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by Sue Orsen Some Victoria families have become memorialized in rather public ways. For example, Victoria has the Notermann Building, the Hartman Building, KleinBank, Diethelm Park, Poppitz Field, Rhoy Street, Aretz Court, Kelzer's Pond, Carl Krey Lake, and Stieger Lake. The Grimm Farm is just down the road. For about the last twenty years, there has also been a Gannon Building in downtown Victoria. At least that's what everybody calls it. On Wednesday evening, August 20th, doors to the Gannon Building were opened to the public for the very first time and there stood the owners, Rich Gannon and his wife Shelley, greeting hundreds of visitors, many of them by name. It was a Classic Car Night in Victoria and the draw has grown to over 1,000 people coming to downtown Victoria twice a month to visit, eat, walk around, and look at old cars. It wasn't announced or advertised, but it didn't take long to hear that the Gannon Building was open that evening. To begin with, here's a brief recap of why the name is familiar. Rich Gannon spent 18 seasons as an NFL quarterback and won the 2002 NFL Most Valuable Player award while with the Oakland Raiders. He began his career with the Minnesota Vikings and debuted with them in 1987, quarterbacking his first game for them in 1990 in relief of an injured Wade Wilson. In 1992 he formally became the starting quarterback for the Vikings. Rich didn't take the Vikings to the Superbowl -- few have -- but he led the Raiders to the Superbowl in 2003. If it weren't for his time with the Vikings, Rich Gannon may have never stumbled across Victoria, Minnesota. He grew up in Philadelphia and went to college out east. Shortly after arriving in Minnesota he found the old brick building in Victoria and thought it might accommodate his avocation -- old cars and old automotive paraphernalia. The building was constructed in 1950 as the Notermann-Weber Beer Distributorship. Did Rich buy it from the original owners? "No," he replied. "I bought it from the guy who bought it from the beer distributor. He was an old car guy. He had a sticker on the building and I thought he might be a street rod guy. His name was Miller." "I bought the building because I needed a place to store my cars," said Rich. "Every other place I looked at was so big and this one was the size I wanted. We were living off Minnewashta Parkway then and I was also looking for a place that was close. I bought it around 1995." Some remodeling and maintenance was necessary. He brought water and sewer service into the building, insulated it, repaired the heating and did some general maintenance work. After all these years, what enticed Rich Gannon to open his doors to the public? "I've always been somewhat private," he admitted. "There's a lot of valuable stuff in there, although I do have a security system. I love what Victoria is doing downtown on Wednesday nights and I thought maybe I should join them. I thought maybe it would be a cool thing to do. Maybe I can do it every year." It was obvious that Rich Gannon is on a first name basis with many locals. "I've got a lot of friends in Victoria," he said, "... the Hartmans, the Kleins, the Victoria House, Floyd's. Jimmy Michel has done a lot of cement work for me at our home and in this building. Steve Schlict and Bob Schmieg have done work for me. I know a lot of Victoria guys."
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The Victoria GAZETTE |
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Rich Gannon with Jerry and Gerda Schmieg of Victoria. |
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September 2014 |
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