The Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center honors athletes that have made great contributions in sports and have ties to the Northland. In 2019, former WDIO Sports Director Dan Williamson caught up with Willard Ikola at the DECC Athletic Hall of Fame. Watch the video from our newscast.

Legendary goalie and head coach of Edina, Willard Ikola made his mark on the ice at Eveleth, as well as Michigan and with Team USA in the 1956 Olympics.

“This is great,” Willard Ikola said of being inducted into the 2019 DECC Hall of Fame. “I got a letter about a month ago that stated that I was a candidate to be inducted into the Duluth Athletic Hall of Fame. I thought, jeez that’s great. Because I really like Duluth. In high school, we used to play Duluth East quite a bit. And when I was playing for Eveleth, we played Duluth quite a bit there both in region 7. So you know they both had to get through us to get to the state tournament. So I always enjoyed Duluth.”

Ikola said he also remembered coming down to play baseball in Duluth.

“In fact, we played a state tournament there one year in Duke Stadium for the high school league. So it’s a beautiful town and I enjoy being here today. I’m sure proud of the honor,” he said in 2019.

Six new members were enshrined into the DECC Athletic Hall of Fame that year. They include:

• Willard Ikola
• Mark Sertich – the World Record holder for oldest hockey player
• Tom Kurvers – UMD Hockey player, Hobie Baker winner and Minnesota Wild Assistant General Manager
• Lori Ogren – Port Wing native and UMD 3-sport standout, and 1992 Olympian in Handball
• Bob Davidson – Duluth native and former Major League Baseball umpire
• William Wirtanen – Virginia High School star athlete, coach and administrator