Howie
Pat Francisco turned a Saturday morning idea into a Duluth landmark
Francisco's greatest investment may have been in the future of his own community. The finest evidence of that investment is not found in an old hockey record book, a client portfolio or a Hall of Fame plaque. It can be heard inside the Heritage Sports Center on a winter afternoon.
Howie
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The Duluth Heritage Sports Center did not begin with a consultant’s study, a formal government resolution or a carefully staged news conference. The project that transformed a scarred industrial property into one of Duluth’s most important community gathering places began, in large part, with a Saturday morning telephone call and Pat Francisco’s immediate willingness to act.
I was serving on the Salvation Army’s local advisory committee when I learned that funding was being pulled for the proposed new Kroc Center at Wheeler Field in West Duluth. The plan had included recreational and community facilities at the same general location where Peterson Arena had stood before it was destroyed by fire in December 2004.
West Duluth was about to lose one major community project while still needing a replacement for Peterson Arena.
I knew Francisco, a close personal friend, was helping lead the effort to replace the rink. I also knew Alessandro Giuliani — Alex to everyone who knew him — had recently purchased the historic Clyde Iron Works property in Lincoln Park. Alex was an uncommon Duluth businessman, imaginative and generous, with an instinct for seeing possibility where others saw abandoned buildings and contaminated industrial land.
I walked into Alex's office that Saturday morning and asked whether he would be willing to donate a portion of the Clyde Iron property for a new arena to replace Peterson.
Classic Alex, he said, “Of course, Howie!”
Then he asked the only question that mattered: Who should we contact to get the ball rolling?
“Pat Francisco,” I told him.
I called Pat next.
“Pat, Alex is willing to donate land at Clyde Iron for a possible Peterson Arena replacement rink,” I said. “Think this would work?”
Francisco did not suggest forming a study committee. He did not ask for a week to think about it. He immediately drove to Clyde Iron to meet with Giuliani. Less than an hour later, Pat emerged from the meeting with his answer.
“Yes, Alex is in,” Francisco said. “Let’s get the ball rollin’.”
Classic Pat Francisco.
My role was simply making the connection. Giuliani’s role was providing the land and opening the door. Francisco’s role was walking through that door and spending the next several years making certain the project survived every financial, political and logistical obstacle placed in its path.
The next important step was a meeting with Duluth Mayor Gary Doty and Giuliani. Later came another critical meeting and a walk-through of the Clyde Iron site with the late U.S. Rep. Jim Oberstar, Doty, Giuliani and me.
Oberstar understood large public projects, government financing and the importance of restoring distressed urban property. His involvement gave the proposal credibility and was crucial in building government support for the project. Once Duluth’s most influential public officials had walked the property and seen the possibilities, the proposed arena was no longer merely an interesting West Duluth idea.
It had momentum.
From there, Francisco, Dick Loraas, the city and a determined collection of community leaders, donors and volunteers took over. Giuliani’s remarkable gift of land made the location possible, but Francisco carried the project. He attended meetings, recruited supporters, explained the vision, answered objections, courted donors and kept moving forward when lesser leaders would have become discouraged.
A civic project costing millions of dollars is never literally completed by one person. The Heritage Sports Center required cooperation among private donors, the city, state, Duluth school district, financial institutions, architects, contractors and community organizations. More than $20 million eventually was assembled through donations, pledges, public participation and financing.
But Francisco was its engine.
UMD Athletics later described him as the “driving force and inspiration” behind the Heritage Sports Center. That is as accurate a summary as can be written. Francisco did not pour the concrete or erect the steel, but he performed the most difficult job in any major community project: He kept everyone believing that it could be done.
The Heritage Sports Center opened in 2008, but today’s complex is far more impressive than anything imagined during those first Saturday morning conversations.
The former Clyde Iron Works property at 120 S. 30th Ave. W. has become the centerpiece of a thriving Lincoln Park district. The complex includes two regulation-size ice sheets, with Sill Arena serving as the primary competition rink and Seitz Arena functioning as a second hockey rink during the winter. In warmer months, Seitz converts to a 210-by-100-foot turf field used for soccer, baseball, softball, lacrosse, football training, camps and other activities.
