Former Armstrong volleyball coach Dennis Erickson dead at 83

He led his program to five consecutive Class 2A championships in the 1980s.

By Staff reports

May 25, 2020 at 1:34PM
November 13, 1980 Armstrong volleyball coach Denny Erickson discussed strategy Tom Sweeney, Minneapolis Star Tribune ORG XMIT: MIN2017012922471469
Then-Armstrong volleyball coach Dennis Erickson talked to his team in November 1980, when the program won its first of five consecutive Class 2A titles. (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Dennis Erickson, who led Armstrong to five consecutive Class 2A volleyball state titles from 1980 to '84, died from COVID-19 on Tuesday in Plymouth. He was 83.

A Willmar native, Army veteran and St. Cloud State graduate, Erickson was inducted into the first class of the Minnesota Volleyball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1996. He is also in the Hall of Fames at both Armstrong and Willmar high schools.

He also was a golf coach at Armstrong and a speech pathologist in the Robbinsdale school district for 32 years.

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