Roy Griak named to yet another Athletic Hall of Fame

The awards and honors keep coming for Roy Griak, the retired long-time head coach of the University of Minnesota Men's Track & Field and Cross Country teams and former Saint Louis Park High School coach. [photo courtesy: gophersports.com/U of MN]

Griak, who has served as an administrative assistant to the men's track & field and cross country teams for the last 13 years, was, in 1994, inducted into the prestigious Drake Relays Coaches Hall of Fame.

Two years later, Griak joined the impressive ranks of the University of Minnesota "M" Club Hall of Fame. His induction was a bit unusual because he was honored both as a University athlete (letter-winner in cross country and track & field) and decades-long head coach for both sports.

Griak was also inducted into the Minnesota Track & Field Hall of Fame in 1996, part of the first class for this creation of USATF-MN.

That same year, upon his retirement from full-time coaching at the U, the University honored Griak by naming the nation's largest cross country meet after him. The Roy Griak Invitational, boasting no fewer than 10 races in different categories, annually attracts thousands of high school and cross country runners from throughout the U.S.

In 2001, Griak was honored as part of that year's induction class for USTFCCCA [U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.]

In 2005, Griak, honored as a long-time coach, was part of the first induction class of the newly-established Saint Louis Park Athletic Hall of Fame.

More recently, Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak declared Saturday, July 19, 2008 "Roy Griak Day in the city of Minneapolis."

It was, coincidentally, two years and 1 day later when Grandma's Marathon announced Griak would be a member of the 2010 class of the DECC [Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center] Hall of Fame through the following news release. [photo courtesy: Kirk Elias.]

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A U.S. Olympic ski jumper from Duluth, a long-time collegiate track and cross country coach from Duluth, a legendary high school hockey coach from International Falls and a major league baseball pitcher from Hermantown make up the 2010 Duluth Entertainment and Convention Center Hall of Fame class.

Jim Denney, Roy Griak, the late Larry Ross and Jerry Ujdur will be inducted in a ceremony beginning at 7 p.m., Wednesday, Sept. 15 at the Harbor Side Convention Center at the DECC.

Tickets for the induction ceremony and dinner are $25 and can be purchased at the DECC ticket office at 350 Harbor Drive, the Duluth News Tribune at 424 West First Street and Grandma’s Marathon at 351 Canal Park Drive. Tickets can be ordered by mail, send to: Kevin Pates, Duluth News Tribune, 424 West First Street, Duluth, Minn. 55802 or by phone at (218) 727-0947. Tickets will not be available at the door.

Denney, 53, was a two-time U.S. Olympian in 1976 and 1980, finishing as the top American ski jumper both years. He placed eighth in the 1980 Winter Games in Lake Placid, N.Y., the second-best finish by an American since 1960, and was 21st in 1976 in Innsbruck, Austria. He was U.S. champion in 1976 and 1977.

Griak, 86, grew up in Duluth, and was a middle distance runner at the University of Minnesota. He coached cross country and track at Minnesota for 33 years, leading the Gophers to Big Ten cross country titles in 1964 and 1969, and a Big Ten outdoor track and field title in 1968. He coached 47 cross country and track All-Americans. He retired from coaching 1996 but continues as a University of Minnesota administrative assistant.

Ross, a Duluth native, was an All-American goalie at the University of Minnesota before coaching 31 seasons at International Falls High School. He had a 566-169-21 record and won six state championships, and had an undefeated streak of 59 games. He was inducted into U.S. Hockey Hall of Fame in 1988 and died in 1995 at age 73.

Ujdur, 53, pitched at Hermantown High School, the University of Minnesota and in the Major Leagues for Detroit and Cleveland, from 1980 through 1984. In five major-league seasons he was 12-16 with a 4.78 ERA in 261 innings, including a 10-10 mark in 1982 with Detroit with a 3.69 earned-run-average in 178 innings. He was taken in the fourth round of the 1978 baseball draft by Detroit.

