John Lieser (center) with his fellow officials from the 2022 Prep Bowl: (left to right) Scott Lange, Brandon Kruse, Lieser, Matt Kleis, Jeff Wollak.
John Lieser isn’t exactly a Forrest Gump-type character, but the
longtime MSHSL football and basketball official has seen a lot in 80 years of
life in Minnesota.
--In 1960, Lieser was a senior starting guard on the Melrose
basketball team that played in the state tournament. The Dutchmen finished
third at the famous event, which was won by Edgerton in a real-life Minnesota
version of “Hoosiers.”
--Sixty-two years later, in 2022, Lieser was the referee on the
officiating crew for the Class 3A Prep Bowl, in which New London-Spicer
defeated Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton on a miracle play as the game ended.
And Lieser has seen a lot more than that. This is his 60th
season as a high school football official, and when basketball season starts he
will mark 63 years officiating that sport. He has been the football assignor for
the St. Cloud Officials
Association for 25 years.
“With
my longevity, I think people are just happy to see me alive,” he said with a
laugh.
Ask anybody in central Minnesota about John Lieser (LEES-er), and
the replies may vary because he has done so many different things. He is a
retired history and English teacher at St. Cloud Apollo, he coached high school
golf for many years and wrote a golf column for the St. Cloud Times for 44
years. He is a Civil War buff who enjoys visiting historic battlefields. Every
day, he tries to complete four crossword puzzles and get in 10,000 steps. He is
a frequent and talented golfer who always walks instead of using a cart.
Matt Kleis remembers Leiser officiating his games when Kleis was
in high school at St. Cloud Tech. Klies, who is half Lieser’s age, was a member
of Lieser’s football crew for the last six years before moving from St. Cloud
to Northfield because of a job change.
“John is probably the most passionate official out
there,” Kleis said. “He’s a student of the game even at 80 years old. He’s very
meticulous about his preparation, about everyone being mechanically sound. He wants
everyone in the right place to make the right call. He hones in on the very
basics, and that starts with appearance and finishes out with a great product
at the end.
“He says the same things year in and year out. One of
his sayings is, ‘If you strive for perfection you’ll end up being excellent.’ That
sticks in my mind. No one’s perfect but you’re going to be excellent.”
Lieser’s life has always been focused on sports. In high school, he was on the Melrose football, basketball,
baseball, track and golf teams, and he played college golf at St. Cloud State.
He began officiating while in high school, often
working games involving elementary teams. At St. Cloud State he officiated
recreation-league games; on Sundays he would earn $10 by officiating four
grade-school basketball games.
“That money would sustain me for the whole
week,” he said.
All these decades later, Lieser’s honors are
many. He is a member of the Minnesota Golf Coaches Association Hall of Fame,
was named Minnesota golf coach of the year in 1991, he won the prestigious Pine
to Palm golf title in 1971, and on and on.
He
estimates that he has officiated 2,000 to 3,000 football and basketball games, including
varsity and sub-varsity contests, along with years of working college events.
Most weeks in the fall, his schedule includes a varsity football
game and several junior-varsity contests, which provide important opportunities
to mentor young officials. Many Saturdays have included officiating a college game.
“So I keep busy,” he said.
Staying busy and staying sharp are important to Lieser, whose 80th
birthday was Sept. 21.
“I was reading a book by Jimmy Carter. He said you’re
old when regrets replace dreams. I always dream of working the next playoff
game or the next state tournament. On the golf course, I shot a 71 couple weeks
ago and I shot 76 on my birthday.
“I
always look forward, and never look back. The biggest thing is staying active.
I plan year by year. It’s all contingent on your health.”
Lieser had a health adventure in July. After not
feeling well, followed by several rounds of tests and discussions with doctors,
he was diagnosed with anaplasmosis,
a disease caused by tick bites. A 14-day regimen of medication
brought him back to good health but he lost 10 pounds; he was down to 159, less
than his high school weight. Now he’s at 164 and feeling great.
“I can still move fairly well,” he said.
