A pillar of the Bemidji State University community is gone today as longtime athletic director, head coach and instructor Dr. Victor Weber passed away Sunday at his home. He was 91.

Weber’s involvement at Bemidji State began in 1959 and was woven through its buildings, programs and teams until his retirement in 1982. The BSU coaching legend mentored the Beaver men’s track and field and men’s hockey programs before becoming athletic director in 1964–a position he would hold until the spring of 1980.

During his tenure as a coach and athletic director, Weber was responsible for resurrecting the BSU hockey program, while he oversaw the construction of the BSU Gymnasium and John S. Glas Fieldhouse. Under his watch, 26 Bemidji State teams won conference championships, 15 student-athletes captured individual national titles and six teams won national championships. As an educator and the Health, Physical Education, and Recreation Division Head, he organized Bemidji State’s first comprehensive intramural program.

In 1959, Weber joined the BSU family and took the reigns of the Beaver men’s track and field team in 1960. He coached the squad to the NAIA District 13 track and field championship in 1963. He was also intimately involved in resurrection a men’s hockey program that had been idle for nearly ten years (1950-59). Weber served as head coach of the team from 1960-64 and again for the 1966 season. He amassed a 42-19-2 overall record and posted six wining seasons as the Beavers’ bench boss, directing BSU to a 12-1-0 mark in 1966 before handing the program off to new hire and eventual legendary head coach R.H. “Bob” Peters. Peters would go on to win over 700 games and 13 national championships over the next 34 seasons.

Extending his impact beyond the Bemidji State campus, Weber served as President of the NAIA Coaches’ Association in 1973-74 and was a member of its board of directors during his career. He served on the NAIA district executive committee from 1968-80 and served as director of the 1971 and 1974 national hockey championships. Additionally, he represented the NAIA on the USA Olympic Ice Hockey Committee from 1969-1976. Weber was honored with NAIA National Merit Awards in 1971 and 1975.

Weber, a member of the BSU Athletic Hall of Fame, was selected to the BSU Coaches’ Hall of Fame in 1982. He was inducted into the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Hall of Fame in 2000.

Weber remained close the Bemidji State and its athletics programs after his retirement in 1982.

At this time, funeral arrangements are unknown.