Cancer cuts short Swanny’s optimism This should be a week of excitement and happiness for sports fans, with the Twins playing better than we could have hoped, the Stanley Cup Playoff series all featuring phenomenal competition in every first-round series, and the biggest event in motorsports coming up this weekend, with the Indianapolis 500 ready to roll Sunday after a spinetingling finish to qualifying. But a reallife drama that took a shocking and horrible turn over the weekend has reduced the enjoyment factor for anyone and everyone who ever knew or came into contact with Dick Swanson, the long-standing girls softball coach at
SPORTS JOHN GILBERT
Denfeld, who was whisked away from us Sunday night, just when we all believed he was succeeding in his fight against pancreas and liver cancer. Universally known as Swanny, or simply Swan to those who knew him well enough, Swanson had blazed a larger than life trail coaching Denfeld softball. He had coached other sports at Denfeld, too, but he was softball coach since he took over the Denfeld team in 1990. He knew a stocky young man named Tim Utt, who was a fast-pitch pitcher in the Duluth area when men’s fastpitch was a big-time sport. So Swanny asked Utt to come along and assist him, which he did, for 30 years and 299 victories. “Our first year, we went to state,” said Utt, who remains as loyal as any assistant can be, and is responsible for bringing along the always-impressive Hunters pitching prospects. “I was with Swan every year since, except for two years, when I got sick in 1998.”
Always with a twinkle in his eye, Dick Swanson gathered with nine of his Denfeld softball players – and a cream-filled donut.. Photo by John Gilbert. Sick meant a multiple melanoma diagnosis that gave a “bad prognosis,” Utt said. “I came back, and we’ve won 299 games together, although Swan has over 350 himself.” Swanson was one of those coaches who was soft-spoken but forceful enough when necessary, although his girls always mention his sarcastic humor that was such a big part of his heckling players to better performances. But he also was one of those coaches that you couldn’t dislike. I would bet no opposing coaches ever had an intense rivalry because of his personality. In fact, if there was a hassle in a game, Swanson would usually head over to the opposing team and apologize after the game. He also made big impacts on the Gilbert family. He contacted me when the Denfeld Hall of Fame, which he helped organize, got rolling in 2015 and he wanted me to attend the ceremony to represent my dad, Wally Gilbert, who was being inducted as one of Denfeld’s greatest athletes ever, back before 1920. That was a beautiful ceremony, and a couple of years ago, Swanny called me and said he had been pestering the top officials at Valparaiso University in Indiana because they had started a hall of fame but never inducted Wally Gilbert, who had quite a career there,
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when Valpo was a big-time sports power. Wally Gilbert starred in football, basketball and baseball at Valparaiso, was captain of all three, and was named All-American in football his senior year. He went on to play for the Brooklyn Dodgers, Duluth Eskimos and on touring AAU pro basketball teams – all at the same time – in the 1920s and 30s. So Swanny questioned them enough that a year ago, Valparaiso did indeed put him into their hall of fame. They sent me the program from the ceremony, which was nice. So last Thursday, I learned that Tim Utt had rounded up the right people and got the approval to dedicate the softball fields adjoining Wade Stadium. They had been renamed in honor of Swanny, but Utt made sure signs were made and there would be an official dedication. I hustled out there last Thursday for the 1 p.m. ceremony. When Swanny arrived, he had walked from his house to his car, drove himself to the park, and was walking through the parking lot when I caught up to him. I told him I just wanted to thank him for the impact he had on Valparaiso to help get my dad inducted into their hall, and this was my first chance, since the coronavirus pandemic wiped out the spring sports seasons.
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