Name – Mike Moher
UW-Stout graduation year – Final year, 1985
Major – Technology Education/Journalism minor
Sport Played – Cross Country; Indoor/Outdoor Track & Field
Years Played – 1979-84
Hometown (High School) – Golden Valley, MN (Robbinsdale Armstrong HS)
Currently Reside – Leadville, Colo.
Give us a brief synopsis of your life since graduating from UW-Stout?
Finished my student teaching in November 1985 and immediately started working as a cabinetmaker, which had always been my main career objective. Married to (former Stout distance runner) Sheila Geere from 1990-95. Moved to Vail, Colo., in 1992 (after being encouraged to do some winter triathlons at the Beaver Creek Ski Resort by Stout grad/distance runner Kay Rehm/Graybill). Fell in love with the Colorado mountains and saw greater opportunities to develop and expand my woodworking skills. Interviewed for a job with Aren Design, Inc., on my first day in Colorado and it basically was my dream job (exceptionally - and I'm not lying - high end architectural millwork/woodworking shop run by an old school Austrian master. Tough, challenging jobs that drove most people away within a year or two) Worked there until 2006 when, after the job was driving me crazy, I took a similar position at company in Leadville, Colo. Worked there until 2015, when I went back to Aren Design. Planning to go down with the ship there and open a small custom furniture shop.
Met a Hungarian woman (Helga) in 1999 while running a track workout in Vail (swore I wouldn't date any more distance runners...but) and married her in 2001. We are spending long trips in Europe every few years when visiting her family.
How are you using your Stout education in your occupation? In your daily life?
Despite not graduating or working in a profession I studied for, I put my Stout education to use daily. Working for a relatively small woodworking firm requires me to be able to do everything I would have taught high school students if I went into education. All of the basic "shop" classes I took in high school and built upon at Stout (woodworking, architectural drafting/blueprint reading, metal/machine work, small engines/automotive) provided the basic skills to keep a small manufacturing facility running. Plus, I always end up training/mentoring the new employees, so I do a little teaching!
Why did you choose to be a collegiate student-athlete at UW-Stout?
Since Stout offered the best Industrial/Technology Education program in the region, there was no need to look further. The cross country team was finishing near the bottom of the conference, but I knew the WSUC was a top NAIA/NCAA DIII conference and when I met Lou Klitzke and some of the other runners, I felt that there was potential to be part of a successful program. Many things fell into place between my freshman year of 1979 and the fall of 1981, when we made it to the NCAA Division III nationals. We really did have a good run in the early '80's.
What did you like most about competing in collegiate athletics?
The opportunity to be part of Stout track and cross country teams that continually improved and became solid WSUC competitors during my time there. I was rarely the top runner, but I'd like to think I encouraged and helped my teammates to reach their potential as well.
What is the greatest lesson you learned from being a collegiate student-athlete?
That with opportunity and encouragement everyone can improve and be successful. It doesn't always mean winning.
Who was the most influential person(s) in your athletic career?
I'd have to say overall that Lou Klitzke and Steve Terry would tie in a photo-finish being great influences, for so many different reasons. For cross country, the distance runners from that era would agree that it was Lou Klitzke. He didn't start his coaching career with the experience or pedigree many coaches had, but, that said, Lou was the glue that pulled us together in cross country and we loved to work hard and race for him. He and Liz (Lou's wife) gave us the genuine family support group that I know contributed greatly to our success as students and athletes.
Which former Blue Devil student-athletes are you still in contact with? (If so, who?)
Quite a few over the years. Always kept in touch with Lou and Steve, but mainly now, Marty Dierl, Jeff and Kathy Wachter, Kay (Rehm) Graybill and Pat Murphy. Most of the cross country guys are all in touch on Facebook.
How would your teammates describe you as a person and as a student-athlete?
Probably crazy. Hopefully dedicated and encouraging and a good leader.
The teams you ran with were pretty darn good. The men's cross country program was starting to qualify to nationals on a somewhat regular basis. The track team was sending individuals to nationals. What was the camaraderie like? What made that era of teams so special?
