A capacity crowd filled the Valders high school gymnasium Friday evening to honor Luke Goedeke.
His number 30 is the first-ever jersey number to be retired in the history of the Valders football program.
Goedeke graduated from Valders in 2017, played a year at Stevens Point, and three at Central Michigan on his journey to becoming an NFL offensive lineman for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Luke is nothing more than grateful about having his jersey retired Friday night.
“This is where I’m from. This is my roots. This is why I am at where I am today,” he told Seehafer News. “It’s an extreme blessing just to have this happen today. I can’t say how thankful I am in words.”
Several classmates also attended the ceremony including Alex Heppner.
“He’s a great man inside and out,” he told us. “A lot of people see football players as just big meatheads. That’s not Luke. He’s very smart. Overall if you want a good friend, Luke’s the one you want by your side.”
Chris Evenson played with Alex and Luke Valders High School and Chris also graduated with Alex and Luke in 2017.
He spoke more about Luke’s humanitarian efforts in Tampa.
“I know that when Thanksgiving was going on he was out hand in frozen turkeys out to individuals in Tampa that may not have the funding OR money to be able to do that,” he revealed. “That jersey, I do believe, should never be probably worn in Valders because of the characteristics that he shows as an individual.”
Luke’s older brother Zack Goedeke has nothing but love and respect for his brother.
“We didn’t necessarily have the typical upbringing that most people have had,” he explained, noting they had “A lot of ups and downs but through that, you know our relationship has gotten better and better throughout the years. He’s definitely somebody I talk to you on a regular basis.”
Valders Athletic Director Kelly Isselmann says this was the perfect timing to have this ceremony.
“Jesse and I just talked about this because you never know. In five years will we be here?” she said. “Everyone knows him right now from the community because he has played so I thought it was a good time to do it right now because he’s so familiar to everybody in the community.”
Isselmann refers to Valders head football coach Jesse Schneider.
“I just seen a handful of kids I haven’t seen in a couple of years and they’re coming back specifically for this reason,” coach Schneider noted. “It’s a direct correlation to the type of person Luke is.”
Meanwhile, the man they call “Uncle Jeff” in the Goedeke family says that Luke has even bigger fish to fry raw.
“I asked him when he got drafted ‘What’s the goals?’ He said ‘Pro-Bowl and Superbowl.’ And that was draft night,” Jeff told us. “So he’s already looking for the next goals. Even on draft night he was. He is going to work his tail off, and that’s what he is doing right now.”
Luke’s advice to those younger Vikings was exactly that.
He said “Determination, drive, that’s literally what it comes down to. That’s why I am at where I am today.”
Luke says he hopes to wear number 67 in pewter for many many years to come.
