Skuli Skulason was born on the northwest shore of Lake Winnipeg in 1877, the first member of his Icelandic family born in North America. In spring 1880, two-year-old Skuli rode the family’s only cow while the rest of the family hiked from Lake Winnipeg to Mountain, North Dakota. Fifteen years later, he sold a cow he had raised from a calf to finance his education at the University of North Dakota (UND).
At UND, Skuli became a "Big Man on Campus." He participated in debate, edited sections of The Student, and quarterbacked UND’s football team, achieving only one loss from 1898 to 1900. Known as "Scooter," he acted in school plays, played for the baseball team as "Scoop," and pole vaulted for the track team, setting North Dakota’s pole-vaulting record at 9'-3" (when the Olympic record was 10'-8"). He was also likely involved in stealing the university president's car and parking it conspicuously near the local bordello. Skuli graduated in 1901 and completed the UND Law program in 1903.
Later that year, he married Edith Johnson, daughter of Honorable M.N. Johnson, U.S. Senator from North Dakota, who played a key role in the state’s admission to the Union as a "dry" state. Shortly after their marriage, Skuli went to Washington to clerk for Senator Johnson.
Skuli regularly visited North Dakota as a popular speaker at civic and alumni events. In UND’s 1905 varsity-alumni football game, he quarterbacked the alumni to victory. After the premature death of Senator Johnson, Skuli returned to North Dakota and began his political career, winning the County Attorney position for Nelson County. By 1912, his political career looked promising, with strong name recognition, a respectable elected position, and ties to the popular ex-Senator. He garnered statewide attention for prosecuting several cases and leading "The Roosevelt Committee," an organization supporting Theodore Roosevelt’s re-election. However, in 1914, a reporter recognized the intoxicated Skuli exiting a Blind Pig, leading to headlines from Grand Forks to Beach.
On this date in 1916, Skuli appeared at the school’s first official homecoming, speaking alongside other notable alumni. In 1922, after his political career faltered, he moved his family to Montana, where he settled for minor political positions while his football teammates achieved greater success as governors, congressmen, and supreme court justices.