Relay this: Legend of Big Dad lives on
Gary Rasmussen knew how to inspire his track teams.
Sometimes, he would climb into the press box above the track at Coeur d’Alene High and bellow at stragglers over the PA system: “Get your legs up!” Or “Quit dogging it.”
At other times, he would pretend he was announcing the Kentucky Derby and his runners were horses.
“He was so funny,” said Tony Smith, a lieutenant colonel in the Air Force Reserve, stationed in Colorado. “He spent his afternoons mentoring us, teaching us and yelling at us.”
Rasmussen did so with a twinkle in his eye.
He was demanding. He wanted to win. But he never forgot the human side. He played no favorites. The kids knew he cared for them individually. He was known to pay for shoes or shorts for a poor athlete.
Rasmussen, known affectionately as “Big Dad” or “Big Daddy,” was the track team’s head coach through the 1980s. He retired from teaching in 1996. He died in 2012.
And his former athletes are still running for him.
Last weekend, 11 former track-and-field Viks and a friend ran Oregon’s daunting Hood to Coast relay in memory of their late coach. Team Big Daddy was among the 867 teams that left Mount Hood on Friday, Aug. 27, and finished at Seaside the next day.
They ran 199 miles, day and night, with 36 exchanges, along and through rivers, highways, the city of Portland, farms, forests and mountain passes, to finish fourth in the Supermasters (over 50) Division, averaging 8:29 per mile.
“We simply wanted to honor him,” said Tony Smith. “He dragged us bunch of hoodlums all over the state and pushed us to succeed.”
Tony and his Team Big Daddy pals have prospered in life, too.
Nine of the 12 were from the CHS class of 1985, including Smith and team organizer Dr. Allan Giesen, a Massachusetts psychiatrist. Others from the Class of ’85 included: Bill Drake, Gonzaga assistant athletic director; Jeff Barton, a Spokane Valley critical care doctor; Pete Neirinckx, an aerospace engineer and teacher from Coeur d’Alene; Mike Hinz, a Defense Department contractor from Virginia; and Kevin Hocevar, Idaho’s chief deputy probation officer.
CHS track teams under Big Daddy Rasmussen won seven regional titles and finished as state runners-up twice. More importantly, his athletes grew up to honor his legacy and their school.
Fan Mail
Many responded on my Facebook page to the Huckleberry from last week about the August 1951 arrival of Drs. Don and Jane Gumprecht, with three small children in tow (Donald George, Ruth and baby Tommy). The Gumprechts became fixtures in the medical community and Coeur d’Alene social life. This response from Mark Soderling, retired Lakes Highway District director, was among the recollections: “I split the top of my head on a construction job in Coeur d’Alene and went to Dr. Don. He said he could stitch the wound but that it would be really painful. So he took a hank of hair on each side and tied them into a knot.” Now, there’s something you probably don’t learn in medical schools today.
Huckleberries
• Poet’s Corner: In spring the grass grows night and day,/unceasing in its ancient way;/some time beneath it I’ll lie meekly —/until that day I must mow weekly — The Bard of Sherman Avenue (“The Philosopher Contemplates His Lawn”).
• Overheard: As she passed the flower section at Costco, a thirtysomething woman noticed an older gent selecting pink roses. “They’re very pretty,” she said. The old-timer responded, “She has put up with me for 46 years. This should buy me more time. She’s worth every minute.”
• Bumpersnicker (spotted on a woman’s light-blue T-shirt downtown): “Porn kills love.”
• Did You Know — that a Coeur d’Alene native once commanded a 5,000-man aircraft carrier in the Gulf of Tonkin, off the coast of Vietnam, during the Vietnam War? On this day in local history, 50 years ago, Henry Glindeman Jr. assumed command of the USS Ranger during shipboard ceremonies in San Francisco. He had just returned from the combat zone. Glindeman came by his leadership skills naturally. His father, Henry, was once mayor of Coeur d’Alene.
• If your first initial is K, and you’re 66, and you have had two Moderna shots, you may find your vaccination card pinned to the 2021 Summer Concert Series board at City Park.
Parting Shot
From Springfield, Ill., pulmonologist Donald George Gumprecht offers this memory of his mom, “Dr. Jane”: “Mother was a vocalist, frequently invited to perform guest solos at events and churches. One day she delivered a baby in the morning, sang at a wedding in the afternoon and sang at a funeral in the evening.” The four Gumprecht sibs, including three doctor brothers, have earned honors galore. But none of them, says Donald George fondly, compares to his top achievement: “My parents were truly remarkable people. My greatest accomplishment in life was choosing them.”
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D.F. “Dave” Oliveria can be contacted at dfo@cdapress.com.
