start some of the football stadium project here and was the one who hired Jim Harkema as our head football coach, which was a pick that really got Laker football off and running." Dufek recalled that Grand Valley had gone 0–13 in 1971 and 1972. "When I got there, they had never won a football game, which is hard to believe given the great success of football up there now. ... I hired Jim (Harkema) away from Triton College outside Chicago, and the program started to head in the right direction." In June 1976, Dufek was named athletic director at Kent State University. Dufek held the A.D. position at Kent State until he resigned in April 1980. Honors and family Dufek served as the director of the University of Michigan Alumni Association in the early 1970s. In 2006, he was inducted in the University of Michigan Hall of Honor. Two of Dufek's sons were All-American football players for the Michigan Wolverines: Bill, and Don Dufek Jr., who was one of the original members of the Seattle Seahawks. Another son, Joe, played quarterback at Yale and with the Buffalo Bills and San Diego Chargers. Joe's son, Mike, who was an All-Big Ten performer played his senior season for the Michigan Wolverines baseball team in 2010. Dufek died on December 10, 2014 at the age of 85. See also 1950 Michigan Wolverines football team University of Michigan Athletic Hall of Honor References 1929 births 2014 deaths American football fullbacks Grand Valley State Lakers athletic directors Kent State Golden Flashes athletic directors Michigan Wolverines football coaches Michigan Wolverines football players Sportspeople from Chicago Sportspeople from Evanston, Illinois Players of American football from Chicago