New Ulm’s Matt Dennis is a history teacher and head basketball coach, but many people may not know about his impressive LEGO collection.

Dennis currently teaches history at New Ulm High School and coaches the boys varsity basketball team. He has a record of 76-49 and three straight Big South Conference championships in five years as coach. He has also moved around as he graduated college in Minneapolis and then went on to teach and coach at L’Anse and Hancock, Michigan before coming to New Ulm.

Through all this, one thing stayed: Dennis’s love of legos.

“I started building LEGO(s) when I was 5. I distinctly remember getting a blue LEGO carrying case with assorted pieces. It was love at first click,” Dennis said. “From there, like many kids, I added a few small sets a year. One of my all-time favorite sets was a fire department that I bought on a family trip to the Twin Cities from my hometown in Michigan.”

Dennis said that the reason he started his collection of LEGO(s) was because of his fascination with cities and baseball parks.

“I continued to grow my LEGO collection over the years because of the satisfaction that came with dreaming of completely unique creations, there’s a beauty in the simplicity of having infinite possibilities with LEGO(s).”

He has also had a collection of LEGO(s) since before the Twins won their first World Series.

“I guess I’ve been at this for almost 40 years now, there were a few years when everything got tucked away,” Dennis said.

Dennis said that it was hard to have them around when his kids were really young.

“Everything came out and started growing again when my kids got old enough to know not to put them in their mouths,” Dennis said. “There’s been no looking back since then.”

He said that he started his favorite piece during COVID-19 when everything was shut down and he had a lot of time on his hands.

“My favorite all-time creation is a baseball stadium I designed and built named Top Pot Park,” he said. “It is named for a doughnut and coffee shop from the Seattle, Washington area. Like many people, I had a little extra time and decided to go all-in on something epic.

“I am still working and reworking area of it from time to time. Nothing is ever really finished. It has three seating levels, luxury boxes, restrooms, concession stands, teams stores, elevators, escalators and more. The scoreboards feature iPad minis and brick built advertisements.”

He also said that many of his pieces are not brand new but used.

“I get most LEGO pieces these days from Bricks and Minifigs in Minnetonka, Lego.com or hard-to-find items I go to a website called Brickling.com,” he said.

But for a rare item like green baseball stadium seating, Dennis had to do a little bit more searching. “Most of my ballpark seats were actually shipped from Germany,” he said. “I needed a lot of them. They had to be green like most modern ballparks. I was able to find a guy in Germany who had them.”

From Dennis’s first blue LEGO carrying case to his all-time favorite piece, he has found he is far from alone in this hobby.

“LEGO is a pretty amazing world once you start digging into it. You start to realize how many people share in this same interest.”