‘We have lost a giant’ | Brainerd Dispatch

The old noseguard knew how to coach football and how to introduce and run a strength and conditioning program. He earned acclaim for his prowess as the Brainerd Warriors defensive coordinator. He received state and nationwide recognition for his expertise in strength and for starting strength programs at two high schools.

Nunnink, who suffered a brain aneurysm following Brainerd’s football opener in August 2003, died Wednesday, Dec. 1, at his home in Baxter. Numerous surgeries followed that incident. Nunnink, 74, was in and out of intensive care, rehabilitation clinics and hospitals ever since.

Numerous accolades were bestowed upon him during his career, including the Butch Nash Award and Brainerd Teacher of the Year. Nunnink served as a coach in the Minnesota All-Star Football Game and was named Minnesota Assistant Coach of the Year. In 2000, he was named Minnesota State Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Year. A year later, he was named the National High School Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Year.

Nunnink, who played football at the University of North Dakota, received UND’s Thomas Clifford Award for coaching excellence. He was inducted into the UND Athletics Hall of Fame with the 1966 team.

In addition, he was inducted into the Brainerd Warriors Athletic Hall of Fame in 2006. Six years later, he was among the first assistant coaches inducted into the Minnesota Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

During his tenure at Brainerd High School (1975-2003) he taught science and sports medicine and was equipment manager for all Warrior athletic teams. Nunnink also was an assistant boys hockey coach for a few years but his passion was coaching football.

“We have lost a giant,” retired Warriors head football coach Ron Stolski said Friday. “Steve was the Warrior Way.”

In the fall of 1975, Stolski brought Nunnink with him from Park Center to Brainerd. During their 29 years together on the Warrior sidelines, Brainerd compiled a 198-96 record, won nine Central Lakes Conference titles and four section championships.

“Steve Nunnink was without bluster,” Stolski said. “He served unconditionally, to not only the Warriors, but to whomever he met or whomever called for advice. As a strength coach, he was a guru who was respected not only in our community but in the state and nation. He was the 2001 national high school strength coach of the year. That’s not an award given lightly.”

Stolski hired Nunnink as his defensive coordinator when the two coached at Park Center from 1971-74. They became the closest of friends. They also recently became neighbors.

“In my career, when I had a chance to be around the country and speak, whenever anyone saw the Brainerd nametag on me, wherever I was, people would say, ‘Do you know Steve Nunnink?” Stolski said. “I think that’s his greatest accomplishment. He established a strength tradition not only here but everywhere.

“Beyond that, in football, he was a defensive guru. Our motto was if we can score more than two (points), we’re going to win. I will miss him terribly.

“I can’t minimize the impact he had on our lives, on the Warrior coaching staff. Whoever would call and say they needed help Steve Nunnink was there.”

Chet Stevenson met Nunnink while playing football at the University of North Dakota where Nunnink was the freshman coach. After the 1970 season, Stolski called Stevenson, who had played for Stolski at Princeton, to inquire about Nunnink who had applied for a position on Stolski’s staff at Park Center.

“Ron asked me who is this Steve Nunnink guy. I said he’s a good guy,” Stevenson said. “Then Ron said ‘I don’t care if he’s a good guy. Can he coach football?’ And I said, ‘Guess what coach? He’s a good guy and he can coach football. He can coach the heck out of football.’”

Stevenson coached Warrior offensive linemen while Nunnink was defensive coordinator. He stayed at Nunnink’s home the first season he coached in Brainerd. Stevenson called Nunnink a tremendous defensive coordinator as well as a master strength coach. He said Nunnink’s strength program impacted all Warrior athletic teams.

“It was not the football strength program, it was the Warrior strength program,” Stevenson said. “He insisted on everyone knowing there weren’t different lifts for boys and girls. They were the same lifts. He treated everyone the same way.

“He was a firm believer that strength is the base of every athletic movement. If you don’t have strength, you’re not benefiting the athlete.

“I loved the man, I really did.”
Scott Parsons played football at Park Center for Stolski and Nunnink and wound up joining the Warriors’ staff as linebackers coach. He said many of his Park Center teammates reached out after learning of Nunnink’s death, collectively saying he was a great coach and great teacher. But, most of all, they said Nunnink was a great leader of young men who made a difference in their lives.

Park Center opened in 1971 and the Pirates immediately established a winning tradition under Stolski and Nunnink. Nunnink started the strength program at Park Center as he did four years later in Brainerd. Parsons said Park Center had one of the best strength programs in the metro area.

“That was all Steve Nunnink,” Parsons said. “Ron knew strength was important but Steve knew the technicalities of it. Steve knew how to put a program together. Ron pretty much left it up to Steve to figure it out and get us rolling.

“Steve understood strength was the same for guys and girls. Strength is strength. It’s all about the principle of overload. The exercises are the same. You don’t have specific lifts for girls because they can’t do what guys can. Steve understood that wasn’t true. Girls are as capable of performing any kind of lift as guys are. There’s no difference in strength for different genders. Steve developed a program for boys and girls and everybody bought in.”

On the football field, Parsons said players at Park Center and Brainerd bought into Nunnink’s defense. He added that Nunnink was detail-oriented and a calming influence.

“Steve never lost his cool. He was always good under pressure,” Parsons said. “If kids got in a situation where they were getting a little emotional or things were not going well in a game, Steve had a way to bring you back to earth, getting you to refocus, understand what’s important, what will get you through. Panic wasn’t the way it was going to work. He had that calming effect on kids.”

Parsons said Randi, Nunnink’s wife of 49 years, has been a carbon copy of her husband in many ways. He said she had the same love for football and understood the importance of strength.

“Randi was supportive of Steve the whole way in whatever he did,” Parsons said. “He spent a lot of time away from home with all his responsibilities at the high school. She never flinched. She was with him all the way through.

“She was with him during the unfortunate incident in 2003 and she never wavered again. She’s been there the whole way. For 18 years of never really knowing where this was going to go, she never left his side.

“It was a great example of love and loyalty that has endured.”

In 1965, Nunnink graduated from Hopkins High School where he played football, hockey and basketball and wrestled. He graduated from UND in 1971 with a degree in education with an emphasis on biology, chemistry and physics. He was a 3-time letterwinner as an offensive guard and nose tackle, helping UND to the 1966 Pecan Bowl championship.

A memorial service for Nunnink will be 1 p.m. Friday, Dec. 10, at First Lutheran Church in Brainerd. Friends and family are invited to gather one hour prior to the service.

Visitation will be from 5 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 9, at Nelson-Doran Funeral Home in Brainerd.