GAry Dallmann

NEW ULM — Sometimes, telephone calls can start something special.

That was the case for Gary Dallmann with two phone calls. The first came from Dr. Martin Luther College.

“Back in 1964 I got a telephone call from Harold Kaiser from then Dr. Martin Luther College,” said Dallmann, who had graduated from Mankato State University. “He said they had lost their head men’s basketball coach and he asked me if I would take over that position for a year until they could find someone.”

That one-year position became a permanent position when Dallmann was hired at DMLC.

“And there is where I stayed,” said Dallmann, who ended up on the campus of DMLC/MLC from 1964-2008.

Those years in New Ulm saw Dallmann coach soccer, men’s basketball, tennis, golf and baseball. He also served as athletic director from 1972-1995.

Dallmann also served as commissioner of the National Small College Athletic Association (NSCAA), which was previously known as the National Little College Athletic Association (NLCAA). That is now known as the United States Collegiate Athletic Association (USCAA).

Peers have now recognized Dallmann’s contributions as he will be one of several inducted into the inaugural class of the USCAA Hall of Fame on June 11 in Norfolk, Virginia.

“I am honored to receive this award,” Dallmann said. “There were a lot of hours put in. I remember being asked when I was coaching a lot of sports. I always told people that I had my 40 hours a week put in by Wednesday.”

While Dallmann’s coaching was key to DMLC and later MLC at a key time, what was more important was when DMLC and Northwestern College of Watertown, Wisconsin, merged in New Ulm in 1995, when Dallmann was named chairman of the physical education department.

“Jerry Kruse, who came from Northwestern, was named the athletic director here,” current MLC athletic director Jim Unke said. “But Jerry died of a heart attack in his first year here. Gary taught in the PE department — he coached girls’ basketball and then transitioned into women’s tennis. Gary was always the go-to person when things came up because of his experience at the college level.”

“Gary was the person who really put DMLC on the map athletically. Back in those days, DMLC was in two conferences — the Minnesota River Conference and the Twin Rivers Conference. Gary was the commissioner and also the president of the [NLCAA], which is the body that is honoring him. His experience was not only at DMLC in New Ulm but also in the Midwest with the two conferences.

“But it was also nationally with the [NSCAA]. This is a big deal for Gary being inducted into what they call the ‘Legends Hall of Fame’ class. It is nice to see him being recognized after all of the years he put in.”

Of Dallmann’s many accomplishments, one of them was his starting the Lutheran grade school basketball tournament. It was an dream that Dallmann had while he was a seventh-grader playing basketball at St. Paul’s Lutheran grade school in New Ulm.

“Mr. [Ed] Nolte decided to have a four-team tournament, which I played in,” Dallmann said. “And it started to grow and when I was at DMLC, we decided to write every Lutheran grade school in Minnesota. And it grew from there.”

Unke said the tournament is now approaching its 60th year.

“I have been running it for the past 20 years and last year we had 43 grade school teams in it,” Unke said. “In the past, Gary has run tournaments that have had well over 60 teams in it. It really is his tournament.”

As for the second phone call, that came around a year after Dallmann’s talk with Kaiser.

“I called my father when I was coaching here and told him that I had a chance to buy a gas station in Winthrop,” Dallmann said. “I had worked at a gas station when I was in college. He told me I was crazy for one thing for even thinking of that. He said I should stay in coaching.”

Dallmann said he does not think that he is going to say much when he is inducted on June 11.

He really does not have to.

“He was efficient in what he did and he always took time to talk to people,” Unke said. “He has done a lot for this school.”