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I'm sure I'm missing many other honors and awards but will gladly continue to add to this list as I discover more. However, with all the honors, awards and accolades Griak has accumulated throughout his years as an athlete and career as a coach, perhaps no honor will surpass the one he will achieve this coming fall. At the 25th Anniversary of the Roy Griak Invitiational, each of the top 20 finishers in all 10 of the various races, plus all team coaches, will receive a commemorative Roy Griak Bobblehead.

You know you've made it when they create a bobblehead in your likeness!

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Note from TJ: This spring I wrote about Griak's appearance on The Mary Hanson show in this TJ's Turf post.

Hennepin-Lake Classic coupon code

Have you registered for this summer's Hennepin-Lake Classic yet? 2010 marks the 33rd running of this Minneapolis late summer tradition. This year's event is Sunday, August 1.

This is one of my favorite races all year. (And, no, my favorites are not only events put on by The Sporting Life.) I love races with tradition and history in the Twin Cities and, because this race has been contested every year since 1978, it definitely qualifies as historical.

I love the fact that you can choose between a 10K (two laps around Lake Calhoun) or 5K (one lap), of if you're really ambitious, register for the double-header and run both races.

Over the years, I've run all the races at HLC, including the double header (which is even more fun than it might sound.) It really is a can't miss event. Or, at the very least, a "shouldn't miss" event.

Lake Calhoun, in the heart of Minneapolis, is a great location for running and walking events. There's always a fun, festive atmosphere at this race, even years where it's been so hot and sticky you'd think you'd been magically transported to the tropics overnight.

With race day just over one week away, on the off-chance you haven't registered yet, it's not too late. I'm even offering you use of my super-secret coupon code!

You can register here for the Hennepin-Lake Classic brought to you by The Sporting Life. If you use the super-secret coupon code: TJcodeHLC, you'll get $3 off your registration fees.

Duluth to Host 2012 and 2013 USA Half Marathon Championships

The 2012 and 2013 USA Half Marathon Championships have been awarded to Duluth, Minn., USA Track & Field and Grandma's Marathon-Duluth, Inc., announced today.

"We are excited to have Duluth play host to our USA Half Marathon Championships in 2012 and 2013," said USATF CEO Doug Logan. "We look forward to working with Grandma's Marathon to deliver what promises to be two great events in the city that will highlight the talents of our best runners."

The men's and women's national half-marathon title races will be run in conjunction with the Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon on June 16, 2012 and June 22, 2013.

"We could not be more elated to receive the bid for these events. Our proposal was an aggressive one, as our staff and board members believe this is an opportune time to invest the resources necessary to attract these premier running races to northeastern Minnesota," said Scott Keenan, executive director of Grandma's Marathon. "We are excited to showcase the city of Duluth and its unparalleled hospitality to the country's best half-marathon runners."

The bid includes a per year prize purse of $82,000, including first-place awards of $12,000 for the men's and women's champions.

Duluth has a strong history of hosting national championship events, including the 2003 and 2004 USA Women's Half Marathon Championships. The 2003 race was won by Colleen De Reuck in a course record one hour, ten minutes — a mark that remains the fastest women's time on the Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon course. The race celebrates its 20th anniversary next month.

The city also hosted the 1987, 1990 and 1994 USA Women' Marathon Championships as part of Grandma's Marathon, currently the country's 13th largest marathon.

Mary Hanson interviews Roy Griak

In many ways, it seems inevitable that Mary Hanson would one day interview Roy Griak.

As host of The Mary Hanson Show, the longest-running program on cable in the United States (it's been on the air regularly since 1980), Hanson has tackled health and social issues for three decades. [photo courtesy The Mary Hanson Show.]

And as a long-time Minnesota track & field and cross country coach, fan and participant, Griak is the very definition of longevity. [photo courtesy gophersports.com/U of MN.]

It's no exaggeration to say Roy Griak and Mary Hanson are two of my favorite people. I first met Roy in 1986 when I was a freshman on the U of M women's track & field team. I loved how all the members of the women's track & field and cross country teams called this lovely man 'coach' as a wonderful term of endearment.

