Selling ads, enticing sports teams

Gunnar Rovick of Bloomington was a salesman with heart, whether he was selling bonds to build the old Met Stadium in Bloomington, or selling advertising at the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Rovick was the first president of the Minneapolis Minute Men, a group that helped bring the Vikings and the Twins to Minnesota. He died on April 17 in Edina from complications of Parkinson's disease at age 86.

"He was a big, big sports fan in town, and a big leader," recalled Star Tribune columnist Sid Hartman.

In 1956, Rovick was named the president of the Minute Men, a group of 80 businessmen who led the subscription drive to build Metropolitan Stadium.

Their goal was to persuade major league club owners to establish baseball and football teams in the Twin Cities.

Minute Man Pat Corcoran of Eagan said Rovick made the task fun because he was so outgoing.

"Gunnar was one of the top bond salesmen, and that was key in getting the old Met built," Corcoran said.

Rovick led the group on tours around the state, stumping for support to bring professional football and baseball to Minnesota. The group also invited professional teams to play exhibition games here to raise money for their cause.

At the newspaper, clients sought Rovick out.

"First and foremost, he was a salesperson from Day One, because he had that ability to form a connection with the client," said Jim Anderson of Mendota Heights, a former Star Tribune sales executive.

Rovick always found the time to help his employees with problems, said Anderson. "He was an unusually gifted man. I never met any person who everyone immediately loved."

Rovick, a native of Nord-Odal, Norway, moved to Minneapolis when he was 3 years old. In 1939, he graduated from Minneapolis South High School, where he was a skier and ski jumper.

When he joined the Minneapolis Tribune in 1940, he sold advertising until he left for World War II as a pilot with the Navy and later the Marines. He rejoined the newspaper at war's end.

For many years, he led the Star and Tribune's classified advertising department, and later became the company's director of advertising.

In 1971, he was elected president of the Association of Newspaper Classified Advertising Managers.

He retired in 1982.

As a Shriner, he led the Zuhrah Temple Drum Corps and played the glockenspiel.

An avid golfer, he was a director of the Western Golf Association from 1995 to 2002, and organized many charitable golf tournaments in the Twin Cities, including the Joe Duffy Celebrity Tournament for Charities, named for another early leader of the Minute Men.

His daughter, Susie Wares of Bloomington, said he had been a Vikings season ticket holder since the first year of the franchise in 1961.

"He was very proud when the Met was built," his daughter said.

In addition to Susie, he is survived by his wife of 64 years, Elaine of Edina; another daughter, Judy Kirtian of St. Louis, Mo.; brother, Erling of Minneapolis; four grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

Services are being planned.