Jack Gunderson was a junior on the junior varsity hockey team at Mahtomedi High School in December 2013.
The Zephyrs made a trip to northern Minnesota for several games, playing in a tournament called Run for the Range. One stop was Hibbing. When the team arrived there to play Hibbing High School, Gunderson, a product of St. Jude of the Lake school and parish in Mahtomedi, was told he would dress for varsity and play in that game.
“That’s a big deal,” said his mom, Dawn. It was the first time he had made a hockey “A” team of any kind, she noted. Playing in a town and against a team steeped in hockey tradition made this milestone even more special.
There was only one problem: No game jersey could be found. The extras had been left behind. A frantic search finally led to one jersey — No. 33, worn by the backup goalie. Such jerseys are generally much larger due to the amount of padding goalies use.
“The thing was down (past) his arms and down (past) his waist,” Dawn recalled. “But he was so proud.”
Jack wasn’t about to let an oversized jersey get in the way of his varsity debut. He tucked the bottom of the jersey into his hockey gear as best he could and joined his new varsity teammates on the bench. He logged some ice time in the game, which set the stage for a full season on varsity as a senior the next year.
When jerseys were handed out that year, Jack was told that his traditional number (4) was available.
He turned it down.
Instead, he stuck with 33. There was something special about that number.
There still is. This number recently was painted on the newly remodeled gymnasium at St. Jude of the Lake Catholic School in honor of Jack, who attended the school through eighth grade, as did his father, Greg Gunderson, and four siblings. This number, along with Jack’s full name, is something Principal Ben Vasko hopes every person who walks into the gym will see.
Sadly, Jack himself will never get to see the artwork created in his honor. He died on Nov. 9, 2024, after being hit by a car while taking a walk. According to his parents, Dawn and her husband, Greg, it was dark and rainy when Jack started to cross the street. The young woman at the wheel never saw him, they said, and he died after being struck by her vehicle. He was 28.
Just hours after the tragedy, Greg and Dawn hastily prepared to return to the Twin Cities from a work trip to receive the body of their son, the fourth of their five children. As they did so, word spread like wildfire about what had happened to a young man who made a legendary impact on others — a ripple effect larger than Greg and Dawn ever knew.
Days later, people waited in line for two hours at the funeral home for a chance to greet the Gunderson family. At the funeral on Nov. 16, St. Jude of the Lake Church overflowed with attendees.
“Our church seats 430 people, and we had 200 (additional) people in the basement,” said Father Michael Johnson, the pastor of St. Jude of the Lake. “That’s more than we have on Christmas Eve Mass at 4 o’clock.”
He added: “If you can go through life and influence 630 people so that they come to your funeral, that’s a life well-lived.”
What made Jack Gunderson so special, and so beloved?
Many people pointed to one thing: He noticed people, especially those who were struggling and those who had disadvantages in life. Jack not only noticed them, he encouraged them. He wrote countless notes throughout his life, all of them ending with his famous signature, the number 33 with a heart around it. That signature is now immortalized in artwork on the east and west walls of the gym.
“So many people have told us stories (that) they felt seen when they were with Jack,” Dawn said. “Sometimes, the people who were least seen, they would always say, ‘I felt seen when I was with him.’”
Greg called Jack an “energetic includer” who “found fun wherever he went” and “could just bring it out in people.”
Making others feel included was important to Jack, his parents and others said. Like the time when he was getting ready for his senior year at Mahtomedi High School and was attending a summer hockey camp. He met a boy at the camp who was going into ninth grade. The boy was new to the area. Later, the boy told Greg and Dawn he was nervous just walking into the locker room at camp.
“He didn’t know if he belonged, and he was shy,” Greg said. “Jack just grabbed him and said, ‘Come over and sit down.’ Then, he ended up giving him rides to and from practice (for the duration of the camp).”
Stories like these have been pouring in ever since Jack died. Many are compiled in a special book made by the Gundersons’ other four children — Grant, Gretchen, Blake and Grace. On May 10, Jack’s birthday, people were invited to the Gunderson home to share stories of how Jack touched their lives. Dawn and Greg were gone at the time. The gathering turned into an all-day celebration of Jack’s life. The children later presented a book of stories, many of them handwritten, to Dawn and Greg. They say there are at least 100 stories in that book.
One entry, from friend and St. Jude classmate Mike McGill, contained these words:
“Jack made everyone feel seen and valued. He was the kind of friend who made everything feel more vibrant, more real, more worth it. … I’ll always remember Jack for the way he embraced life — without hesitation, without fear, and with an incredible amount of heart.”
Dawn and Greg have read every word, and cherish the ways in which their son encouraged, helped and inspired others.
“There were people that he did things for that we had no idea,” Dawn said. “There was a young guy who went to Mahtomedi with him who had a neck injury. He was a very big, tall guy and he could never play sports. He always got pushed away and never found his group (of belonging).”
During his junior year, Jack asked the boy to be manager of the varsity boys hockey team. The boy accepted.
“His parents said that changed that kid’s life forever,” Dawn said. “Being the manager of the hockey team, they said it changed the trajectory of his life — 180 degrees.”
The stories are beautiful, Greg and Dawn said, yet hard at the same time.
“It’s hard to hear it because that’s what you’re missing (now that Jack is gone),” Greg said.
There is some comfort in having a small piece of Jack’s life — his jersey number and heart signature — as a sign of his presence. This artwork is part of the gym’s renovation, an upgrade from the plain vinyl floor that Jack played on when he went to school there.
