George Selke
George Selke
People file into Selke Field, 1970s
Selke Field, November 1992
Veterans housing complex, 1960s
Footbal Game at Selke Field, 1970
Biography
George Selke was born June 28, 1888, in La Crosse, WI. He graduated from St. Cloud State in 1913. He also earned a bachelor's degree from the University of Minnesota and a master's degree from Columbia University Teacher's College. He worked as a rural teacher, principal, and superintendent of schools in Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota from 1907 to 1917. Selke worked for the Minnesota Department of Education from 1919 to 1924 and then as a faculty member at the University of Minnesota from 1924 to 1927. In 1927, Selke was appointed as St. Cloud State's 10th president, serving until 1946. During his tenure as president, St. Cloud State began a four-year teacher program that awarded bachelor's degrees, purchased the Beaver Islands on the Mississippi River, and started the men's varsity hockey team.
During World War II, Selke took leave from St. Cloud State and enlisted. He served from 1943 to 1946 as the United States commissioner on education to post-war Germany and as a "monuments" man. Upon his return from war, Selke worked one month as St. Cloud State's president in 1946 before he was named Chancellor of the Montana universities system. He served on special missions for the government to Korea in 1948 and to Germany in 1949. From 1950 to 1955, he was chief of the Division of Cultural Affairs for U.S. Commissioner in Germany. He worked for the Minnesota Department of Conservation from 1955 to 1961, when he became the assistant secretary for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Selke died October 2, 1970, in Portland, OR, and buried in that city's Willamette National Cemetery.
Selke Field (1937)
Selke Field opened in 1937 as Sports Field five blocks east of campus on the opposite side of the Mississippi River. The 17-acre property is known for its massive granite walls built by the Works Progress Administration during the Great Depression. The granite for the walls was taken from nearby quarries that were also owned by St. Cloud State. In 1946, Sports Field was renamed after Selke. Not only was Selke Field used for athletics, the north end was used as veterans housing beginning in 1947. The veterans housing was later used for married students before the buildings were razed in the summer of 1968. Selke Field was site of St. Cloud State football games and track meets until 2004 when Husky Stadium opened near Halenbeck Hall. Today, Selke Field is the home of Husky softball. Youth soccer teams, club rugby teams and intramural sports teams also use the irrigated turf field.