By BSU Alumni & Foundation
Published 12:00 pm on March 1, 2025
Travel back in time with us as we remember some of the momentous moments of Bemidji State history from the month of March.
March 7, 1990: The State University Board voted unanimously in choosing Dr. Les Duly to replace Ted Gillett as Bemidji State University's seventh president, with Duly's position to begin on July 1, 1990.
March 9, 1968: Terry Bergstrom scored in overtime to lift the Bemidji State men's hockey team over Lake Superior State 5-4 and clinch the Beavers' first NAIA national championship. It was a redemptive victory after going 0-4 against the ICHA rival Lakers during the regular season, and a cornerstone achievement for a soon-to-be legendary program that also won the next three NAIA national titles. Bemidji State went on to win 13 national championships in the Bob Peters era. BSC finished the year with a 16-8-0 record.
March 13, 1947: Manfred Deputy, the first president in Bemidji State's history who held the position from 1919-38, died on this date in Lake City, Iowa, in 1947. He was 79. However, he completed the last of his requirements and received his Ph.D. from the University of Indiana just before his death, an achievement referred to by university officials as "notable and unique."
March 23, 1970: Bemidji State College granted its 10,000th degree. It went to Rosemary Chianelli, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Chianelli of Bemidji, who was finishing the year as an elementary teacher at Pine River. The milestone came just nine years and nine months after BSC awarded its 5,000th degree – which took 40 years to accomplish.
March 23, 1987: Bemidji State students finished the world's longest basketball game, an exhibition that lasted 125 hours without pause during spring break. The game tipped off at noon on March 18 and, when it ended at 5 p.m. on March 23, members of BSC's Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity had broken the previous world record. The final score was 9,475 to 8,855, with Dave Skwira scoring a game-high 1,613 points.
March 30, 2017: Jessica Yost threw a perfect game for the Bemidji State softball team, blanking Minnesota Crookston in a 12-strikeout effort across five innings. She struck out the first 10 Golden Eagle batters before anyone put the ball in play. Yost also pitched the ensuing second game of a doubleheader and was perfect through 3 1/3 innings before UMC finally got a baserunner. Across the doubleheader, Yost pitched nine innings, struck out 20, and allowed one run off one hit and one walk.
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