Dale Bruns

Dale Bruns – Holdingford High School – Dale graduated from Adrian High School in 1963 where he played baseball, basketball and football.  He was MVP of the baseball team and all-conference in baseball and football.  He played two years of baseball at Worthington Junior College before graduating from St. Cloud State University in 1968.  He started his teaching and coaching career at Holdingford in 1968 and was the baseball assistant for three years before taking over as the head coach in 1971.  He was the head baseball coach for 25 years, compiling a record of 292 wins and 163 losses.  He then served as the junior high baseball coach for 20 years until retiring in 2017.  His varsity teams won seven conference championships and he was named coach of the year in both the Central Minnesota and Great River conferences.  He coached in the summer with Little League, Babe Ruth and American Legion programs for 30 years.  He coached the Holdingford Express amateur team to a state championship in 2005.  Dale was also an assistant football coach for 43 years. 

Jon Fellows

Jon Fellows – Ortonville High School – Jon graduated from Morris High School in 1973 where he lettered four years in baseball, three years in football and two years in basketball.  He was an all-conference player in baseball.  He played on the first Morris High School baseball team to play in the State Tournament.   Jon graduated from the University of Minnesota, Morris, in 1977 and played baseball there for four years.  Jon started coaching baseball during the summers while in high school and continued through his college years.  He taught two years in Iowa before moving to Ortonville where he was an assistant baseball coach for five years before becoming the head baseball coach for 34 years from 1985 through 2018.  His  career record was 349 wins and 295 losses.  His teams won six conference championships and twice were section runner-up.  Jon was conference Coach-of-the-Year five times and District Coach-of–the-Year once.  In the summers, Jon coached in the summer recreation program, Teener, VFW and American Legion baseball.  As with many baseball coaches, Jon spent many hours working on the baseball field to help install a grass infield, an irrigation system, a drainage system, new dugouts, fencing and scoreboard.  Jon was also an assistant football coach for 10 years and head football coach for four years.

Hans Hanson

Hans Hanson – Perham High School -  Hans graduated from Frazee High School in 1985 where he  played baseball, basketball and football, earning all-conference honors three years in baseball and one year in basketball.  He attended Fergus Falls Community College where he played both baseball and basketball.  He then received his education degree from Moorhead State University in 1990.  Hans was head coach at Perham from 1998-2015.  His teams won 11 conference championship and went to the state tournament six times in 18 years, finishing second in 2013.  In 2003, Hans was named Minnesota High School Baseball Coach-of-the-Year.  Hans  finished his career with an overall record of 324-107 for a .752 winning percentage.  He was also head Girls Basketball coach for seven years.

Jack Kelly

Jack Kelly – Windom High School – Jack graduated from Pipestone High School in 1954 as a four-sport letter winner in baseball, basketball, football and track.  He then attended St. Cloud State where he played baseball, basketball and football, earning 12 letters.  In 1959, Jack was hired as the head baseball coach, a position he held for 17 years, winning nine district championships and two region championships, winning the consolation title at the 1970 state tournament.  Three times they were Region runner-up.  In what may have been his greatest achievement was bringing the community together to build a new baseball/football field in Windom.  He organized crews to lay sod, put up lights, install an irrigation system and he solicited local businesses to advertise on the outfield wall.  Jack played amateur baseball for over 20 years, including 13 state tournaments, winning a state championship at Pipestone in 1968.  He also managed Windom for four seasons.   In 1967 Jack was hired as the head basketball coach, a position he held for 25 years.  He also officiated high school and college football..  Jack is a member of Halls of Fame at Pipestone High School, Windom High School, St. Cloud State University and Minnesota State High School Basketball Coaches Association.

Bill Lechner

Bill Lechner – Hill-Murray High School – Bill Lechner graduated from Cretin High School in 1971 where he played baseball and hockey.  His was MVP in both sports his senior year as well as captain of the hockey team.  While in high school, Cretin won state championships in baseball in 1970 and 1971.  Bill graduated from St. Thomas College in 1975, where he lettered for four years as a middle infielder.  In 18 years as head coach at Hill-Murray, his teams won five conference championships and five section championships.  They finished second once and third twice in the state tournament.  Bill’s overall baseball coaching record was 275-81, a .722 winning percentage.  Bill was named section coach of the year several times.  He has also been a hockey coach for 38 years, 28 years as the head coach and was an assistant football coach for eight years.  Bill also served as the Athletic Director at Hill-Murray for 22 years, retiring in 2019.

