RIP, John Gilbert
John Gilbert
1942–2025
John Gilbert, the premier hockey writer in the fabled history of the State of Hockey, died from heart failure in his hometown of Duluth on Jan. 29 at age 82.
A graduate of Duluth Central High School where he played baseball and basketball, John discovered hockey as a teenager and soon after turned his love of hockey, auto racing and an expertise in automotives into a lifelong career as journalist, while also excelling as a storyteller, photographer, mentor, friend, husband and father (not necessarily in that order).
No one could tell a story better than John, whose writing used that same passion and eye for detail.
People he wrote about often became friends, although John was such a pro that he refused to sugarcoat the truth, even if it might sting. John covered every team from the North Stars, Wild and Fighting Saints to the colleges, high schools and even kid programs, and a list of his friends reads like a Who’s Who in Minnesota hockey history.
Despite a ceaseless workload, he also found the time to coach the youth teams of his two sons, Jack and Jeff, in hockey, baseball and soccer.
Following a 30-year career at the Minneapolis Tribune (later the Star Tribune), John could still be spotted covering prep and college events of every kind in Duluth, while also hosting a radio show and writing monthly columns about automobiles.
In his later years, he proudly noted that he did not miss a single auto column in more than 40 yearsof writing them.
John was never afraid to venture an opinion, including at least one that highlights his objectivity: He labeled former Moose Lake basketball, volleyball and softball star Annie Adamczak (now Adamczak-Glavan), perhaps the best athlete in the history of the Duluth area.
What was surprising about that is that John’s dad, the late Wally Gilbert, a member of the Duluth Sports Hall of Fame after an all-star career in professional baseball, football and basketball in the 1920s and ‘30s, has long been credited as the greatest all-around athlete in Duluth history.
After attending UMD and the University of Minnesota, John began his sportswriting career in 1967 at the Duluth Herald and News-Tribune, then moved on to the Minneapolis paper. John eventually took his zeal to positions as a writer, photographer and radio personality in Duluth into his 80s, slowing only temporarily because of a major heart attack suffered in 2022 during a media event at Road America Speedway in Elkhart Lakes, Wis.
Born in 1942 as the son of the late Mary (McKay) and Wally Gilbert, John authored comprehensive sports books, most notably Herb Brooks, the Inside Story of a Hockey Mastermind, and Miracle In Lake Placid, The Greatest Hockey Story Ever Told, in which he described with exclusive first-hand details the epic 1980 U.S. Olympic Miracle on Ice.
He worked until the end, and the press box at Duluth’s Amsoil Arena won’t be the same without him. John is survived by his wife, Joan, sons Jack and Jeff, plus countless friends and colleagues who will miss him greatly.
Event to honor John: Saturday, Feb. 15, 12 p.m. at The West Theater, 319 N. Central Ave., Duluth.
