Sad to report that 1989 UND Hall of Fame inductee and basketball star Don Gunhus passed away on Christmas Day. He was a native of Park River and was a day shy of 69. He played for UND from 1971-75.
I'm surprised there is very little acknowledgment of the death of one of UND's great basketball coaches. Bill Fitch could coach, unlike the last few. His first year he inherited a team that was not his. He had to endure losing players and ineligibility, but he still won 15 games his first season. He had to go to the YMCA league to recruit players for the 2nd semester and still beat the Bison 3 out of 4 games. His freshman team (not eligible then) beat the varsity in the first exhibition. The Fieldhouse filled up by 6 PM for the freshman game. Six thousand crowds were common back then.
Around 1960, the NCC consisted of 7 teams. Morningside and USD were travel partners, along with SDSU/Augustana and UND/NDSU. Iowa State Teachers (later State College of Iowa and UNI) was the outlier.
The year was 1931. My Dad always swore that the '31 team was the best ever. Oregon was travelling by train to New York for a game with NYU and stopped off in Grand Forks for a "warm-up". The game ended in a 0-0 tie. Oregon was listed as #6 in the nation that year in the old Massey ratings. UND that year was 8-1-2. They beat DePaul and all the regional competition. The ties were with Oregon and George Washington, and the loss was to Duquesne.
I just saw on Rivals that Oregon has scheduled South Dakota for 8/30/14. Oregon has also scheduled Nichols State in 2013, Eastern Washington in 2015, UC Davis in 2016, and Southern Utah in 2017. It looks like the Pac 12 is the place to pick up the money games.
Has there ever been any thought to playing softball in the Alerus Center? It could probably shoe horn in with a shorter right field fence and a taller wall. I think UNI plays some in the Unidome.