Norm Dutot retires after 56 years serving North Dakota sports
· Yahoo Sports
Feb. 25—GRAND FORKS — When it dawned on Norm Dutot that his 56 years of sports service were coming to an end, he took out a highway map of North Dakota and started circling.
Bismarck. Grand Forks. Fargo. Mandan.
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Fifty-seven cities were circled by the time he was finished. Communities big and small, east and west, north and south. Circles sprinkled across the expanse of the state. A similar exercise with a map of Minnesota wound up with 25 additional marks.
Each circle was a town Dutot had visited during his lengthy service in sports.
From coaching, to officiating, to scorekeeping and even radio broadcasting, he played a part in just about every facet of running a sporting event.
"It's really a huge amount of people that are involved in putting on an event," Dutot said. "If people could understand that, they'd appreciate what these people do. But I've done it for 56 years, and it's been a joy. You meet people, you make good relationships with people."
It all came to an end last Saturday at the Betty Engelstad Sioux Center.
Dutot was at his typical spot on the scorekeeper's table when he was approached by deputy athletic director Erik Martinson.
It was during a timeout in the first quarter of the UND women's basketball team's game against St. Thomas.
Martinson told him to stand up.
"I thought, well, I'm being arrested for something," Dutot said.
Instead, Martinson offered a handshake as the announcer rattled off Dutot's lengthy resume of work in sports.
The home crowd applauded as Dutot stood in shock.
"It's definitely surreal," Dutot said. "I had to sit down and get back to work and figure out what's going on."
Dutot had decided that Saturday's contest would be his last game as a scorekeeper for the Fighting Hawks, and his final act of sports work.
"Fifty-six years is a long time," Dutot said. "I never thought it would go that far. Hanging it up now, I kind of just feel like it's time to maybe sit back and be more of a fan."
Dutot has been a scorekeeper for UND basketball for roughly 10 years.
His career in sports came to an end with the Hawks last weekend at the Betty, but it started in Ohio over 50 years ago.
While he was still attending Bowling Green University, Dutot was asked to do scorekeeping for a junior varsity game.
"It worked out okay," Dutot said. "I made $3, which back then was 10 gallons worth of gas."
Dutot got into coaching basketball and track at the junior high level in Ohio as he began his teaching career.
He eventually moved to Bismarck for a teaching job, where he did a little bit of everything in athletics.
Dutot ran the scorebook and officiated boys basketball. He even did a season of color commentary on the radio.
Dutot eventually became the head coach of the Bismarck Century girls basketball team. He was named the North Dakota Class A girls basketball Coach of the Year for the 1981-82 season.
In 1980, Dutot took an all-star team of girls basketball players to Germany. He raised money through a girls all-star game and handpicked some of the best players across North Dakota to take on five club teams overseas.
It was one of the standout moments of his career.
"It was kind of a dream come true for me," Dutot said. "We traveled and played basketball at the same time. ... After every game, we would have a social with the home team. And that was really good culturally for our kids, and they all spoke English over there, which was really a plus. I can still remember that trip."
When Dutot and his wife moved to Grand Forks over 40 years ago, he jumped right back into athletics through officiating and coaching.
"I was always doing something," Dutot said. "It's just something I like to do. I realize that these jobs are important in order to have activities for kids, and I can't picture anything other than doing that when I had the time and grew with experience. I could probably write a book on all the coaching and reffing things that I've come across over the years."
Dutot has officiated over 1,000 basketball games. He's also officiated high school and college football, and worked volleyball, track and field and golf.
"There's so much growth that can take place with kids in sports," Dutot said. "My athletic director in Bismarck used to say sports builds character and characters. Overall, it was a positive experience and I don't regret any of it. It was a lot of fun — I had fun, and the kids had fun. And the main point is just to point out the amount of effort that goes into putting on an event, and the people behind the scenes I've go to recognize. Hopefully, truly that brings recognition to other people that do the same work."
Dutot was asked to help officiate UND football games around 2012, when the program joined the Big Sky Conference.
In addition to standard officiating, he worked as a 'Red Hat', the official who manages television commercial breaks by signaling when to stop or resume play.
The 56 years have gone by fast for Dutot. He will still be sticking around the Grand Forks sporting community, just in a different capacity.
"I told one of the refs on Saturday, 'This is my last game,'" Dutot said. "He said, 'What are you gonna do?' I said, 'I'm gonna sit up in the stands and complain about you guys.'"