Virgil "Joe" Lindahl

Virgil "Joe" Lindahl, a 1941 graduate of Wayne State, was an outstanding football player in his years at WSC. He was a three-time Associated Press Little All-American as an end for WSC and was a member of the All-Nebraska College football team all four years. Lindahl lettered four years in football and track at Wayne State and was named to the Nebraska Football Hall of Fame in 1973. After graduating from what was then Wayne Teachers College, Lindahl entered the Army Air Force. Leaving the service in 1945, he played one year of professional football for the New York Giants before beginning his coaching career at Geneva (Neb.) High School. Lindahl earned a master's degree in health and physical education at Greeley, Colo., in 1949, and moved to Columbus High School in 1949 and to Cozad High in 1952. At the time of his induction, he was the athletic director of the University of Northern Colorado, where he was also the head football coach when the school was known as Colorado State College. He began coaching at Colorado State as a line coach in 1953 and served as head coach beginning in 1954. He received a director's degree in Physical Education from Indiana University in 1964 and became athletic director at Northern Colorado in 1966. Lindahl was the first person inducted into the WSC Athletics Hall of Fame, Nov. 4, 1978. He is also a member of the NAIA Hall of Fame.