Bob Board
Class of 1955

Sponsored by: Anoka High School Wrestling Boosters

Bob Board graduated from Anoka High School in 1955. He was a standout wrestler who compiled a record of ninety-four wins against only seven losses. He placed second in state as a sophomore, third as a junior, and was state champion in his weight class his senior year. By the way, Bob’s brother Dick was also a state champion that year, the first time two brothers won state titles in the same season. Bob lettered four years in wrestling as well as two in football. Upon graduation from Anoka, Bob received the Williams Scholarship for a full ride to the University of Minnesota to continue his studies and his wrestling career. At the U of M, Bob lettered three times, was selected to the “M” Club, and was a member of two Big Ten championship teams.

After college, Bob began his coaching career at Vocational High School in Minneapolis, moved on to West High School for a year, then on to Winona for a year, and then landed at Coon Rapids High School, where he taught and coached for thirty-four years. Bob has made many contributions to wrestling, including serving as president of the Minnesota Wrestling Coaches Association in 1971 and again in 1990. During those years, he was responsible for developing the state brunch, the region reps concept, the Grand March at the state tournament, and the hall of fame. He also helped spearhead the concept of the dual team state tournament. When he retired in 1997, Bob had amassed a record of 411 wins and 138 losses as a wrestling coach. He was inducted into the Dave Bartelma Minnesota Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1973 and into the Minnesota chapter of the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2008.

In addition to coaching, Bob was a physical education and health teacher who transitioned to safety education his final twelve years at Coon Rapids High School. He was also a girls’ fastpitch softball assistant coach for twenty years and coach of the cross country team for five seasons. In Bob’s own words: “I think you take more out of coaching than you can ever put in. Coaching is all about the kids, the relationships you make and the teaching, whether it’s during the hard times or the times of championships.”

Lee and Karen Carlson
Class of 1952 & 1957

Sponsored by: Greenhaven Golf Course The Tavern at Greenhaven

Lee Carlson is a 1952 graduate of Anoka High School, where he was all-school president and the recipient of the Arion Award for his performance in the school chorus. Lee also lettered four years in golf, and the team won the state championship in both 1950 and 1951. After graduation from high school, Lee moved onto the Gustavus Adolphus College, where he was the MIAC golf champion in both his junior and senior years. Later, as a member of the United States Army, Lee and three teammates won the Fourth Army Golf Championship.

Following his days as a collegian and soldier, Lee began his long career as an Anoka businessman at Main Motor Chevrolet, the family business which is now ninety-nine years old. Besides being the owner, he has given his time and financial assistance to many organizations. He has served on the board of directors for Mercy Hospital, Zion Lutheran Church, and the First National Bank, and he is past president of the Kiwanis and Jaycees clubs. In addition, Lee continues his golf career at Greenhaven, where he was president and multiple-time winner of the club championship. Lee has twice been named to Time magazine’s Automotive Dealer of the Year.

Lee’s wife Karen is a 1957 graduate of Anoka High School and a 1961 graduate of the University of Minnesota. She taught sixth grade at Franklin School in Anoka. Coincidentally, Karen’s classroom was the same as Lee’s mother’s back in 1930. In addition to rearing four children, Karen has been active in the community with her primary focus on Zion Lutheran Church, where her father was pastor for thirty years. Karen has held many roles over the years, including Sunday school instructor, bible school director, and confirmation teacher. Like her husband, Karen has also been a Greenhaven Golf Club champion. In 1986, she was the chairperson of the all-night Anoka High School graduation party. In 2009, she took over the family business, running the day-to-day operation of Main Motor and carrying on the family tradition of contributing to the Anoka area community. Karen and Lee have been married for fifty-seven years and now live in North Oaks.

Lee and Karen Carlson join their daughter Gretchen as members of the Anoka High School Hall of Fame.

