The Saint John’s University J-Club is proud to announce Stearns Bank as the new presenting sponsor of the Gagliardi Trophy, an award handed out each season to the most outstanding player in NCAA Division III football.
Legendary former SJU football coach John Gagliardi (the namesake of the trophy) and Stearns Bank’s longtime CEO Norm Skalicky were long-time friends and admirers of one another. Both became legends in their respective fields - not just because of their success, but because of how they looked uniquely upon their work.
Skalicky passed away at age 87 in 2021 and his daughter Kelly has taken over the reins as the company’s CEO.
“It is an absolute privilege and honor for Stearns Bank to sponsor the highly acclaimed Gagliardi Trophy,” said Kelly Skalicky, who first got to know Gagliardi when he’d let her into the gym at SJU to practice and shoot baskets before she went on to a pioneering prep and college athletic career, first at Albany High School, then at Louisiana State University and the University of Minnesota.
“Like Coach Gagliardi, our roots run deep in Central Minnesota where hard work is our nature, determination and persistence is at the center of our core and community commitment drives all we do.
“And, like Coach Gagliardi, who stayed local and persisted in building nationally-ranked, nationally-admired football and athletic programs that earned accolades for outstanding academic performance, Stearns Bank has maintained its local presence while also having a broader, national vision and becoming one of the top performing banks in the nation.
“We are pleased to support and carry on the Gagliardi legacy. Our team, located across the country, commends and applauds the nominees, semifinalists and ultimately the player selected as the most outstanding football player in NCAA Division III.”
The Gagliardi Trophy has been presented annually since 1993 and recognizes excellence in athletics, academics and community service. It is named after John Gagliardi, who coached the Johnnies for 60 seasons and retired in 2012 with four national titles and 489 career victories, the most in college football history.
Gagliardi - a member of the College Football Hall of Fame - passed away in the fall of 2018 at age 91.
Nominations for the award are submitted by colleges across the country. A minimum of 10 semifinalists are selected by the J-Club Board of Directors. Those names are then submitted to the Gagliardi Trophy national selection committee, which is comprised of 18 coaches, six NCAA Division III administrators, 12 regional voters and seven national Division III experts.
Each casts a ballot ranking the semifinalists. A fan ballot, which serves as the 40th committee member, is also included.
North Central running back Ethan Greenfield was selected as the award’s winner in 2022. Finalists this year will be announced in December, with the winner selected shortly after.
As a head coach, Gagliardi was famous for his list of No’s - including no whistles, no tackling in practice and no blocking sleds or tackling dummies. Skalicky - who purchased a majority interest in Stearns Bank with assets of $3.5 million in 1964 and by 2021 had assets of over $2.3 billion - compiled his own list of No’s.
They included no busy work, no time-wasting meetings, no throwing away money and no end to the possibilities.
“Norm and my dad were two of a kind,” said Gagliardi’s son Jim, who played for and coached with his father, and is now SJU’s director of athletic marketing. “They knew what they wanted, but created a new way to get there. People made the difference… but they made these people believe in what they were doing, and to realize that if they would sustain their effort, greatness would come.
“And it did for both of them.”
Isaac Flenner was the starting tight end on Gagliardi’s final national championship team in 2003 and has worked at Stearns the past 18 years. He is now Director of Equipment Finance and Small Business Lending.
“I am incredibly thrilled to have SJU and Stearns Bank coming together to honor two legends, John and Norm, and carrying an incredible legacy into the future with the Gagliardi Trophy,” he said. “Both institutions and each man are unrivaled in their own right. I am extremely grateful to have had my life impacted by each of them!”