Athletic Hall of Fame
The Gustavus Adolphus College Hall of Fame was established in 1978 at which time 19 "Charter Members" were inducted either as coaches or as athletes. As of the fall of 2022, 348 individuals (321 athletes, 16 coaches and 11 benefactors) have been elected to the Hall of Fame.
The former Hall of Fame room on the second floor of the Lund Center was originally partially endowed by the families of both Dwight Holcombe's (the only father/son combination holding membership in the Hall). The hardwood plaque upon which the individual plates are permanently displayed, now in the Hall of Champions, was donated by the family of former football coach and Hall of Fame member Jocko Nelson, who passed away in 1978.
George Myrum
(coach)
Inducted: 1978
George B. Myrum was assistant football & basketball and head baseball coach from 1924-25. From 1926-38 he was Director of Physical Education and Head Athletic Coach. Because of Coach Myrum, football became an important part of the athletic program at Gustavus and his teams won 63 games with 20 losses and 6 ties, had three undefeated seasons, and captured six conference titles. His success as a baseball coach resulted in numerous state championships, and his 1937-38 basketball team shared the conference championship. There was one dream that Myrum harbored while at Gustavus and that was to have the most complete athletic plan possible. He planned and supervised the construction of the stadium in 1929 and the fieldhouse in 1938, though he never lived to see his dream fulfilled.
Coach Myrum was killed on Movember 12, 1938, when the bus carrying the team home from the season's final game at St. Norbert's College in DePere, Wisconsin crashed into a stalled truck. George Myrum was the "Knute Rockne" of Gustavus. They were contemporaries in the coaching field and both were Norwegians who were short in stature. They had tremendous coaching savvy and were great inspirational leaders. Both died in tragic accidents, Rockne in a plane crash in 1931, and Myrum in the bus accident in 1938.