Justice Margaret (Peggy) Chutich
Class of 1976

Sponsored by: Anoka High School Girls Tennis Boosters & Anoka High School Girls Basketball Boosters

Margaret “Peggy” Chutich graduated from Anoka High School in 1976. While in high school, she lettered six times in varsity tennis and basketball. During her sophomore year, she played number two singles on the boys’ varsity tennis team, compiling a winning record. In her junior year, Peggy came in second in the first girls’ Minnesota State High School League tennis tournament, and in her senior year, she won it all, a state champion. While Peggy was on the varsity tennis team, the team competed in the state tournament as well. As a senior, she was co-captain of both the varsity tennis and basketball teams. While playing basketball for Anoka, Peggy set a record, scoring forty-two points in one game. She was also an Athena Award winner.

During her freshman year at Stanford University, Margaret Chutich was the starting point guard of the women’s varsity basketball team, often scoring in double figures. After transferring to the University of Minnesota, she competed on the Gophers’ varsity tennis team. She won a Big Ten number six singles championship and was runner-up at number one doubles. Margaret helped the university’s tennis team appear three times in the national tournaments of the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women.

In 2016, Margaret Chutich was appointed to the Minnesota Supreme Court, becoming “Justice” Chutich. She had previously served on the Minnesota Court of Appeals for four years. Before serving on the bench, Justice Chutich worked as an attorney in a variety of public-service roles. Among other positions, she served as Deputy Attorney General of the Minnesota Attorney General’s office, prosecuted crimes as an Assistant United States Attorney for the District of Minnesota, and served as the Assistant Dean at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota.

Justice Chutich lives in Minneapolis with her spouse, Dr. Penny Wheeler. They have one daughter, Olivia.

Ellie Dehn
Class of 1998

Sponsored by: AHS Theater Arts Boosters and David Banks Studios

Ellie Dehn, a 1998 graduate of Anoka High School, is a world-renowned opera singer. In high school, she played the flute in the band and the orchestra, sang in the choir and the Seventh Avenue Singers, and was active in the musical theater scene. She majored in vocal performance at Oberlin Conservatory, where she won the prestigious concerto competition. From Oberlin, she received a full four-year scholarship to study at the Philadelphia Academy of Vocal Arts, which takes only five to ten students per year. Ellie was the first-place winner in the George London and Gerda Lissner competitions and was also a grand finalist in the Metropolitan Opera National Council auditions. These accomplishments set the stage for Ellie’s transition to the ranks of professional opera.

Her soprano voice has filled the halls of the world’s most famous opera houses, including Teatro Ala Scala in Milan, Italy; the Metropolitan Opera in New York; the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London; the San Francisco Opera House, as well as in many other European and U.S. venues. Ellie even starred as Juliet in “Romeo and Juliet” performed at the Ordway in St. Paul. She has also been a soloist with multiple symphony orchestras around the globe and has performed several times at Carnegie Hall. She appeared semi-regularly as a special guest on Garrison Keillor’s “A Prairie Home Companion,” including one broadcast from the Anoka High School fieldhouse. Ellie is recognized for her versatility in all repertoires, where she brings artistry to her Mozart, Massenet, and Strauss heroines as well as to modern composers.

Ellie is the daughter of Doug and Katherine Dehn of Anoka and is a new mother herself to daughter Arabella.

Loral I. Delaney
Class of 1956

Sponsored by: Coborn’s in Ramsey

Loral I. Delaney grew up along the western edge of the Anoka School District, just off Armstrong Boulevard, which is named after her father, Fred Armstrong, who had moved into the area in the 1920’s. Loral I. lives today in the house where she was born and where she and her family operate the well-known Armstrong Ranch and Kennels. After her graduation from Anoka High School in 1956, the year she was also the Tornadoes’ homecoming queen, she went on to become one of the world’s most decorated shotgun shooters and dog trainers.

