Engelstad, Ralph, 1930-2002

Ralph Engelstad was born January 28, 1930 in Thief River Falls, Minnesota, to Christian and Madeline (Thill) Engelstad. In 1948, under the suggestion and help of chemistry professor Ben Gustafson, he entered the University of North Dakota, where he was a goalie on the hockey team. After two years he left school to continue work and play minor league hockey in California. He returned to UND in 1952. In 1954, Engelstad graduated with a degree in commerce from UND. Also that year he married Betty Stocker of East Grand Forks, Minnesota. Upon graduation, Engelstad was offered a contract to play professional hockey with the Chicago Blackhawks. He turned it down and took out a $2,500 loan from Valley Bank in Grand Forks to start his own construction company in the Grand Forks area. He contracted with Agsco, his former employer, and in 1959, Engelstad achieved millionaire status and moved his company to Las Vegas. Initially his firm built federally funded housing. He also invested in real estate, and casinos. Engelstad opened the Imperial Palace and built up one of the nation's top automobile collections. In 1981, Engelstad received the Sioux Award, the highest honor granted by the UND Alumni Association. In 1987 he was inducted into the Fighting Sioux Hall of Fame. The following year he established a $5 million endowment to the UND hockey program, after which the UND Winter Sports Center, which was located east of Memorial Stadium, was renamed the Ralph Engelstad Arena. The Imperial Palace was honored by the Nevada Governor's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities in 1987 and 1989 for hiring a substantial number of employees with disabilities. In 1991, the Imperial Palace was named National Employer of the Year by President George H.W. Bush's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities. In 1988, it was revealed that Engelstad had thrown two parties for Imperial Palace employees held on the birthday of Adolf Hitler, one in 1986 and again in 1988. Public outcry over these parties and furor over an extensive collection of Nazi and Axis Power memorabilia, including automobiles, weapons and propaganda, launched Engelstad into media scrutiny. A second Imperial Palace was opened in Biloxi, Mississippi, in December 1997.Engelstad also developed the Las Vegas Motor Speedway, a NASCAR track, which he later sold. Engelstad developed plans for further donations to UND, and in 1994 he threatened to withhold a large donation to the university until Athletic Director Terry Wanless left the administration. In 1998, Engelstad pledged $100 million to construct a new hockey arena in Grand Forks. The Ralph Engelstad Arena opened October 5, 2001.The final cost of the arena was over $104 million. It was Engelstad's desire that UND keep the nickname "Fighting Sioux," which has been protested as offensive to the American Indian tribe. Discussion of the nickname and Engelstad's outspoken support became a polarizing issue within the UND and Grand Forks communities. In August 2002, Engelstad was inducted into the North Dakota Entrepreneur Hall of Fame. While his philanthropy was a factor, the decision for his induction was based primarily on his exemplary treatment of employees at the Imperial Palace. Among the notable achievements, the Imperial Palace was the first casino to offer an on-site medical center for employees and did not lay off any employees following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Among the gifts he made were $10 million for a new hockey arena in Thief River Falls; the purchase and donation of the George S. Patton Papers to the Chester Fritz Library at UND in 1998, valued at $1.5 million; renovation of a railroad depot in Thief River Falls into a new city hall, valued at $200,000; donations to the Good Samaritan Home in Larimore, North Dakota; a gift of 2,000 wheelchairs for North Dakotans in 2002; and monetary donations for completion of statues honoring Sakakawea and the bicentennial of Lewis and Clark's expedition. Engelstad died of lung cancer November 26, 2002.