The Hockey Parent Hall Of Fame Episode 2—Red Cooler Ronnie.
Have you ever met someone, and they were such a good person, that it made you really think about the life you were living? This was my experience meeting our second inductee into the Hockey Parent Hall of Fame, Red Cooler Ronnie (a.k.a. RCR, Rhino).
What’s to know about Red Cooler Ronnie? Well, let’s run down the list: Guy is a world traveler, and a human jukebox that’s never without his guitar and a pocket full of sing-a-long songs. He’s a cancer survivor, the life of the party, and a loving and attentive husband and father. He’s curious, empathetic, generous, and smart.
Maybe this explains why my camera man and I had to eat our feelings at Lion’s Tap after spending a couple days in the orbit of RCR. He made us feel small.
And I suppose there is some irony in that statement: he made us feel small. Because, in reality, Red Cooler Ronnie’s very mission in life is to make everyone around him the center of attention—to make us feel big. This is a guy who even when stricken with cancer, no one really knew how he was doing, because he was always asking how they were doing. This is a guy who will always have the drink you want (White Claw, obviously) on hand, and cold when you visit. And this is a guy who will write the lyrics to your very own custom “walk-out song” when, God forbid, you decide to leave the party early.
On the surface, Red Cooler Ron Pergande has the bio to be a first ballot Hockey Parent Hall of Famer. He and his wife Trisha are the proud parents of two hockey players, named Canyon and Presley (because of course that’s what Ronnie would name his kids). Ron, his red cooler, and guitar have been a fixture at rinks in Eden Prairie as his kids worked their way up from Little Twigs to High School. And Ronnie has become a mainstay, an icon as he’s brought people together in winter hockey, summer hockey, and communities all across the state.
Sure, Ronnie has the hockey parent stories required to make him a legend. But that’s not why he’s a Hockey Parent Hall of Famer. Ronnie is in the Hockey Parent Hall of Fame because he’s got the personality to make the quiet kid on the team who doesn’t even talk, let alone sing—get up and do karaoke by the end of the evening. Like the cool camp counselor, or the teacher the kids pick to speak at graduation, Ronnie is there for the rest of us.
In some ways it makes sense that this all started when someone asked Ron to throw away a damaged red cooler. Ronnie would proceed to make that red cooler his luggage as he traveled the world. Arriving at his destination, only to remove his clothes from the cooler and fill it with libations. In hindsight, it’s quite brilliant. The symbol of the red cooler the true manifestation of everything Ron is about—he wants to fill that cooler up with stuff to give us, as we share good times together.
Yes, that’s our second inductee into the Hockey Parent Hall of Fame—Red Cooler Ron. We hope you enjoy this cowbell ringing, after party singing, beautician of a man. It’s as if we put Jeff Spicoli, Matthew McConaughey and the Most Interesting Man in the World in a blender and poured it into a pair of red Chuck Taylors. That’s Red Cooler Ron. If you’re lucky, maybe you’ll bump into him someday in a hockey rink parking lot and get to howl at the moon.
