The 'beer lady' – a beloved, longtime UND hockey fan – has died
The University of North Dakota's "beer lady" died Saturday.
Beth Delano, 90, has been going to UND men's hockey games since 1947, and in 2009 she became a local celebrity after being captured on the big screen drinking a beer, the Grand Forks Herald says.
She'd raise her beer and get the crowd going, and became affectionately known as "beer grandma" and "beer lady," the paper says.
Her popularity led to a Facebook group, frequent appearances on the scoreboard at games, and a part in a commercial for UND's continuing education department, the Grand Forks Herald reported in 2011.
But she was featured less and less on the big screen because then-President Robert Kelley didn't want to fuel the university's binge-drinking reputation, so he asked that more students be featured at games instead, the paper said.
Delano made an appearance on the scoreboard again in 2011 – and people even made "beer lady" shirts for her return, posts in the Facebook group show.
"If she could raise her beer to get the crowd going, she would do it," her son Gordon Delano told the Grand Forks Herald. "It was a highlight for her, something both her and dad truly enjoyed."
UND fans are remembering Delano on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/grittysquirrels/status/848915553364451329
