Kent Hrbek Outdoors...
A Different Type of Outdoors Show
by Roger W. Janssen
Once there were a couple of Minnesota boys who had successful careers but knew there was something more satisfying out there. Their challenge was to find a way to make a living in a place where both have a passion, the outdoors. Little did they know, one day they would end up as business partners. That day came, and Kent Hrbek Outdoors is the result.
BOY
#1-Picture, if you will, a kid that is absolutely content to fish and relax
in the warmth of a sunny summer afternoon OR to see how many long balls
he can smack out of the neighborhood sandlot. That was Kent Hrbek’s
life as a boy. Hrbek, who was born in 1960 in Bloomington, MN, described
what would have been most boys’ dream in those years. Kent told The
Outdoorsmen Magazine during an interview, “When we would get together,
if there was someone to haul us to the lake and drop us off for the day,
we’d fish. If there wasn’t a ride to be found, we would get
a group together and play ball all day.” Life, before video games
and the like, just seemed a little simpler.
When asked about his first recollection of the outdoors, he is quick to point out his family vacations to the Brainerd, MN area. The family would spend a week each year at a resort, fishing and simply enjoying being out in nature. Herbie said, “I actually had a lot of encouragement in the outdoors. My dad was always an outdoorsman, and the time I spent on my grandparent’s farm in central Minnesota was great.” He also said, “There’s nothing like chasing frogs and feeling the cool mud of a slough between your toes!” (If you haven’t experienced the mud thing, you just haven’t lived!)
Baseball was always in the mix. One family vacation was scheduled at the same time a “big game” was to take place in Bloomington. Herbie said that his dad loaded him up and made the drive back to Bloomington for the game. After the game, they turned around and went back for the remainder of the vacation. He’s pretty sure they lost that game…
As fate would have it, Kent Hrbek displayed a real raw talent for those long balls we mentioned before. He was the kind of kid that got picked first in the line-up and proved to be a good investment for those doing the picking. Having grown up in Bloomington, MN, so close to the Minnesota Twins, everything seemed right with the world when Hrbek put on a Twins uniform, number 14. Right it was.
On August 24, 1981, Kent hit a 12th inning home run in Yankee Stadium during his first appearance with the Twins. That was a sign of things to come. His baseball career was one long highlight reel, right up to the final game on August 10, 1994 against Boston. Kent played hard and never stopped enjoying the game. About baseball Kent said, “I still have a real love for baseball. I’ve enjoyed every minute of it.” He also said that it was so enjoyable because, in his words, “It was always easy for me to play baseball. Thank God for giving me a natural talent.”
Reality can be tough; you simply can’t play baseball forever. This point brings us to our story line; You can enjoy the great outdoors all your life!
BOY
#2-Meanwhile, behind his desk at KSTP Minneapolis TV channel 5, you could
find Eric Gislason, enjoying his job as an anchor and sports reporter, but
always dreaming…
Eric, an honest outdoors enthusiast himself, had grown up living the true Minnesota life. Because his parents were teachers, he had a unique opportunity for spending summers at the lake, a lake in the Alexandria, MN area to be exact. Boating and chasing bluegills evolved quickly into working at the resort store, then to guiding and then on to guiding trips even farther “up north.”
Eric recalls, “Even as a youngster, I never took these opportunities for granted.” And when asked about his love of the outdoors he said, “It started as a little boy waiting for my dad’s headlights to come down the road. I got to help clean fish or game and to listen to the stories and dream”. Those are awesome times for a young boy. Soon came the chance he had wished for, “Time for you to come along and see what we do…” his father told him. Eric says his father was always great about including him in all the outdoor activities.
All those years and countless hours that Eric spent outdoors were bound to have some kind of a lasting effect!
After some 20 years behind that desk, five years in Duluth and 15 years in Minneapolis, Eric posed a question to Herbie. “Do you want to do that outdoor thing we talked about?”
Eric and Kent had gotten to know each other through after-game interviews, and in other meetings where inevitably the two would end up talking about hunting, fishing and in general, the great outdoors. The two had sort of jokingly talked about co-producing an outdoors program, but neither had taken the other too seriously, until that day.
Long story short, they agreed, to not only give the show a try but to jump in and do it. So Kent Hrbek Outdoors (KHO) was born! They took the idea of an outdoors for TV program and made it a reality. Both men bring their passion for the outdoors and a desire to share what makes it so special to a viewing audience. Looks like another “Grand Slam.”
Eric said of Kent Hrbek, “Herbie has totally embraced this project. He is putting his all into making sure this is a great program.” He went on to say, “We take a lot of pride in the fact that these programs are real and genuine, not made up. We don’t want this to be just another outdoor program.”
Hrbek echoes Gislason by telling The Outdoorsmen Magazine, “I’ve always enjoyed the way Eric writes and presents a story. He has a way of painting a picture with words and I know everyone will be able to relate to his stories.”
Herbie also said about the format, “We are attempting to show a side of our celebrity guests that the public seldom gets to see. Many times the viewers have a preconception of a person and we’re going to try to show the real everyday side of those folks. Where better to do that than in the outdoors?”
The program will blend, whenever possible, some time spent with the guest in an outdoor setting, and then will follow the guest into their workplace. We believe this will be a very interesting format.
Both men admit that the partnership has worked so well that the respective families have become best friends. Vacations and activities are often times done as a large group and everyone “has a lot of fun being together.”
Gislason probably sums up the goal of the Kent Hrbek Outdoors program best when he says, “We want the program to be a celebration of the Midwestern lifestyle.”
We at The Outdoorsmen Magazine say you are well on your way
and if you don’t mind, we’ll celebrate right along with you,
every week! Find the the KHO show on these stations: Minneapolis/St Paul,
KARE, PAX; Sioux Falls, UPN; Cedar Rapids, KWWL; Duluth, KDLH; Fargo, KXJB;
Rochcester, KAAL; Mankato, KEYC. For complete channel listing and times
for each station, go to: www.kenthrbekoutdoors.com
under show info.
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