Ole the Viking

This is a story about an experience I had with one of my dearest friends. Deano and I have known each other for perhaps 30 years. We met as campers at LBBC but are unsure when we first became aware of each other. Deano is my only friend to make it big in Hollywood. He appears in the blockbuster hit “Little Big League.” Unfortunately, they misspelled his name in the credits, thus never giving him the true credit he deserves. You can find out more regarding his Hollywood career here:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0936984/

And Dean, if you have time, write us a comment regarding the name mixup.

Now, back to the story. It happened in 1984. I was a summer staffer with Deano at LBBC. We were big Indiana Jones fans. The second movie in the series, “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom” had just been released. We decided to gather a group of fellow staffites and head into Alexandria, MN to see the movie during one of our precious time-offs.

Lake Beauty had a rather large costume room. We loved dressing up strangely and going into town. More stories on that later. Today we decided to dress up in Indiana fashion. Deano got all the good stuff first. He really looked the part. He had the shirt, pants, trademark hat, whip, boots, and bandana. But he was missing one key element. I don’t remember when or where I bought it but I had a plastic pistol that looked very real. I had it in a nice leather shoulder holster. Draped over the side of Indiana Wennerberg, he really looked like the real thing.

But something inside me (I think its called “good sense”) told me that it would not be a good idea to give Dean the gun to wear in the theater. We discussed this matter and I remember that I agreed to let him wear it in the car but he had to leave it in the car so as to not brandish it in the theater.

I had never been to Alexandria. Neither had most of the other staffites. Eight of us piled into Wanda Larson’s enormous Chevy as we made the 45 minute drive to the big town. We were all skinny back then so it worked. As we entered the town, we turned left on the wide main boulevard toward the theater. We excitedly hopped out of the car making sure Deano did not bring the gun.

The movie was gory but great. We had Indiana fever. The special effects were amazing for the time so we were completely hyper when we exited, all singing the wordless theme tune. We went out the theater doors, turned left toward Wanda’s Chevy, and there it was, just 8 blocks away at the other end of town. It was a sight for which we were completely unprepared.

Ole the Viking is the mascot for Alexandria, home of the Kensington Rhunestone. Twenty eight feet tall and weighing in at 8,000 pounds, Ole the Viking appeared in Alexandria shortly after the World’s Fair in New York in 1965. The site was too much for us to behold. Without one spoken word, we dashed into Wanda’s car and headed at great speed to the end of the boulevard where Ole stood vigil. Before we knew what happened, Deano and another staffite named W. C. leaped from the car, bolting toward the towering Viking. Without my knowledge, Deano grabbed the gun and placed it at his side.

Deano was the first one to climb the spear with W.C. following closely behind. The rest of us stayed in the car, shocked and surprised at the speed of what had just happened. Then from the direction from whence we came we heard the sound of a speeding car. Turning our heads we sensed trouble. It turned out to be an unmarked state trooper in his prowler. With great skill he squealed his prowler to a stop in front of our car, blocking our escape. He jumped from the prowler, looked at the armed man climbing the spear, drew his gun and began to point it toward Indiana Wennerberg. I remembered that everything was now in slow motion. Wanda, Bruce and I yelled in unison, “It’s a fake gun. Don’t shoot.” The trooper heard us and quickly holstered his gun. Then I saw one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen. Dean and W.C. knowing they were in great trouble did what any surrendering criminal would do. Only they were up a spear. Raising their free hand into the air, they gave up. It was hilarious.

Down the pole they slid and into the custody of the waiting trooper. A couple more officers had now joined the ruckus. It was then we learned that Alexandria was where many of the state troopers in Minnesota were trained. Thankfully we were confronted by a seasoned officer instead of a student. He let us know in no uncertain terms that had it been a rookie that busted us, Deano would likely have suffered a bullet wound or two as he tumbled from Ole’s mighty spear.

The troopers broke us up and singly asked us our story. Thankfully, our stories all matched. None of us received any jail time but we did get the lecture of our lives. Then, they put us back into Wanda’s car and escorted us out of town to the city limits with the promise to never again return. It was a promise I did not keep.

Thankfully, Denny, the camp director never found out about the Ole incident. We all kept our jobs. I still have that plastic pistol. It’s hidden away in a box in my garage. It’s one of my favorite camp memories. Thanks Deano.