Kreg Kapitan

Athlete Class of 1967

Usually when the legendary Track and Cross Country coach Al Halley said "Jump" team members would ask, "How High?" It worked a little different in the case of Kreg Kapitan.

"Coach Halley came up to me the day before the City Championship Track Meet in 1967, and asked me how high I was going to jump in the meet," recalled The Kapper. "I looked him square in the eye and said, 6’3". Halley’s response was, "good, then those five points will give us the meet.

The leap in the High Jump did help give Southwest the Meet. It also gave Kreg the school record that he hung onto for 40-some years. It wasn’t all he did.

During his career at Southwest, Kapper won seven letters. He received four in Track where he was co-captain, one in Football and two in Basketball. He also pitched one year for the SW American Legion Baseball team. And was All City his only year playing football. He was Choir President and voted Most Athletic in the Senior Class Hall of Fame.

Moving on the Mankato State, he was a four-year football and two-year track letter winner. He held most of the school records in several receiving categories finishing with 99 catches for 1,376 yards and 16 touchdowns. As a senior his 56 points was the team high.

He was invited to the Vikings training camp in 1972&73 and went to training camp with the Calgary Stampeders of the Canadian Football League before playing for the New York Stars and Charlotte Hornets of the World Football League.

Kreg coached at North High from '78 thru '83.  He was an assistant to Hall of Famer Larry Hartse the first three years and then became Head Coach when Larry stepped down.

After a brilliant football career, he was a co-founder of the Matt Blair football camps. He served on the Board of Directors of Edinburgh USA golf course and on the tournament committee of the inaugural Northgate LPGA tournament. Kap lives in Brooklyn Park with his wife Kathy.  They have three grown daughters and five grandsons all of whose first names start with a "K".   His grandsons are all hockey players.