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.
John Jambeck
Swimming & Diving
Inducted: 2006
An all-conference selection for all four years of his swimming career, sprint specialist John Jambeck '62 helped Coach Vic Gustafson's swim team to two MIAC championships (1959 and 1960) and two runner-up finishes (1961 and 1962). The Minneapolis Roosevelt graduate dominated the 100 freestyle during his college days, winning the 100-yard event at the conference meet in his freshman and sophomore years and the 100-meter event in his junior and senior years. As a sophomore, he also won the conference meet's 60-yard freestyle in record time and swam a leg for the winning 400-yard freestyle relay team. He added the 50-meter freestyle crown to his laurels in his junior year, and in his senior year he was co-captain of a squad that took on such big-school swimming powers as the University of Minnesota, Texas A&M, and Southern Methodist.
An elementary education major at Gustavus, Jambeck went on to earn a master's degree in education from the University of Minnesota. He was an elementary school teacher for 34 years in the Hopkins school district and a longtime swim official in the Lake Conference. He and his wife, Sandy, reside in Minnetonka.