Tom Elliott
Tom has been a professional sports journalist for nearly 50 years. This includes 34 years at the St. Cloud Times, three-and-a-half years as the sports editor of The Desert Sun in Palm Springs, CA and sports editor of the West Central Tribune in Willmar since 2019.
While he has covered nearly everything in sports at all levels from tee-ball to professional ball, baseball has always been his passion. His interest in amateur baseball grew from doing Sunday roundups of the St. Cloud area leagues with the help of St. Cloud legend Dick Putz. Putz would get the highlights from every game in the St. Cloud area by having the assigned umpires fill out slips with the line scores of the hitting and pitching highlights.
Originally from New York City and a Mets fan, he moved to Minnesota in 1974 as a ninth grader and went to South St. Paul High School, where town ball was low-key and low-profile. Amateur baseball was all new to Tom. Feature stories spawned from those moments with the effervescent Putz. The stories behind the scores became a cornerstone of Tom’s career.
Tom loves all sports and enjoys telling the stories of the people involved. It has led to numerous awards and accolades. His induction into the Minnesota Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame as a Glenn Carlson Award recipient is his sixth hall of fame induction. Others include:
- The Director’s Award from the Minnesota American Legion Baseball Hall of Fame in 1993 for his work with Ray DeZurik of Waite Park.
- The Angelo Guiliani Award in 1994 by the Minnesota High School Baseball Coaches Association for his work covering high school baseball.
- The Minnesota State High School Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame in 2014 for his work in basketball.
- The Minnesota State High School League Outstanding Media Service Award at the state boys basketball finals in 2019 for his work covering all high school activities.
- The St. Cloud Tech Athletic Hall of Fame in 2019 for his outstanding contributions to Tiger athletics over the years.
In between those inductions, Tom won more than 75 state and national writing and editing awards from the Associated Press, the Minnesota Newspaper Association and the Gannett Corporation, which once owned about 260 daily newspapers. With the Willmar paper, the West Central Tribune’s sports section has been awarded first place once and second place three times in its division for sports general excellence.
Tom has two sons (John and Michael), a daughter-in-law (Megan) and a grandson (Lucas), a huge extended family along with friends and acquaintances who have supported him along the way.
ElRoy ‘Weed’ Vidlund
ElRoy was a lifelong resident of Watertown, MN. He was born in Hollywood Township and raised on a farm in Watertown Township about eight miles from town. He developed a love for baseball at an early age and played baseball and basketball at Watertown High School, graduating in 1943.
ElRoy served in the Navy during World War II from 1944-1946. After being honorably discharged, he went to play winter ball for a semi-pro team in Arkansas where he garnered interest from several professional scouts. However, he came back to Watertown in 1947 to play for the Red Devils under their newly installed lights. ElRoy was Watertown’s second baseman for 25 years from 1943-1967 and was known as a hard-nosed, left-handed hitting lead-off hitter who helped the Red Devils win a state title in 1951. He also managed the team his last four seasons, from 1964-1967.
After his playing career, ElRoy began umpiring and was a member of Northwest Umpires for over 25 years. He worked amateur and high school baseball as well as high school softball, including many games and tournaments for the modified leagues at Hollywood Sports Complex. ElRoy had a reputation for being confident and fair as well as professional and respectful. When umpiring, he always hustled to get in position to make the right call.
ElRoy was a life-long member of Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Watertown where he served as an usher and also served on the Watertown City Council from 1969-1981. He was instrumental in keeping the baseball park at its current location at Highland Park when the city was considering a new housing development on that site. ElRoy found information that proved the land had been donated and designated as a ball field, effectively saving Highland Park for future generations of ball players.
ElRoy’s love of the game was beyond measure. He once said he would rather play ball than eat; it was a way of life for him. Now, his love of baseball and other Minnesota sports carries on with his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren.
ElRoy passed away in 2014 at the age of 87. His wife, Dorothy, preceded him in death in 2008. They are survived by their three daughters, Kathleen (Darrell) Carlson, Mary (Steve) Volz and Jane (Wade) Juntunen, along with eight grandchildren and 25 great grandchildren.
