BIOGRAPHY

Art Von left high school before graduation to serve with the Army on a forged acknowledgement statement. He paratrooped into Normandy during WWII and received the Purple Heart. He then returned home to Minnesota to start his own private detective business. In 1954 he married Marion Hovland, a nurse, and moved to Fergus Falls where the first of three daughters, Susie, was born. In 1958, Art and Marion welcomed a second daughter in St. Paul and moved to Duluth where Art continued his private detective business and began firearm safety education in the region. In 1959, Art and Roy Rose started Little League Baseball in Duluth on a field on Woodland Avenue. That field is now the Como Park location for Eastern Little League. In 1963, Art and Marion had their youngest daughter, Laura. Art Von served Duluth Little League as a coach, umpire, administrator and finally State District Administrator of Little League Baseball up until his untimely death in 1994 to Non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma and End Stage Renal Disease. He inspired the love of sports and taught hundreds of boys and girls in the community about teamwork and sportsmanship.

FAMILY STATEMENT

Our family fondly remembers the many anniversaries, birthdays, and events spent on the little league fields; even recalling how Laura had to cut her hair short so that she wouldn’t draw attention to herself playing with the boys! The Art Von family is filled with gratitude for how the city has kept his legacy alive by honoring his name with the Art Von Tournament and the Art Von Field at the Lake Park Athletic Complex. Thank you for continuing his work with youth, growing the game of baseball, and continuing the same spirit of sportsmanship and teamwork that Art himself exemplified.