With the shortage of youth sports officials a problem nationwide, Lieser
wishes more people would become officials, but he has noticed in recent years
that officials have been treated better. After a junior varsity football
game last week, all the players shook hands with the officials.
“It was amazing,” he said. “We never had that before.
I think now with the shortage of officials, I think players appreciate us more
than in the past. That’s the biggest change I’ve seen. People thank us for
officiating, which never used to happen. Now if we could just get parents to
let the kids play and forget about the officials.”
Lieser’s pitch to prospective officials is filled with
positivity.
“It’s a great vocation, it’s a way you can stay
involved in the game. You can become a rules expert or a mechanics expert but just
go in with passion and try to be the best you can. Always have a goal. If you don’t
know where you’re going, you’ll end up somewhere” (that’s another of Lieser’s
sayings).
Lieser’s early goals included working high school
state tournaments and college sports. He has officiated six state championship
football games and six title games in girls and boys basketball, with more than
20 state tournaments in each sport.
On the college level he was a longtime official in the
North Central Conference, which was one of the premier NCAA Division II
leagues. He worked 16 NCAA football playoff games, including the 1987 Division
II championship game.
He has helped train young officials for decades, a
role he relishes.
“I’m just happy to be a mentor,” he said. “A lot of
kids who had been on my football crews have gone on to the D1, D2 and D3 levels.
I always say you’re a good mentor if your mentees go farther than you. You’ve
got to really feel it, you want to be better. You never really arrive as an
official, you’re always in the process of becoming better. Once you think
you’ve arrived you start to regress.”
His regular football crew this season includes umpire
Jason Kelly, down judge Jeff Wollak, line judge Chris Swenson and back judge
Brandon Kruse. They had a longer-than-usual night recently at Becker, when
kickoff was delayed 45 minutes because of lightning. Unbeknownst to Lieser, officials
from the St. Cloud area gathered at a watering hole after their games that
night for a surprise 80th birthday party.
“I didn’t know anything about it,” he said. “We don’t
have many libations after games but I walked in there and saw 50 or 60
officials.”
In his role as a leader for the St. Cloud Officials
Association, Lieser sends weekly newsletters to fellow football officials. They
are always informative as well as entertaining. A recent email included these notes
…
--From reports that were texted to me last week the only
comment was that one school had a plethora of onside kicks so a good pregame
reminder of what can/cannot be done along with the mechanics of officiating
this play would be a good topic for a pregame agenda item.
--Here are some items to ponder as they are seven habits of highly successful
officials: 1. Arrive at each game mentally and physically prepared. 2. Treat
everyone with respect and fairness. 3. Practice preventive officiating. 4.
Learn from others in your field. 5. Develop interpersonal communication
skills. 6. Set realistic personal and professional goals. 7. Make
every game the most important one. Finally enjoy and have fun as you enter
the final weeks of the football season.
As a former
English teacher, Lieser is also known for the verbiage he uses in his
newsletter. And as a history teacher, he likes to teach lessons in that area,
as well. Here’s another recent newsletter excerpt.
--Seven is supposedly a lucky number
but Friday the 13th is purportedly not. Why? It was long considered a
harbinger of bad luck. Friday the 13th has inspired a late 19th-century secret
society, an early 20th-century novel, a horror film franchise but two unwieldy
terms--- paraskavedekatriaphobia (Fear of Friday, the 13th) and
friggatriskaidekaphobia (Fear of the number 13) that describe fear of this
supposedly unlucky day. Good luck on Friday, the 13th at your assigned
games!!!!!!!!!!
Lieser’s passion for officiating and officials is
clear. He has worked with hundreds of other officials over 60-plus years, and
his love of the job helps him keep going.
“That passion sustains me,” he said. “We want to be
the best team on the field.”
--MSHSL senior content creator John Millea has been the leading
voice of Minnesota high school activities for decades. Follow him on Twitter
@MSHSLjohn and listen to "Preps Today with John Millea” wherever you get
podcasts. Contact John at jmillea@mshsl.org
