During Edina High’s glory era of the late 1960s and early 1970s, there was a man in the principal’s office who stood 100 percent behind the Hornet athletic program.

Rollie Ring, the principal from the fall of 1958 through the spring of 1984, was on hand for Edina’s first state championships in basketball, hockey, baseball, golf, tennis and track and field. Along with athletic director Howard Merriman, he hired Edina Hall-of-Fame coaches Duane Baglien, Warren Beson, Stav Canakes, Art Downey and Willard Ikola.

Ring, 93, has loved sports ever since he can remember. He was the quarterback on an undefeated football team at Minneapolis South and later earned his football letter at the University of Minnesota, where he played for the legendary Bernie Bierman.

Closing in on his 30th year of retirement, and now residing in Chanhassen, Ring is still the unofficial “sports historian” of Edina. He took time out of his schedule earlier this week to talk about some of Edina’s early championship teams and also described how he planned community celebrations that filled the gym back in the 1960s.

“Each of the championship teams was special,” Ring began. “Our first big championship celebration followed the 1966 state boys basketball tournament.”

The Hornets beat Duluth East 82-75 in an overtime, and the next afternoon students and fans packed the gym, filling the bleachers on both sides.

Ring still remembers introducing the starters that day - senior Roger Schelper and junior Jeff Wright at guard, juniors Kurt Schellhas and Jay Kiedrowski at forward and senior Tom Jones at center. Bob Zender, a sophomore that year, came off the bench as the sixth man.

“We had the players sit under one basket,” said Ring. “The band was up in the stands. We had both mayors there - Edina and Morningside.”

Yes, that first championship team was called Edina-Morningside.

“In September of 1966, Edina annexed Morningside, and after that our teams were called Edina,” Ring noted.

The 1966 celebration began with the players leaving the Curtis Hotel in Downtown Minneapolis at 11 a.m. Their parade route took them through Morningisde to 50th and France, the town’s most famous corner. After that, it was on to the high school.

Even though it was chilly in late March, the players rode in convertibles with an Edina fire engine and Edina police cars leading the way.

“We never repeated the parade after the first year,” said Ring. “The reason was that it disrupted several church services. Boy, was my phone buzzing on Monday morning. So we learned a lesson.”

State championship celebrations for the basketball team followed the next two years, minus the parade.

Kiedrowski, Schellhas, Wright and Zender led the Hornets to a 27-0 record, and the school claimed its second state title in 1967.

The following tournament, 1968, was a slam-dunk for the Hornets, even though they were without four starters from the previous year.

Edina’s “Twin Towers,” Zender and Tom Fiedler dominated, while Mike Burley, Tom Cabalka, Dirk Peterson and Mark Thoele provided solid play.

The 1968 title game was a blowout, as the Hornets waxed Moorhead 70-45.

“Duane Baglien was a great coach,” said Ring. “He was modest and his speeches were never flowery. The adjustments he made during the games were a big part of our success. In the 1966 championship game against Duluth East, we were down by four points with less than two minutes left. Baglien called a timeout and sent our boys out in a full-court press. They tied it up and then won in overtime.”

The crowd that night was the largest to see a high school game at Williams Arena - 18,696.