Briggs: From nude swimming to my favourite Miss America, I received’t overlook these tales – InForum

When you write a weekly column rooted in historical past and reminiscence, the tales start to stack up — some fade shortly, others quietly insist on staying with you. As I appeared again on this yr of “Back Then,” a handful of tales rose to the highest. Not essentially as a result of they had been the largest or flashiest, however as a result of they lingered — in emails from readers, in sudden follow-ups, or how they only made me smile.

It was laborious to slim down the listing, and I couldn’t actually rank them both. They span from a really private venture I began with the delivery of my first daughter in 2002, to the inspiration for my newest ardour venture, to one thing so foolish and outlandish that folks merely didn’t consider it actually occurred. (I’m speaking about you, nude swimming at school.)

Here’s a have a look at my prime 5 of 2025 in no explicit order.

One of the

most eyebrow-raising stories I’ve ever written began

with a easy query: Did college students actually swim nude at Fargo Central High School?

The reply, because it seems, was sure — and for many years, it was thought of completely regular. The follow, as soon as widespread in American excessive faculties and YMCAs, was rooted in outdated beliefs about hygiene, modesty and gender separation. Former Fargo Central college students shared vivid, usually humorous recollections of a time when skinny-dipping was a part of fitness center class, not a type of rebel.

What might have been a novelty story grew to become one thing deeper: a window into how social norms change, how casually accepted practices can vanish and the way historical past can shock us after we least anticipate it.

Thanks to my former boss and good friend, Al Aamodt, for the thought. He proved as soon as once more that he’s among the finest newsmen round, even offering me with foolish tales like this.

When I first spoke with BeBe Shopp, Miss America 1948

, she was already a residing hyperlink to a bygone period — considered one of postwar optimism, glamour and thoroughly choreographed grace. Born in Minnesota, she went on to turn out to be the oldest residing Miss America, carrying the title not simply with pleasure, however with perspective.

She was such a stunning lady, not simply on the surface, however inside, too. I loved our lighthearted cellphone chat. I discovered it notably amusing that she didn’t appear to take herself or her crown too significantly. Her life appeared to be stuffed with music, household and pleasure.

She dreamed of going to this yr’s pageant in Orlando. I discovered later that she made it. Unfortunately, she died just a few weeks later. Her daughter agreed to go to with me about her spectacular mother for

a follow-up story.

I’m blessed I had the prospect to know her, even briefly.

Some tales by no means actually finish. For me, that’s the

Moorhead Spud hockey team of 1993

. Those of you who know me personally — or comply with me on social media — could already know the place that is going.

A reminiscence from a narrative I did on that group whereas working at WDAY-TV within the early Nineteen Nineties resurfaced after this yr’s state championship sport. That story grew to become one of many predominant causes I took on my newest ardour venture, a e-book on 60 years of Moorhead Spud Hockey referred to as “Onward Moorhead: An Illustrated History of MHS Hockey 1965 to 2025,” co-authored by the superb Brian Cole.

But lengthy earlier than that, it stayed with me as a result of it captured one thing timeless — the ache of coming shut, the pleasure of effort, and the way in which recollections from a single winter can comply with individuals for many years. What a thrill it was to look at these gifted gamers from 1993, a few of whom at the moment are dad and mom of present gamers, see a dream come true.

Remember the book is on sale at The Forum,

101 Fifth St. N. or on-line at

Not all significant tales come from archives or interviews. Some come from parenting — and endurance.

This piece

traced an 18-year journey tied to a present I gave my youngsters, who by no means knew my mother. She died earlier than they had been born. Shortly after my older daughter was born in 2002, I began a scrapbook and took a photograph of my daughter sitting with some previous dolls my mother had performed with as a baby. I did the identical with my youthful daughter, born in 2004.

Every yr, I’d have the women plop down on the sofa to pose for the photographs that they wouldn’t see till their highschool commencement. The books typically made me cry, typically snigger. But the recollections stay eternally on the web page, connecting my women to the grandmother they by no means met.

What started as curiosity about one reclusive man residing on the fringes of society grew right into a three-part collection about hermits within the Upper Midwest throughout the Nineteen Twenties — a time when America appeared each fascinated and unsettled by those that selected isolation.

From a North Dakota farmer swept up in

“hermit hysteria,”

to a person who emerged from a cave

after 30 years

, to a Minnesota lady who could have been the

loneliest, (but then again most popular) person in America,

these tales explored solitude, myth-making and the skinny line between independence and loneliness.

Together, they revealed how communities venture their fears and fascinations onto those that stay aside — and the way even probably the most remoted lives contact others.

Again, this isn’t an intensive listing. Thanks to all of you who recurrently learn “Back Then with Tracy Briggs” and an enormous due to those that e-mail me with concepts. Keep them coming in 2026!

Happy New Year!