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Saturday, September 17, 2005
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A familiar face on the sideline Nunnink attends football game Sports Editor MOORHEAD -- If you believe in miracles, then one was sitting in a wheelchair near the Brainerd Warriors bench during Friday's high school football game at Jim Gotta Stadium in Moorhead.
Former Warriors defensive coordinator Steve Nunnink, who has been in and out of health-care facilities since suffering a brain aneurysm Aug. 29, 2003, during the football season opener, attended his first Warrior game since his illness.
He was accompanied by his wife, Randi. The Nunninks greeted fans and well-wishers during their time on the Warriors' sideline.
"I appreciate everything that's being done," Steve said before the opening kickoff. "Good luck to everybody, and I want to thank everybody for their prayers."
Randi said her husband is currently a patient at a Fargo-Moorhead area health-care facility where he undergoes daily physical, occupational and speech therapy.
"Steve's going down to the main dining room and he feeds himself," she said. "He selects his own menu items. He started wheeling himself last week once they gave him a different wheelchair.
"This week they got him up in a walker and he's taking a few steps with assistance. That's kind of where he's at."
Randi said the goal is for Steve, hopefully, to return to Brainerd in the next few months. She said he first will undergo additional therapy in St. Paul.
"We're going to get after it, aren't we honey?" Randi said to Steve, who agreed.
Warriors coach Ron Stolski said he didn't want to make much fanfare of Nunnink's presence to the players, who lost 35-7 to the Moorhead Spuds.
"I didn't think that was fair to Steve or the team," Stolski said. "Certainly, for all of us, we're happy to see him. Certainly, we wish we could have played better, but it wasn't meant to be.
"It's kind of a surreal feeling for me. For the rest of the staff it was kind of a Catch-22. We wished he was coaching with us, but at the same time we were happy that his recovery is coming along enough so he could come and watch us play."
Warriors junior defensive back Jared Mueller thought Nunnink's appearance was inspirational.
"He raised our spirits at the beginning of the game because he's battled back from so much," Mueller said. "He just loves the game so much that we wanted to come out here and give it 100-percent effort, and that's what we did. We just didn't come out on top. You can't ask for more, though.
"We just hope he keeps recovering the way he has been."
Mike Bialka can be reached at mike.bialka@brainerddispatch.com or at 855-5861.
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