Bob Naegele Jr., the hometown kid who played the most pivotal role in bringing the NHL back to the Twin Cities two decades ago, died on Wednesday night of complications from cancer. He was 78.
Naegele will forever be remembered as one of the founding fathers of the State of Hockey after his group, Minnesota Sports & Entertainment, paid $80 million to the NHL to bring an expansion franchise to Minnesota in June 1997, and chipped in $45 million toward building the Xcel Energy Center in downtown St. Paul.
To honor their first owner, the Wild will wear a patch with the initials “BN” on their jerseys for the remainder of the season, starting with Thursday night’s game against the Kings at Staples Center in Los Angeles. The team will hold a moment of silence before their next home game, Nov. 13 against the Washington Capitals.
“I had a chance to meet with him a couple weeks ago,” Wild captain Mikko Koivu said after the team’s morning skate Thursday. “I told him that he really created a safe environment for the players to come into, and I think that’s the best way to describe him, what he meant for the players and the families that were on the team.”
When NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman needed someone to spearhead the drive to bring professional hockey back to Minnesota, Naegele stepped up, ready and willing to do what it took to get the NHL back where he felt it belonged after the North Stars left for Dallas in 1993.
“The National Hockey League, the Minnesota Wild and hockey fans across the State of Minnesota have lost a dear friend with the passing of Bob Naegele,” Bettman said in a statement. “More than 20 years ago, Bob had a vision, to return NHL hockey to the Twin Cities and to ensure that the great fans in the State of Hockey would have a state-of-the-art arena in which to cheer for their beloved Wild. He worked tirelessly, often in the face of long odds, to ensure that his dreams became reality.”
The Wild played their first regular-season game in the brand-new Xcel Energy Center on Oct. 11, 2000. That night, Naegele honored the sellout crowd in a pregame ceremony by retiring the No. 1 sweater as an ode to the fans and proclaiming, “You are the ones who brought the NHL back home where it belongs.”
Wes Walz was the top center on that inaugural team, and remembered Naegele as a kind, committed owner who was deeply committed to his faith and boasted a lockbox memory.
“Once every year or two he would send me small bibles with two or three paragraphs about the team and wishing me good health,” Walz recalled. “The first time I met him I had my family with me, and six weeks later we were out in public and he rattled off the names of my kids and wife. I couldn’t believe it. He really did care.”
Walz said he was “fortunate” to spend an hour with Naegele two weeks ago.
“I never had a chance to thank him for buying the team and giving me a second crack to fulfill my career” until they met up last month, said Walz, who retired in 2007. “I’m just blessed and thankful I had a chance to say that to him.”
Naegele grew up skating on rinks around the Twin Cities and played goaltender for Minnetonka High School. He graduated from Dartmouth College in 1961, and was married to his wife, Ellis, for 58 years. They raised four children.
“It was all about bringing hockey back to Minnesota. Behind it all, Bob was a hockey fan,” said Jac Sperling, the Wild’s first CEO, who was instrumental in brokering the deal for Naegele to acquire the $80 million expansion franchise.
Sperling recalled Naegele strapping on the pads during a general managers meeting and bravely standing up to the former stars who peppered the 60-something executive with NHL-caliber shots.
“They were not easy on Bob with the shots on goal, and the guy with the hardest shot was (former Wild GM) Doug Risebrough,” Sperling said. “He was bruised and battered but always up for beers afterward. He loved it, and they loved him because he was up for the challenge and went ahead and did it.”
Naegele always credited former U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.), then mayor of St. Paul, with helping him start the process of acquiring the team, sharing his vision of an NHL franchise as the centerpiece to a downtown renaissance.
“As a mayor, I dreamed great dreams, but it was Bob Naegele who had the skill and the faith to turn those dreams into reality,” Coleman said in a statement. “The result was the Minnesota Wild.”
Marian Gaborik, the Wild’s first draft pick in 2000, wrote on Twitter on Thursday, “I’d like to express my deepest and heartfelt condolences to the Naegele family. Bob Naegele, Jr. was a great, honest and the family man with tremendous amount of integrity. Me and my family loved him dearly. He was a family to me. Thank you for everything! R.I.P.”
Naegele was the Wild’s majority owner until he sold the team to current owner Craig Leipold in January 2008 for a deal believed to be worth $250 million.
“A piece of his heart and soul will remain forever as a part of the Wild,” Leipold said in a statement. “We will honor that. My family and I are so fortunate to have the chance to build on the great foundation he established here.”
