MHM 2018 Oct-digital

HERB BROOKS FOUNDATION
LEGACY LIVES ON IN FOUNDATION DESIGNED TO ADVANCE THE GAME OF HOCKEY
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Herb Brooks Foundation. “Even though we use
hockey as our platform, the goal is to help young
people who might not have the means or the access
to participate in sports in general and hockey in
specifics.”
The foundation does a lot of work now for kids
who haven’t had much experience in hockey, but it
started over 30 years ago in a somewhat different
capacity.
As the foundation existed 30 years ago, it was
a fund for a scholarship for some high school
students to keep playing hockey.
“My dad had a foundation that he started in
1986 to raise money for myself and some other top
seniors in the state … so we could go play in these
various [hockey] tournaments around the country,”
said Dan Brooks, Herb’s son. “His buddies helped
raise money, so we could go play.”
Now that Dan is beyond his playing days, the
foundation has changed tunes back to getting kids
involved with the game of hockey.
Herb’s friends kept the foundation operating
until his death in 2003, then they turned it over to
Dan. He then went and renamed it the Herb Brooks
Foundation, worked closely with the National
Sports Center in Blaine, Minn. and assembled a
board of directors and got to work on keeping
Herb’s legacy alive.
Though the mission remains largely unchanged
from the early years of the current state of the
foundation 15 years ago, it has always been
committed to getting young people into hockey.
“We looked at trying to change the game of
hockey itself, how the game was played” Dan
Brooks said. “That was kind of a daunting task, so
we just wanted to help kids, make people’s lives
better through the game of hockey, and make the
game of hockey better itself.”
That mission of helping kids through the game
of hockey isn’t better explained than their mission
statement on the foundation’s website.
“Introducing, providing, and maintain a variety
of hockey-related opportunities, at no cost, for our
youth — while growing the game.”
Those hockey-related opportunities are not hard
to find, either. The foundation runs summer and
winter clinics each year, with multiple locations
throughout the Twin Cities, primarily Minneapolis
and St. Paul.
Kalli Funk is Rink Rats program director for the
Herb Brooks Foundation. She has lived the life of a
young hockey player in the Twin Cities. As a player
from Roseville, she made her way through the
Roseville hockey association, Cretin-Derham Hall,
then moved on to college to play at St. Cloud State
before competing overseas.
Once back in the United States, Funk was put
in touch with the former executive director of the
foundation, John McClellan, while she was coaching
the girls’ team at Cretin and she became involved
with the hockey side of the Foundation’s efforts.
“This summer, at our St. Paul clinic, we had a lot
of learn to skate participants, [that’s] kids who are
just starting out skating” Funk said. “When I first
started with the organization, I saw a few more kids
who had been skating for a while.”
In July, the foundation held a summer clinic
twice a week for the whole month at the Charles
M. Schulz Arena in Highland Park. Those clinics
had learn to skate, power skating and learn to play
hockey clinics. Kids as young as five years old and
kids into their teens participated in each clinic to
start playing hockey.
The foundation doesn’t just put on summer
hockey clinics, though. This winter, at three
locations around St. Paul, the foundation will host
clinics throughout January and February.
Funk said unequivocally why she does this job is
because of the difference she sees with the kids.
“That’s why I do what I do. Just seeing the
reaction, the belief that they can do it, you get chills
down your spine,” Funk said. “We’re not trying to
raise the next NHL star in our foundation, but just
seeing that kids believe in themselves, then it’s one
more thing they’re able work hard in and put their
mind to it.”
From the parents’ reactions to their kids at these
clinics is another humbling experience for Funk.
“The biggest reaction I see is gratitude,” Funk
said. “They’re always so thankful that we offer these
clinics, and especially, everything we offer is free
of charge to them, so they’re so grateful that we’re
able to do this.”
Beyond the on-ice help, these clinics are free
to the participants and their families. The money
has to come from somewhere. So where does the
money come from?
That’s where executive director Jon Cherney
comes back in. While he doesn’t get involved with
the on-ice clinics, he is integral to the business side
of the foundation and getting businesses to partner
with the foundation and help provide money to
accomplish the mission.
“Hockey’s expensive,” Cherney said. “Thankfully
we’ve got a lot of generous people, both donors
and sponsors who have supported our cause over
the years, but we need to do more.”
Cherney said the foundation needs to expand
its sponsor and donor base by asking people to
help the cause who might have not been a part of
the foundation before. Though he is a ‘walking PR
campaign,’ Cherney said that usually once people
hear what the foundation does, they are eager to
get involved any way they can.
One of the marquee events for the foundation
each year is the Herb Brooks Celebrity Golf Classic.
This summer, it took place at Victory Links Golf
Course in Blaine, adjacent to the National Sports
Center, where the foundation is headquartered.
The event featured some high-profile hockey
stars such as Jake Guentzel and Ryan Suter, along
with coaches and other figures around the hockey
world. In addition to the celebrities present at the
golf classic, there were the sponsors; for the holes,
the driving range, the putting green. All of it was
in part to raise more money for the foundation to
continue to provide those hockey opportunities
for free.
“We think going forward, we need to have big
events all the time [in addition to the golf outing,]”
Cherney said. “All of our events, I believe are big
events. Some of them raise some more money than
others … but when we’re out in the community, it’s
a big deal.”
Cherney said the golf classic had over 30
foursomes to raise the foundations profile, but also
to raise money with the sponsors and entry fees for
what really matters: the kids.
“What all that does is it allows us to raise money
so that we can buy ice time, we can buy equipment,
uniforms, provide coaching for the kids who might
not be able to do so into the coming school year,”
Cherney said.
For the future of the foundation, Cherney wants
to expand. Though the foundation now has a scope
of both the Twin Cities and surrounding suburbs, he
wants the foundation to have a footprint in places
beyond the metro area.
Moving to cities to fundraise beyond Minnesota,
including Chicago and Boston, could be plans for
the foundation in the future.
“The biggest
reaction I see
is gratitude.
They’re always
so thankful
that we offer
these clinics,
and especially,
everything
we offer is
free of charge
to them...”
— Kalli Funk
Beyond expansion, though, the goal is still to
live on Herb’s legacy and provide kids with access
to hockey. That isn’t lost on Ross Bernstein, a
bestselling author and Board President of the Herb
Brooks Foundation, who knows what it means to
play hockey the way Herb would have taught.
“That was Herbie’s thing, play the game the right
way,” Bernstein said. “We try to instill a lot of those
values.”
As for the end goal of Herb’s legacy, it is still
living through the existence and acts of the
foundation named after him.
“He really had a profound impact on a lot of
people,” Bernstein said. “I’ve interviewed hundreds
of people: players, coaches, neighbors, family
members, everyone just had a crazy, unique story
about how Herbie touched their lives, how he had
made a difference.” 6
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