The new look was completed in early October, and included a new floor, lights, basketball hoops, two scoreboards, sound panels, bleachers and a jumbotron. The project was funded by “hundreds of heartfelt donations” after Jack’s passing, Dawn and Greg said. A dedication ceremony was held Oct. 10 during the school day (another dedication ceremony took place two days later after Mass). Students, teachers and staff gathered at the entrance doors of the gym for a ribbon cutting. Greg and Dawn stood front and center, joined by a small group of students with ties to the family.
Father Johnson addressed everyone at the start, comparing Jack to recently canonized St. Carlo Acutis, who also died at a young age (15) and was known for his care and concern for others.
Andrea Kangas described the grand opening as both “emotional” and “amazing.”
“We miss Jack a lot,” she said, noting that her three children were close in age to the Gunderson children and went to school with them at St. Jude of the Lake. “Coming to watch this gym (grand) opening just reminded me — Jack would say, ‘Everyone, come in.’ He would open the door and say, ‘Everyone, come in. Let’s have fun.’ He was amazing.”
Her son, Andrew Kangas, was a year behind Jack. Like Jack, he went to St. Jude for grade school and attended Mahtomedi High School, where he played on the boys’ hockey team with Jack for two seasons. During Jack’s final season, Mahtomedi made the Class A State Tournament. In the tournament’s first game, Andrew played on the same line as Jack and passed him the puck that resulted in Jack scoring the first goal of the tournament.
The two remained friends after high school. After Jack died, Andrew Kangas started a golf tournament in Jack’s honor, named the Jack Gunderson Memorial Golf Tournament. It took place on Aug. 4. Andrew and three of his friends won the tournament.
Each golf cart used that day carried two players and was assigned a number.
Andrew’s cart number was 33.
This is one of several examples in which the number 33 keeps showing up in the lives of Jack’s family and friends. Greg and Dawn take great comfort in that phenomenon, which Father Johnson said is more than just coincidence.
As if to put an exclamation mark under the number 33, there was an incident within the last few weeks involving the old scoreboard in the gym that was taken down and replaced with two new ones. “Nothing was working” on the old scoreboard, Greg said, but someone tried to fix it so that it could be sold. “They got it hooked up and got it to light up,” Greg said. “When it lit up, the only number that came up (on the board) was 33 under the home team score.”
Father Johnson was told about it and relayed the story to Dawn and Greg in September at the annual parish festival called Corn Fest.
“He came over to us; he was very excited,” Greg said of Father Johnson.
What does Greg make of it?
“Well, he (Jack) is with us,” Greg said. “That (number) 33, we see it everywhere.”
No doubt, his spirit still roams the halls of St. Jude of the Lake Catholic School.
Chuck Scobba has taught at the school since before Jack arrived. Scobba taught first grade when Jack started school there. Although he did not have Jack in his classroom, he noticed the youngster’s presence and identified the qualities people still talk about today.
“I just remember his infectious smile and grin,” said Scobba, in his 26th year teaching at the school. “I also remember the love that he had for his classmates, his friends, his teammates.”
Although Jack could sometimes initiate “a little mischief” with his classmates, he mostly tried to draw people in and make sure no one felt like an outsider, Scobba said. Father Johnson highlighted that trait specifically in his remarks before the ribbon cutting, and he encouraged all students to look for and reach out to anyone who appears to be on the outside or who is sitting alone.
“He learned how to be loving, to have humor, to not be so serious about life and to bring happiness to not only himself and his family, but to his friends and the people who were around him,” Scobba said. “He never left anybody out, whether it was outside for recess or lunch or gym or one of the other activities that we did. He always was making sure that everybody was part of the team and they were enjoying themselves.”
Dawn traces this quality to Jack’s early childhood and a cousin, Alyson (“Aly”) Andrist, who was born six weeks after him. She has a disease called spinal muscular atrophy, which affects the central nervous system and is similar to muscular dystrophy. Her symptoms began at a young age, as did Jack’s constant vigilance toward her and her well-being.
One time, when Aly was 9 or 10, a group of family members, including Jack, went to a cabin to swim and play in a lake. A large van pulled up, and Dawn saw lots of children “fly out of the van.”
En masse, they all ran to the dock and jumped into the water. Except for Aly. While the others were splashing and frolicking, she was making her way down a ramp from the van in her wheelchair.
Jack noticed. He stayed behind with Aly. Together, they made their way to the water.
“Jack and Aly were very tight,” Dawn said.
Aly told this story in a letter she wrote for the memorial book given to Greg and Dawn. She wrote:
“As you know, I never do anything fast. And even though Jack was getting older and probably more interested in hanging with the guys, he didn’t rush off like the others. He waited. Patient, kind, and without saying a word — he just stayed with me, like he always did.”
Now, the family believes, he is waiting for them to join him in heaven. In the meantime, the “heart 33” paintings will keep Jack’s presence alive at St. Jude of the Lake for years to come.
“I want everyone who comes to St. Jude to know his story,” Vasko said, “so his story can inspire them, and hopefully help them become a better person by choosing to be like Jack.”
Just two months before his death, Jack expressed a special feeling he had about the school. Carrie Hackman, who was principal when Jack attended the school and retired after the 2024-25 school year, went to Corn Fest and looked for Jack. Just days before, she had found Jack’s old school identification card while moving a cabinet in the nurse’s office. When she found Jack at Corn Fest, she handed him the card.
Dawn said Jack told Hackman after receiving the identification card: “This is my home.”
“He knew it,” Dawn said.
From now on, everyone who walks into the gym at St. Jude of the Lake will know it, too.
