Sad news to report that yesterday Ralph Engelstad died after a long battle with cancer. Ralph was philanthropic millionaire who donated large sums of money to his and my alma mater the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, North Dakota over the years.
He played hockey at UND as a goalie back in the 50's and was probably best known for his donation of funds to build the state of the art hockey arena on campus that bears his name. After construction of the arena had begun the school was considering changing its nickname from Fighting Sioux to something a little more politically correct.
When Ralph heard that the school was close to dropping the Fighting Sioux name he issued an ultimatum, something to the effect that if the name were to be changed he would cease funding the arena and let it rust in the harsh North Dakota elements. Not surprisingly the school relented and UND remained the Fighting Sioux. To ensure that the nickname would endure he had the Fighting Sioux logo embossed just about everywhere it could be including at the end of every row of seats and in the marble floor of the lobby. Ralph Engelstad may be gone but his legacy at UND will live on. And that's a damn good thing. R.I.P. Ralph.
No comments:
Post a Comment