By: Larry Scott 
Once again, Minnesota State Moorhead is at full throttle, well positioned to make a serious run at a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference basketball title and post-season play as well. Dragon fans have come expect nothing less during the Karla Nelson era.
It wasn’t always that way.
While the Dragons have flourished of late under the gentle touch of Nelson, the genesis of today’s successful program can very well be traced to the late 1980s and the arrival of new head coach Lori Ulferts and, perhaps more importantly, some eager, if untested, recruits.
Kris DeClerk Thompson was among the first to answer the call.
“Lori had recruited me to (University of Minnesota,) Crookston, but when she took the job at Moorhead State she brought me with,” said DeClerk. “I played with her a year at Crookston.”
While there was reason for genuine optimism, this would be no overnight success story. MSUM finished 6-20 in 1989-90, but slowly gained traction. Following a 15-10 finish the next season, the Dragons rattled off 23-7 and 20-9 campaigns and the winning foundation was secure.
“Lori said it would be a slow go the first year, but we would have to trust her,” said DeClerk. “She thought she could turn around the program and asked us if we wanted to be a part of it. We weren’t the top picks in Minnesota, but she looked for athletes who were raw that she could bring into the program, were coachable and would play hard.”
DeClerk joined a corps of talented new arrivals that featured Kari Farstveet, Missy Narum and Nikki Scholl, and the Dragons took flight. A 66-55 victory over NCAA Division II national stronghold North Dakota State University in 1992 was especially sweet.
“The year we beat the Bison was one of the standouts,” DeClerk remembers. “That was an awful lot of fun because they were pretty good and it gave us a lot of confidence.”
The Windom native was a fixture in the MSUM starting lineup for three seasons. She earned NAIA and KODAK honorable mention All-American basketball honors as a senior and was a two-time Dragon MVP.
DeClerk set a MSUM single season scoring record of 570 points in 1991-92 and still holds the career scoring record of 17.6 ppg. She ranks fourth in career scoring, 1446, and third in rebounding, 881. A three-time All-NSIC basketball pick, DeClerk was also a two-time All-NAIA District 13 selection and helped Moorhead State advance to post-season play as a junior and senior.
Indeed, it was a swell time for DeClerk and her basketball pals. “I wish I could have played there all four years, that would have been neat, but there are all the memories, memories of teammates, coaches, road trips, practices where you wondered if they were ever going to end, and seasons you never wanted to end.”
In addition to her basketball legacy, DeClerk was a major force in volleyball as well and helped the Dragons advance to two appearances at the NAIA National Championships.
“I was really fortunate to be able to play two sports. Our volleyball team actually got farther, but I think we accomplished more with the basketball program, (considering) where it had come from.”
It was a unique adventure that DeClerk cherished, but she laments that the day of the two-sport athlete is vanishing.
“It’s going by the wayside, and it’s kind of sad. The multi-sport athlete is a dying breed and I wished they weren’t. High school coaches feel pressure to raise to raise the quality of the entire team, so they do put a little bit of pressure on kids to pick a sport.”
The structure has changed as well.
“The off-season opportunities kids have today are not the opportunities we had. When I was in high school we played a sport in the winter, a sport in the spring and a sport in the fall, and in the summer I showed horses so I never did any off-season (stuff).”
Still, DeClerk believes not all is lost for today’s young athletes. “The positive thing is the skilled athletes who are coming out of high school. It’s the amazing, the difference in skill (level).”
Following graduation from MSU Moorhead in 1993, DeClerk spent 14 years as a teacher and coach at Buffalo and two years at Becker as an assistant principal before returning to Buffalo as an assistant principal this year. She has also served as advisor to the National Honor Society and coached in the Junior Bison Basketball program.
The DeClerk-Thompson family roster includes husband Donnie, a basketball coach at Cooper High School, son Hunter (13) and daughter Taylor (10), and while basketball still has a major hold on the family, other sports are making inroads.
“Hunter actually chose hockey over basketball as a sixth grader, and plays football, hockey and basketball while Taylor played soccer and is playing both traveling basketball and U-10 hockey,” DeClerk admitted.
What, hockey instead of basketball? What went wrong here?
“I learned you have to be careful who your babysitters are,” DeClerk laughed. “We had a babysitter who was a hockey player; that was the beginning of the end.”
While DeClerk’s responsibilities at Buffalo High no longer allow her to serve as a varsity coach, she still has her fingers on the pulse of the game. “I was the head coach for eight years and an assistant for a couple of years. I miss it a ton, but there’s just no way. (My job) leaves some time for youth coaching but not at the high school season.”
