University of North Dakota Athletics

  The only native North Dakotan ever to play in the National Hockey League, Fido was named to coach the UND hockey team in 1949-50 and ver successfully brought us into big-time hockey in a very substantial and beneficial manner spanning seven great seasons (1949-56). Sioux teams under his expert guidance had a 94-75-8 record. He was inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame in 1975. He is a younger brother of Al Purpur, who was inducted into our Hall of Fame in 1976. Fido is a living hockey legend, a great man. Purpur left Grand Forks as a young man to play pro hockey with St. Paul, then became a living legend at St. Louis for the Flyers before moving up to the Chicago Black Hawks and Detroit Red Wings. "We beat Michigan U twice in a row when they were the powerhouses of the league," Fido said about his UND career.