“Track it down, Marge” Takes on New Meaning for RedHawks Broadcaster Jack Michaels

FARGO (KVRR) – As a Red Hawks broadcaster from 1996-2005, and 2016-present, Jack Michaels’ voice is as recognizable as it gets in the Fargo-Moorhead area.

The homerun call, “Marge, Track it down” is unique to Michaels.

“When I was in my junior year in baseball at North Dakota State, we went on a southern trip, and we played various colleges, including Oklahoma,” said Michaels. “Some of the parents came on the bus with us for that trip. We were down three to one, and wouldn’t you know it, I got into one, and I set a ball over the left center field wall. And as I’m rounding first, thinking, wow, just homered to tie the game against the Sooners for little ‘ole North Dakota State, Division 2. And as I’m approaching second, I see all these little five, ten-year-olds chasing that ball down, as kids do, and leading the charge is my mom. She beat all these kids to the ball and got my home run ball, still have it. So, fast forward now, RedHawks come into being, I’m no longer in college, a working adult, you need a home run call. I went to bed one night after that and I was dreaming and thought, oh, what about track it down Marge? Like my mom tracking her son’s home run ball down. It stuck…It’s just an honest way to honor that memory.”

Over the countless home runs, Michaels honored his mother after each homer with that call. But on May 16th, 2025, it took on a whole new meaning.

“That week mom had been battling pneumonia,” said Michaels. “And that Thursday, as the kids, we all made a decision that palliative care was the way to go. So, I had an idea maybe that Friday morning sometime mom might pass. I got the news right before my noon show on radio, which was tough. So, she passed that day, you know, you have the emotion of that passing, the initial news.”

After news spread within the RedHawks organization that Marge had passed, Michaels had a player stop him in the lobby before heading to the ballpark.

“You know, some of the guys were coming up, sorry about your mom, sorry about passing, and one of them, Dylan Thomas,” said Michaels. “He gave me a big hug and and all that, and he’s such a heartfelt person anyway, and he kind of said as we embraced, ‘you know, maybe we get a homer tonight for Marge’.

And wouldn’t you know it, Thomas did just that, sending a ball over the fence. But it was what he did afterwards that struck Michaels.

“He rounds third and pointed to the booth, found me, and I was pointing back at him,” said Michaels. “Then when he went to the sky, that’s when I had to, you know, as a broadcaster, take a little [deep breath]. That almost got me. In fact, it did a little bit, I’m not going to lie…That was a pretty emotional moment.”

Michaels said on air “What Dylan Thomas did, I will never forget.”

For Thomas, a similar experience for him made that moment even more special.

“I lost my grandma because the pneumonia as well, and then my mom has been dealing with some lung issues, so, hearing that, it kind of hit me a little bit closer to home,” said Thomas who is in his third year with the FM RedHawks. “Once I realized the ball is gonna go out, as I’m running the bases, I’m like, okay, once you round third, make sure you look up and let Jack know that that one was for not only him, but his mom and his family and everything…Rounding third, I kind of had goosebumps doing it.”

The moment truly captures the saying that baseball is more than just a game.

“Just thinking about it, it’s like, it’s so deep, man,” said Thomas. “Baseball is bigger than the game itself. Losing somebody is never easy. For baseball to show up in that beautiful form and bring a sense of joy to somebody that had just experienced one of the worst losses you can experience in losing your mom, I think that was such a gratifying moment for myself and hopefully for him and his family as well.”

For Michaels, his relationship with his mother was one of a kind.

“She listened to every game,” said Michaels. “A diehard listener, but listened not just because of her son, but she loved the game, loved the RedHawks and loved the players. We had a great relationship. She raised five children. She was your biggest fan and was a great human being. She loved sports, loved her children and loved her husband.”

For RedHawks manager Chris Coste, his relationship with Michaels goes back to 1990.

“Jack, like myself, is an original RedHawk, as is his mom, Marge,” said Coste. “The whole ‘track it down, Marge’ is timeless. So, it was a tough day, but at the same time, it in some ways was almost a celebrational day once Dillon Thomas hit that first homer and then we hit another one after that. So, as tough as it was, Marge is going to be tracking them down for many years to come.”

Now for the rest of Michaels’ broadcast career, the home run call remains the same, but the meaning of it changes forever.

“It does mean even more now that she’s not here,” said Michaels. “But it’ll always be the call. It’s not like I’m going to change it. Now it just means more to honor a fantastic woman who loved the RedHawks. She’s a very humble person that would probably blush on the track it Down, Marge. So, all these people that are like, I didn’t know your mom, she sounds great. This would make her blush. I think she really enjoyed that.”