On The Green - Juno Pintar

He made his name on the Basketball court, but as I found out, the man that shares a name with the...  More »

He made his name on the Basketball court, but as I found out, the man that shares a name with the 'Capitol City' of Alaska isn't too shabby at another sport either! Here's this week's 'On the Green' (Billboard:) 'On The Green' is scheduled by BNC National Bank and Bismarck Lumber. (Dan Williamson:) We are 'On the Green' this week and we are at Municipal Golf Course in Mandan and we are joined by a man who works on 'The Hill' on the other side of 'the River' and of course, I am talking about Juno Pintar - head men's basketball coach and also, the golf coach at the University of Mary. A lot of people know that you have some game on the court, as you were the first ever 'Mr. Basketball' in North Dakota, but I understand that you have some game on the course as well? (Juno Pintar:) That might be a little bit of an overstatement - I like to get out and swing the 'wrenches,' but basketball came a lot easier than golf came! (Dan Williamson:) Well, we will see how your game is! Let's go find out! (sound of golf ball being hit!) (Dan Williamson:) I can honestly say that in my life, I have only met one person with the first name of 'Juno.' Talk about the orgins of that name. Where did it come from and what do you know about it? (Juno Pintar:) It is kind of an acquired nickname. I was born on my dad's birthday, so I got his exact name - first name, last name...everything - and they added a junior on to the end of it and everybody, instead of calling me 'Lester,' thank goodness you don't have to call me 'Lester,' but they called me 'Junior' instead and my sister, who is about 2 and a half years older than I am, couldn't pronounce it right so it just came out as 'Juno,' so my mom adapted a spelling and it just kind of stuck and it has kind of been great because instead of being called 'Lester,' you are called 'Juno' and it is kind of a memorable name so it kind of sticks in people's minds. (Dan Williamson:) Talk about your interest in golf - when did it start for you and how often do you play? (Juno Pintar:) It started when I was basically a Freshman in high school. I just like to play it because it is a great challenge and basically, you are just competing against the golf course and you are not competing against other people. It is just 'you' and how good you can be at the game and it is something that I like to play as much as I can and I find that it is a great, mental challenge to play 18 holes and you never get perfect at it and that's what I think makes it fun because you can always hit a better shot. (Dan Williamson:) I imagine you have to be excited about your day job. It is going to be an interesting season this season at the University of Mary basketball team. A lot of changes - to the roster and to the conference - and you even have a new boss this year, talk about all that. (Juno Pintar:) Yeah and there's a different feeling at work out there already and of course, Al (Bortke) is still out there and still around, but there is a different feeling out at work and I know that we are really excited because this is the year that we have been targeting for the last three years when we started this transition period. This the year that we thought that we'd be postseason elgible, so I know that as a coaching staff, we have put a lot of emphasis on being good this year and our coaches are fired up and our players stayed in town this year, so we get to see them, twice a week at least, and I think that the players are excited and the coaches are excited and think that is a usually a good combination.  « Less