The restored industrial building now known as Giuliani Hall serves as the Heritage Sports Center’s spectacular main entrance and gathering area. Its steel beams, exposed brick and giant overhead bridge crane preserve the character of the old Clyde Iron Works instead of hiding it. The facility’s architect says it is the only hockey center in the country with a bridge crane inside the building. Historical displays throughout the center tell the story of Duluth hockey and the generations of players, coaches and families who built its proud tradition.
The Heritage Sports Center is home to the Duluth Amateur Hockey Association and three high school hockey programs. It includes locker rooms, a walking track, concessions, community space and the Dave Goldberg Family Branch of the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Northland. The complex also houses an art studio and is connected to the larger Clyde Park development, including Clyde Iron Works Restaurant and Event Center. A former industrial brownfield has become a place where children skate, run, learn, compete and belong.
The campus may not be finished growing.
A proposed addition immediately south of the existing parking lot would add multiple indoor basketball courts, creating badly needed year-round space for youth basketball and potentially volleyball and other court sports. Such an expansion could accommodate daily practices, leagues, camps and larger tournaments while making the Heritage Sports Center a more complete regional sports destination.
The concept fits an identified community need. A 2025 city athletic-facilities study found Duluth particularly short of quality indoor multi-use courts for basketball and volleyball. The study identified four indoor courts as the minimum needed for a tournament-capable facility and listed the Heritage Sports Center as one of Duluth’s strongest regional sports-development opportunities.
The proposed court addition would represent another significant fundraising and development challenge, but that is exactly what people said about building the Heritage Sports Center in the first place. The property’s history should caution anyone against dismissing an ambitious Francisco-led idea too quickly.
Francisco’s determination was developed long before the first Heritage Sports Center meeting.
A 1963 Duluth Denfeld graduate, he was one of the school’s finest all-around athletes. Francisco competed in multiple sports and earned All-City recognition in football and hockey. His athletic accomplishments, professional career and service to West Duluth eventually earned him induction into the Denfeld Hall of Fame in 2012.
He then became one of the most productive forwards in Minnesota Duluth men’s hockey history.
The hometown right wing played four seasons for the Bulldogs from 1963 to 1967, producing 69 goals and 64 assists for 133 points in 105 games. Francisco scored 14 goals as a freshman, 20 as a sophomore and finished his senior season with career highs of 21 goals, 22 assists and 43 points.
He played on a celebrated line with Keith “Huffer” Christiansen and Bruce McLeod as UMD established itself against the major powers of Western college hockey. Christiansen was the brilliant playmaking center and eventual WCHA most valuable player, but Francisco was hardly a supporting passenger. He finished third in WCHA scoring as a senior, served as a Bulldogs assistant captain and received UMD’s Top Senior Scholar-Athlete Award.
Francisco later returned to the Bulldogs as a volunteer assistant coach. In 2016, UMD renamed its community service honor the Pat Francisco Award, presented annually to Bulldogs players making significant contributions away from the rink. The honor reflects the most meaningful part of his legacy: UMD attached Francisco’s name not to goals, points or individual glory, but to service.
In 2023, Francisco was inducted into the DECC Athletic Hall of Fame, recognition earned through both his playing career and his unmatched contribution to the Heritage Sports Center.
His professional life followed a similarly local path. After UMD, Francisco taught in Silver Bay and at Duluth Cathedral before establishing Patrick Francisco Financial Advisors. He spent approximately four decades helping individuals and families make investment, insurance, financial-planning and retirement decisions before recently retiring.
Francisco spent his professional career advising people about the future. His greatest investment, however, may have been in the future of his own community.
The finest evidence of that investment is not found in an old hockey record book, a client portfolio or a Hall of Fame plaque. It can be heard inside the Heritage Sports Center on a winter afternoon: skates cutting across clean ice, pucks striking boards, coaches teaching, parents talking and children laughing in the hallways.
One Saturday morning, I asked whether a replacement rink at Clyde Iron might work. Francisco said yes. Then he spent years making it so.