Tony Dorn Jr presented the 2024 Tony Dorn Sr. Student Athlete Scholarship to Kora Sorter and Braydin Lund (other student pictured is the Teddy Dorn Nursing Scholarship winner)
The children of Tony Dorn Sr. have established the Tony Dorn Sr. Student Athlete Scholarship at the Thief River Falls Education Foundation in honor of Tony’s 80th birthday.
Pictured presenting the award to their father are children; Tony Dorn Jr., Kaye Dorn Marvin, and Lynn Dorn
Tony Dorn Sr. a 1944 Lincoln High graduate lettered three years in Sr. High in football, hockey and track. (Senior High was then Sophomore, Junior and Senior years). He was captain of the hockey team and played on the 1942 Invitational State Team, which won that championship. He was named in the Minnesota High School League handbook, as one of the outstanding football players in the state.
He was invited by the Chicago Blackhawks hockey team in 1944 to their training camp and was signed and played the winter of 1944-45 in the East Coast League. Tony was the first hockey player from Thief River Falls ever to be signed to a professional contract.
In 1945 he enlisted in the Navy, and after service intended to go back to the Blackhawks, but his father died and family circumstances dictated a change in plans. He stayed in Thief River Falls and played hockey in the States-Dominion and Northwest Hockey Leagues for many years. He was named to numerous all-star teams, one being the all-star team representing Crookston, which went on to win the U.S. Senior Hockey Championship.
Tony was invited to the Olympics and this time business prohibited his accepting. During that time, he was one of the first youth hockey coaches in Thief River Falls who helped organize the youth hockey program which has now evolved into the present TRFAHA program.
He was employed by Grundy’s Office Supplies and eventually bought the business he had worked for for many years and has made it into a large and still-growing business operation. He opened a store in Grand Forks as well, and has been recognized by the Canon Corporation as one of the most successful distributorships in their company.