1) Track & Field - SImply, plainly, overall: Stout hiring Steve Terry. I was out of school Steve's first year (coaching at Stout), although I did meet him when I ran some open meets. It wasn't that we really had better athletes than before (although, looking back, we had some amazing men and women on those teams.) Steve brought what you would expect from a La Crosse grad - a higher level of expectations and dedication to being better both as individuals and as a team. He made it clear on Day One that, while he wasn't going to cut people, the days of everyone going to every meet (especially conference) and getting the all-you-can-eat meal at some steak house were over. You needed to show you could compete and/or were busting your butt in practice. That was the basis to build from.
2) Cross Country - My freshman year we we finished seventh in the WSUC. We had some talent, but Lou was still inexperienced and we simply trained too hard and raced too much. I was fortunate to have had a great high school coach, and I read all the training stuff I could. Lou's experience came from road running and marathon training. Nearly all DIII teams raced too much back then, so it wasn't only us. The difference was those teams had more raw talent that could withstand the abuse. We couldn't. I started to get Jeff (Wachter) and most of the other guys doing longer runs (12-16 miles) on most Sundays. Most had never done that regularly.
By fall of 1981, we were all much stronger. Web Peterson had transferred in. I ran against Web in high school, and he wasn't much for summer training but was (at least then) the most talented distance runner to come to Stout. He ran a year of DI at Minnesota before transferring. Lou did some serious recruiting and Jeff Vitale, Kent Brooks and a couple other fast guys were there. I was back, basically as a junior and Marty Dierl was back for his final year. It took that good of a team just to finish fourth in the WSUC (behind, I think, La Crosse, Stevens Point, Eau Claire). Top three WSUC teams always went to NAIA nationals, which was more prestigious, so we had to run DIII Regionals to try for DIII nationals. We all ran great on what was known to be one of the fastest courses in the Midwest in Rock Island, Ill., to qualify.
The DIII meet that year was hosted by Carthage College and was held on the same morning in Kenosha on a golf course right down the road from NAIA nationals. If I remember correctly we were able to watch the NAIA race before we ran and cheer on the WSUC teams who beat us a couple weeks earlier. People might find that odd, but that's cross country. Our NCAA race was in five inches of snow, but we had a decent day and finished 10th. (Editor's Note: Wachter finished 41st, Peterson 42nd, Vitali 61st, Moher 68th, Barry Bauer 104th, Dierl 105th)
In 1982 Marty was gone but everyone else was back. Season wasn't looking very good early on. Our ace in the hole was supposed to be Dave Wolff, who had transferred a year and a half earlier but never had been eligible because of the tangled web of an NAIA/NCAA/junior college semester/trimester transfer nightmare. Then everything broke our way. I was injured but able to hobble around, just hoping to be our sixth or seventh guy. A couple younger guys (Todd Fox, Todd Zuerlein) were much improved. Dave was training with us some days, but not "officially", and had sort of given up hope. We all had. Then, a week or so before the conference meet, he finally was deemed eligible. Wow. Talk about a confidence boost! We went to that race in Stevens Point and crushed it for second behind La Crosse. Wolfe was second. (Wachter placed 13th, Peterson 15th, Vitali 17, Peterson 18th)
On to our first NAIA at Parkside, which was the "bigger" show (and it was a much bigger, more competitive race with quite a few NAIA scholarship teams). I recall we all ran well. We had run fewer races than prior years, were older, smarter. Dave was the most under-raced of all and finished top-10 (8th), and I think we were 9th/10th team? (Stout finished 8th overall, Wachter 32nd, Peterson 51st, Vitali 93rd)
We managed to qualify for NAIA's again in 1983, but without the big guns from the previous year we weren't nearly as good. Not sure where we placed - maybe 20-25th? (19th, Vitali placed 49th). Camaraderie-wise, I'd say that was a big part of the success from 1981 on. I was always preaching stuff like "none of us are good enough to go to nationals as individuals (which was absolutely true then), but we can go as a team if we commit to this." It also helped that our team was much deeper by that time, and we had more guys working hard to be sixth through 10th on any given day. We supported each other fastest to the slowest, and that goes a long way to team success.
What are some of your most memorable or favorite sports moment(s) at UW-Stout?
Getting the cross country team to three national championships, and watching my teammate/friend/some-times training partner Jeff Wachter win two national track titles (NAIA Indoor two-mile, NCAA outdoor 1500m, both in 1984). That was amazing.
