RICHMOND, Minn. — Bob Brink, a Platte, South Dakota native who went on to become the second-winningest coach in Minnesota high school basketball history, died Saturday, Oct. 9. He was 84.
Over 51 seasons, Brink coached basketball teams to 936 victories at three schools, including eight years getting his start at Tyndall and Plankinton in the 1960s.
Brink’s Rocori basketball teams made 13 state tournaments between 1979 and 2012, which ranks fifth-most in Minnesota high school boys history. The Spartans were the state’s big-school champions in 1988, winning the Class AA title with a 26-0 record, and finished as the state runner-up in 1989. His teams also finished in third place three times.
Brink started his coaching career in the 1961-62 season at Plankinton, where he went 53-33 in three seasons coaching the Pirates. In 1964, he took over the Tyndall High School boys basketball team, going 93-26. In 1969, his final season with the Panthers, Tyndall finished third at the Class B state tournament, capping a 25-1 season.
At that time, Brink and his wife, Judy, moved to Cold Spring, Minnesota, to move into a newly formed school district called Rocori, located about 20 miles southwest of St. Cloud that also served the communities of Rockville and Richmond. (The first two letters of each of the three cities formed the school’s name.)
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Brink retired in 2012 as the Spartans’ coach, finishing with a record of 790-296 at Rocori High School, and was 936-327 overall. Only Bob McDonald, the legendary coach in northern Minnesota who coached for 59 years and won 1,012 games, had more all-time coaching wins in Minnesota basketball history than Brink.
Brink was selected to the hall of fame for the Minnesota Basketball Coaches Association and Minnesota State High School League.
According to his obituary , Brink battled Alzheimer's disease in recent years. His family welcomes "letters containing memories, gratitudes, or tributes to Bob." Those can be emailed to basketballbobbrink@gmail.com.