Pete Beckermann, the former volleyball and basketball head coach of United South Central had his name added to the list of the state’s finest coaches Oct. 4 when he was inducted into the Minnesota High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

“When the call came from the High School League” said Beckermann, “It was really humbling to me.”

As head volleyball coach Beckermann compiled a phenomenal career record of 463 wins with only 64 losses. His conference record was 171 wins with a mere seven losses and with that came 17 conference championships, 18 district championships, eight region championships. Four times Beckermann was a state runner-up, and one of his teams settled for state consolation championship.

Beckermann achieved the ultimate goal in 1993, when Beckermann’s team brought home a state championship.

These records were posted while coaching for Bricelyn Public Schools, South Central Schools in Kiester and Bricelyn and United South Central in Wells.

It was in Bricelyn, a town Beckermann has called home for the past 36 years, that Beckermann taught grades four through six from 1974 to 1985. In that first class sat a fifth-grade boy that would one day be a fellow teacher, coach and for the duration of years in the area, the son of a man who would become Beckermann’s best friend and mentor.

Scott Pierce, presently a business teacher in Owatonna, was that fifth-grade boy who eventually made the call to the Minnesota State High School Coaches Association to nominate Beckermann.

Pierce said that he remembers his father inviting Beckermann over to the house.

“I took what Pete said and I listened,” Pierce said. “I remember my dad telling me that I could call him Pete when he was in our home but in school I needed to call him Mr. Beckermann. Pete was my dad’s best friend and they did a lot together.”

When Pierce initially brought up the idea of nominating Beckermann for the hall of fame, Pierce was deterred by Beckermann.

“As a member of the coaches association for 22 years I had always watched the Coaches News and thought there was good reason for Pete to be in this,” Pierce said. “I talked with Pete first about it, and of course Pete responded by saying, ‘Why would you do that?’ I told him that I felt all of the people that were in the hall were very deserving and that I felt that he was deserving.”

Beckermann was named the coach of the year for the state in 1993, inducted into the Minnesota Volleyball Hall of Fame in 1999. Pierce said Beckermann was a coach who preached the fundamentals and that was done through hours of practice.

“Pete is a very organized, very fundamental coach. What he taught, he taught very well. Practice, practice, practice,” Pierce said. “That is what he was about and his record shows his success.”

Beckermann won Region 2 Coach of the Year honors five times as a volleyball coach and once in 1985 as basketball coach.

“He was an intense competitor,” Pierce said.

That intensity was difficult for some to understand and for others it made their commitment stronger.

“Other students wondered why you would want to play for him,” Pierce said. “Kids played for Pete because he likes to win.”

And win he did.

“I always had the philosophy that practice had to be tougher than the games and I am a big believer in the fundamentals of the game” Beckermann said.

In his years of coaching, Beckermann’s record speaks for itself.

As head basketball coach, Beckermann found a similar winning thread followed with the teams that he coached.

Although personal awards are not real important to Beckermann, personal awards came to him and many of the students that he coached throughout the years.

“Coaching was the best time of my life,” Beckermann said. “Over the years, I was really lucky to have some really good athletes. Every place I went I was blessed with good athletes and great kids.”