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Minnesota Basketball: Gophers Coaching Legend John Kundla Passes Away at 101

Minnesota Gophers coaching legend John Kundla died Sunday night at the age of 101. While Kundla is most remembered for coaching the Minneapolis Lakers to six professional Championships in the late-1940s and 1950s, Kundla also coached as his alma mater from 1959 through 1968.

John Kundla was born near Pittsburgh in 1916 and moved to Minnesota when he was five years old. He and his mother left his coal mining father behind in Pennsylvania, and he ever joined them in Minnesota. He would graduate from Minneapolis Central High School and enroll at the U in 1935.