There was much about Minnesota State Moorhead that generated a full measure of pride for longtime President Roland Dille. He was always proud of the role his faculty and staff played in transforming Moorhead State College into a highly respected liberal arts institution, but he also found real delight in the rich history of military participation by members of the Dragon athletic department, dating to the career of the legendary Alex J. (Sliv) Nemzek.

When MSU Moorhead puts the wraps on the 2014 football season on Saturday, all veterans will be admitted free with military ID. Dille, who died in June at age 89, would surely appreciate the gesture.

After all, the Dassel native and University of Minnesota graduate was always quick to point out the willingness of Dragon coaches to serve to their country, and Dille made his own sacrifice as well. After a year at the University of Minnesota, he was inducted into the U.S. infantry in 1943.  During World War II, he served in England, France, and Germany, and, after the war, in Salzburg, Austria, during the Occupation before launching his career in higher education.
 
The seeds of patriotism at Moorhead State were sown long ago.
 
Intercollegiate athletics began to gain some real traction at Moorhead Normal when Nemzek was hired as head football coach in 1919. A star at nearby North Dakota AC, his classy portfolio was enough to land a job at Moorhead State Teachers College where he taught Physical Education and Mathematics, in addition to his coaching duties.
 
After one year Nemzek returned to the AC to rejoin the Bison football program as an assistant coach and complete his degree. Wallace "Litz" Rusness, a football and baseball captain at MSTC and a captain in the U.S. Army Field Artillery in World War I, was summoned by his alma mater to serve as head coach for two seasons.
 
Nemzek returned in 1923 and would become the gold standard against which future Moorhead State coaches would be measured. Nemzek spent 19 seasons as head coach at MSTC, and while football was his first priority, he remained deeply committed to his military calling as well, setting a rich precedence for Dragon coaches who would follow in his wake.
 
Clearly, there was something special about Nemzek. He inherited his nickname from "Sliver," a traveling circus clown who once made a stop in his hometown of Moorhead. Nemzek was fiercely patriotic and left the Red River Valley to serve with the North Dakota National Guard 164^th regiment in the Mexican border battle with Pancho Villa. He served in World War I as a sergeant major and later received a commission as a lieutenant in France.
 
A company commander of the Moorhead National Guard and later Company F of the Coast Artillery, he left for Camp Haan in California in February of 1941 with a company of men that included 28 Dragon lettermen. Nemzek rose to the rank of lieutenant colonel and was in line for another promotion before he suffered a heart attack while on duty at Camp Edwards in Massachusetts. With his military duties fulfilled, Nemzek returned to Moorhead and later served as mayor before he died of a cerebral hemorrhage in 1958.
 
The list of those former and future Dragon who willingly joined the cause is lengthy for sure, including some special Dragons who successfully faced the challenges and later returned to the Red River Valley for a lifetime of service.
 
As assistant professor of Health, Physical Education and Recreation for nearly 30 years, Larry MacLeod was also head baseball coach and athletic director at Moorhead State for five years. Raised in Crystal, No. Dak., he received his undergraduate degree from Mayville State College and spent three years teaching and coaching on the high school level before joining the Dragons. Before he could begin his teaching and coaching career, however, there was a war to deal with.
 
"I graduated from high school in 1940 and started at Jamestown College," said MacLeod. "I enlisted in the Navy in 1942 in Minneapolis and spent three -and-one-half years in the service."
 
MacLeod's service adventure led him to both the Europe and Pacific theatres and some of the historic battle sites of World War II. "I was a corpsman offshore with the Navy for the invasion at Omaha Beach on D-Day. When I came back from Europe, I was attached to the Marines since they didn't have their own medics. From there I went to the South Pacific. Our home base was Oahu on the Hawaiian Islands, and we went to Iwo Jima and back, to Guam and back, and then finally home."
 
When the war ended, MacLeod got back to the business of education and getting on with the rest of his life.
 
A member of the Dragon Hall of Fame, Norm Felde landed at Normandy shortly after D-Day and spent four years in the Army.  When the war ended he enrolled at Moorhead State and won 10 letters in football, baseball, basketball and track. Felde played three seasons of semiprofessional baseball with the Minot Mallards and was a baseball, basketball and football official for 20 years. Felde also served a variety of organizations on a local and regional level, including American Legion commander, Chairman of the 1970 State Legion Convention and chairman of the Red River Human Services Handicapable Golf Tournament. Felde was coach of the Moorhead American Legion baseball program for 10 years and Principal at Thomas Edison Elementary for 20 years
 
A member of a conference championship relay team and a lifelong Dragon fan, Dan Murphy was also a member of the Air Force reserve and was called into active duty in June of 1942. In the next three years he earned his pilot's wings, was commissioned a second lieutenant and promoted later to first lieutenant. He was awarded the Air Medal (with nine clusters), the Purple Heart, and the President Unit Citation.
 
Assigned to a B-26 medium bomber group in England, Murphy had flown 54 missions when his plane was shot down over Germany in April of 1945 and was reported Missing in Action. That was all his family knew until he was reported alive and in relatively good condition several months later when the allied army overran the German-run prisoner of war camp.
 
(The campus of Moorhead State was put to use by the military as well. It served as home to the Army Air Corps and over 1,650 Cadets trained at Moorhead State. Faculty members Flora Frick and Jessie McKellar were hired to assist with the teaching).
 
Sadly, all the veterans did not all return. Tony Malfeo, a former football captain, was killed at the Battle of Leyte Gulf in the Philippines while Vincent Yatchak, one of many imports from the Upper Peninsula to dot Dragon athletic rosters before the war was, killed at Okinawa. Legend has he was killed shortly after the war by a sniper unaware the war had officially ended. The Dragons' football MVP trophy still carries his name.
 
The next generation of Dragon coaches and athletes also continued to serve with honor. Former football coach Dwaine Hoberg was a commander in the Naval Reserve, former basketball coach Marv Skaar was an Army Reserve officer, wrestling coach Bill Garland and track coach Ron Masanz served tours of duty with the Marines while football coach Ross Fortier spent over 30 years in the Minnesota National Guard and retired as a General.
 
The tradition still continues and last Saturday, just days short of the official Veterans' Day celebration, another Dragon with an impressive military portfolio left his mark. Steve Schutz, a junior defensive lineman from Kimball, joined the Dragon football program after completing a six-year military obligation with the United States Air Force. The former staff sergeant was attracted to MSUM because of the reputation of the Construction Management program.
 
Last week he played a major role in the Dragons' 27-21 victory at Bemidji State with a career high 10 tackles, including 2.5 for loss and a critical quarterback sack. Schutz was most excited about the victory, but appropriately saved his best for Veterans week. "It's the best game I ever played," he said after the game.