Hall of Fame
A native of Gardar, N.D., the late Mr. Flanagan spent most of his adult life at Tower, N.D., as an abstractor. He is the only UND letterman to earn seven varsity football monograms. He enrolled in the UND Model high school, but performed on UND varsity football team continuously from 1895-1901. In a special contest conducted among alumni by the 1924 UND yearbook, the Dacotah Annual, he was voted the top UND Athlete of the first 50 years by a wide margin. He lettered in baseball six years, track five years and served as team captain in all sports several times. Rumors were afloat prior to his last two grid seasons that University of Minnesota wanted the big Irishman to transfer there, but his strong loyalty prevented that from happening. UND and Flanagan were honored when he received honorable mention at Walter Camp's All America football teams in 1900 and 1901 and that was during an era when Camp's All America was the one and only in existence. He was a star fullback possessing tremendous strength, speed and amazing agility and was a big back for his era. He weighed in the neighborhood of 200 pounds. He competed as an athlete until he was about 55, basically as a baseball infielder at Towner, N.D.
