Bemidji's Samuel Erickson wins Larry Diffley aviation scholarship

Bemidji’s Samuel Erickson has won a scholarship that helps blunt the steep price of flight training, putting a University of North Dakota junior one step closer to a commercial aviation career.

Erickson, who is studying Commercial Aviation and Aviation Safety and Management, received the Larry Diffley Memorial Aviation Scholarship, a local award built around one of Bemidji’s best-known aviation names. For a student headed into a field that demands aircraft time, classroom work, certifications and safety training, the scholarship is more than a résumé line. It is direct help in a profession where the cost barrier can be as important as talent.

The scholarship was established in 2014 by Larry Diffley’s children to honor his memory and support aspiring pilots in the local community. It is intended to help students advance their flight training at Bemidji Aviation, keeping the award tied to the same local aviation base that helped build Diffley’s legacy. The fund remains part of the Northwest Minnesota Foundation, which was accepting applications for the 2025-26 round in November 2025, underscoring that the scholarship continues to serve as an ongoing pipeline into aviation careers.

Diffley’s name carries weight in Bemidji because his own path was rooted here. Born in Bemidji and raised on a farm, he served in the National Guard before taking flying lessons. In 1970, he and a partner bought Bemidji Aviation, and later incorporated Bemidji Airlines, beginning scheduled service between Bemidji and Minneapolis–St. Paul. He was a former president of Bemidji Aviation and was inducted into the Minnesota Aviation Hall of Fame in 2015.

Diffley died in a plane crash on December 4, 2012, near Joliet, Illinois, at age 74. More than a decade later, his family’s scholarship continues to connect that history to a new generation. For Erickson, the award ties a Bemidji student in Grand Forks to a local aviation tradition that still reaches into training, hiring and the future of regional air service.