Staff photo by Steve Muscatello The New Ulm Club named their Outstanding Athlete Award winners chosen from the senior letter winners from each high school at a banquet Saturday at Martin Luther College in New Ulm. Pictured from left are Cathedral High School winners Ben Wold and Katie Christian, New Ulm High School winners Elisabeth Wieneke and Scott Hawkins and Minnesota Valley Lutheran winners Justin Danell and Liz Goetzke.

NEW ULM — Six senior letterwinners were selected as Athletes of the Year at the three New Ulm High Schools at the 54th Annual New Ulm Club Banquet held at Martin Luther College Saturday night.

The guest speaker for the event was Dave Lee, the host of The WCCO Radio Morning News. He also serves as Minnesota Gopher Football radio play-by-play announcer where he has won the Associated Press' Minnesota play-by-play award five times and also is a 4-time recipient of the National Association of Sports Broadcasters and Sportswriters' "Minnesota Sportscaster of the Year" award.

Lee grew up in a small baseball-oriented town in North Dakota and he told the students his memories of growing up in a small town. He relayed a story about a cold spring day when his high school team was playing a game. He said that the players on the bench — himself included — gathered debris, napkins, grass and sticks and started a fire in the dugout to keep warm.