by Dennis Dalman
Seventeen-year-old Kristoff Kowalkowski of Sartell said he feels like he’s been on a roller-coaster ride all of his young life.
“And I can’t wait to see what comes next,” he added. “I’ve had so many great opportunities and learning experiences. I’m looking forward to new ones.”
A superb lifelong football player (quarterback), Kowalkowski started early in the Sartell-St. Stephen School District but transferred to Totino-Grace High School, Fridley, in his sophomore year in order to play on the that school’s Eagles football team.
“I had to commute to school from Sartell every day, but I loved it,” he said.
During his years at Totino-Grace, he was ranked for two consecutive years as the number-one high-school quarterback in the state by the “247” ranking system. During his senior year, he broke the Eagles team record for number of yards passed, for touchdowns and for passes completed.
Kowalkowski not only excelled in football but also in academic pursuits. This spring he graduated with a 4.0 grade-point average. He is fluent in Mandarin Chinese, having studied that language since he was in kindergarten.
Although he has received two tempting offers by big, prestigious universities, including Columbia and Cornell, Kowalkowski will study and play football at the College of St. Thomas, St. Paul, in order to be closer to home and his family – parents Stacy and Thomas and siblings Sophia, Tristan, Gloria, Victor and Nikolai.
Brother Tristan, now a seventh-grader, is showing the same love and aptitude for football as Kristoff did at that age. He recently completed, with great success, the same training camp in Georgia his brother did five years ago.
“It will be awesome that Tristan and I will get to share the same experiences,” he said.
At the College of St. Thomas, Kowalkowski will major in biology and continue to his hone his mastery of Mandarin Chinese, not to mention his mastery of football.
“I want to be a doctor, like my dad,” he said. His father, Dr. Thomas Kowalkowski, who also played football as a student at St. John’s University, is the medical director at the Interventional Pain and Physical Medicine Clinic in Sartell. Kristoff’s mother, Stacy, is the administrator for that clinic.
The “roller-coaster ride” Kowalkowski has taken throughout his entire young life wasn’t always exhilarating; there were “lows” as well as “highs.” One of the “lows” was a challenge called COVID-19. Because of the shut-downs during the pandemic, football training and practice opportunities were scarce to non-existent. Those sessions had always been crucial for Kowalkowski, who since the age of 12 has undergone rigorous training and competitive playing every summer at camps sponsored by the Offense-Defense Football Camp Association. During his high-school years, he was able to train and to compete at camps offered by various colleges and universities.
In the dearth of training opportunities last year, Kowalkowski had to adapt. He decided to do his own kind of improvisatory training at his father’s pain clinic, which has a physical-therapy department, a pool, a sauna and a gym.
After he arrives at the College of St. Thomas in August, Kowalkowski will train some more before college starts in September. He will even spend his birthday on football training. He will turn 18 on Aug. 9, the second day of training.
Kowalkowski first played football when he was in third grade, and he loved the sport so much his dream was to become an NFL quarterback someday. Now, nearly 18 years old, at 6-feet-3-inches and 215 pounds and with a long-time and extensive record of successes, his childhood dream may just come true on the roller-coaster ride of his life.
“Like Father, Like Sons” could be the motto for this photograph of Dr. Thomas Kowalkowski and two of his sons — Tristan (middle) and Kristoff (right). Thomas played football during his years of study at St. John’s University; Kristoff, is about to play football for the College of St. Thomas; and Tristan, a seventh-grader, has performed exceedingly well at a summer training camp in Georgia, just as brother Kristoff did five years ago.