I was born August 5th, 1937 in a small town know as Saint Paul, Minnesota. I spent my childhood learning to play ice hockey and before long, my school, Johnson High school won the 1955 state hockey championship. This accomplishment further ignited my drive to learn and advance in the game of hockey. I graduated high school in 1955 and moved on to play for the University of Minnesota Gophers from 1955 to 1959. Following my college career I tried out for the 1960 men’s Olympic hockey team, but unfortunately missing the final spot on the roster; however, that did not deter me from trying again to play in the Olympics. I kept my persistence of enhancing my attributes in hockey, participating in multiple US nation league games, and in 1964, at the age of 27, I finally got my chance to play in the Olympics for the United States of America. A few years later I retired as a player, but I could not leave the game of hockey behind me, taking a head coaching position at the University of Minnesota where I quickly won three NCAA national championships in 1974, ‘76 and ‘79. Soon after winning my third National championship, I was asked to coach the Men’s Olympic Ice hockey team for the 1980 Olympics held in Lake Placid, New York. Hand-picking my own team I achieved my greatest accomplishment - winning the gold medal.
Moving on from the 1980 Olympic Games, I moved out to Switzerland to coach a group of men out there for about a year before getting the opportunity to come back to the United States and coach for the NHL’s New York Rangers in 1981 through 1985. My coaching career bounced around the National Hockey League before ending in Pittsburgh, coaching for the Penguins in the year 2000. Moving away from the head coaching position, I stayed involved in the Penguins organization doing scout work up until August 11, 2002 when I nodded off at the wheel, hitting a tree a resulting in my death.