Ralph Engelstad (January 28, 1930 Thief River Falls, Minnesota – November 26, 2002 Las Vegas, Nevada) was the multi-millionaire owner of the Imperial Palace casino-hotels in Las Vegas and in Biloxi, Mississippi and the Klondike Hotel & Casino. He was also the donor for the construction of the $110 million Ralph Engelstad Arena for his alma mater, the University of North Dakota in Grand Forks, North Dakota, and another arena bearing his name in Thief River Falls, Minnesota. A self-made man, Engelstad was one of the very few independent casino-hotel owners in Las Vegas.

Contents 1 UNLV Foundation Donation 2 Nazi controversy 2.1 Hitler birthday party 3 Fighting Sioux controversy 4 Death 5 See also 6 Notes

[edit] UNLV Foundation Donation

The Engelstad Foundation made a contribution of $12.6 million to the University of Nevada Las Vegas to fund 100 full-time scholarships for incoming Freshmen students with a minimum GPA of 3.25.

[edit] Nazi controversy

Engelstad was a controversial figure. He raised accusations of being sympathetic to Nazism owing to his collection of Nazi memorabilia stored in a private room within the casino-hotel, including a painting of himself dressed in a Nazi uniform (captioned "To Adolf from Ralphie"), a painting of Hitler with the reverse caption, and a collection of antique cars alleged to have once belonged to German Nazi leaders.

[edit] Hitler birthday party

On April 20 in 1986 and 1988, he hosted parties to celebrate Adolf Hitler's birthday^[1] at his casino in Las Vegas which featured bartenders in T-shirts reading "Adolf Hitler — European tour 1939-45". Because of this, in 1989, the Nevada Gaming Commission fined Engelstad $1.5 million "for actions that damaged the reputation and image of Nevada's gaming industry." Engelstad apologized publicly for the parties, but the row was not to be his last controversial move.^[2]

[edit] Fighting Sioux controversy

Engelstad embroiled himself in the fight over the Fighting Sioux logo when he built a $100 million arena on the University of North Dakota campus for the Fighting Sioux hockey program. Midway in its construction, Engelstad threatened to withdraw funding if the long standing nickname were to be changed.^[3] The logo was placed in thousands of instances in the arena, making the prospect of removal a costly measure. Later, Engelstad placed the stadium under private (rather than University) management and stipulated that the Fighting Sioux motif be kept indefinitely. An Engelstad family trust continues to own the arena and rents it to the University.^[4]

[edit] Death

Engelstad died in 2002, after a lengthy battle with lung cancer^[5].

[edit] See also

• Ralph Engelstad Arena
• Ralph Engelstad Arena (Minnesota)

[edit] Notes