The colorful St. Joseph businessman that many of us knew for years as simply Dean the Beerman has died at the age of 81. He was a hard-driven businessman, coach and educator over the course of his storied life, but loved a good party and knew well how to throw one.
Many of those who knew him as Dean the Beerman from his highly successful South End Beverage Company days in St. Joseph might not realize his academic background beyond the fact that he was a long time member of the Lake Michigan College Board of Trustees.
His actual first job, however, was as a junior high school teacher in Atwood, Illinois, where he also coached football and basketball. After two years he returned to his hometown of Arcola, Illinois south of Champaign. He became a teacher and coach in the system he graduated from, assisting in football and serving as the junior high school boys’ basketball coach.
After two very successful years, he was named the head varsity boys’ basketball coach and for the next three years his Purple Riders team won more than 77-percent of their games, took regional titles in 1966 and 1968 and won two Okaw Conference and tournament titles.
In the summer of 1968 Dean accepted the head coaching position at Barrington High School and quickly turned a losing program into a winner. After two years there, he accepted a principal’s position at Barrington. He was selected for a sabbatical leave to pursue his Ph.D. degree at Northwestern University.
With the commitment of perseverance from his wife, Shirley, Dean was able to achieve his lifelong goal to become Dr. Dean Sanders. He remained at Barrington for two more years before making his way to Michigan’s Great Southwest when he was named Deputy Superintendent of the Benton Harbor Area Schools. In less than a year he was promoted to the role of Superintendent of Benton Harbor Schools.
It was in 1977 that Dean and Shirley made another career decision that would impact their lives forever. He decided to leave education and find a business where Shirley and he could work together. He found a small beer distribution business and through the efforts of he and his wife and their son Terry Sanders, they made the purchase.
The original business sold 175,000 cases of Anheuser Busch and Stroh’s Products, but the Sanders family was diligent and dedicated to becoming a force to be reckoned with. They grew the business to sales of more than 1-million cases each year and nearly 200 brands under the South End Beverage flag from headquarters along Hawthorne Avenue in South St. Joseph. At the time of their retirement in 2007, they controlled more than 80-percent of the beer market sales in southwest Michigan.
Dean was born June 9, 1938 to parents Victor and Dorothy Louise Wright Sanders. His brother Duane and sister Joan were graduates of same Arcola, Illinois system where he eventually taught and coached. He was a student athlete and a class officer at Arcola High, and a member of the student council there. He played four years of football, basketball and track, and advanced to the state track meet in the hurdles and a standout on the schools undefeated football teams of 1954 and 1955, where he was named All Conference. He also scored one of the most famous touchdowns in Arcola High history with a 91-yard kickoff return in a “mud bowl” game of 1955 when his team beat the undefeated Sullivan High team 7 to 6.
Dean attended Millikin University on an athletic scholarship in football and track, and lettered in track in his freshman year before transferring to Eastern Illinois University, majoring in biological sciences and graduating in 1960 with high honors. It was the 4th of July in 1958 when he married Shirley McCann, and they were married for 61 years. He later earned his masters’s degree from EIU in 1965.
Here in Michigan’s Great Southwest, Dean Sanders served as Chairman of the Lake Michigan College Board of Trustees — where I had the privilege of serving side by side with him for many years. He also served a term as President of the Michigan Community College Association, overseeing all 29 community colleges in the state at that time. He also served as a former President of the Blossomtime Grand Floral Celebration and as an Ambassador with the Benton Harbor-St. Joseph Chamber of Commerce, forerunner to the current day Cornerstone Chamber of Commerce.
Dean was always quick to credit those who made his career achievements possible in education, coaching and in business. He also was quoted in 2014 when he was inducted into the Arcola, Illinois High School ranks of Distinguished Alumnus, as saying his brother Duane, his classmate Jack Fishel and his father Vic were his “control agents who helped him control his emotions and keep his goals in focus.” He also told folks there that his son Terry “was his go-to guy, good friend and business partner.”
There is little doubt that Dean Sanders’ penchant for being a team and goal oriented man accounted for the tremendous success achieved by the powerhouse team of he, Shirley and Terry over a highly rewarding career in the business market of Southwest Michigan.
Dean was an ardent supporter of the event that has come to be known as the Y-Country Summer Jam, and would always pull his RV as close to the stage as possible so he wouldn’t miss a beat of the action and could play the consummate host to future country music giants who came to town to play their music for fans all across the region.
Dean’s prowess in the business world helped the LMC Board make wise investment decisions including completion of the Mendel Center for Arts & Technologies and many other technological advancements that have made Lake Michigan College a premier institution in the ranks of the state’s institutions.
A man of great pride, Dean Sanders was a giant in the marketplace and anyone who ever spoke to him on the phone will always recall his signature sign-off as a Budweiser distributor. Once the conversation was complete, he would inevitably say, in a cheery voice with his southern drawl, “Bye-Bye, and Buy Bud!”
Dean the Beerman has slipped the surly bonds of earth, and riding tall once again. Godspeed to Shirley, Terry and his family. Funeral arrangements are pending.
The photo accompanying this story on Moody on the Market is from induction ceremonies of Distinguished Alumnus in 2014, and is courtesy of the Arcola, Illinois High School system.
