By BSU Alumni & Foundation
Published 7:00 am on June 1, 2025
Travel back in time with us as we remember some of the momentous moments of Bemidji State history from the month of June.
June 1, 1980: At 8:05:54 a.m., station KAWE-TV signed on the air and began regular programming for the first time. The governing board took up the issue of call letters, and a variety of letters were presented for approval — KJLY, KNCP, KKN, KBJI, KBMJ, and KAWE, the latter recommended by language professor Earl Nyholm, who said that KAWE is an Ojibwe word meaning "top priority" or "first in a sequence." The FCC assigned the new channel 9 station to be KAWE.
June 2, 1922: The BSU Alumni & Foundation was formed on June 2, 1922, at Sanford Hall in conjunction with that year's graduation. Then an all-female body, it was first called the Bemidji State Teachers College Alumnae Association. Miss Lila Jerdee, a 1922 BSTC graduate, was elected as our first president. Miss Anne Brundin, a fellow 1922 grad, was elected as secretary-treasurer. The BSU Foundation was founded in 1969 as a separate, nonprofit entity. On Feb. 1, 2016, the separate Alumni Association board and the BSU Foundation board merged to become a combined board for the Bemidji State Alumni & Foundation. The two organizations had shared staff, offices and goals for several years despite being two separate 501(c)(3) organizations. The change to one governing body was made to increase operational efficiency.
June 6, 1932: The fireplace now known as the Homecoming Hearth was first dedicated by President Manfred Deputy. His wife, Mary, had suggested in 1929 that it would be fine if the college had an outdoor fireplace near the lakeshore. The idea was turned into reality when students, alumni, training school children and faculty began collecting stones from which the fireplace and seats were constructed in the spring of 1932 by M. O. Morse. The fireplace was dedicated by President Deputy June 6, 1932, "to the spirit of recreation, friendship, and good will." (From lack of use and repair, by 1960 the fireplace was crumbling and the immediate area grown up with tall weeds; thinking that 50th anniversary alumni might be searching this place out at homecoming time, college officials had the fireplace repaired in the summer of 1969.) The fireplace was moved to its current location, east of the student union, during the 2008-09 school year.
June 6, 1960: Bemidji State awarded its 5,000th degree in school history. It took 40 years for BSC to reach that number, but it doubled the total to 10,000 on March 23, 1970 — just nine years and nine months later.
June 13, 2023: Former Beaver Zach Whitecloud became Bemidji State's second-ever Stanley Cup champion when his Vegas Golden Knights defeated Florida 9-3 in Game 5, winning the series 4-1. For the series, Whitecloud had a goal and two assists, and his 131 total shifts ranked fifth on the team.
June 23, 1919: Bemidji Normal School opened on June 23, 1919, starting with 130 students, all but six of them women. Its main curriculum was a two-year program that prepared high school graduates to teach in any elementary school in the state. Manfred Deputy, the college's first president, welcomed the students with his faculty of 10 educators.
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