A member of the National and Minnesota Trapshooting Halls of Fame, Loral I. has earned national and international shooting honors. She won her first ladies’ state trapshooting championship in 1957 and has earned fifty trophies at the Grand American trap shoot over the years. Beginning in 1966, she captured the women’s High-Over-All title seven times, including five consecutive years. Her most recent title came in 2005 at the International World Flyer Championships in Guadalajara, Mexico, where she won the event for the fourth time, the first American to do so. A complete list of her achievements in trapshooting is available at the Minnesota and National Trapshooting Hall of Fame websites.

In addition to her accomplishments in trapshooting, Loral I. is a well-known dog trainer. Since 1982, she and her husband Chuck have sponsored the annual Game Fair at their Armstrong Ranch Kennels, an event which brings in more than 50,000 visitors to experience the outdoors. During the Game Fair, Loral I. coordinates the popular dog events and hosts shooting clinics for men, women, and children. She also offers private instruction and is a part owner of the Alexandria Shooting Park in Alexandria, Minnesota, where the annual Minnesota State High School clay target league championship is held each year. Anoka High School students, by the way, participate in this event, a continuation of Loral I.’s legacy.

DeWayne Johnson
Football Coach - 1979-2002

Sponsored by: Anoka High School Football Boosters and Sterling Trophy

Prior to becoming Anoka High School’s head football coach in 1979, DeWayne Johnson had established himself as one of the premiere high school coaches in Wisconsin, where he won several conference championships and two state titles. A star athlete himself, DeWayne lettered in football, basketball, baseball, and track in high school and later earned hall of fame recognition for his football and baseball accomplishments at the University of Wisconsin, River Falls, as he earned his degree in math and business education.

DeWayne became a math teacher at Anoka High School and took over the successful football program upon the retirement of Stan Nelson. Coach Johnson instituted several practices that became staples of the Tornado football program: a player-parent mixer on the first day of fall camp; a team pig roast; a spaghetti dinner the day before a game and a team party following the game; and the annual community clean-up day, during which players volunteer for various tasks to improve the local community.

But it was for his teams’ on-the-field success that Coach Johnson is best remembered. Despite playing against the most talented teams in the state of Minnesota, the Tornadoes excelled. Anoka won conference titles in 1985, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1994, and 1995. The Tornadoes were section champions in 1990 and 1994 and runners-up in 1991, 1995, and 1997. And in 1990 and again in 1994, the Anoka Tornadoes won state championships. During the 1996 season, Coach Johnson won his 200th victory, and in 1996 he was voted the Minnesota High School Coaches’ Association “Coach of the Year.” DeWayne was inducted into The Minnesota State High School Hall of Fame in 2009.

Coach Johnson was fortunate to have coached his two sons, Brent and Bart, two outstanding athletes in their own right, and he credits his wife Sharon for many years of enthusiastic support to him, their sons, and to the entire Anoka football family.

Kevin Kish
Class of 1974

Sponsored by: Anoka High School Wrestling Boosters

Kevin Kish, who graduated from Anoka High School in 1974, was a two-sport athlete, lettering in soccer and wrestling. In his senior year, he received the Everett Vevea Scholarship Award as Anoka’s Most Outstanding Athlete. After high school, Kevin attended Bemidji State University to study business administration and education. At BSU, he was a four-year letter winner in wrestling. Kevin was a two-time national champion and was seeded number one his senior season. He was also selected as an NAIA All-American in both his championship years, and he was elected team captain as a junior and again as a senior. Kevin was named the outstanding wrestler of the Northern Intercollegiate Conference in his final year at Bemidji. He was chosen to represent the United States and Bemidji State University on the NAIA wrestling team that toured Japan and Korea. Over the years, Kevin has shared his passion for athletics by coaching area youngsters, and he remains active in Anoka High School’s wrestling club. In 2008, Kevin was inducted into the Bemidji State University’s Hall of Fame.

Kevin notes that he was fortunate to have been coached by two hall of famers: Ron Malcolm at Anoka High School and Chet Anderson at Bemidji State.