Mary Hanson and I became acquainted a few years later in the early 1990s when her daughter, Jennifer, was a member of the U of M women's track & field and cross country teams. By then I was volunteering at meets and met Mary, Jennifer and Mary's husband at the time, Ron Daws.

My personal and professional lives would intersect with both Hanson and Griak for years to come.

Because I was just finishing up a broadcast journalism degree from the U of M's Journalism School at the time, Hanson allowed me to tag along while she hosted a closed-circuit show for sick children at a local hospital.

Around the same time, Roy was generous enough to invite me to be his co-race director for a new event coming to town. It was a little event known as Race for the Cure. He and I worked together on that event–one of the biggest walk/run events in Minnesota–for 9+ years.

Griak has the perfect temperment and personality to work with the group of strong, determined women who brought this wonderful event to the Twin Cities in 1993. He remains the race director to this day. Jan Guenther, owner of Gear West, is now his very capable co-director.

And tonight those world's intersect again when Roy appears on The Mary Hanson Show.

"An interview I recently did with Roy Griak is going to be broadcast Monday night, March 29, at 9:00 p.m. on MCN, the Metro Cable Network, channel 6," says Hanson. "This channel reaches the entire seven county area."

The interview will be seen on cable multiple times and then on public television for the Twin Cities Public Television Minnesota Leaders with Mary Hanson series in a few months.

I will post information about additional cable broadcasts and the TPT showing when the dates are set.

Onward Cindy!

When people are asked to describe Cindy Brochman there are invariably a number of responses: a laugh, a quizzical ‘Hmm…. how do you describe Cindy?’ Then, inevitably, people will begin to share their memories of Brochman.

Often the stories are about the experience of knowing Brochman – laughing with her at a road race start line or seeing her cheering somewhere along the course – rather than stories of Brochman’s many athletic achievements. Although there are many such success stories, people who knew Brochman know she was as much about the experience of being an athlete as she was a competitor.

Brochman, 44, of Maplewood, Minn., died December 27, 2009 after a year-long battle with cancer. She wrote on a CaringBridge website throughout her last year, sharing her struggles and determination but almost always ending with some sort of edict for readers to get out there and enjoy the day. Because that’s what she did, even throughout most of the past year.

Brochman was a lifelong athlete, pursuing with gusto each of the many sports she participated in. To hear her brother, Tim Schroeder, tell it, she was genetically predisposed to do so.

“It’s just her tenacity, I guess. I don’t know where that came from. All of my family members have it. We all believed, ‘Why bother doing something half-assed?’ laughs Schroeder. “If you’re going to do it, do it well. Don’t just play at it, do it seriously and be the best at it. It doesn’t surprise me that Cindy was like that. It doesn’t surprise me at all that she improved her entire [athletic] career.”

As the only daughter in a family with three younger brothers, Brochman spent her younger years trying to stay one step ahead of the boys, both athletically and academically. As Schroeder recalled recently, “As siblings we would always push each other around. It’s life. But my father finally said to her one day, ‘You’d better be careful, they’re going to be bigger than you.’ And we were, eventually.”

But even then Brochman did manage to stay competitive with her brothers, leading the way by excelling at school through her 1987 graduation from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minn. and athletically throughout her entire life.

In retrospect, it’s hard to believe that Brochman only competed for two track seasons (1986 and 1987) and one cross country season (1986) at St. Olaf. She transferred to St. Olaf from UW-Platteville after her sophomore year. Her one and only collegiate cross country season, her senior year, was the year the St. Olaf women’s team took fifth place at the NCAA Division III championships. That one cross country season was enough to cement Cindy’s love affair with the sport and solidified a lifetime commitment to the program and to its long-time coach, Chris Daymont.

“I’ve coached way more talented kids than [Brochman]. But to this day I’ve never coached anyone as gutsy or quirky,” recalls Daymont. “She would do anything. She was so honest and so up front and so in your face. Honestly I loved it. If she had something to say, she said it. She was a difference maker.

