to me.”

Jorstad knows just about every player on the baseball team n except for a few of the incoming freshmen (but he’s sure he’ll get to know them) n and said each year, he picks out a few of the players to follow especially close: Phil Bartz, Robby Dyson, and Mason Duckett, to name a few over the years. Now, he’s anticipating a spring watching Andrew Helland, Brandon Verthein, and Troy Traxler, the latter he’s followed throughout the football season as La Crescent’s starting quarterback.

“Now, I’m so anxious to look forward to four years of Troy Traxler,” Jorstad said. “What a nice, polite kid.”

While describing Traxler, he opened a card Troy had sent him during some recent health problems. It was short, and simply wished him a speedy recovery. He’s also received mailings from former players, too, like Bartz, who wrote him while away at college.

“Phil was one of my heroes,” he said. “He was maybe the best centerfielder we’ve had around here, ever. When the ball was hit, Phil was moving.”

Part of the team

When a couple, who doesn’t have any kids on the field, attends each and every game, people start to notice. Throughout the years, the Jorstads have met hundreds of parents, and friendships are formed throughout the season. Even in their own neighborhood live several baseball families, and as neighbors, they’ve seen the kids grow up and onto a baseball field.

Many times, the couple will hitch a ride to a game with neighbors Dick and Sandra Jore, especially on long road trips. The conference change has made the travels a bit longer, which is a nuisance, Jorstad said, but still, he’s there in the stands.

“I think it’s amazing he enjoys going to many of these games and gets to know these kids,” Dick Jore said. “He enjoys watching them develop through the years…I think he’s the number one fan in La Crescent.”

Many of the games Jorstad and Jore went to watch included Jore’s son Ryan, a 2005 graduate, who played not only baseball, but basketball and football, too. Jorstad’s gotten to know Jore’s family, as well as other families with student athletes.

“That’s a big part. You get to meet the parents of these kids, and he’s enjoyed that part of it, too. And all the parents seem to love him so much,” Jore said. “He’s a big part of it.”

And that’s exactly how the players feel. Last summer, his devotion was recognized by the La Crescent American Legion baseball team.

After the state championship game in Sacred Heart, in which La Crescent lost to Jordan, the players received their second-place medals and lined up for a team picture. Jorstad watched from the stands, but all of a sudden, the team came up to the fence and motioned to him. They wanted him to come onto the field to receive a team medal, something he now proudly displays in his living room.

“It brought tears to my eyes,” he said, a memory that still makes him emotional. “It was one of the greatest honors I’ve had, when the team gave me a medal and called me over there to have my picture taken. That was (one of) the greatest moments of my life.”

Jorstad has supported the baseball program financially as well. He and Lenora donated $3,000 for new dugouts at the field, as well as $1,000 towards the cost of the field lights. At first, Jorstad was reluctant to share that fact, because he isn’t one to draw attention to himself. However, he hopes that by sharing this information, others will be willing to step forward and contribute in some way to make La Crescent’s field one of the premiere parks in the area.

If you’d like to make a donation, call Baseball Booster Club president Dean Lovell at 895-6462, George Horihan at 895-4376, or Greg Verthein at 895-8598.