UNBURIED TREASURE — Trophies and plaques won by Fairmont Cardinal extracurricular activities teams, ranging from the 1950s to the 2000s, are arranged on tables in the upper northeast corridor at Fairmont High School in preparation for a three-night trophy drive that begins tonight when the doors open to the public prior to the Martin County Red Bulls’ wrestling dual meet at 6 p.m. at Cardinal Gym. The event will continue during the Fairmont girls basketball team’s games on both Friday night and Saturday afternoon at Cardinal Gym. (Photo by Charlie Sorrells)

FAIRMONT — Reminiscing about the good old days when you made the game-winning play with time running out?

Having a difficult time either convincing your offspring or their children that you were a top-notch athlete back in your high school days?

Look no further as Fairmont High School’s first-ever trophy drive could verify your past skills or at least prove the fact that you were a member of a championship-caliber Cardinal sports team.

Under the organizational skills of Fairmont High School activities director Mat Mahoney, the school will be selling conference and regular-season tournament trophies and plaques won by Cardinal extracurricular teams from the 1950s to the 2000s beginning tonight when the doors open to the public for the Martin County Red Bulls’ Big South Conference wrestling dual meet against St. Peter at 6 p.m. at Cardinal Gym.

The hardware will be available for viewing on tables in the northeast corridor near the weight room in the upper hallways of Fairmont High School.

The three-day event will continue during Friday night’s Fairmont girls basketball games against New Ulm, beginning at 6 p.m. at Cardinal Gym.

The trophy drive will then conclude at the end of the Fairmont girls basketball lineup’s home contest against Redwood Valley on Saturday afternoon. The B-squad game tips off at 3 p.m. at Cardinal Gym.

“Our trophy room is busting at the seams and we’ve finally run out of space to safely display them there,” said Mahoney. “The thought process is to sell each one for $5 so we can clear them out while giving the community the opportunity to buy a piece of Fairmont school history at the same time.

“Individuals can put those keepsakes in their own trophy cases or ‘man caves,’ or maybe local businesses would like to display their community pride by purchasing one of these trophies.”

Mahoney said the event is not intended to be a fund-raiser, so the concept of an auction was not utilized.

Mahoney did, however, give us a reminder that the office of the state auditor states, “school employees are unable to purchase any pre-priced items.”

“If an employee of the school district wants a trophy, they can have a significant other, family member or friend purchase them on their behalf,” said Mahoney.

Mahoney said the school will keep every state, sectional, regional and district award, and those will be showcased — along with the conference trophies sold — down the road.

“We will document each trophy’s history, take a picture of each one, and then create a library of those and the ones we physically keep,” said Mahoney. “It’ll take time and a lot of work, but our eventual goal is to make that library accessible on the school’s website in the future.

“Hopefully, we can also set up a digital TV that will feature a rolling screen of that library for the public to see.”

If you’re interested in the trophies and plaques and cannot make it to a meet/game tonight through Saturday, you can contact Mat Mahoney at 507-238-4411 to set up a time during the day to view the historic items.

“Those trophies have just been sitting in a storage room and nobody ever saw them, so it’s time to share them with people who can appreciate what they represent in the terms of our programs’ successes through the years,” said Mahoney. “We also plan to repurpose some of them in the appropriate situation.”