Last update: 3/4/2003 Howdy, folks. Here are some capsule bios of all the Ninjas who have played with us in either Trivia 2001 or Trivia 2002. PLEASE, if I've left someone off the list, let me know at ganw1@yahoo.com so I can make the change. Also let me know if you don't like your bio and would like it changed or removed--no problem! LORI DZIEDZIC Lori is yet another RHS grad who always seems to be highly amused by the GANW headquarters, and by the deteriorating mental condition of the Ninjas when she stops by. Trivia serves in part as a reunion for some RHS friends, but the nature of the contest is such that conversations can only last about 5 minutes max, and must end when “Phones down in the back!” is heard... Nevertheless, I’m very glad that Lori has chosen GANW as the Trivia team to support... there is a lot of competition out there! CHRIS HAKALA LAURA HAKALA A husband-and-wife team from Minnesota and Kansas, respectively. Chris has been playing for GANW since 1991, while Laura was a new Warrior this year and did great work with note-taking before the contest. Chris works at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota and Laura is an English as a Second Language instructor. JENNY HASTINGS SHARI HASTINGS A mother-and-daughter team from Rosholt, Wisconsin. I don't remember when Shari started playing Trivia with us (sometime in the mid-nineties?) but she is definitely an important member of the team who brings great enthusiasm to Trivia. She also came up with our special name for Trivia 1999 ("Gene Autry's Ninja Mourners") and also invented the phrase "Trivia On!" which I just love! BRIAN JANNING BRITTANY JANNING LUKE JANNING MARY JANNING MATTHEW JANNING MICHAEL JANNING The Jannings are a great family that lives in Omaha, Nebraska, and happen to be my uncle, aunt, and cousins-in-law. This year at least a few of them (I don't know which ones) helped us out in the chat room, and it was great having them aboard. Hope to see you back for Trivia 2003! PAM JENSEN STEVE JENSEN BETH JENSEN KRISTA JENSEN Pam and Steve are long-time Trivia players, and joined GANW a few years ago. They have each put in long hours during the contest: Pam has become a specialist in the music questions, and Steve has done a number of long over- night shift, when the questions get tough and things start gettin' scary! Beth and Krista are Pam and Steve’s daughters, who have been playing for us from their college dorms the past couple of years, but who have now both graduated: congratulations! We are hoping to see them at HQ, or online, this year! They have both been great additions to the team: an unexpected bonus we got when Pam and Steve came over to GANW from another team! DENNIS JOY MARTHA JOY Founding members of GANW, since 1987 when we weren't even called GANW! They open their home to the Ninjas for 54 crazy hours every year, serve as maintainers of the famous GANW Trivia Library, and do a whole bunch of other things to help in the quest for Trivia glory. Dennis works in the Rosholt schools and Martha at the Pineries Bank in Stevens Point. They have traveled to Ireland, Scotland, and Mexico. (GANW HQ is full of souvenirs of their travels!) MATT JOY Also a founding member of GANW, Matt (along with Chris Miller--see below) is one of the leaders of our Mobile Team, which is responsible for Trivia Stone and Running Question activity. Because of this, Matt often has one to put up with a pretty strange sleep schedule during the contest, but hey! That's what the quest for Trivia glory is all about! When he's not working on Trivia, Matt has a job which I can't tell you about. Ask him when you see him. MIKE JOY Your friendly neighborhood webmaster (more or less!). I've also been playing Trivia since our resources consisted of the Guinness Book of World Records, the Book of Lists, and Fred Worth's (aka "Fred Worthless's") Trivia Encyclopedia. Last year I set a Guinness record for consecutive hours of movie watching (54 straight hours); look for my picture on select boxes of Act II microwave popcorn. (Seriously.) I live with my wife Becky Ulland (see below) in Saint Paul. MISSY JOY Guess what, she was there at the beginning, too! Missy has done just about everything at Trivia, from Running Questions to the Trivia Stone. Missy is now living down in Milwaukee, working hard as a teacher at Malcolm X High School. She's good with the tunes as well, putting in serious time on music questions and just about all other aspects of Trivia. She's got a big friendly cat named Arnie, and is getting married this summer!!! TERRY KILLHAM Terry, best known as Terry From Tennessee, has been playing Trivia for the Ninjas for the past few years. He’s also in the Generation of 2000, recruited by Don Shenbarger, and he has become a fantastic team member. He does indeed live in Tennessee, and was in the Navy for many years. He’s a great presence in our online area, is always enthusiastic, and in general has been a wonderful addition to the team. Thanks