BEMIDJI, Minn. — Dr. Patricia Rosenbrock, professor emeritus of physical education at Bemidji State University, and the late Dolores P. Clack will be inducted into the Northwest Women’s Hall of Fame during an 11 a.m. ceremony Saturday, Feb. 28. The hall of fame ceremony serves as the official kickoff to the BSU women’s studies program’s month-long series of events to celebrate March as Women’s History Month.

The event will be held at the Beaux Arts Ballroom in Bemidji State’s upper Hobson Memorial Union. Tickets, which include a luncheon promoting the theme of locally grown foods, are available for $20, or $15 for senior citizens and students.

The program consists of historical conservationists telling their stories to guests as they arrive for the event. After lunch will be a presentation of conservation songs from previous eras when the country was faced with economic hardships. During those times, conservation was heavily promoted by the government to encourage citizens to help one another by saving and not wasting resources. The hall of fame induction ceremony will follow the song presentation.

Now in its 11th year, the Hall of Fame is a collaborative project sponsored by the Northwest Minnesota Women’s Fund, a component of the Northwest Minnesota Foundation, and Bemidji State University. The Hall of Fame provides permanent recognition for women of northwestern Minnesota who have made significant contributions to art, athletics, business, government, philanthropy, humanities, science or education.

Clack and Rosenbrock will bring the number of hall of fame honorees to 23.

Tickets must be purchased in advance and are available at the Bemidji State University cashier’s office. For more information, call (218) 755-2045. Tickets may also be purchased on-line through the Northwest Minnesota Foundation by visiting http://www.nwmf.org.

For more information or to receive a complete schedule of Women’s History Month events, please contact Louise Jackson, Bemidji State University’s director of women’s studies at (218) 755-2803. Information is also available on the Northwest Minnesota Foundation’s Web site at http://www.nwmf.org.

About the NW Minnesota Women’s Hall of Fame
Hosted on the fourth floor of the A.C. Clark Library at Bemidji State University, the Northwest Minnesota Women’s Hall of Fame recognizes significant achievements of lasting value to society or significant groups within the northern Minnesota region or to the progress and freedom of women. Portraits and a record of each inductee’s contributions are added to the Hall of Fame following each year’s induction ceremonies, and a traveling display is available to be loaned to interested groups in the region.

2009 Inductee Bios

• Dolores P. Clack was born in 1932 in Fisher, Minn., where she lived until moving to Erskine, Minn., at age nine. A self-described “Tom Sawyer,” she loved the outdoors and helping with chores on the farm.

In 1952 and 1953, she played for the first professional women’s basketball team, the All-American Red Heads, which barnstormed across the country playing in small towns. After leaving the team, she moved to California and attended Sacramento City College. She attended classes while working full time, putting herself through college and two years of law school while working at a grocery store.

In 1977, after becoming a single parent with five children, she returned to Minnesota and started a career in real estate. She opened her own brokerage, Dolores P. Clack Real Estate, in 1983 in Park Rapids, Minn., and it grew to be the top office in the Midwest region for four of the six years before her death in 1999. The business continues today in the same location, with many of the same employees who had worked for her for years.

Dolores was affiliated with numerous organizations throughout her life, including the National Federation of Independent Business, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Park Rapids Business and Professional Women and the Park Rapids Chamber of Commerce. She also served a term as president of the Detroit Lakes / Park Rapids Board of Realtors and was a licensed real estate appraiser for residential and commercial properties. During her time in California, she owned a business and operated a farm.

Clack was known for extraordinary philanthropy in the community, helped many people become more successful in business, all while caring for her family, including raising two grandchildren in the last years of her life.

• Dr. Patricia A. Rosenbrock arrived in Bemidji as a professor and coach at Bemidji State University in 1969, as one of seven coaches in the first season of organized intercollegiate athletics for women at the University. Over the ensuing four decades, she would become a strong advocate for women and one of the most recognized figures in women’s athletics in the region.

An eventual member of the university’s athletic hall of fame, Rosenbrock coached a number of sports at Bemidji State throughout the years, working with women who would become some of the finest female athletes in the school’s history. Of the 30 female athletes in Bemidji State’s athletic hall of fame, 11 played for Rosenbrock.

In 1987, she was named director of the women’s studies program at Bemidji State, and was instrumental in the University’s establishment of a minor in women’s studies in 1990. She also played a key role in the creation of “Dust and Fire,” a writing anthology for women published annually by the University, and the 2006 edition was dedicated to her for her guidance, support and faith in women through her decades of service to the University and the region.

She taught physical education and women’s studies classes at Bemidji State until her retirement in 2006, and was also a strong advocate for the University’s compliance with the federal Title IX guidelines.

Rosenbrock was also one of the driving forces behind the area’s activities to support Women’s History Month. She was a founding member of the Minnesota Women’s Fund, and also served that group as a member of its advisory committee from 1997-2006. She also helped the group found the Northwest Minnesota Women’s Hall of Fame.

Rosenbrock earned a bachelor’s degree from Colorado State University, a master’s degree in physical education from San Diego State, and holds a doctorate in athletic administration from the University of Iowa.