Bucky Lindow

Bucky Lindow – Cannon Falls High School – Bucky graduated from Nevis High School in 1982 and North Dakota State University in 1987.  In high school, Bucky started for six years in baseball and lettered four years in football. His basketball career wasn’t quite as noteworthy as, in his own words, he was short, slow and couldn’t shoot.  Bucky played four years of baseball at North Dakota State where he was captain for two years.  Bucky started his teaching and coaching career at Dover-Eyota in 1988 and was head coach there for seven years.  He then moved to Cannon Falls as an assistant for four years before taking over as head coach from 1999-2018.  Bucky served as an assistant in 2019 to better watch his two sons play baseball in college.  He will be back as the head coach in 2020.  His overall record is 347-274 for 27 years.  Bucky has been very active in coaching summer baseball, also, as he coached Babe Ruth baseball for 32 years, Legion baseball in Dover-Eyota for six years and VFW baseball in Cannon Falls for the past eight years.  Bucky has been, and still is, an assistant football coach for 32 years and was an assistant basketball coach for four years.   He has been an FCA Huddle Coach for 30 years and coached Math League for 15 years.  Bucky’s teams won 10 division or conference championships, four sub-section titles and won a section championship in 2012.  Bucky was the MSHSBCA Dick Siebert Award recipient in 2012 and the Craig Anderson Ethics in Coaching Award recipient in 2016.

Jim O’Neill

Jim O’Neill – Cretin-Derham Hall High School – Jim O’Neill graduated from Cretin High School in 1974 where he played baseball and hockey.  Those baseball teams won the Minnesota State Independent School Championship in both 1973 and 1974.  Four of Jim’s teammates on those teams, including Paul Molitor, went on to play baseball at the University of Minnesota.  Jim went on to baseball and hockey at St. Thomas before transferring to the University of Minnesota to play hockey.  After a brief minor league hockey career, Jim returned to Cretin to begin coaching hockey.  He coached hockey at Cretin and Cretin-Derham Hall for 38 years, winning many conference titles, three sections titles and a Class AA state championship in 2006.  He coached B Squad baseball at Cretin-Derham Hall under legendary coach Dennis Denning until he was promoted to head coach in 1995, a position he held for 19 years.  His teams went to nine state tournaments, winning five state championships and twice finishing runner-up.  His career record was 415-78 for a winning percentage of .842, the highest in state history.  That record includes a 66 game winning streak during state championship years  1996, 1997 and 1998.  At the time, the 66 game winning streak was just two wins shy of the national record.  Jim also coached the school’s Ranview VFW team for many summers.  Jim has held a lot of positions at Cretin-Derham Hall, including assistant to the athletic director, but his favorite job has been taking care of the baseball fields for close to 30 years.

Jeff Wollin

Jeff Wollin – Litchfield High School – Jeff Wollin graduated from Waconia High School in 1979 where he played baseball, basketball and football.  He graduated from Mankato State University in 1983 where he was a part of the Mavericks baseball program.  His first teaching job was in Little Rock, Iowa where he was also the head baseball coach.  It was not a good place to coach baseball, but he did get lucky and met his wife there.  After two years in Little Rock, he taught and coached in Bricelyn and Worthington before coming to Litchfield in 1989.  After now being head coach of the Litchfield Dragons for 30 years, Jeff’s teams have compiled a record of 368 wins and 301 losses.  They have won three conference championships, five sub-section championships and four section runner-ups.  Jeff has also coached the VFW for the past 28 years, winning over 400 games and qualifying for two state tournaments.  Jeff has been director of the Litchfield summer recreation baseball program and a Litchfield Baseball Association board member for 30 years.  Jeff has also coached various levels of boys and girls basketball for 35 years, including 3-on-3 girls basketball in Iowa.  Jeff is a member of the Litchfield Baseball Hall of Fame, having played amateur baseball for 30 years, including 11 state tournaments, before retiring at age 45.