Kevin and his wife Pamela now live in Maple Grove and have one daughter, Jenna, who is married with two sons. Kevin is co-owner of Showcase Renovations, a remodeling and construction company, which offers him opportunities to mentor young people starting their carpentry careers.

William “Bud” Rainbow
Class of 1948

Sponsored by: Anoka High School Baseball Boosters

William “Bud” Rainbow lettered thirteen times at Anoka High School prior to his graduation in 1948. He earned the first of four varsity letters in football as a freshman on the historic undefeated state championship team of 1944.  During the remaining years, Bud was the starting quarterback on teams that won two more conference championships. In basketball, he earned four varsity letters and was selected as co-captain his senior year. That year, the team was the region champion and made it to the state tournament for the first time in Anoka history. Bud was named to the all-region team. Baseball was another four-letter varsity sport, with Bud serving as the starting catcher all four years and winning conference championships as well as the state title. Bud earned his final letter during his senior year when he qualified for the state track meet in the high jump.

After high school, Bud earned four varsity letters at Iowa State Teachers’ College (now the University of Northern Iowa). In two of those years, the Panthers were conference champions, and in another year, co-champions.  Earning a degree in physical education, Bud taught and coached in Iowa, the majority of those years in the Cedar Rapids Community District. In 1961, he coached the Washington High School Warriors to their first conference championship in school history and was named Coach of the Year by the conference. He went on to earn his Ph.D. and served the remainder of his career as the director of secondary education for the Cedar Rapids School District, while also serving on various education and community boards. He did not leave athletics behind though. He was an avid golfer who won local and city tournaments even after he officially retired.

Bud and his wife of sixty years, Joy, had five children and twelve grandchildren. Today Bud resides in Arizona, still enjoys putting the golf ball, and following the adventures of his fifteen great-grandchildren.

Dave Tank
Boys Basketball Coach 1978-1998 
Girls Soccer Coach 1986-1989
Boys Soccer Coach

Sponsored by: Anoka High School Boys Basketball Boosters

Dave Tank was a standout athlete at Villard High School, currently known as the Minnewaska Area High School. He earned four letters in basketball, was captain, all conference two years, and was the conference’s Most Valuable Player as a senior.  He scored over a thousand points and set the school single-game scoring record at forty-one points, and this was before the three-point shot was instituted. Dave also played four years of football and was named to the all-conference team. He lettered in baseball three years and ran track when he could fit it in. Dave is an inaugural member of the Minnewaska Area High School Hall of Fame.

After high school, Dave continued his athletic career at Jamestown University in North Dakota, lettering in basketball for three years. He held the single-season field goal percentage record his junior year, shooting over sixty percent from the floor. Dave also lettered in baseball and did all this while compiling a perfect 4.0 grade point average. Dave went on to earn a Master’s Degree from Moorhead State University, graduating Summa Cum Laude, and completed his course work and written and oral exams for his Doctorate from Montana State University.

In addition to his duties as a physical education teacher at Anoka High School, Dave coached the boys’ soccer team as an assistant and head coach. In 1979, Dave was named conference coach of the year, a result of leading the team to a state championship, Anoka’s first.

Between 1986 and 1989, Dave served as the head coach of the Anoka girls’ soccer team. In his final season as head coach, the Tornado girls won a state title, and Dave was named section coach of the year. Together with his wife Nancy and several parents, Dave began the first youth soccer and basketball programs in Anoka.

After six years as an assistant basketball coach, Dave was appointed head coach of the boys’ team in 1978, a position he held until 1998. Under Coach Tank, Anoka won over three hundred games, three consecutive conference championships, three section titles, two state championships, and a runner-up title. At one point, the Anoka Tornadoes’ basketball team won an incredible fifty-two consecutive home games. Dave was selected conference coach of the year three times, WCCO coach of the week several times, and was selected to coach the Minnesota All-Star Metro team. In addition, Dave is a member of the Minnesota Basketball Coaches’ Hall of Fame.