Young Virg

It's a long time since 1969, when Virg signed on with the Herald after seeing an ad seeking a sports writer in Grand Forks.

Then, he was working for the La Crosse (Wis.) Tribune.He called then-editor Jack Hagerty and inquired about the job.The two set up an interview to take place in the Twin Cities - at a baseball game.

Both men were avid Chicago White Sox fans, and their team was playing against the Minnesota Twins at Metropolitan Stadium.

After all these years, Virg doesn't remember who won the game, but knows the name of one winner who walked away from that game that day.

"I guess I won, because I got the job," he said.

Virg was the only person on the sports writing staff then, he recalled, and so he was kept busy going game to game.

Intro to hockey

With an avid sports fan and athlete for a father, Virg's interest in sports began at an early age.

Now called the dean of college hockey sports writers, Virg, who's 65, didn't get involved with the sport until his family moved to Grand Forks in the early 1950s.His dad, the Rev. Virgil Foss, was the founding pastor of Calvary Lutheran Church, which became one of the largest churches in Grand Forks.

Young Virg learned to play hockey with friends on the Red River of the North, he said.

He took that knowledge as he went on to attend St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn.; his family had moved there after living in Grand Forks.It was in Northfield that Virg began his writing career, working as a sports writer for the local paper.

One story he didn't write about then, he recalls, is the story of how he became the first goalie in the history of hockey to both win and lose in one game.

"I have the rare distinction of playing goalie for two different teams during one game," he said.

Virg was a freshman in college then, and he had played the first half of the game for the St. Olaf team.He was on the bench when the opposing Carlton College goalie was injured.The team was going to have to forfeit the game, until Virg offered to play in the injured goalie's place.

"I played like a man possessed.I didn't want them to think I was letting my team get goals.So, I completely shut off my teammates," he smiled."I think the other team won."

Virg continued writing after college, going into communications through a five-year stint in the U.S. Navy.A few years and several newspaper jobs later, he was back in Grand Forks.

A new phase

His writing career is not ending, but going into a new phase, Virg said.He fully intends to stay involved with UND hockey, and potentially still could work with the Herald on hockey projects.

Virg said his decision to retire was driven by several factors.He has a daughter, Jennie Zeitler; a son, Steve Foss (a former Herald reporter); and five grandchildren.His mother, 97 and in good health, lives in Northfield still.He said he wants to spend more time with them.

The recent death of friend and Herald colleague Dewey Kvidt, who was 50, and the death of a cousin over the summer also have hit him pretty hard, Virg said.
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Virg owns a lake cabin near Bemidji.He said he fully intends to give it his full attention in retirement.