UWGB great Chari Nordgaard-Knueppel has attended every Duke game this season to watch son Kon
Scott Venci- Chari Nordgaard-Knueppel, a former UWGB basketball star, has meticulously balanced attending her sons' basketball games across different levels this season.
- Her dedication to supporting her sons' basketball careers has led to memorable experiences and a strong bond with the Duke basketball community.
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 journey, including last month when Lutheran competed at the state tournament in Madison and Duke was in the NCAA tournament in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Nordgaard-Knueppel watched the Blue Devils defeat Mount St. Mary’s on March 21. She caught the livestream of Lutheran's thrilling state semifinal win over Oshkosh North at her hotel that night and flew to Madison the following morning to see the team win the state title at the Kohl Center. It was right back to Raleigh for Duke’s victory over Baylor less than 24 hours later.
There also was that time in November when she flew to Tucson, Arizona, for a Duke-Arizona game on a Friday, and after returning home for Kash’s middle school tournament, she was in Las Vegas on Tuesday for Duke’s showdown against Kansas.
This past weekend was just as wild.
Nordgaard-Knueppel, Kon and two of their kids saw Duke beat Alabama on Saturday in Newark, New Jersey, but a flight back home to the Milwaukee area for the four was $9,000.
That wasn’t going to happen, but Nordgaard-Knueppel and family had to get to Fort Wayne to support the two youngest kids at their national tournament.
That’s when the mother of Duke star Cooper Flagg had an idea. Kelly Flagg told Nordgaard-Knueppel she and the family should just rent a car and drive from New Jersey to Fort Wayne.
Best advice ever.
Nordgaard-Knueppel and her husband rented a car, and 10 hours and $150 later, the family was at the tournament.
Kon was the real hero on that trip.
“My husband drove eight hours through the night, and I took the 8 a.m. to 10 a.m portion,” Nordgaard-Knueppel said. “I do a good job of sleeping on the planes, sleeping in airports, sleeping when we can. When Kon II played on Thursday and Saturday, I spent all day in bed on Friday in the hotel, just trying to sleep and catch up as much as we can.
“But, yeah, it’s been a test.”
Another remarkable part, only behind Nordgaard-Knueppel’s dedication, has been her good fortune and the help of family and friends.
There never was such a big delay during any of her connecting flights that forced her to arrive late for a game, although it did cause a few sprints to an Uber after a few landings.
The weather cooperated for the most part, except for that one uncomfortable early-morning drive to the airport in Madison when snow kept falling and plows weren’t out yet.
Nordgaard-Knueppel has been to 12 states and traveled thousands of miles to watch Kon II play.
She has run her own day care for years — she is retiring in June — and her sister-in-law covered for her during those days when she had to be out of state.
Her parents live close by, and they helped take care of their grandchildren.
Nordgaard-Knueppel’s former UWGB teammate and one of her best friends, Julie Hahm, lives in Milwaukee and has come over on nights throughout the season to serve the kids some top-notch homemade pizza.
“It’s been awesome,” Nordgaard-Knueppel said. “We have friends in town that are on the same teams as my younger kids, and they offer to take the boys before we even ask. We feel really blessed to have people that are looking out for us and wanting to help out in any way they can.”
Nordgaard-Knueppel’s husband gave her his blessing to pull off what she has done this season. It’s not just time she has invested, but a lot of money, too.
“He was very supportive from the get-go,” Nordgaard-Knueppel said. “We have done a good job of saving our money to use on important things. This was that.”
Nordgaard-Knueppel makes memories with her Duke family
Every NBA mock draft has Kon II projected as a lottery pick if he decides to leave Duke after this season.
There always has been the potential of a one-and-done college career, so Nordgaard-Knueppel treated this like her son’s senior season. If it does end up being his only year at Duke, she didn’t want to miss a moment of it.
It means a lot to Kon that each time he enters the family room after a Duke game, he sees his mother. The big, tight hug she gets from him always confirms it, without the words needing to be said.
“All across the board, from the coaches, the assistant coaches, the general manager of the team, the chief of staff of the team, the parents of (Duke head coach) Jon Scheyer and all the other parents of the players, we all agree this has been as tight of a team as a family unit that they have ever been a part of,” Nordgaard-Knueppel said. “They are wonderful people. It’s been a dream come true to experience it all with them.”
The Final Four weekend is the culmination of a memorable journey for Nordgaard-Knueppel. It has required some extensive planning one final time.
Plane tickets to San Antonio this week are expensive. Nordgaard-Knueppel and Kon instead will take Kidman and Kash and drive to Chicago early Friday morning. They will board a flight to Dallas, rent a car and drive five hours to San Antonio.
If Duke beats Houston in a semifinal Saturday, Kager and Kinston will leave Sunday night or early Monday morning after their AAU tournament this weekend and attend the national championship game.
Nordgaard-Knueppel also is trying to accommodate loved ones. In addition to the tickets immediate family members of the players receive, she is requesting to buy 20 additional ones for those interested in making the trip down.
She might need a little more of that good luck to get it done.
“I think the Alamodome has something like 60,000 seats,” Nordgaard-Knueppel said. “And the Duke ticket lady has never let me down yet.”
This will be Nordgaard-Knueppel’s first Final Four. Kon and Kon II attended in 2015 when Wisconsin played Duke in the championship game in Indianapolis. Kon II was cheering for the Badgers that day, even representing them by wearing a Michael Finley jersey.
Everyone is a Blue Devils fan now.
Basketball games remain in Nordgaard-Knueppel’s future
Jeff Nordgaard played 13 games for the Milwaukee Bucks in 1997-98, and he soon might have a nephew join him in the NBA club.
“Whichever team he goes to, he will have a role,” Jeff said about Kon II. “I don’t think he’s going to be one of those guys sitting at the end of the bench waiting a year or two to develop. He is so good at everything he does. He might not have the highest ceiling of some of the top two or three picks in the draft because he’s not extra long and not extra athletic, but his floor is so high that he is going to help teams right away.
“I’m not saying in two or three years he is going to be an all-star, but he is going to be a contributor from the start because he doesn’t have any flaws.”
Which leads to one more question.
If Kon II should happen to be in the NBA next season, is mom going to attend all 82 games of his rookie campaign?
Nordgaard-Knueppel laughed before responding.
“My husband already told me, ‘Charlotte, you are not going to 82 games,’” Nordgaard-Knueppel said.
But?
“I am retiring,” she said. “So, I’m probably going to try.”