“We did things that were amazing that year. [And Brochman] was the intangible glue that could put things together,” says Daymont. “She worked hard. What made her special was that she was always so in the moment; ready to take on any challenge.”

That team spirit led her to post-collegiate teams. She was a long-time member of the Run n Fun women’s racing team (a USATF-MN team sponsored by a locally-owned running store), a 12-year member of Baba Yaga, an all-women’s team competing (and winning or finishing second) at the grueling Hood to Coast relay race in Oregon, and a member of two USSSA (United States Snowshoe Association) national teams (2005 and 2006).

“Cindy was as much about wanting others to enjoy the team camaraderie as she was about individual accomplishments,” says Schroeder. “Not to say she wasn’t competitive – our whole family is. But she definitely wanted to make sure others were having fun. It was not just about her and her accomplishments.”

Brochman worked hard, played harder, and in her free-time she volunteered for the sports she loved. She served on the USATF-MN Board of Directors as Women’s Longest Distance Running chair for two years. She was USSSA’s Membership Chairperson for three years and had previously served for two years as its International Snowshoe Liaison.

Perhaps one of her biggest contributions was when she bid for, won and directed the 2007 U.S. National Snowshoe Championships in Minnesota. For that feat, as well as her own accomplishments as a racer, she was named the first-ever "Snowshoe Magazine Person of the Year" in 2007. Immediately following her death, the award was renamed “Snowshoe Magazine’s Cindy Brochman Memorial Person of the Year Award.”

“It would only be fitting to rename this award in Cindy’s honor because she not only meant a lot to Snowshoe Magazine but she meant a lot to the snowshoe racing community worldwide,” says Snowshoe Magazine Publisher Ryan Alford. “The snowshoe racing community owes a lot to Cindy for how much she’s given back. She’s certainly made her mark. She will be remembered well.”

And there have already been other remembrances for Brochman. This past fall Daymont unveiled the “Cindy Schroeder Brochman Alumni Cross Country Award” at the annual alumni meet. She says she began planning to name an award for Brochman five years ago, long before she was sick. Cindy was presented the first plaque at the meet. “I can guarantee you I will never forget that day,” says Daymont. “It was an amazing day in the history of St. Olaf cross country.”

Although Brochman’s time as part of the team at St. Olaf was relatively short, Daymont says her legacy has been great. Brochman has attended every alumni cross country meet since 1987. “Nobody else has done this. Nobody else came back every year,” says Daymont. “I’ve never seen her do anything halfway.” This past fall’s event was the one and only time she was unable to run the event, but she was still there to cheer the others on.

“She shows current St. Olaf students what they can be doing 22 years later – how well you can still be running – how this is a life-long sport,” says Daymont. “She also shows that once you’re part of this team, you’re part of it forever.” Daymont says Brochman is the embodiment of the depth, rich history and tradition of the St. Olaf cross country program and that is why she named an award for her.

Perhaps as a nod to how important Brochman’s two short years at St. Olaf were, Brochman’s parents, Bernie & Mary Anne Schroeder, are setting up a scholarship in Brochman’s name at the school.

The enormity of these gestures caught Brochman’s brother off-guard. “I’m kind of overwhelmed as her brother. I was unaware that she had that kind of impact,” says Schroeder. “It’s just now that I’m seeing these things. I would be surprised if she was aware of the impact she had.

“To her it was just a lifestyle. Just her lifestyle. It was not a question for her; it was a way of life,” continues Schroeder. “She never recognized the totality of what she was doing. I believe the totality of her athletic career was unique. She did a lot of stuff and was good at all of it.”

Fellow snowshoe racer and Minnesotan Brad Canham knew Brochman through racing but also because of work they did together for USSSA. Shortly after her death Canham wrote the following on a social networking website. It sums up Brochman well.

“Cindy was a tremendous competitor and a gracious and giving person. ... ‘Rest’ in peace may not be the right sentiment for an endurance athlete like Cindy, but perhaps a simple ‘Onward!’ is. So Onward Cindy, we'll miss you.”

