By BSU Alumni & Foundation
Published 8:00 am on December 1, 2025
Travel back in time with us as we remember some of the momentous moments of Bemidji State history from the month of December.
Dec. 3, 1966: Legendary men's hockey head coach Bob Peters made his debut behind the Bemidji State bench during a 3-1 road win over Lake Superior State. Peters went on to coach the Beavers to 13 national championships during his 34-year tenure, winning 702 games with Bemidji State from 1966 to 2001.
Dec. 9, 2018: Bemidji State's 50th and final Madrigal Dinner concluded with the last of its eight performances at Salolampi, the Finnish language village at Concordia Language Villages north of Bemidji. The production restaged the original 1969 masque written by BSU professor emeritus of music and Madrigal Dinners founder Dr. Paul Brandvik.
Dec. 10, 2001: The Bemidji State Foundation received its first-ever seven-figure gift when the George W. Neilson Foundation donated $1 million for the biology department in order to establish an endowed chair in wetlands ecology.
Dec. 15, 1937: An opening ceremony took place for the soon-to-be-constructed gymnasium building, now known as Memorial Hall. President Deputy, who had laid the plans and helped untangle the red tape to get construction going, was present with pick and shovel for the ceremony, which was the day work began on excavation. When completed in 1940, the building was thought then to be a marvelous structure, and people drove from miles around just to see it.
Dec. 16, 1974: Mimist Keith Berger performed for a capacity crowd at the Bangsberg Fine Arts Center and received a standing ovation at the end of his act. Berger, a 22-year-old New Yorker with varied background in action, dancing, and circus clown work, also answered questions afterward and delighted the crowd with his friendly, open and humorous personality, according to the Dec. 19, 1974, edition of the Northern Student. Berger said that he spent seven hours a day practicing mime, with five of those hours being spent on physical exercise.
Dec. 31, 1977: David Park, the original owner of the David Park House, died on this date at the age of 75. Park had closed his dairy business in 1960 but never left Bemidji or moved out of his beloved house. Wanda, his widow, stayed in the house, and in 1988, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
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