Class Officer Spotlight: John Moorhead ’68

Written by Bill Laumann ’66

In 1968, the Gustavus hockey team won their third straight conference championship. The captain and team leader of that team was John Moorhead. When he arrived on Campus as a recruited ‘puckster’ from Minnetonka HS, the future of the hockey program appeared grim. There had been no hockey program at Gustavus the previous year, ’63-’64, and the new hockey coach for the upcoming season, Don Roberts, had little experience at the sport. The team played on an outdoor rink, in good weather and bad, plus the players had to clear the snow off themselves. John’s first season in 1964-’65, with a team short on talent, was a struggle, losing all 12 league games and managing only one non-conference win. That was a learning year. The next year, one of the greatest turn-arounds in Gustavus athletics occurred as the Gusties went from last place to first place and a conference championship. They repeated as Conference Champs again in ’66-’67 and John’s senior year, ’67-’68.

(Note: Gustavus won conference championships in Hockey for 8 straight years from ’66-’73, all while that “inexperienced” hockey coach, Don Roberts, was at the helm. The current indoor rink is named after him. John was one of Robert’s first hockey recruits who played a major role in that turn-around.)

After graduation, John, a biology major in college, worked at General Mills for 26 years in sales and marketing, retiring in 1994. In 1997, he joined Lindskoog Florist, then spent 20 years as part owner, retiring this year. He and wife Kris (Lundberg), Gustie grad class of ’68, have two children, Heather, born in ’71 and David, born in ’73. John and Kris are now snowbirds splitting their time between Minnesota and Florida, allowing John, ever the athlete, to play golf year-round.

While a student, John was a Member of the Omega Kappa Fraternity, elected as President his senior year. After graduation, he has volunteered to help on college and class projects such as phonoramas and reunion committees where he demonstrated his ‘Can-Do attitude.’ Never forgetting his college hockey experience, John has been a staunch promoter of the Gustavus Hockey program. He has worked on fundraising efforts for rink improvements and support of the student athletes. He has also organized OK fraternity reunions in ’10, ’14 and ’17, bringing brothers together from the classes of ’66 through ’71.

It is no wonder, when a vacancy occurred in the leadership of his class in the early 90’s, that John was asked if he would become the new Class Agent. He agreed to do so.

When asked about his many volunteer efforts for GAC, he stated; “I have a very strong feeling for the College and its long term growth and anything I can do to help that along I’m willing. I get a chance to stay close to the College and my classmates, which makes all the effort we put forth worthwhile.”

When asked about his role as President, he stated, “What I do as a President is try to keep it all together and with the help of a solid core of other classmates, who share the same vision we promote the College and try to keep the class connected. There are no tricks, no secret as to how we do what we do… we just do it!”

In closing he added this, “My only regret is that I didn’t truly appreciate what GAC did for me until years after I graduated. It seems like the further I get away from my graduation, the closer I have gotten to the College…. and now anything I can do to pay it forward gives me great pleasure. The Gustie ‘Spirit’ is not just a slogan, it is the one element that ties us all together.”