Gordy Hakes

Gordy Hakes

Gordy Hakes, age 81, died peacefully Sunday, May 11, 2008, at Immanuel St. Joseph's Hospital in Mankato. A Celebration of Life will be held on Saturday, May 17 at 11:00 a.m. at Centenary United Methodist Church with lunch and private burial to follow at Woodland Hills Memorial Park. Visitation will be from 5:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. at the church on Friday, May 16 and also one hour prior at church on Saturday. Mankato Mortuary is in charge of arrangements.

Gordy was born April 9, 1927, to Gordon and Lois Hakes in Montevideo, Minnesota. He attended Montevideo High School where he was president of his class, quarterback of the football team, lettered in baseball, track and
was a standout basketball player. During his senior year he enlisted in
the Navy and spent 18 months in the Pacific theatre at the end of WW II. He
received a Bachelors Degree in Health and Physical Education from Hamline
University and a Masters degree in mathematics from Mankato State
University. He began his coaching and teaching career in Balsam Lake,
Wisconsin, the fall of 1950. One year later he moved to Brownton,
Minnesota, where he taught mathematics, coached football, basketball, and
baseball, and was the high school principal. Four years later he moved to
Mankato where he spent 34 years as a teacher and coach. As head coach he
had three Big Nine Championships in 1970-71, 1971-72, and 1975-76. His
teams reached the state tournament in 1968, 1971, 1975, and 1980. He was
named Big Nine Conference Basketball Coach of the Year five times. He also
served as assistant football coach for 23 years under three different head
coaches. He served as athletic director for the last nine years of his
career, retiring in 1989. He was inducted into the Montevideo High School
Athletic Hall of Fame in the 1980's as well as the Minnesota State High
School Athletic Directors Hall of Fame in 1998.

He served as Region 2AA Executive Secretary for the Minnesota High School
League for nine years (1986-1995). He was a founder and treasurer for the
Mankato Teachers' Investment Club (MANTIC), which won numerous state and
national awards, for the past 41 years. He also served for seven years as a
director of the National Association of Investment Clubs and was their
representative to the Conference of the International Association of
Investment Clubs in Vienna, Austria in the late 1990's.

Gordy is survived by his wife of 56 years, Hazel, children, Kathryn Olson, husband Ty, of Colorado Springs, Co, and son, Chris; Dan Hakes, wife Jody, of Woodbury, MN, and children Ben, Kalley, and Rachel; Cindy Bourn, and husband, Chuck, and children Jared, Kelly, and Katia of Nordegg, Canada; sister Karna Schwimmer, of Alexandria, Virginia.

In lieu of flowers the family asks for memorials to go to one of the following: West Athletic Hakes Memorial, Mankato West Athletic Department, P.O. Box 8713 Mankato, MN, 56002; Centenary United Methodist Church Building Fund; or Lupus Foundation of America.com.