Chadron State College Athletics

Not many athletes are both distance runners and javelin throwers, but Dinnel set Chadron State and Nebraska College Conference records in both.  He also played safety for the CSC football team in 1947 and ’49 and was the starting quarterback in 1950, when the Eagles ran both the single wing, which called for the quarterback to primarily block, and the T formation, which needed a quarterback who could pass, run with the ball on occasion and carry out fakes after handing off.  The coach, Ross Armstrong, said Dinnel could handle both alignments well.
But track and field was where Dinnel really excelled. He won the mile run at the conference meets in 1947, ’48 and ’49 and the javelin in 1949 and ?50. His records were 4:37.4 in the mile and 182-7 ½ in the javelin. Perhaps his most dramatic victory was in the mile in 1949, when he beat Wayne State standout Marvin Zimmerman to the finish line by running through a mud puddle that Zimmerman ran around. Dinnel also was second in the two-mile at the conference meets in ’49 and ‘50.
A native of Marysville, Kan., Dinnel served in the Army in Europe shortly after World War II ended, then enrolled at CSC after his father moved to Chadron. After graduating, he spent 33 ½ years as an industrial arts teacher at Wheatland, Wyo., and had leadership positions in numerous state organizations. His honors included Wyoming’s Industrial Arts Teacher of the Year in 1967-68 and the Outstanding Service Award from the Wyoming Vocational Education Association in 1970. He retired from teaching when he was 59, but competed in Senior Olympics in 2007 and 2008, when he was 80.
His wife, the former Lorna Camden, was the majorette for the CSC band when they met.