Minot clown gets to clown around at all-star football game

MINOT, N.D. (AP) - Ken Gillespie aka “Dizzy the Clown” is one of Minot’s best-known clowns. Now he has the distinction of being one of 29 clowns taking part in activities during game week of the East-West Shrine Game in St. Petersburg, Florida.

Created by the Shriners in 1925, the East-West Shrine Game was the nation’s first college all-star football game. The game supports Shriners Hospitals for Children and its mission to help children in need of medical care.

When a call went out for clowns for this year’s game, Gillespie applied. He learned earlier this month he had been selected, he said.

Gillespie, who belongs to the Shriners Kem Temple in Grand Forks, will be the only clown from North Dakota and among 29 clowns from 12 different Shrine Temples.

“It will be the most (clowns) they’ve ever had at this game,” he told the Minot Daily News (https://bit.ly/1ntu0nV ).

The game is scheduled Saturday at Tropicana Field. It will be televised nationally.

During game week, Shrine dignitaries, present and former players, coaches, scouts and the clowns will visit the local Shriners Hospitals for Children and meet the patients.

Other activities Gillespie will take part in include the Players Hall of Fame banquet on Friday.

“At that we’ll see players drafted by professional teams and coaches worthy of being inducted,” he said.

Many of professional football’s most recognized and decorated players including Tom Brady, Brett Favre and John Elway have played in the East-West Shrine Games.

The game isn’t the only event for Gillespie this year. He’ll be going to Sioux City, Iowa, where he will be installed as chaplain of the International Shrine Clowns Feb. 16-20, then to the World Clown Association in Orlando, Florida He is past president of the association. He’s also looking forward to attending Imperial Shrine Convention, a gathering of all Temples, in Tampa, Florida, in August.

Gillespie takes part in numerous activities in Minot, including being in charge of the clowns when the Shriners Circus comes to town each spring.

He said it’s “a real honor” for him to attend functions and be a clown. “I love to clown,” he said.

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Information from: Minot Daily News, https://www.minotdailynews.com