Minneapolis Star Tribune — Take a poll on the street asking North Stars fans which players they were most excited to see reunite during Saturday’s North Stars/Wild vs. Blackhawks alumni game, you were liable to hear the names of Mike Modano and Neal Broten, maybe Bobby Smith and Dino Ciccarelli.
Ask Jeff Tate ’97 ’98, the chief of the Shakopee Police Department, and the answer was Tom McCarthy.
As a kid growing up in Richfield, Tate’s family befriended McCarthy’s family, who owned a fish and chip restaurants in the Twin Cities.
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While McCarthy was in federal prison at Leavenworth and Tate was at St. Cloud State, they became pen pals. Dozens of handwritten letters were exchanged, letters Tate saved and cherishes to this day.
“They were always positive, there was no, ‘Poor me.’ There was none of that,” Tate said.
McCarthy scolded him when he got into a fight during a hockey game, praised him when he made the dean’s list. Thousands of words, all life lessons.
