Former kicker Connor Mantelli designs Bemidji State's 100th season logo

Jun. 8—BEMIDJI — During the offseason, the Bemidji State football team needed an anniversary logo for its upcoming 100th season and enlisted one of its players to make it.

Out of all the players, of course, it was the kicker who stepped up.

Connor Mantelli, who was the primary kicker for BSU in 2024 and 2025, designed an anniversary logo for the team’s upcoming 100th season during the offseason.

As a business administration major, Mantelli had dabbled in design in the past, starting a small cleat and shoe customization business while growing up in Colorado. So when the Beavers needed a 100th season logo, they asked if he would take a shot at designing it.

“I’ve always just been interested in art,” Mantelli said, “and I kind of thought that was a path I could take once I was done with school and football.”

He started the design process by doing some research on what other teams have done with their anniversary logos. Many teams have recently celebrated their 100th season, including NSIC foes Augustana in 2022 and Minnesota State Moorhead in 2018.

Above all, Mantelli wanted to keep things simple.

“In the back of my head, I thought the whole time about something that would look good on a shirt, or as a patch on a jersey, or on a hat,” he said. “So I came to the conclusion, something simple would be better — didn’t want a bunch of crazy things going on.”

Mantelli included a football, yardlines and the Beaver logo into the design, along with “100 seasons of Beaver football.”

BSU emphasizes that it will be celebrating its 100th season, not its 100th year. Since the team didn’t have a 2020 season due to COVID, 2026 will be the 100th season, despite it being the 101st year of the program.

Everything was looking good, but Mantelli wanted to include something else to make it feel more Bemidji. What says that more than pine trees?

With that, the logo was complete and unveiled on social media in February.

“I wanted it to be pretty simple, but still get a lot of words and meaning across, which I think I portrayed pretty well,” he said. “(Although) I might be a little biased.”

When the logo was posted on social media, he got many comments from former teammates praising him for his work.

“The support was awesome when the Instagram account posted it and made it their profile picture,” Mantelli said. “I heard from a bunch of old teammates, and even teammates from back in high school. (Even) people that I haven’t really talked to that much the past few years reached out saying how cool it was and how honored I should be to have that opportunity, which I completely agree.”

Mantelli graduated this spring, so he won’t get the opportunity to wear the logo he designed on the football field. Nevertheless, he’s still proud of his work. The experience had ignited his interest in graphic design, a field he may pursue now that he’s graduated.

The Beavers kick off their 100th season against Michigan Tech on Aug. 27 at Chet Anderson Stadium. With kickoff scheduled at 6 p.m., it will be the first home night game for BSU since 2024. Special events and celebrations for the 100th season will be released at a later date.