University of Minnesota Athletics
Broadfoot Says Goodbye After 37 Years at Minnesota
4/30/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Hockey
Harry Broadfoot sharpened skates and handed out Gopher hockey gear for the final time on Thurs., April 30, retiring after 37 years at the University of Minnesota.
Broadfoot, who served as equipment manager for Gopher hockey, football, men’s basketball, wrestling and women’s rowing teams during his tenure, hands over his keys to one of his former student workers. Lee Greseth, who worked under Broadfoot from 1989-92 and was most recently equipment manager at the University of Denver, officially begins his duties on May 11.
Broadfoot worked with the Gopher hockey team since 1986 and also served the Gophers’ rowing team in recent seasons. He began working at the university in 1972 as a dormitory bookkeeper and started his career in athletics four years later. Broadfoot also worked with men’s basketball until 2000.
Well-known for his endless appetite, Broadfoot had three lunch appointments set for his final day and had boxes of Twinkies and trays of cookies scattered about his equipment room while spending the morning and afternoon responding to countless e-mail and voicemail messages. He plans to spend his free time doing plenty of fishing and will be honored at a retirement party on Sun., May 17 at 6:30 p.m. at Jax Caf in Minneapolis.
Greseth takes over as a full-time employee at his fifth different Western Collegiate Hockey Association school. His first full-time job came in 1992-93 at Colorado College before spending three years at Alaska Anchorage and three years at North Dakota. Greseth worked the past nine years at Denver, equipping two NCAA championship teams. He’s been reminded plenty of times that he has huge shoes to fill in Broadfoot’s absence.
“That’s all you hear around here,” he said about the constant reminders. “He’s awesome to work with and a great person.”
Greseth is a Rochester, Minn. native. He and his wife, Jennifer, have two children, Morgan (6) and Luke (3).