Lakeland's Charlie Yaeger settles into his new life in Bemidji

Aug. 9—Charlie Yaeger was one of the busier competitors at the 17th annual Lake Bemidji Dragon Boat Festival races.

Shortly after paddling to a second-place finish in the Bronze Cup, Yaeger picked up a camera and got to work. Donning his Lakeland PBS Paddlers uniform, he filmed the other cup-competing rowers as they crossed the finish line and docked near the shore. Lakeland fielded a team for this year's Dragon Boat Races, and Yaeger, its newest sports director, jumped at the chance to try it out.

"The credit goes to (Lakeland's) Jordan Stearns for actually getting us into the boat," Yaeger said jokingly. "(Rowing) is a lot harder than you think. It seems easy when you watch it, but it's very much a team thing. You all have to be rowing at the same time. It doesn't matter how much power you row with. It's about synchronization. If you can't stay together as a team and lean on the technique of rowing, then you're not going anywhere."

The Lakeland PBS Paddlers raced a handful of times on Friday and Saturday after getting in the boat together just once before the races began.

"We had one practice," Yaeger noted. "We went out for the first time five days before and then did the Sprint Cup race (on Friday). It'll tire you out. You're definitely feeling it at the end of the day. The arms don't feel as bad as my core does. I think this is my sign that I need to start doing core workouts again."

For Yaeger, being in the boat was another way of integrating himself into Bemidji. In July, he moved to the area to replace Chaz Mootz, who covered local sports for three years. Yaeger was promoted from the Brainerd station, adding another stop on a unique journey to northern Minnesota.

"I moved up here from California, and it gave me a chance to reset my life," Yaeger said. "It gave me a chance to get rid of the things in my life that I don't need. I had a career job at UPS but I felt like I was going through the motions. I was working hard but it wasn't what I wanted to do or who I wanted to be. I didn't feel happy with myself until I started doing this."

Yaeger moved to Brainerd in January, marking the first time he lived north of Denver. Born in Mission Viejo, Calif., Yaeger bounced around the southwestern part of the United States as a child before settling in Redlands, Calif., in high school.

Football is Yaeger's first love. He played well enough to earn a roster spot for Redlands University at the Division III level. After his playing eligibility ran out in 2010, Yaeger stayed on the team as a coach for over a decade. He also announced baseball games as a side hustle.

"My buddy, who's a high school baseball coach, asked me to do it," Yaeger recalled. "They had all of the walkup songs for the kids, and I would announce them as they came up to bat. Everybody told me I had a pretty good voice. I thought, 'What if I just did this for a living?'"

Yaeger pondered the idea of ditching his full-time job at UPS to return to school for sportscasting. When the COVID-19 pandemic canceled the 2020 Redlands football season, Yaeger took a leap of faith.

"That's when I got that itch and told myself to figure out how to get a job like this," Yaeger said. "I used to listen to Dan Patrick every morning on the way to work. He talked about his broadcasting school, and it sounded like something I could network through if I went back to school."

Yaeger enrolled in Dan Patrick's School of Sportscasting at Full Sail University, picking up opportunities to work as a runner on a FOX television football broadcast during his time in school.

After graduating from Full Sail in November of 2022, Yaeger received a job offer at Lakeland PBS in Brainerd. He became the latest in a pipeline of Lakeland sportscasters to come out of Full Sail, including Chris Burns, Ryan Bowler and Hanky Hazelton.

"I bet on myself," Yaeger said. "It was an opportunity I couldn't pass up. It was on air, and it was what I wanted to do. So I packed up everything and left."

It didn't take long for Yaeger to find out that he had placed a successful wager.

"When I got to Brainerd, I was intimidated," Yaeger continued. "There were worries and anxiousness about picking up everything and moving halfway across the country for this. I kept asking myself, 'Am I actually going to be good at this job? Is what I've been doing (in school) going to translate to this?' After a few weeks, I felt comfortable and confident."

Yaeger's desire to be part of a well-functioning team has given him a sense of purpose at Lakeland. It's the same culture he enjoyed while coaching football at Redlands. Now, with the help of his predecessors, he's doing his part on the air.

"Chaz was here for three years," Yaeger said. "He's ingrained in this place. He loves this place. He was here longer than any other sportscaster in the history of Lakeland. I'm not filling his shoes. There's no filling Chaz's shoes. I'm just trying to be me and trying to do the best I can."

Yaeger didn't see himself moving to Bemidji so soon after traveling from Redlands to Brainerd. But he answered the call when the position opened. Motivated by opportunities, Yaeger took his chances and made the most of them.

"Chaz and Dennis (Weimann) did a great job of getting me on the desk early and often," Yaeger said. "Whenever Chaz was out of town or couldn't be there, I made sure that I was as prepared as I could be for those opportunities. I wanted to put myself in a position to be considered for that position if Chaz ever decided to leave. Once Dennis called with the offer, it didn't take more than a second to accept."

As Yaeger settles into Bemidji, he finds a similar vibe to the one he got from his time in Redlands, making it easier to call this place home.

"The community that I came from in Redlands is very much a community like this," Yaeger added. "It's a town of 70,000 people, but in the Los Angeles area, that's small. I love the energy and the liveliness, and it feels like Redlands did. That's made the transition easier on me. I love coming out to stuff like (the Dragon Boat Races) and being in the community, interacting with people. I love it here, and it's hard to beat the view of the lake."