UW Green Bay Coach Butch Reimer Remembered

UW Green Bay Nordic Ski coach Butch Reimer is remembered by former team member Eric North:

After a short but valiant battle with a very aggressive form of Leukemia, the ski community and world at large lost an incredible human being in Butch Reimer. Butch began the Nordic Ski Team at UW-Green Bay in 1989. At that time it was in the NCSA, but joined the NCAA and became a Division 1 Ski Team. In testament to both his athletes and his coaching, by 1996 he had sent at least 7 men and 4 women to NCAA Nationals. His skiers produced many regional championship victories and several top-20 and even top-10 finishes at NCAA Nationals. Some of his former athletes you might know include Bryan Fish, Adam Swank, Josh Tesch and Santi Ocariz. Butch's coaching style was to lead by example. Until several years into this coaching at GB, he could still compete and sometimes beat his own skiers! He was kind and patient, but still somehow seemed to bring out the best in his skiers. Butch prided himself on developing skiers from the Midwest, often foregoing more talented skiers to give Wisconsin and Minnesota kids a chance at skiing fast and a good education. In fact, many of his champion skiers (and even more that weren't champions) were kids that no one else would give a chance to. And, when UWGB was left without a coach, he stepped up and resumed the position he had left years earlier to focus more on his family, effectively rescuing the team from collapse to continue providing opportunities for kids to realize their own dreams in both skiing and school.

Most importantly, Butch wanted his skiers to be good people. Practices were ALWAYS a balance of hard work and fun. As it should be every day in life. So many of us former skiers credit our lifelong friendships we built with other teammates to him. We've become Doctors, Physical Therapists, Biologists, Builders and Teachers. And there isn't a one of us that has learned valuable life lessons from our old coach, both successes and failures. He has inspired many of us to continue passing on his legacy of coaching through fun and competition. Passing on the gift of the lesson to play hard and work hard, all the while with respect and patience.
As an athlete, Butch gave me and many others far more attention and patience than we/I deserved. Butch gave me the opportunity to realize a dream and reach my potential. But he also gave me the opportunity to bond with people who I would hold dear and remain my closest friends for the rest of my truly lucky life. He didn't just create a powerhouse ski team, he created a family. He and his family opened their homes to us all, fed us and cheered us on the ski trail and in life.

There were many of us who did get to be touched by Butch. For others, there's a good chance you've met someone on the ski trail who was influenced by him.

Please visit his caringbridge..com site and sign his guest book at butchreimer (lowercase, one word). Read some of the entries and it quickly becomes clear that there are many of us who were lucky to know him. Services will be held in Green Bay on Saturday, Oct. 23. Updates are on his caringbridge site.