On the heels of their successful inaugural season, the Bismarck Larks have received a pair of honors from the Northwoods League. The Larks were named Organization of the Year, while General Manager John Bolinger received Executive of the Year.
“The Bismarck Larks organization as a whole, and its outstanding General Manager John Bollinger, richly deserve the dual honor of Organization of the Year and Executive of the Year respectively, bestowed upon them by their Northwoods League peers this year,” said Northwoods League President Gary Hoover. “The wonderful alchemy of a great community, talented leadership, and focused energetic teamwork, combined to create an amazing result. We congratulate the Bismarck team, John, and are truly grateful for their supportive fans in the region.”
Of this award, Bollinger said, “I don’t take too much credit in individual awards, but it means a lot to see our vision here is working. I am so blessed to have people around me who not only see the vision, but also help make it happen.”
Bollinger is entering his fifth season in the Northwoods League and second as General Manager in Bismarck. He previously served as the General Manager of the Kalamazoo Growlers. Prior to coming to the Northwoods League he worked for two years as the Assistant General Manager of the Southern Ohio Copperheads, a summer collegiate baseball team in the Great Lakes League, where he oversaw sponsorship sales, servicing and business operations. Before that he worked in ticket sales with the Springfield Cardinals, the AA affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals.
The Bismarck Larks were honored as the Northwoods League Organization of the Year after an incredibly successful inaugural season. Out of 36 home games at Bismarck Municipal Ballpark, home of Dakota Community Bank and Trust Field, 27 games were sold out thanks to the support from the Bismarck/Mandan community. In total, 54,600 fans came to the ballpark this past season with an average attendance of 1,517. Those numbers gave the Larks the 6th highest average attendance in the entire Northwoods League (20 teams) and the 3rd highest in the North Division.
“It’s a great honor to be recognized by our peers in the Northwoods League for a special inaugural season, but the true credit goes to our front office team for all their hard work, and most importantly, to our fans whom we couldn’t have done it without,” said Larks General Manager, John Bollinger.
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