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Photo credits:
1. Cindy at Hood to Coast. Photo courtesy: Robin Balder-Lanoue & Team Baba Yaga
2. Cindy at 1987 Conference Track Meet; 5,000 meter. Photo courtesy: Chris Daymont
3. 1987 Saint Olaf women's track senior class. Photo courtesy: Chris Daymont
4. Cindy at 2008 Earth Day Half Marathon. Photo courtesy: Craig Yotter
5. Photo courtesy: Brochman family
6. Cindy at Rocky's Run 5K, 2004. Photo courtesy: Chris Fuller, The Sporting Life
7. Photo courtesy: Robin Balder-Lanoue & Team Baba Yaga

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A small representation of Brochman’s many accomplishments and contributions:

–Member of an NCAA Division III-ranked volleyball team during her freshman year at UW-Platteville (1983).
–Consistently a top three runner for the fifth place NCAA Division III Cross Country Champion Saint Olaf women’s team in 1986
–Outdoor Track All Conference (1987) in 1500 and 5000 meter
–USSSA National Team in 2005 and 2006.
–Competed in Italy’s La Ciaspolada, the world’s largest competitive snowshoe race, in 2004 (16th), 2006 (18th), 2007 (14th) and 2008 (12th) making her the only U.S. snowshoe racer ever to compete four times. Her 2007 and 2008 races put her on the prestigious awards podium.
–Twelve-year member of Baba Yaga, an all-women’s team competing in the grueling Hood to Coast relay race in Oregon. Finished first: 1999, 2001-2007. Finished second: 1997, 1998, 2000, 2008.

Melpomene to merge with Pillsbury United Communities

Yesterday marked the 24th annual National Girls and Women in Sports Day. This event has been a true showcase and celebration of how far female athletes of all ages have come in the past 2.5 decades.

But there was quieter news in Minnesota last week regarding women and girls in sport. In a newsletter dated January 29, 2010, Melpomene announced a partnership with Pillsbury United Communites.

I've been unable to locate the news directly on Melpomene's website, nor have I found mention of it yet on Pillsbury United Community's website. Therefore, without a hotlink to post, I offer the following, pulled directly from the electronic newsletter I received from Melpomene last Friday.

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The Board of Directors of Melpomene has made a decision to perpetuate our mission through merger with a far larger organization, Pillsbury United Communities. The official announcement will come on February 1.

The merger gives Melpomene the chance to apply its 27 years of research in women's health for the benefit of thousands of underserved women. Our new name will be "Melpomene, a program of Pillsbury United Communities".

Melpomene's legacy will be preserved by donating issues of the Melpomene Journal, books, and other publications to nationally respected libraries. Sets of the Melpomene Journal, published from 1982 - 2002, have already been acquired by the Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America at Harvard and by St. Catherine University School of Health.

Founded in 1906 by the Pillsbury family, Pillsbury United Communities is a descendent of the Settlement House Movement. Today, Pillsbury United Communities (PUC) reaches more than 35,000 people each year through multiple locations in the inner city neighborhoods of Minneapolis. With an annual budget of over $8 million, PUC offers programs in housing, employment readiness, early childhood development, immigrant services, and wellness. Please visit the website at www.puc-mn.org

We will thrive as a program of Pillsbury United Communities. Our emerging community model to build basic health habits with underserved women will grow in our new environment. Student interns studying in health fields will remain the backbone of the program. PUC has such a wide range that several of our projects will continue in the same location.

This is a very important and very positive change for Melpomene. We hope you will join us in celebrating the future!

Cynthia Brochman memorial details

Kevin Brochman has posted details about Cindy's memorial service on her caringbridge site.

It will be at Eagle Brook Church in White Bear Lake, on Sunday, January 10, 2010. The visitation will be from 2-3:00 p.m. with the service to follow at 3:00 p.m.

Eagle Brook Church is located at 2401 E. Buffalo Street, just off Hwy 61.

Cindy was diagnosed with stage IV stomach cancer just over one year ago. She died on Sunday, December 27, 2009, the sixth wedding anniversary of Cindy and Kevin.