Albert Lea native Kelley Brandt was inducted into the Iowa State University Hockey Hall of Fame on Oct. 1.

Brandt, 55, played hockey for ISU from 1974 to ’78, while he earned a degree in industrial administration.

Brandt described the news he received as being similar to an old fling calling you up that you ditched 30 years ago. Hockey was just something he did, and he just let it be a part of his college years. He never expected to be a part of the Hall of Fame years later.

The induction ceremony was held at the Iowa State Golf Course. Brandt said each year there are about four individuals who are inducted. With his family watching, Brandt was added to the list. He received a plaque and gave a short speech.

“When I got up there and had to speak, my dad’s voice was in the back of my mind,” said Brandt, whose father passed away in 2010. “He was saying, ‘Kelley stand up, say something and sit down. Don’t talk too long.’”

With his speech, he tried to keep it light-hearted. A lot of what he talked about was his hockey experience with his dad, Jerry.

He said Jerry made an effort to drive from Albert Lea to Ames, Iowa, for every home game.

One story he told was from when he was a junior in high school. Albert Lea was getting beat by a long shot by one of the Rochester teams.

“I was coming off the ice, I was all sweaty and my dad pulled me over to him and said, ‘Kelley, pull your hockey pants down a little bit, you’ve got them too high and you look like a sissy out there.’”

Senior year at Iowa State was a particularly memorable one for Brandt as he got to play side by side with his brother Kevin.

Brandt said his style was more about play making and passing. Kevin’s style was to be a goal scorer. Together, they scored a number of Brandt assists to Brandt scoring combinations.

He said for the year they played together, a banner hung in the dorms that said: “The Brandt brothers are mean mothers.”

When he played for the Cyclones, Brandt was captain of the team his junior and senior year.

When he played for Albert Lea in high school, he was an alternative captain, named Big Nine All-Conference and was given recognition as most valuable player.

Brandt accepted the MVP award but didn’t really believe in it.

In the short speech he gave when he received the award, Brandt told the audience, “I’m not sure there is such thing as MVP. Every player has its own unique ability and they’re the reason we win games.”

Roy Nystrom was just starting as a coach for Albert Lea when Brandt was a senior in high school. He credits Nystrom for making him play harder to become a better hockey player.

His dad Jerry is also to credit. When Brandt was about six years old, Jerry would flood a 30-foot by 50-foot area in the backyard to make a private ice rink.

Once there was snowfall, Brandt and his siblings would watch from the living room window as Jerry got busy making the rink.

“It was like a kid waiting to see Santa Clause,” said Brandt. “I’m sure you could say it was bumpy and uneven, but it probably helped our skating down the road. Hockey in itself is a rough and bumpy sport.”

Brandt said he learned to skate with the help of a chair for balance. Jerry taught him that if he fell, he should just get back up and try again.

“He’d smile knowing that you didn’t really hurt yourself,” Brandt said.

In 1967, Jerry got a promotion and the family moved to Detroit, Mich. It was there Brandt first started to play organized hockey. He played PeeWees for two years until the family moved back to Albert Lea.

During the last three years of high school, Brandt played on varsity as a center iceman. He said he was a good skater and could pass the puck but scoring wasn’t his forte.

“My dad would frequently shout out, ‘Shoot the puck Kelley, shoot it hard on net,’” Brandt said. “Unfortunately, I didn’t take his advice often enough.”

While Jerry fed Brandt’s mind with constructive criticism and encouragement, his mother filled his stomach.

“She was my biggest fan,” Brandt said. “She made great peanut butter and banana sandwiches.”

At the time, games in Albert Lea were played at the fairgrounds in a pig barn. The rink was two-thirds the size of a regulation hockey rink. The fathers of the players would push around a manual Zamboni and at the end of each period, they would be out with shovels pushing the extra snow over the boards.

The maximum capacity of the barn was about 200 people but fans always packed in as many as they could.

“You would actually see fans and students climbing in the barn rafters above to watch, even though it wasn’t allowed,” Brandt said.

The final game of Brandt’s high school career went into double overtime against North St. Paul during the state tournament. Albert Lea lost.

“We gave it everything we had as a team and left the ice emotionally and physically exhausted,” Brandt said.

The team had an especially tough time in the locker room afterwards.

“Tears welled up for the seniors on our team,” said Brandt. “We knew it was over for us.”

Today, Brandt has put his hockey playing to rest, but keeps up with the Gopher hockey team and also Albert Lea’s.

He shared a piece of advice he would give to current players.

“Recognize hockey as a team game,” Brandt said. “You owe it to your teammates to be in top physical shape every time you take the ice. Individual players don’t win games, teams win games.”