Good coach, great dad

Athlete Ron Gustafson brought a little magic into all the lives he touched

By: Jim Timlick

Ron Gustafson earned the nickname Magic for his ability to turn seemingly nothing plays into magical moments during his college football career at the University of North Dakota.

The speedy, sure-handed wide receiver set a number of school receiving records with the squad between 1971 and ’74. Along the way he was named a team captain, earned All-American status and was selected to the school’s All-Century Team in 1994 as one of the top 100 players in North Dakota history. In 1975, he was drafted by the NFL’s New Orleans Saints and later had stints with Atlanta Falcons, Los Angeles Rams and the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the CFL.

Truth be told, Gustafson wove his magic in pretty much any sport he tried his hand at. Softball? He was a member of Canada’s national softball team that participated in the 1981 World Games in Santa Clara, Calif. Baseball? He was scouted by the Cincinnati Reds while attending high school in Duluth, Minn. Track? Although he only dabbled in it, he could beat his brother Gord, a top-rated college sprinter, in a head-to-head race. Perhaps most telling is the fact his sporting accomplishments landed him in nine different halls of fame.

“I think that people like Ron are such gifted athletes that they can just take up any sport,” says Monica, his wife of 48 years.

“I was the exact opposite. I remember one time I took him roller-skating. He’d never roller-skated before. I thought, aha, finally something I’m better at than him, but he was skating circles around me by the end of the night.”

Gustafson died Jan. 17 in Kingsville, Ont. (he and Monica moved there in 2023), following complications of a rare heart condition. A celebration of his life was held June 14 at St. Paul’s High School in Winnipeg.

While he excelled at multiple sports, none held quite the same sway with Gustafson as football and that was one of the main reasons why he accepted a scholarship to play at UND, where he became one of the leading pass-catchers in U.S. college football.

A career in the pros seemed almost a certainty, especially after he was chosen by the Saints in the 1975 NFL draft. He attended training camp with the Saints where he caught passes from future Pro Bowl quarterback Archie Manning. Despite a solid performance in camp, he was released. He was later signed by the Blue Bombers, whose general manager at the time, Paul Robson, was a UND alumnus. He was later cut by the Bombers after failing his physical due to a wonky knee.

The Saints re-signed him a year later and assured him he would have every opportunity to make the team. It wasn’t to be. He was claimed on waivers by the Atlanta Falcons and was later released. Gustafson decided enough was enough and decided to get on with life after football.

Son Erik, who ended up playing football with the University of Manitoba Bisons and won a Vanier Cup national championship with the team in 2007, says his dad had no lingering bitterness over how his pro career played out.

“Dad always had a competitive fire, so he just channelled it into other things,” he says.

Chief among those endeavours was coaching. An education major at UND, he moved to Winnipeg with Monica in 1977 and was hired as a teacher at Churchill High School where he was recruited to join the football team’s coaching staff. He spent four seasons as the team’s offensive co-ordinator and was a big part of the Bulldogs team that won its Winnipeg High School Football League championship in 1981.

In 1982, Gustafson left Churchill to join Grant Park High School where he served as head coach of the Pirates football team for 16 seasons until retiring from coaching in 1997.

It was at Churchill that Gustafson became close friends with Brian Dobie, the Bulldogs head coach who would later go on to guide the U of M Bisons football squad. Dobie says the one thing he remembers most about Gustafson as a coach was the commanding presence he had.

“Ron just has a presence about him. With his (football) resumé, players respected him and looked up to him and even kind of idolized him. He had a background that they kind of dreamed of having for themselves,” he recalls.

Their friendship endured even when they were patrolling different sidelines.

“One of the things I really respected about him as a coach and absolutely as a friend is Ron really listened. He was a great listener,” Dobie says.

“He would listen and then respond and his response always carried weight because Ron was so genuine. He would tell you like it was and because you trusted him it was easy to accept even if it was something that went against the grain.”

As for Gustafson’s passion for coaching, his wife says it all came down to a desire to help others and repay all the great coaches he had along the way.

“I think two or three of the most influential people in his life outside of family were coaches,” Monica says.

“Although Ron had a great upbringing with his family, there were a lot of kids who didn’t and he knew coaches can be a great influence for kids. (Since his death) so many of the kids he coached have reached out to me and said, ‘I was on a bad path,’ and told me what he did for them and how they’ll never forget him.”

Gustafson’s contributions to the game of football didn’t end when his coaching career did. In 1998 he became the commissioner of the WHSFL and served in that capacity until he retired from education in 2009. As commissioner, he was instrumental in expanding the league and creating a tier system to create more opportunities for young men to play the game.

One of the most influential figures in Gustafson’s life was his father Reuben, a talented softball player in his own right and one of Ron’s first coaches.

As valuable as the athletic teachings he learned from his dad on the field of play were, it was the life lessons he shared that helped shape the man Gustafson would become. Gustafson’s mom, Mildred, suffered from rheumatoid arthritis and had to use a wheelchair starting when her son was 14. In addition to working at a local steel mill, Reuben was a doting husband and attentive father, traits Gustafson would inherit.

“I saw in him everything I wanted in a husband. It had nothing to do with athletics,” Monica recalls of Ron when they started dating as seniors at UND.

“I remember after we started dating, he invited me to a wedding in Duluth. We went and that’s when he became Ron. He wasn’t Magic, he was just Ron. I saw him as the person he really was. I saw how his father did everything for his mother. I thought if the apple didn’t fall far from the tree, than this was the man I wanted to be with.”

Ron and Monica were married in July of 1977 in the latter’s hometown of Thunder Bay, Ont. They moved to Winnipeg later that year where the both landed jobs in the education field. A short time later they started a family, with daughter Kari being born in 1980 and Erik arriving in 1983.

Football was very much a family affair for the Gustafsons. When Ron was coaching at Grant Park it wasn’t uncommon to see daughter Kari running the downs markers, Erik working as the team water boy and Monica recording the game stats.

And while he was a good coach, his kids says he was an even better dad.

“He never missed a game in any sport we played. He never missed a dance recital of any kind. He drive us across the country. He wanted us to succeed in all things. You couldn’t ask for anything else,” Erik recalls.

“He was just a really great dad,” Kari adds.

“He was always very supportive and good to talk to. He was also this quiet observer who could whip a zinger out of nowhere. When we would go to visit family he was the favourite uncle across the board for all of the kids. My cousins would just devolve into giggles anytime he came into the room.”

fpcity@freepress.mb.ca