Seasons
SEASON: 7 | YEAR: 1955
HEAD COACH: WELLS J. WRIGHT
Game 43 | January 20, 1955 | Terry Brennan
Only 25 years old, Brennan had just been named to coach the Notre Dame football team, succeeding Frank Leahy. Two years earlier he was coaching at Chicago's Mount Carmel High School. The young coach was the hottest sports story in the nation at the time, and his 1954 team finished 9-1. Two years later the team went 2-8, and one of those wins came against Oklahoma, ending the Sooners' record 47-game winning streak. He was fired after the 1958 season.
Game 44 | January 24 | Alvin Dark
A great football player at LSU, Dark played major league baseball for 15 years and was named the greatest shortstop in the history of the New York Giants. He appeared at Dunkers several months after leading the Giants to victory over the heavily favored Cleveland Indians in the 1954 World Series, in which he hit .412. He had been named Major League Rookie of the Year in 1948.
Game 45 | May 16, 1955 | Chuck Mencel, John Mayasich
This was the first time in club history that a meeting featured two future members. Mencel was the Big Ten's Most Valuable Player as a member of the Gopher basketball team. He played the next two years with the Minneapolis Lakers. Mayasich, a two-time Olympian, is regarded by many as the greatest Gopher hockey player ever. Coach John Mariucci said he was "the Wayne Gretzky of his time."
Game 46 | June 27, 1955 | Leo Nomellini
Yet another member of that great 1949 University of Minnesota football team, Italian-born Nomellini went on to star in pro football. He played 14 years for the San Francisco 49ers and was named to the FL's All-Time Defensive Team as a defensive tackle. After football, he had a successful wrestling career. He died in 2000 at age 76.
(LtoR) Ray Ewald, Leo Nomellini, Charlie Johnson (physician)
Game 47 | September 15, 1955 | Rance Pless, Edward S. Doherty
Pless, the Minneapolis Millers third baseman, led the American Association in batting with a .337 average. His team set a league record with 241 home runs. The team defeated Denver and Omaha in league playoffs and went on to defeat Rochester 4 games to 3 to win the Junior World Series. The last game ever played in Nicollet Park was September 28, just 13 days after this meeting. Doherty was the president of the American Association. After that game, Pless left his glove in his locker and a Millers official gave it to his friend, Lute Mona, to give to his son, future Dunker head coach Dave Mona.
Game 48 | September 26, 1955 | Monte Irwin
A star outfielder in the old Negro Leagues, Irvin was already 36 and recovering from injuries when he joined the Millers in midseason after being sent down by the parent New York Giants. In 75 games, he hit .352 with 14 home runs and 52 RBIs. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1973.
(LtoR) Eldy Rempfer, Frank J. Shaughnessy, Monte Irwin, Charlie Johnson (physician)
Game 49 | November 11, 1955 | Branch McCracken
McCracken was a member of the College Basketball Hall of Fame as both a player and coach. His Indiana team was a Big Ten preseason favorite in 1955. The "Hurryin' Hoosiers" played an up-style brand of basketball that made them one of the highest-scoring teams in the nation year after year. His Indiana teams won NCAA titles in both 1940 and 1953. He coached at Indiana from 1938-1943 and 1946-1965.