Pearl Harbor tour hit home for Bison linebacker Haugo

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HONOLULU — One by one, the North Dakota State football players walked slowly onto the USS Arizona Memorial, the solemn tribute to the sailors who lost their lives on Dec. 7, 1941. That included Bison linebacker Peder Haugo, whose family ties to the military run deep.

Before the Bison battle the University of Hawaii on Saturday night, the team paid their respects to one of the ultimate battles in World War II at Pearl Harbor.

“It was extremely moving, especially having family with a military background,” Haugo said. “You could feel the heaviness of the site and the site demands silence. We were all standing there and you can’t really put into words the weight that is at that site.”

The military connection runs deep in the Haugo family and for Peder what perhaps most hit home on this day was his great uncle Phillip Seeger, a tank commander who was killed in Germany in World War II.

“I’m sure most Americans have a connection somehow but just having somebody from the bloodline in that historical event is pretty surreal,” Haugo said.

David Samson / The Forum

His great grandfather Henry Skaarer from Rutland, North Dakota, fought in France during World War I. His great uncle, Allan Haugo, was a Marine pilot trained in San Diego and Japan and was killed in a training accident in Korea. Cousin Gar Haugo, a West Point graduate, served in the Iraq War.

Two of his father Gary Haugo’s first cousins served in the Pacific in World War II. Richard Haugo was a sailor on a battleship in the south Pacific, which was attacked by Japanese bombers. Clinton Syverson was a P38 fighter pilot stationed in the south Pacific and was involved in dog fights with Japanese Zero planes.

Cousins Brent Ronning served in the Marines and Peter Swanson and Matthew Swanson are both graduates of the Air Force Academy.

The Bison under head coach Tim Polasek have made a point to honor military traditions. They stood behind The Citadel players for the school’s postgame song in the 2025 season opener in Charleston, South Carolina. They did the same earlier this season at Air Force, standing behind the Air Force players who were saluting the 4,000 cadets in the stands.

Polasek, a history guy who likes movies of that genre, said Friday it would have been a big mistake to play at Hawaii and not take advantage of the tour event, which lasted about an hour.

“I think it’s a testament to our character and the type of program that NDSU is,” Peder Haugo said. “I think it’s pretty special that coach Polasek not only allows us to do these types of things but encourages us saying, hey, this is important and recognizing that it’s a blessing to get to play this game. There are millions of men who died for us who paid the ultimate price. It’s super easy to take this experience for granted and doing these experiences like Pearl Harbor shines a light on how blessed we are.”

Polasek liked how his players were locked into a 23-minute movie before taking a short boat ride to the memorial. They had no problem obeying the standard tour edict of solemnity to the more than 900 sailors entombed inside the wreckage.

“For a generation of kids who don’t stay off their phones longer than five minutes, I thought they did a great job,” Polasek said.

Plus there’s the bigger picture of education, which was also on display at The Citadel and Air Force.

“We’re being challenged right now as coaches and teachers,” Polasek said. “Underneath that to me and what I hold near and dear is the collegiate experience, the traditions of each and every institution, the history behind different storied programs. I think that’s what makes our place so special is that there is a history of winning at the Division II, FCS and hopefully FBS level and each region holds an opportunity for our kids to gain some knowledge and have experiences outside of a football game.”

• David Samson / The Forum
• David Samson / The Forum
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• Jeff Kolpack

Jeff Kolpack, the son of a reporter and an English teacher, and the brother of a reporter, worked at the Jamestown Sun, Bismarck Tribune and since 1990 The Forum, where he's covered North Dakota State athletics since 1995. He has covered all 10 of NDSU's Division I FCS national football titles and has written four books: "Horns Up," "North Dakota Tough," "Covid Kids" and "They Caught Them Sleeping: How Dot Reinvented the Pretzel." He is also the radio host of "The Golf Show with Jeff Kolpack" April through August.

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