Bob has been a director for the Minnesota Curling Association since 1977. He served two years as president and five years as vice president. He has been on the United States Curling Association (USCA) Board of Directors since 1992, and on its Executive Board since 1996. Bob served as president of the USCA during the 2003-04 season.

First curling memories: Bob says an aunt of his got him started in curling in Bemidji in 1960, when he was 13. Four years later he was the vice skip on the Minnesota Schoolboy State Championship team. Bob didn't play competitively again until 1977, however (the U.S. junior national championships did not begin until 1974). "I've played every position," says Bob. "It's the strategy of the game, the thinking part, that keeps me coming back."

Coaching philosophy:  Bob first became interested in coaching in 1985, after taking a Curl Canada Level 1 Instructor Course in Duluth, Minn. "What I try to get across is that they've got to believe in themselves," he says of his coaching philosophy. "They have to have self-confidence. And they have to be willing to sacrifice in practice. Practice is what makes them better, not coaching." He says he finds both the junior and adult levels of coaching challenging. "But there's nothing more rewarding to me than taking and molding four junior curlers into a national champion."

Other favorite sports: Fishing, camping, golf, curling

Hobbies: Woodworking

Something unique: Collects baseball cards and coins, mostly American and Canadian.

Curling goals: To win a world championship, and also an Olympic medal.

Greatest competitor: "The guys I go fishing with, even though they never beat me."

Favorite athlete to watch: Tiger Woods and Michael Jordan

Other Olympic sport he'd like to try: Downhill skiing

Curling heroes: All of the skips of the past world champions from the U.S.

Motivational quote to live by: "Every morning in Africa a gazelle wakes up. He knows he must run faster than the fastest lion or he will be eaten. Every morning the lion wakes up. He knows he must run faster than the slowest gazelle or he will starve to death. The moral to this is when you wake up in the morning you better be running."