“I still coach Taylor’s basketball team, and I love it. I want her to play everything so she can choose what she wants to play and who she wants to hang out with in high school. The odds of her being a college athlete (are slim) but she’s going to learn a lot of great things and have a lot of fun with good teammates and great coaches.”
Yes, there are plenty of flaws in the system, DeClerk insists, but there are redeeming values in athletic competition.
“It makes you a stronger person. You learn about your strengths and weaknesses and you gain confidence in yourself. You can have a little fun along the way, too, because it’s only a game, but the lessons you learn along the way are amazing.”
A 2000 inductee into the Dragon Hall of Fame, DeClerk still keeps her eye on the Dragons. “I try and keep up to date with the Dragons, and we’ve kicked around getting together for the alumni (basketball) game. I went to the alumni volleyball game a couple of years ago, but after you’ve had kids you’re slow and you can’t jump. Your brain knows what to do but your body’s laughing at you. It’s frustrating.”
Growing up in southern Minnesota, DeClerk often dreamed about a rodeo career, or perhaps a role in the western movies, but sports offered a real challenge and she was quickly attracted to volleyball, basketball and softball.
It was great fun, but DeClerk also learned that life, and sports, weren’t always fair. There were memorable schoolgirl highlights, but there were disappointments as well, especially a bitter loss to Storden-Jeffers High School in the district basketball finals. Showing horses at the Minnesota State Fair and bringing home a championship trophy remains one of her proudest moments outside of sports.
A Physical Education major, DeClerk remembers those special days of yesteryear. “I miss the camaraderie and I miss the people there; it was a great crew,” said DeClerk.
It was not always ideal, however, and DeClerk remembers a more spartan existence at MSUM.
“I felt that Lori, Katie (Wilson) and Sam (Booth) were great advocates for us. The lockerroom was nasty, we always practiced in the back gym, we never got the fieldhouse, we road around in school vans, and we never got a bus that first year. It’s comical to look back on it, but I’m glad I got that opportunity because otherwise you take it for granted.”
Make no mistake, Kris DeClerk Thompson left an imprint at State and helped raise the bar for others. Not a bad legacy at all.
Once again, Minnesota State Moorhead is at full throttle, well positioned to make a serious run at a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference basketball title and post-season play as well. Dragon fans have come expect nothing less during the Karla Nelson era.
It wasn’t always that way.
While the Dragons have flourished of late under the gentle touch of Nelson, the genesis of today’s successful program can very well be traced to the late 1980s and the arrival of new head coach Lori Ulferts and, perhaps more importantly, some eager, if untested, recruits.
Kris DeClerk Thompson was among the first to answer the call.
“Lori had recruited me to (University of Minnesota,) Crookston, but when she took the job at Moorhead State she brought me with,” said DeClerk. “I played with her a year at Crookston.”
While there was reason for genuine optimism, this would be no overnight success story. MSUM finished 6-20 in 1989-90, but slowly gained traction. Following a 15-10 finish the next season, the Dragons rattled off 23-7 and 20-9 campaigns and the winning foundation was secure.
“Lori said it would be a slow go the first year, but we would have to trust her,” said DeClerk. “She thought she could turn around the program and asked us if we wanted to be a part of it. We weren’t the top picks in Minnesota, but she looked for athletes who were raw that she could bring into the program, were coachable and would play hard.”
DeClerk joined a corps of talented new arrivals that featured Kari Farstveet, Missy Narum and Nikki Scholl, and the Dragons took flight. A 66-55 victory over NCAA Division II national stronghold North Dakota State University in 1992 was especially sweet.
“The year we beat the Bison was one of the standouts,” DeClerk remembers. “That was an awful lot of fun because they were pretty good and it gave us a lot of confidence.”
The Windom native was a fixture in the MSUM starting lineup for three seasons. She earned NAIA and KODAK honorable mention All-American basketball honors as a senior and was a two-time Dragon MVP.
DeClerk set a MSUM single season scoring record of 570 points in 1991-92 and still holds the career scoring record of 17.6 ppg. She ranks fourth in career scoring, 1446, and third in rebounding, 881. A three-time All-NSIC basketball pick, DeClerk was also a two-time All-NAIA District 13 selection and helped Moorhead State advance to post-season play as a junior and senior.
