Trista Raezer-Stursa

In North Dakota, a woman coaching high school basketball remains rare enough to make headlines. As recently as January 2026, the Fargo Forum profiled the only two women coaching basketball in the state’s highest sports classification. Both led girls’ teams. A woman coaching boys’ basketball is rarer still.

According to the 2020 census, Fingal, North Dakota, has a population of just 92 people. Alma Hollanitsch, however, remembered a time when Fingal was a thriving community of more than 300 residents. On this date in 1996, one month after celebrating her 100th birthday, Alma was interviewed. Her memory was still sharp as she reflected on a long life closely connected to Fingal.

In March of 1919, members of the American Expeditionary Force convened in Paris to create the American Legion, a patriotic veterans organization. World War I veterans returning home from Europe started posts across America.

On this date in 1917, former Attorney General of North Dakota, Henry J. Linde, died. He had suffered a stroke three months earlier, after many years of illness. He was only 37 years old.

The morning after Christmas is usually reserved for sitting with a warm cup of coffee while perusing newspaper ads for major sales. However, on this day in 1994, many North Dakotans likely stopped leafing through the paper in shock to reread a story about a man from California.

Eleanor Maguren never had a teddy bear as a child. Born in 1918 on a farm near Leonard, North Dakota, she became a teacher after college. Around 1945, she bought her first teddy bear in Fargo, adding a few more over the years without much thought.

Friendship with a lawyer from Bismarck led to famed actor Jessica Lange receiving an Oscar nomination in 1985. While she did not win, Lange went on to testify before Congress about the plight of farmers. How did a Bismarck lawyer inspire such a chain of events? It all began when Sarah Vogel of Mandan was roommates with Jessica Lange’s older sister at the University of North Dakota. Vogel had remained close friends with the Lange family.

Since 1946, Fargo has been a place of new beginnings for refugees from around the world. On this day in 2000, The Fargo Forum announced that a group of Sudan’s “Lost Boys” would soon be arriving in the city.

On this day in 1992, the Dakota Clinic and Hospital in Fargo celebrated Dr. Blaine Amidon’s 50 years as an OB-GYN. The celebrated doctor had delivered an estimated 18,000 babies during his long career.

On this date in 1995, the Bismarck Tribune reported about the decay of the Fortuna Air Force Station. From 1951 to 1979, the station was an active radar station in the Air Defense Command that protected the United States from attack.