A successful college hockey career is leading a Fort Frances man into the Fort Frances Sports Hall of Fame this weekend.

Gary Beck starred with St. Scholastica College in the late 1970s, with teams reaching the NAIA tournament final in his first three years and capturing national championships in 1975 and 1977.

Beck joined the team after concluding high school hockey both in Fort Frances and in International Falls.

“I played on the Muskies in grade 10. Then I played 11 and 12 in the Falls and got (the) scholarship at the College of St. Scholastica,” says Beck.

“The coaches at St. Scholastica saw me play one hockey game and offered me a full-ride scholarship. It was a dream come true, to be able to go to school and earn a degree and play hockey at the same time.”

Beck made an immediate impact, racking up 6 assists in his first game, a 20-1 blowout of Faribault, setting new team records for assists and points in one game.

The points record stood for a year while the assists record remained until 1979.

“My first year at St. Scholastica, we had a real super team and won our first national championship that year as a freshman,” says Beck.

“In the second year at Scholastica, we came runner-up in the championship game and in the third year, won our second national championship.”

Beck played the game’s hero in the 1977 championship, scoring the game-winning goal with 20 seconds remaining in the third period as the team played shorthanded.

Beck and St. Scholastic reached the championship tournament in his fourth and final season, only to be knocked out in the quarter-final round.

He returned to Fort Frances after graduation, briefly joined the Warroad Lakers before settling on a career as a probation officer.

Beck assisted the Fort Frances Muskies hockey program for a few years before putting the skates back on as a referee for the next seven years.

He turned back to coaching at the minor hockey league level when his son was old enough to play.

Beck says he never thought his college career would lead to a Hall of Fame induction.

“It is a real honour to be inducted, but it is also very humbling,” says Beck.

“It’s humbling because a lot of the people who have already been inducted, some of were my heroes, like Danny Johnson.”

Another hall inductee is Bobby Peters, a former coach at Bemidji State when Beck played.

“That was kind of our number one rival. We used to talk before the games there. He’d ask me how my dad was because he played hockey with my dad.”

Beck was previously inducted into St. Scholastic’s Athletics Hall of Fame, when the College recognized him and his teammates from the ’75 and ’77 championship teams.

Beck remains one of the College’s all-time top scorers, racking up 132 points and 64 goals over his four seasons.

He was also named to the ICHA All-Conference in his senior year.