Chari Nordgaard-Knueppel always has been organized, down to those small details that often are easy to miss.
The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay women’s basketball legend had a desk in her bedroom growing up, and almost every weekend, she reorganized it to make sure she knew where all her items were located and that nothing was ever lost.
The dog ate her homework? Please, that never would have been possible in her world.
Perhaps nobody was better equipped to pull off what the mother of five boys has done during the 2024-25 basketball season.
Her oldest son, Kon II, is a standout freshman guard for Duke, which is two wins away from a national championship.
Her two high school sons, Kager and Kinston, played for a Wisconsin Lutheran team that won the WIAA Division 1 state championship last month.
Her two youngest sons, Kidman and Kash, were part of a St. John’s Wauwatosa youth program that captured the Lutheran Basketball Association of America national championship last weekend in Fort Wayne, Indiana.
Nordgaard-Knueppel has attended every Duke game. She saw all but seven of Wisconsin Lutheran’s contests and probably a combined 100 youth ones.
She sometimes was at a Lutheran game on a Friday night, a Duke game in Durham, North Carolina, for a Saturday afternoon contest and back home to watch her two youngest in Sunday league games.
“I don’t really remember her being ultra-organized growing up, I’m older than (my three sisters), and I didn’t pay a whole lot of attention,” said Jeff Nordgaard, a former basketball star for the Phoenix and Chari’s brother. “But for sure as an adult, she is the most organized person I’ve ever met. With five boys that are active, now just pretty much in basketball but growing up they were active in multiple sports and doing musical instruments and all sorts of things, what she was able to do in regards to organization is just mind-boggling.”
Nordgaard-Knueppel’s entire life in recent months has been one big spreadsheet.
What flights to and from Duke games are the cheapest, and out of what airport? What hotel to stay at? Is the arena for a road game close enough to take an Uber, or does it require a car rental? What time does she need to be back home the following day because other children are playing a game?
Maybe it’s the competitor in her, the one who played in two NCAA tournaments in 1998 and 1999 and is UWGB’s all-time leading scorer with 1,964 points. Or maybe it’s just the love of a mother.
Either way, Nordgaard-Knueppel wasn’t going to stop what she set out to do in the fall, when she was determined to be at every Duke game and as many high school and youth outings as possible.
“No, never,” she said. “Never crossed my mind not to go to every one.”
Her husband, Kon, and their four younger kids have made several trips with her to watch Kon II play. Kon’s job as a school counselor prevented him from joining his wife for every Duke game.
There have been some crazy moments during her ...
