Brian Faison - University of North Dakota

By Chuck Johnson
UND HOCKEY BEGINNINGS
Big-time hockey at the University of North
Dakota, one of the most successful Division
I programs in the United States, was the
product of co-founders, the late Glenn “Red”
Jarrett and Calvin Coolidge Marvin.
Marvin, a Warroad, Minn., native, who died on
Sept. 5, 2004, recalled one of their early conversations:
“Red said, ‘Cal, get me a team, and
I’ll get you a schedule.’ I said, ‘Red, get me a
schedule and I’ll get you a team.’”
Both lived up to
their promises, and
UND now has seven
national title banners
� ying in the
new Ralph Engelstad
Arena. Only
Michigan has more,
with nine, and the
Wolverines won
early titles before
Glenn “Red” Jarrett UND’s schedule
even quali� ed the
Sioux for national
competition and consideration.
Jarrett, an All-American halfback on UND’s
1930 football team, was football coach and
athletic director in the spring of 1947 when
he made the move from club hockey. His decision
was met with derision in Grand Forks, on
and o� the campus.
People wanted to know why UND needed another
sport. Were not football and basketball
– for men only at the time – enough?
Jarrett went ahead with his plan, anyway. He
talked Fritz Crisler, the Michigan athletic director,
into a two-game series against the Wolverines,
in Ann Arbor at that. Jarrett also lined up
other established college hockey programs
for the � rst season – Minnesota, Colorado College
and Michigan Tech.
Marvin, meanwhile, worked tirelessly recruiting
players from northwestern Minnesota,
particularly Warroad and Crookston. The
Johnson brothers – Russell “Buzz” and Milton
“Prince” – were already on campus, playing for
the semipro Grand Forks Amerks. They were
listed from Webster, S.D. (NBC anchor Tom
Brokaw’s home town), but they had grown up
in Canada, and they could skate.
Bob Murray, like Marvin a World War II veteran,
was brought in to play goalie. He was
from Warroad, as were wings Gordon “Ginny”
Christian, representing a famous hockey family,
and Wes “Frisky” Cole, George Dickinson
and Ted Wilson.
Standouts from
Crookston included
center
Jim Medved,
defenseman
John Noah and
wing Bill Sullivan.
Marvin, besides
serving Coach
Don Norman,
formerly of
Crookston Cathedral,
as an
assistant on
the ice, was on
defense, alongside Joe Silovich of Eveleth,
Minn., who also played both halfback in football
and the French horn in the symphony;
and the McKinnon brothers, Dan and Paul, of
Williams, Minn. Also in the front lines were Jim
Doyle of Thief River Falls, formerly of Warroad;
and Bob Krumholz of Hallock.
Art Foreman of Wahpeton, from the club
team, backed Murray in goal and gave North
Dakota representation on the original team,
as did Robert “Monk” Monroe, student manager
from Enderlin.
This, then, was a pickup team, wearing used
UND football jerseys and other makeshift
equipment – but not just any pickup team.
Its � rst college game was at Michigan, which
went on to win the � rst National Collegiate
Athletic Association hockey tournament, the
idea of the Michigan coach, Vic Heyliger. The
Wolverines lost only two games all season.
One of them was the series opener against
UND. The Sioux won, 6-5. Marvin said that he
could not recall much about the game or the
trip, but he did remember that Noah scored
the winning goal.
There were not many fans at the Friday game,
but the crowd was huge the second night,
when Michigan gained revenge, 5-2.
Marvin had an explanation.
UND hockey pioneer Cal Marvin is honored prior to a game during the 2000-01 season.
“Before the � rst game,” he said, “they had never
heard of us. In fact, the newspaper said that
no one was sure which side of the Mississippi
River North Dakota was on. They know now.”
That � rst season, the Sioux played States-
Dominion League semipro teams from Grand
Forks and Thief River Falls, but they also compiled
an 8-4 record against top college teams.
They split two-game series with Michigan,
Minnesota and Colorado College and they
106 2009-10 UNIVERSITY OF NORTH DAKOTA MEN’S HOCKEY MEDIA GUIDE
won three out of four from Michigan Tech.
Home games were played in an unheated
building, a� ectionately as “the barn.” If the
temperature was 20 below zero outside, it felt
even colder inside.
After the Sioux returned by railroad from the
upset of Michigan, Marvin recalled a history
class taught by Elwyn B. Robinson, later author
of “North Dakota History.”
“The professor said, ‘History was made over
the weekend by our hockey team. Hockey
players, please stand – Mr. Christian . . . Mr.
Noah . . . Mr. Marvin.’ It was something I won’t
forget.”
Marvin’s interest in hockey has been life-long.
For half a century, he ran the Warroad Lakers,
which played and beat Canadian opposition
in a semipro league. The � rst indication of his
devotion may have been when he enlisted in
the U.S. Marines in World War II. On his $10,000
GI (government issue) life insurance policy, he
listed as bene� ciary the indoor ice rink in Warroad.
The rink was built 50 years later, and it is a � ne
one. The project, however, did not bene� t
from Marvin’s insurance policy, which has yet
to be cashed in. Marvin was the guiding force
in making sure that his home town possessed
excellent hockey accommodations.
The late Chuck Johnson, a Williston, N.D., native,
graduated from UND in 1948. As a senior at the
University, Johnson was the school’s sports information
director when UND went big-time in
hockey. He went on to a career in journalism and
was a long-time sports editor at the Milwaukee
Journal. Johnson moved back to Grand Forks in
December 2000 and did volunteer work for the
athletic department and the Alumni Association
and Foundation until his death in January 2005.