Bill Quenette, Peninsula College’s first men’s basketball and baseball coach, died Feb. 28 at Sanford Medical Center in Fargo, N.D., following a coaching career that spanned 46 years.

Peninsula College opened its doors in 1961 and a year later hired Quenette to coach basketball and baseball. His teams, which began as club teams and soon went intercollegiate, were the first Pirate teams in the college’s history. Just prior to taking a coaching/teaching job at Moorhead High School, Moorhead, Minn., in 1966, Quenette also was involved in the design phase of the Pirate gymnasium that still stands today.

"I got a chance to meet Coach Q on a recent visit to the college and it was evident how proud he was of his work here," said Rick Ross, Peninsula College Athletic Director. "Dean of Students Art Feiro laid the groundwork for all that has come since and Coach Quenette was his first hire in athletics. He shared a lot of great stories about his time here and I know he’s stayed in contact with a number of his players."

Quenette, a multi-sport athlete at West Fargo High School and Concordia College in the 1940s and 1950s, put together a 211-91 record as head coach of the Moorhead High School Spuds from 1967-1982.

After stepping down in 1982, he later returned as an assistant coach. He retired from coaching in 2005.

He is a member of the Minnesota Basketball Coaches Hall of Fame and the Concordia Athletic Hall of Fame. In October, he was inducted into the Minnesota State High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame.