He was a great athlete, dedicated father and proud Stillwater Ponies supporter — but definitely not much of a storyteller when it came to his own achievements.
Stillwater’s Jack Junker passed away on June 12 at the age of 92. It was a life well lived, with 76 of those years spent alongside his wife Jean, who died last October at the age of 93. The high school sweethearts were married for 72 of those years.
“That makes it a lot easier with what’s happened, knowing they both lived a really full life,” said John Junker, one of couple’s five children.
A Mass of Christian Burial for Jack and Jean will be held on Thursday, June 27 at St. Michael’s Catholic Church in Stillwater. The family will greet guests from 9-11 a.m., with lunch to follow the service at Rose Hall.
Jack, who was voted Homecoming King at Stillwater High School before graduating in 1950, enjoyed a distinguished playing career in the St. Croix Valley and in two sports at the University of Denver before teaching history and coaching multiple sports in Thief River Falls and Spooner, Wis. He eventually returned to Stillwater and remained one of his alma mater’s most reliable and optimistic supporters — often arriving at games before the teams showed up.
“He loved the Ponies,” said John, who lives in Texas. “I can’t say when it started, but he and I talked probably twice a day as long as I can remember. Most of our conversations were about the sports up there. I always knew what the Pony baseball team was doing, the basketball team, football as well. He loved all sports and that was a lot of our conversations every day.”
Former Ponies coach Don Campbell joined Jack for many of those events.
“We got along well,” Campbell said. “He’s a great Pony fan. He loves the Ponies.”
It was baseball, which was Jack’s most prolific sport, that initially brought them together.
“I didn’t know who he was, but this guy would show up and watch my practices and then after a while introduced himself,” Campbell said. “He would come to the games and practices — and bum a chew from me back in the days when I was chewing. We would talk baseball and it was a real casual relationship. The friendship got to be more during that time and we’d go to basketball games together.
“He liked to talk strategy and coaching and he was just a great guy. He never said anything bad about too many people.”
Campbell recalled a moment during a baseball game this past spring that helped explain Jack’s devotion to the Ponies and why he still attended so many contests.
“A couple mothers were sitting there and one of them turned and said ‘Do you guys have relatives that are playing on the team?’ I said, ‘No, I used to be the baseball coach and I like going to the games,’” Campbell recalled. “And the lady said, ‘What about you, sir?’ Jack kind of paused for three or four seconds and said: ‘Because I love it. I just love it.’
“That was Jack, he just loved it.”
He also loved his family, but he didn’t spend much time sharing details with them about his own playing and coaching career.
Jack grew up in a family of exceptional athletes. He was the second oldest among the baseball-playing boys of Iva and Joe Junker, a talented crew that included Dick, Choc, Neil, Jimmy, Dutz and Jeff Junker.
“I think they were all pretty darn good athletes,” John said.
But when it came to his father, John said he was mostly unaware of those on-field exploits.
“I’d love to tell you a lot more about him, but my dad never talked about that stuff,” John said. “He was super humble about everything. I found out a lot of things about my dad after I graduated. He just didn’t really talk about his career.”
Jack started playing in the semi-pro leagues when he was 14, John noted. He caught former University of Minnesota standout and hall-of-fame Vikings coach Bud Grant when both suited up for the Stillwater Loggers baseball team.
“He said Bud was probably one of the best athletes he’s ever played with or against,” John said.
But Jack, who still holds the Stillwater school record in football with a 90-yard punt return in 1948, revealed little about his own career. Fortunately others have helped fill in the gaps.
Mark Crimmins, a Stillwater graduate and outstanding catcher himself, played two seasons in the minor leagues for the New York Yankees organization. Crimmins was also an avid golfer and member of Stillwater Country Club for more than 50 years.
“He was older than my dad, but I played golf with him and he told me a lot about my dad,” John said. “Mark said ‘Your dad was probably the greatest athlete to come out of Stillwater.’ That’s how I always heard about my dad. When I’d ask him about it, he’d kind of shuffle it off.”
There was another time someone reached out to John after reading a newspaper story about a golf course that he manages.
“This guy called and asked if Jack was my dad?” John said. “The guy lived in San Antonio and he was a teammate of his at the University of Denver and asked how he was doing. He said my dad was one of the better athletes he ever played with. This is typical of how I learned about my dad.”
Jack was also passionate about horses and supported daughters Kim and Kelly riding and showing in events across the country. He later served as a ring steward, which eventually led to Jack’s induction into The Appaloosa Horse Club Hall of Fame in 2006.
Not surprisingly, John said he learned more about Jack’s involvement in those activities at the hall of fame banquet than he did first-hand from his father.
“He just didn’t talk about that stuff,” John said.
Jack often heard from former athletes he coached and John said it was always gratifying to learn about those stories as well.
“My dad was a very social guy when it came to people and coaching,” John said. “He was an incredible coach, very much an underdog kids’ coach. I only played for him for two years and then he retired from coaching when I was a senior, but he was a coach that would always go talk to the parents and get the kids out for sports and really mentor them. If some people didn’t have as much money, he would find a way to get them cleats and stuff like that. Later in life, I met some of the players he coached. They would call and come see him in Stillwater, guys in their 70s. He really impacted young kids.”
The cycle has continued in many ways, whether it was on the lake or the diamond.
“He loved to fish,” John said. “When I was growing up he’d take me to Canada, and when I got old enough I took him to Canada. He was a morning to night fisherman and he could stay in a boat all day long without eating. He just loved to fish.”
Jack took great interest in all the activities of his children and eventually their families and activities. He regularly made trips to Texas to watch his youngest grandson play baseball. At the age of 25, Jack Jr., is already the head baseball coach at North Dakota State College of Science.
“He loved all the grandchildren,” John said. “My son coaches now and they were super close. I think my dad talked to him about stuff way more than me. It’s all about preparing kids for life and he’s got a lot of characteristics of my dad.
“I was very fortunate and very blessed because I had great parents,” John said. “They put themselves last — and for sure myself and my sisters were first, and then the grandkids and then the great grandkids. I always knew they were there and I was loved, probably more so than most kids and their families. We were all just very close.”
Contact Stuart Groskreutz at stuart.groskreutz@apgecm.com
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