Jul 02, 2008 - 04:05:48 CDT
University of Mary women's basketball coach Fred Fridley often hears Al Bortke pecking away on his keyboard.The sound isn't all that unusual coming from an office. What makes it so unique is that Bortke's not working on a computer from his athletic director's station.
In some ways, Bortke refuses to conform to modern-day technology. He enjoys his IBMtypewriter, which sits against the wall that neighbors Fridley's office.
It's often a challenge for Bortke to find typewriter ribbon, and he's probably the only person in Bismarck who buys Liquid Paper.
"When you go to a meeting, letters are not on a laser print," Fridley said. "They're on typewriter paper. There can't be many people who use those any more."
Call Bortke old school if you want. He would rather deliver a coach a typewritten memo then send out a mass e-mail to his entire staff.
"I do that because I want to see the coaches,"Bortke said. "I'm too bullheaded. I'm a people person. I want to see my coaches."
Odds are good that the U-Mary coaching staff won't hear the same kind of pecking in the near future. Bortke, the school's only athletic director, retired from his position Monday. He will stay on for a year as an associate.
Former University of North Dakota athletic director Roger Thomas has been chosen to succeed Bortke. He starts next week.
Bortke, 71, came to U-Mary in 1973 as an athletic director and men's basketball coach. He became full-time athletic director in 1989.
"It's been a lot of fun," said Bortke, a native of Hettigner. "I can't envision 35 years being here. To everybody else it probably seems like 135 years."
Making progress
Call Bortke "old school" if you want, but he never stood in the way of the U-Mary athletic department making progress.
When Bortke first came to U-Mary, the school wasn't affiliated with a conference. His men's basketball team couldn't practice or play games on campus because the McDowell Activity Center wasn't built yet.
U-Mary, with an enrollment consisting of mostly females, offered just one sport men's basketball. The university expanded to 19 sports during Bortke's era.
"We needed to drive up our enrollment," Bortke said. "One easy way to drive up our enrollment was athletics."
U-Mary, which eventually found a conference, evolved into an NAIA power in most sports because Bortke surrounded himself with a quality staff.
Bortke guided U-Mary through its probationary period while making its transition from NAIA to NCAA Division II. Bortke played a role in helping U-Mary get affiliated with the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference.
The NCAA was so impressed with the progress U-Mary made, it waived the final two years and accepted it as a full-fledged member this past fall. U-Mary made one of the quickest transitions in NCAA history.
U-Mary now has a sports information director, senior women's administrator and compliance officer. Many of its athletic programs have already made an impression on the NSIC and NCAA Division II.
"Sometimes when you're in the transition period you can skirt the rules a little bit,"U-Mary men's basketball coach Juno Pintar said. "He made a huge impression on the coaches, 'If we're going to do this, we're going to do it right.' That's one reason we went through (probationary) faster is because we did everything right. Al made a statement that we were going to do it right from Day 1. Everything went from the book right from the start."
Tough decision
Bortke's first love was coaching basketball. As U-Mary kept adding sports, Bortke's office demands became greater.
He decided to give up coaching and become a full-time athletic director.
"I had the hardest time when he gave up coaching," said Bortke's wife, Linda. "Ialways thought of Al as a coach. I thought maybe he might go to an NCAA Division I school. He had several offers, and he never did take them."
Bortke quenched his coaching thirst by helping women's coach Roger Haug with practices. Bortke still ran basketball camps sometimes allowing underprivileged kids to receive free instruction and went to all the home games. At each game he has become a fixture in the northeast corner of the McDowell Activity Center.
Bortke totally embraced his role of athletic director. He served on several chairs and committees in-state and on the national level.
"Al doesn't do anything half way," Linda said. "If you do something, you better do it right. He had a hard time designating jobs because he wanted it done right."
Lasting impression
Dickinson State athletic director Roger Ternes shares a lot of history with Bortke. Ternes worked with Bortke when Ternes served at a school in Missouri and at DSU. When Ternes was a student at DSU, Bortke coached at U-Mary.
Ternes has admired several of Bortke's qualities.
"He's extremely well-prepared when you go to a meeting," Ternes said. "If everybody is as prepared as Al, things move along smoothly. Al always reminded us we are all doing this for the student athletes. Sometimes that got us through things. We would sit in meetings, and it would be late at night and we were tired, Al reminded us that we don't want to take issues lightly because of the hour of the day."
For Bortke, each sport was equally important. He attended every U-Mary athletic event and would appear at multiple events in a day.
"If we're going to have a program, I'll support it to the best of my abilities,"Bortke said. "To me, that doesn't mean just sitting in my office and getting a bus or a van."
Even though his job could be time consuming, it was a trait that Linda admired about her husband.
"He always said 'there's more than football and basketball out here, we have other sports out here, too,'"Linda said. "They're just as important to him. They are out there representing the University of Mary. He goes to them to show he's interested. He doesn't have to be at everything, he wants to be."
Ternes marvels at how Bortke spearheaded growth in women's sports. When Bortke came on as athletic director, just one league existed for females, the Association of Intercollegiate Athletics for Women.
"That was when organizations didn't want women," Ternes said. "I was a student, and he was a leader in those areas. He has not made them, at any time, a second class or looked upon them as trying to invade a man's domain. He brought women on and welcomed them at U-Mary."
Support within
Bortke has always backed his coaches.
"If a situation comes up, like if somebody is not happy," Pintar said. "Any situation, good or bad, the first thing I'll do is go to the end of the hallway and talk to Al. He has good sound advice because he's seen everything."
Fridley backed Pintar's sentiments.
"I feel like I've been extremely fortunate," Fridley said. "Win or lose, when I'm walking off the basketball floor, he's the first to shake my hand after every game I've coached at the McDowell Activity Center. It probably means more to me than anything else. I knew I had the support of him. He was there for me after every single game.
"He's been a good boss and a good friend," Fridley said.
Michael Ressler wrote on Jul 2, 2008 1:12 PM:
Michael Ressler "
wolfmanjack wrote on Jul 2, 2008 8:22 AM:
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