Terry! BRUCE MANNING, JD Bruce joined us last year for the first time, after having heard me talk about the contest for years. I THINK he had a good time, at least I hope so, and I’m hoping he’ll be back again with us in the future. Bruce is a sharp-as-nails attorney over in Big-Time Minneapolis (that’s what we call it over here in Good Ol’ Saint Paul), and guess what? He and his wife Tricia just had their first baby! Congrats you two! It’s always good news when another member of the next generation of Ninjas enters the world! CHRIS MILLER NATHANIEL MILLER SARAH MILLER The Three Millers (TM) have been playing Trivia for years and years. Chris was a friend of Matt's in high school, and he and Matt have been in charge of our Trivia Stone efforts for years now. They truly are the best Stone hunters in the contest, year in and year out. Chris's brother Nathaniel has joined the Stone team in recent years, which only serves to make them Stronger. Both Chris and Nathaniel have also helped out in many other aspects of Trivia planning and playing. Lately, their sister Sarah has also been involved in the team. Many thanks you guys--see you soon!!! DONN MUKENSNABLE Donn has been playing Trivia with GANW since 2000, playing from his home in California! One of several sharp new players we've gotten in the past few years-- what could be called the GANW Generation of 2000--he's been a big part of our rapid rise in the standings. Like the other new players we've gotten, he's a Renaissance man, interested in a bunch of things, and has been a great help on the technical end of our preparations as well. Thanks Donn! DAVE RAYE EDYE RAYE Dave and Edye have been playing with GANW the last few years, and have been yet another great new addition to the team! Before joining the Ninjas, they had played for a number of years on another good team, and so they brought some Trivia experience with them. Another plus: Edye's a music teacher, always good to have around when those music questions come up. Dave has put in some nice late-night hours, when funny things tend to happen and big points can be scored. Thanks you two, and we can't wait to see you this year! BILL RETZA BILL RETZA, JR. JULIE RETZA MICHAEL RETZA Bill Retza has been a friend of mine since the mid-80s, when we were both at Rosholt Middle School. Also known over the years as King Billiam, Wacky Willy, and the King of the Bench Bunch (alright, so we didn't get a lot of playing time on the RHS basketball team!), he has been with GANW from the beginning. He was in the famous, now sadly defunct, GANW Orchestra, and was also a mean "wrapper" and "tosser" of Charmin (only in self-defense, of course). He married Julie a number of years ago, and she's been a great addition to the team, as well! Bill Retza, Jr. (born 1998) and Michael Retza (born 1999) are Trivia Children I and II, representing the next generation of Ninja Warriors. In the last two years they have been involved in Stage 1 of Warriorization--immersion in the contest, playing with the Trivia books, subliminal messages played to them while they sleep ("Phones down, phones down in the back..."). Next is Stage 2: note- taking on childrens' television shows... KEITH ROBERTS Keith has been another recent addition to the team, recruited by his buddy Doug Rosenberg. He’s been a major player for us as we’ve risen up to top-20 status! He lives over in the Twin Cities area, and is a teacher. Hope to see you this year, Keith! DOUG ROSENBERG Doug is a charter CyberNinja, playing Trivia with us since 2000. He's recruited some new players and has been an enthusiastic player himself. He also helped me out in my movie-watching marathon! We're looking forward to "seeing" him at Trivia 2003!!! Thanks Doug! CHRISTINE (SCHUTTENBERG) JOHNSEN Christine is yet another RHS grad, from Bill Retza’s class. She and I spent a few evenings decorating the trees and shrubs of local residents and school principals. Last year was her first year playing for GANW since 1989 or so! I was so glad to have her back! She now lives, oh gosh, I think in the Wausau area, right? She’s the proud mama of Erik, Morgan, and Elizabeth. JULIE SCHUTTENBERG Julie is, yes, ANOTHER proud grad of Rosholt High School, from my class in fact. We were both highly-skilled athletes, born to run! Julie also played with us back in the high school days, and I was absolutely thrilled to have her back with the Ninjas this past year! She is Christine’s sister, by the way. Julie is also the proud mama of a couple of great kids. DON SHENBARGER Don lives in Channahon, Illinois, southwest of Chicago, and has been a valued member of GANW for ten years now. He's been our chief technical expert, helping set up our computer networks and internet operations, and has played both online and at HQ over the past decade. He's been a leader in our recruitment of new players, having brought in many of the Generation of 2000! He's interested in a lot of things, too many to list here, so I'll just