June 22nd Meeting Notes

    Patrick Mader wrote the books Minnesota Gold and More Minnesota Gold, which are both about athletes from Minnesota who have participated at the highest level. Patrick Mader started off his presentation by giving background information about Olympians from Minnesota. First, there are more than 300 living people who spent their formative years in Minnesota and who have also competed in the Olympics. Second, there have been more hockey players from Minnesota than any other sport. Some Olympian qualities include being inspired, self-directed, determined, intelligent, and modest.

    There have been several Olympians from Eden Prairie. They are Susan Rapp, a three-time Olympian and 1984 silver medalist in swimming; Rachel Bootsma, a 2012 Olympian in the backstroke who was a member of the gold medal-winning 4 x 100 medley relay team; Ben Husaby, a 1992 and 1994 Olympian in nordic skiing. Additionally, Allison Pottinger, who is a two-time Olympic curler as well as the USA Curling Female Athlete of the year in 2008 and 2012, is also from Eden Prairie. 

    Next, Mader spoke about athletes from cities in Minnesota, excluding Eden Prairie. These include Amy Peterson, Jerry and Jay Martin as well as Wendy Anderson. Amy Peterson is a speedskater and Minnesota’s only 5-time Olympian. She was also voted flag bearer by her teammates at the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah. Jerry and Jay Martin from Golden are Olympians from Golden Valley, and they both participated in the Ski Jump. Lindsay Whalen was the leading scorer in the gold medal basketball game at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and is now the head coach of the U of Minnesota women’s basketball team. Wendy Anderson of St. Paul was an Olympian on the 1956 hockey team. Wendy later became a state legislator and finally served as the nation’s youngest governor from 1970-1976. 

    Later, Patrick Mader spoke about Lindsay Nielsen, who has overcome difficulties to do what she loves, which is running. When she was thirteen, Nielsen’s foot got trapped and crushed while hopping a train, which led to her left foot becoming amputated. Lindsay returned to her love of running at age 40, and she became the first female amputee to complete an Ironman Triathlon and placed 5th in the 200-meter run at the 2000 Paralympics in Sydney. Additionally, Lindsay Nielsen battled substance addictions as a teenager. Currently, Lindsay has been sober for 40 years, and she is now a licensed clinical social worker.

Aaron Orwick grew up in Michigan, North Dakota. He attended The University of North Dakota for both his Bachelor of Business Administration and Master of Business Administration. Currently, Orwick is a Director of Data Engineering at Target. He is building a team of Data Engineering professionals to build Data Products at a scale that will further accelerate Target’s growth.