University of North Dakota Athletics

The late Mr. Letich was UND basketball coach 18 seasons, track coach for a number of seasons and served as an assistant coach in football. His coaching tenure spanned the so-called Golden Era of UND athletics, 1925-1926 until his sudden, untimely and widely-mourned death in June 1944. His UND basketball coaching record of 223-98 (52 of the losses came in his last five seasons when World War II shut off his supply of talent) ranks as one of the best in the country. Letich-coached Sioux cage teams terrorized the North Central Conference by winning titles in 1927-28 and four straight seasons, 1933-34 through 1936-37, and when his teams weren't winning the titles they always finished second. He was only 52 at the time of his death. A taciturn, austere perfectionist, always scrupulously fair, it was said he made himself act unemotional. He came to UND in 1925 after winning a national high school cage title at Yankton, S.D., high school.