May 19, 2025
By: Dan Klinkhammer - Former MYAS Executive Director and Current MYAS Board Member
In my lifetime, I have had the privilege of knowing and working with some truly great men, but none better than Mike DeWane. I was deeply saddened when I heard of his passing on May 9th. I was not prepared to lose such a close friend, co-worker and mentor. Just another example of life not being fair.
For those of you who didn’t know Mike, let me tell you a little about a man who was truly a gift to Minnesota. I first met Mike in the early 90s. I didn’t know much about him at the time, but I quickly learned that he was a successful businessman, loving husband, dedicated father, and tireless volunteer for several youth sports organizations in Hopkins, MN.
In 1994, I took over as the Executive Director of the Minnesota Youth Athletic Services (MYAS) and Mike DeWane was my first hire. What a blessing that turned out to be. We gave him the position of President and he took the ball and ran with it like the halfback he was at Holy Cross! Determined and fearless in so many different ways, Mr. DeWane became the “business brains” of the organization and for that expertise, I will be forever grateful.
The 90s were the formative years of the MYAS and nobody had more to do with the creation and growth of the MYAS mission than Mike. Job titles didn’t mean much back in those days. Everybody did whatever it took to create and conduct the numerous MYAS events that we developed on a weekly basis. Mike earned the respect and confidence of the staff by working side-by-side with them on whatever needed to be done, including the “not much fun” tasks associated with every event. I recall one such occasion when we were conducting an all-star baseball event in Andover and the MYAS President was needed to help park cars. No task was too big or too small for the man willing to do whatever it took to get the job done.
Perhaps the most notable example of Mike’s influence on the Minnesota sports scene was his tenacity in building the MYAS Grade State Basketball Championships. That event is currently the largest youth basketball tournament in the country with nearly 2,000 TEAMS competing annually. Nobody, and I repeat NOBODY, had more to do with making that our signature event than Mike. He worked the phones, he met with anybody and everybody that might be a potential contestant. He attended numerous evening and weekend meetings and events. Sixty- and seventy-hour work weeks were common and I never heard him complain…not even once! Mike was both my right and left hand in everything that we did.
He was a big believer in coach education and he was an integral part of the creation and implementation of the MYAS’s Trusted Coaches program. That one-stop-shop online service provides concussion training, first aid training and background checks for volunteer coaches. It’s a one-of-a-kind program that is currently being utilized in 26 states by over 700 youth sport associations, representing 54,000 coaches. Trusted Coaches is a huge piece of Mike’s legacy and was the inspiration for the MYAS motto of “Youth Sports Done Right!”
Mike’s legacy doesn’t stop with his contributions to youth sports. He and his beautiful wife, Rita, raised three very successful “Super Sons” - Chris the businessman, Matt the attorney, and Michael the surgeon. Mike was so proud of those kids that he couldn’t wipe the smile off his face when he talked about them. All three were exceptional athletes and I would often read about their athletic prowess in the newspaper. I never missed the opportunity to tell him that Rita must have been an awesome athlete in her day! He would just smile and agree with me.
Earlier in this tribute I identified Mike as a “gift to Minnesota.” That was due to the fact that he gave everything he had to the betterment of youth sports in the Gopher State. Thanks to his unselfish efforts, literally millions of kids, coaches, officials, and parents have benefited from his vision and dedication to youth sports.
As testimony to his unselfish and unwavering support of youth sports, Rita and the entire DeWane family have requested that in lieu of flowers, they would prefer donations be made to the MYAS Community Impact Fund. I think that is a fitting conclusion to the huge impact that Mike has had on all of us.
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