Indeed, it was a swell time for DeClerk and her basketball pals. “I wish I could have played there all four years, that would have been neat, but there are all the memories, memories of teammates, coaches, road trips, practices where you wondered if they were ever going to end, and seasons you never wanted to end.”
In addition to her basketball legacy, DeClerk was a major force in volleyball as well and helped the Dragons advance to two appearances at the NAIA National Championships.
“I was really fortunate to be able to play two sports. Our volleyball team actually got farther, but I think we accomplished more with the basketball program, (considering) where it had come from.”
It was a unique adventure that DeClerk cherished, but she laments that the day of the two-sport athlete is vanishing.
“It’s going by the wayside, and it’s kind of sad. The multi-sport athlete is a dying breed and I wished they weren’t. High school coaches feel pressure to raise to raise the quality of the entire team, so they do put a little bit of pressure on kids to pick a sport.”
The structure has changed as well.
“The off-season opportunities kids have today are not the opportunities we had. When I was in high school we played a sport in the winter, a sport in the spring and a sport in the fall, and in the summer I showed horses so I never did any off-season (stuff).”
Still, DeClerk believes not all is lost for today’s young athletes. “The positive thing is the skilled athletes who are coming out of high school. It’s the amazing, the difference in skill (level).”
Following graduation from MSU Moorhead in 1993, DeClerk spent 14 years as a teacher and coach at Buffalo and two years at Becker as an assistant principal before returning to Buffalo as an assistant principal this year. She has also served as advisor to the National Honor Society and coached in the Junior Bison Basketball program.
The DeClerk-Thompson family roster includes husband Donnie, a basketball coach at Cooper High School, son Hunter (13) and daughter Taylor (10), and while basketball still has a major hold on the family, other sports are making inroads.
“Hunter actually chose hockey over basketball as a sixth grader, and plays football, hockey and basketball while Taylor played soccer and is playing both traveling basketball and U-10 hockey,” DeClerk admitted.
What, hockey instead of basketball? What went wrong here?
“I learned you have to be careful who your babysitters are,” DeClerk laughed. “We had a babysitter who was a hockey player; that was the beginning of the end.”
While DeClerk’s responsibilities at Buffalo High no longer allow her to serve as a varsity coach, she still has her fingers on the pulse of the game. “I was the head coach for eight years and an assistant for a couple of years. I miss it a ton, but there’s just no way. (My job) leaves some time for youth coaching but not at the high school season.”
“I still coach Taylor’s basketball team, and I love it. I want her to play everything so she can choose what she wants to play and who she wants to hang out with in high school. The odds of her being a college athlete (are slim) but she’s going to learn a lot of great things and have a lot of fun with good teammates and great coaches.”
Yes, there are plenty of flaws in the system, DeClerk insists, but there are redeeming values in athletic competition.
“It makes you a stronger person. You learn about your strengths and weaknesses and you gain confidence in yourself. You can have a little fun along the way, too, because it’s only a game, but the lessons you learn along the way are amazing.”
A 2000 inductee into the Dragon Hall of Fame, DeClerk still keeps her eye on the Dragons. “I try and keep up to date with the Dragons, and we’ve kicked around getting together for the alumni (basketball) game. I went to the alumni volleyball game a couple of years ago, but after you’ve had kids you’re slow and you can’t jump. Your brain knows what to do but your body’s laughing at you. It’s frustrating.”
Growing up in southern Minnesota, DeClerk often dreamed about a rodeo career, or perhaps a role in the western movies, but sports offered a real challenge and she was quickly attracted to volleyball, basketball and softball.
It was great fun, but DeClerk also learned that life, and sports, weren’t always fair. There were memorable schoolgirl highlights, but there were disappointments as well, especially a bitter loss to Storden-Jeffers High School in the district basketball finals. Showing horses at the Minnesota State Fair and bringing home a championship trophy remains one of her proudest moments outside of sports.
A Physical Education major, DeClerk remembers those special days of yesteryear. “I miss the camaraderie and I miss the people there; it was a great crew,” said DeClerk.
It was not always ideal, however, and DeClerk remembers a more spartan existence at MSUM.
“I felt that Lori, Katie (Wilson) and Sam (Booth) were great advocates for us. The lockerroom was nasty, we always practiced in the back gym, we never got the fieldhouse, we road around in school vans, and we never got a bus that first year. It’s comical to look back on it, but I’m glad I got that opportunity because otherwise you take it for granted.”
Make no mistake, Kris DeClerk Thompson left an imprint at State and helped raise the bar for others. Not a bad legacy at all.
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