We hosted the 1983 WSUC championships for men/women when I was there. We ran most of our serious workouts at Tanglewood (Golf Club, since closed). Jeff Vitale and I were really excited to run our final conference meet at home, and that was a damn good course. We were both having seasons that would set us up for high conference and NAIA finishes. I ended up getting strep a couple weeks before conference and struggled through my last two races. Can't remember how Jeff Vitale did, but the youngsters must have had our backs at conference or we wouldn't have qualified for NAIA. Still have a special "good luck" safety pin that Kay Rehm/Kathy Wachter and the women's team made for us before the race. Even wore those same shoes in a race about 10 years ago!
I have been focused on cross country because it is that time of year, but share some of your track and field highlights and/or memories.
Having the men's and women's track teams combined meant twice the fun when it came time for the relays. While it was always great to cheer for our top individuals, everyone would go nuts cheering for our relay teams, especially in the big meets. Nothing like watching Ray Parker, Todd Zuerlein or Margene Torgesson (and plenty of others) rip up an awesome anchor leg on some small indoor track.
What are some other activities you were involved in on campus (or off campus) while in Menomonie?
I worked for The Stoutonia (the UW-Stout campus newspaper) for three years, and occasionally helped out with the Foreign Film Club. Not sure if the administration ever found out that the club accidently received an unedited/X-rated version of "A Clockwork Orange", which wasn't supposed to be shown because of some pretty graphic violence. We had to take down all the promo fliers, but some higher-ups in the club still managed to pull off the screening. I also managed to squeeze in four winters worth of intramural hockey and broomball, which really drove Steve and Lou crazy.
What are some of your memories or highlights during your time as the sports editor and as a writer on the Stoutonia? How have you used what you learned working with the student newspaper.
While I probably spent way too many hours in the Stoutonia office, writing for the paper and being part of the crew that managed to put out something respectable every week was arguably my most valuable experience at Stout. Reporting on college sports was easy for me because of my passion for all sports, but being an editor and trying to manage and help other reporters gave me experience I never had in the classroom. Stepping in the news editor position completely took me out of my comfort zone, but allowed me to get a different and much wider perspective on the university/administration/Menomonie side of Stout. Sometimes I even miss the mayhem of the deadlines, and there's still nothing like picking up a copy fresh off the press.
Being a student athlete and also covering Stout sports certainly would not have worked at any school with a bigger journalism program or school paper, but...somebody had to do it.
Here's my best sports editor memory: Since it was a tradition/requirement to do a weekly column, I coined it Moher Sports and we were off! No clue where I was heading, but sometimes the topic was serious, often trivial, occasionally controversial. But the one constant, during the fall, was football prognostication. It gives most guys something to look forward to reading and griping about every week for three months. Being a Gopher Stater, I knew I could annoy the Packers fans by always picking the Vikings, even though the Pack was dominating at the time. Both the Badgers and the Gophers stunk back then, so it was safe to pick them both to lose. Of course, nobody ever figured out that I really didn't care who won, that I was no expert, and was just trying to stir the pot a bit. Friday and Saturday nights downtown during football season were always interesting.
You can't put a price on the value of writing for a weekly paper and the confidence you gain through practice. I did a bit of freelance writing for sports/recreation magazines in the Midwest until I moved to Colorado. I'm sure I'd have no problem writing for hobbyist woodworking magazines if I chose to do so in the future.
Took me a few years, but I had a chance to train in Colorado Springs at the Olympic Training Center for a couple weeks in May of 1992 (inline skate racing - more fun than any 31-year old should have). Sheila and I decided we'd move if I could find a decent job, and that was that. Spent the last 28 years out here putting my years of Stout fitness to good use. Five years of inline skating around the U.S., snowshoe racing and mountain running, road and mountain bike racing, adventure racing, mountain climbing and more skiing than I could have imagined. So, maybe not graduating wasn't so bad. Pretty sure I would have stayed in Minnesota or Wisconsin and taught shop.
After Sheila and I divorced, she got her masters in special education and teaches in Colorado Springs, Colo. Kay lives near Glenwood Springs, Colo., and I see her occasionally at her son's bike races. Marty Dierl visits one to two times a year since I moved here, and we still take great pleasure in trying to kick each other's butts in everything from running to biking to skiing/snowboarding.
