This year's hot team is from nearby Faribault and Paul and several of his buddies from elementary school are becoming big fans of the Faribault Falcons. In fact when these young boys play basketball on the playground during lunch hour they imagine that they are the Faribault players. Paul Peterson has taken a liking to #32, Paul Dragston. Paul always claims that he is Paul Dragston whenever he is playing basketball with his crew. When Faribault wins the region tournament in nearby Rochester and qualifies for the state tournament the young Zumbrota boys are now very excited! This is their team!
The boys state basketball tournament is a big deal and the Peterson family has now gathered around the TV and they are anxiously awaiting the start of the Faribault game at hallowed Williams Arena. Jules Perlt, the famous PA announcer at Williams Arena, is announcing the starting line ups for Faribault and in his very distinctive voice they hear...."starting at forward for Faribault is number 32 Palmer Dragston". As you can see, Paul Peterson is very surprised when he shouts at the TV..."Palmer?...where did that name come from"? What makes it really strange is that this player is never referred to as Palmer ever again by the TV announcers or the PA announcer for the rest of the tournament.
Now it's the following morning and we see Paul coming into school. Almost immediately his basketball buddies begin calling him Palmer. They obviously noticed the Palmer Dragston introduction on TV last night. For whatever reason Paul's friends will not let up and they continue to call him Palmer for the next several months. They seem to think it’s a funny name and they are doing it to needle Paul. As you will see it didn't take long for teachers, coaches, parents, and townspeople to also pick up on this nickname. He was now Palmer to everyone in Zumbrota.
Paul a.k.a Palmer now heads off to Concordia College in Moorhead. One of this high school buddies also goes to Concordia and he immediately spreads the nickname of Palmer to everyone at Concordia. Soon you will see that all the athletes along with all the coaches at Concordia are calling him Palmer.
Let's fast forward to the early 1980's and Paul moves to the Twin Cities. Several of Paul's high school and college friends are also now living here and they of course are spreading the nickname Palmer to anyone who knows Paul. It becomes quite apparent that the nickname of Palmer will stick with him throughout his entire adult life.
Just to add some fun to the story let's jump ahead to the year 2002. We now see Palmer at a Gopher basketball game in Williams Arena. At halftime he runs into some friends he knows from playing basketball. As they are talking you will see another man join the group. It appears that Palmer doesn't know him so this stranger introduces himself..."Hi, I’m Jim Ohnstad, I was a college roommate of your friend Tom". Please notice Palmer’s reaction when he says...."Jim Ohnstad?, you were on that 1965 Faribault state tournament basketball team. I worshiped your team!"
Palmer then quickly tells the whole story of how he got his nickname from Jim's teammate Paul Dragston. Of course Palmer wants to know why Jim’s teammate was called Palmer Dragston instead of Paul only one time. Jim laughs and says the PA announcer at Williams Arena was a good friend of Paul Dragston's Dad. Guess what his Dad's name was? Yes, you are correct it was Palmer! OH MY!
So here we are today, 53 years later and the nickname of Palmer is going stronger then ever....and it's still spreading! Most people don't know if it's his first name or his last name....He's just Palmer! (see Prince, Madaonna, Cher, etc) However, it is amazing to think that Paul received a life long nickname from a one time mistake made by a PA announcer at Williams Arena in 1965! WOW! It shows you that you never know when an insignificant moment in time will affect your entire life!
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