Bob Westrum was honored for over 40 years of service as a coach

Bob’s older brother Jerry, also a coach, was a major influence on Bob as he played sports and began his own coaching career. Bob also learned valuable lessons from his own coaches as he played football, basketball, and baseball for Clearbrook. It was his high school football coach who encouraged him to enroll in Concordia College, where he continued to learn from coaches Jake Christiansen and Jim Christopherson as he played football for four years.

“All of my coaches brought something that I was able to learn from,” Bob said of his own experiences as a player. He will often remember something a coach told him, proof that the lessons have stuck with him.

Bob started coaching at the elementary level, teaching basketball to 5th and 6th graders. He worked as both the assistant boys’ football coach and assistant boys’ basketball coach at Clearbrook for around 19 years. He had to take a few years off from coaching because he was working out of the area. But he came back to assist Ross Faldet in coaching the Clearbrook-Gonvick girls’ basketball team.

“I have been extremely lucky to be able to be the assistant coach to many fantastic coaches. I’ve learned a lot from all of them,” Bob said. Besides Ross Faldet, Bob has worked with head coaches Casey Kroulik, Ron Johnson, Steve Fillion, and Mark Bagaason.

From his own experiences as both an athlete and a coach, Bob knows the lessons taught by sports are greater than the fundamental skills and rules of the games. Each sport teaches something different. While individual sports teach about competition and improving yourself, team sports bring lessons about commitment and getting along with people. All the sports help young players learn about themselves and how they are affected by pressure and difficult situations.

“Everybody fails at something in life and sports are like that too. It’s what you do after you fail that matters,” is a message Bob tells his players. Each player responds to situations differently, providing opportunities for personal growth. 

Bob admits that he doesn’t like to lose, but he emphasizes to his players that they should focus more on doing their best. He wants the athletes to work hard and try to get better each day. While he has experienced some highlights in the sports he has coached over the years, Bob says the biggest thrill is seeing the improvement a player makes. “To see a girl you’ve been coaching, get the ball, dribble, and shoot a shot with the opposite hand like you taught her, I get as much enjoyment about that then the game itself.”