say that he's been a great member of GANW! MIKE SPOEHR Mike was a brand-new player for us last year. He approached me out of the blue, asking if he could play for GANW in the Stevens Point contest. You see, Mike is a longtime player in the Appleton contest (held at Lawrence University), and wanted to try out the biggest and the best, over in Stevens Point. I guess this little ol’ web page impressed him so much he had to get in touch with us! He really came through, playing for many hours, which was a big help as we roared to our best finish ever! Thanks Mike, we hope you enjoyed yourself, and we hope to see you again this year! AMY TRZEBIATOWSKI DAVE TRZEBIATOWSKI Dave is a long-time Ninja Warrior, since the late eighties I believe. He and Bill Retza are the only Ninjas to ever participate in the Trivia Parade, putting a big poster of a ying-yang symbol on the side of Bill's blue Firebird and driving it in to Stevens Point. Dave's been involved in a lot of aspects of trivia, including the running questions, and he's a great guy who's always fun to be around. Amy married Dave, oh gosh, 6 years ago? Together they've travelled to China and other places, and they now live in southeast Wisconsin where they're working and going to school. I don't know if Amy had ever played Trivia before, but she's an expert now! MIKE TRZEBIATOWSKI LINDA TRZEBIATOWSKI SUZY TRZEBIATOWSKI JON TRZEBIATOWSKI The Trzebiatowskis both teach in Rosholt and have been friends of the family for years. Also for years, they kept hearing about the Ninjas, kept getting my crazy newsletters, and a few years ago decided to come and see what things were like at our HQ. Needless to say, they were shocked and amazed, but I think they liked it, because they’ve been back ever since. Jon and Suzy are their great kids. I’ve lost track of the number of times that we’ve been clueless about a question, only to get a call from someone over at the Trzebiatowski house that knows the answer. So thanks you guys, and we’ll see you soon!!! AARON ULLAND ANDREW ULLAND MEGAN ULLAND Aaron is another member of the Generation of 2000, and he's put in some serious hours playing Trivia with us since then. Like many of the members of that generation, he has many technical skills which I will not elaborate on at this point--sorry you other teams, you're not getting any hints from us! Anyway, he's been a great Ninja, and we look forward to seeing him in 2003! Andrew is Aaron's older brother, an investment advisor at Ulland Investments in Minneapolis, so if you've got a quarter mil and want some investment advice, give him a call. He's also been playing Trivia since 2000, and he is also curious about many different topics. We appreciate all his help, and we look forward to his being there as we crack the top 10! Just this past October, Andrew got married to Megan, who has a job somewhat like Matt Joy's, so I'm not going to go into it... They live in big time Minneapolis, and have a couple of friendly cats! BECKY ULLAND Trivia 2002 was Becky's 7th contest, and it keeps getting better and better, doesn't it? Becky's involved in all aspects of Trivia planning and playing, from computer operations to note taking to just holding things together during those inevitable rough hours... She's a Master Organizer and Idea Woman, but you other teams aren't going to steal her from us! She's married to yours truly, who is very lucky to be married to such a great Ninja Warrior! KATHLEEN ULLAND-KLINKNER Yet another Ulland joined us last year, for either the first or second time (I can't remember)... Kathleen lives outside New Ulm, Minnesota--home of Hermann the German, a very large statue of a German. She's married to Gregg, and they have two kids--Tyler and Adam. Probably they all helped out before or during the contest, and they're a great resource for us to have. As Hermann would say, "Sehr guht, Kathleen!" HARRIET ULLAND Is Becky's mom and my mom-in-law! She joined us last year for the first time as a CyberNinja, and it was great having her with us! She works over in Austin, Minnesota for Hormel, and is also a seamstress. She's been a great supporter of the team, and we're glad that she's now playing with us during the contest! BRAD YENTER Brad is a brand-new Ninja, who joined us last year for the first time. He is (I think) a student at Rosholt Middle School, who showed a lot of enthusiasm and put in a whole bunch of hours for us. He's an example of GANW's broad range of ages--from 2 to 62 years old, we've got it covered, which helps us out a lot! Thanks Brad! JILL ELIZABETH YOUNG, MD Jill is the official team doctor, and has also played in the chat room with us at various times over the years. As far as I know, we are the only team to have an official team doctor. When asked where she practices medicine, she responds, "Oh, I don't need to practice it--I already know it!" Okay, I just made that up--but it'd be a funny answer, don't you think?
CLICK HERE TO GO BACK TO THE MAIN GANW PAGE: