Catching up with …
bruce remme, tahs class of 1991 a panther once again …
F ull circle is an appropriate way to describe the adult life of Bruce Remme, who has so far followed in the footsteps of his father, Harold — a former superintendent in the Tracy Area Public School District.
Remme is the current assistant principal and athletic director at South Ridge School in northern Minnesota. Ironically, South Ridge’s nickname is the Panthers, just like it was at Tracy Area High School when he graduated as a four-sport athlete in 1991.
And next month, the graduate-turned teacher and coach-turned assistant principal will be inducted into the Marshall Tiger M Club Athletic Hall of Fame. And the fact that he was able to work with some of the best coaches in the area is not lost on him.
“I had a great experience in Marshall, and I got to work with an awful lot of very talented people in all the roles that I had,” Remme said. “Terry Culhane for one; I worked with Todd Pack, Gary Buer and later, Dave Ahmann and Dan Westby — just a ton of very talented people. And I learned a lot. Somewhere along the line … I learned that it’s important to surround yourself with people that are better than you. I’ve been fortunate to be able to be surrounded by people who are better than me!”
After graduating from the University of Minnesota, Morris, and Southwest Minnesota State University, Remme began what has turned out to be a long and fruitful journey in academics as a fourth-grade teacher — the first of his 27 years in Marshall. Just as it came as no surprise to anyone that Remme fit right in at the front of a classroom, he also made an impact on the sidelines.
Remme, a four-year letter-winning baseball player at UMM, was an assistant girls’ basketball coach in Marshall from 1995-2007, helping lead the Tigers to two straight Class AAA state titles, and then as a head coach, he posed a 76-17 record with three conference championships, two section titles and a pair of state tournament appearances, including a runner-up finish in 2006, when he has named the Minnesota Class AAA Coach of the year.
He also helped coach football in Marshall from 1995-2006. After his coaching days, he took over as athletic director at MHS, serving from 2007-2021 — a stretch that included 92 conference championships, 48 section titles and seven state championships. He now has climbed another rung of the academic ladder, as an assistant principal and
“Catching Up With …” is a periodic feature of the Tracy Area Headlight Herald and is designed to highlight the exploits of Tracy Area High School graduates. If you have a suggestion of someone you think should be included in this feature, email the editor at [email protected] activities director at South Ridge — a K-12 school in Culver with about 550 students.
Remme said the smallersize school — at least compared to Marshall High School — has turned out to be a perfect fit for him.
“Having both assistant principal duties as well as AD duties in a school that size is a very doable combo,” he said. “When I was in Marshall as an AD, we’d have seven or eight sports per season, and at South Ridge, we have seven total. It’s much more manageable, and I also get to work with kids in a different capacity as a principal.”
Remme also said he enjoys being a part of the full K-12 experience — having all the students under one roof. Inside the building, there is one long hallway of elementary kids and another home to high schoolers.
“I can go down one hallway and talk to a couple secondgraders who are horsing around, swinging on the doors in the bathroom, and the next minute I’m in the high school hallway dealing with students outside a classroom,” Remme said.
Education truly runs in Remme’s family, as his late sister, Beth, was a teacher as well. In 2014, Harold retired after 45 years in the education field.
“My dad was a huge role model for me,” Bruce said.
“I think I share some of his skills, and maybe some of his passion for education and being able to help kids reach their potential.”
Bruce said he knew long ago that he had the skill set required to become a successful teacher, and was eager to transition into an administrative role, just like his father did.
Remme said it’s important as a leader of students to understand the students’ background and what challenges they are facing, and that’s how he has been successful in building those all-important relationships with his charges.
“What I have found works well for my personality — one of the things I’ve been able to do is build relationships with the kids,” said Remme.
“You definitely need to give kids guide rails and that they know exactly where those guide rails are. You need to also be able to understand them and meet them where they are, what their needs are.”
Remme paused a bit when trying to come up with names of teachers and coaches from his high school days in Tracy whom he credits for helping mold him, simply because there were so many of them. And he doesn’t take for granted all the positive guidance he received as a teenager.
“I feel very blessed to have had people in those positions that were great educators and great coaches,” he said.
“Bill Bolin is still my favorite all-time teacher; Shorty Engel certainly was a great one; Jim Culhane … all of those folks did an awesome job.
Whether it was Gale Otto in football, or Bob Ladehoff in basketball, Mike Peterreins, the list just goes on and on — they offered a lot to make an impact, and I feel fortunate to have had those mentors.”
Remme, whose family moved to Tracy in 1980, is married to high school sweetheart Carie (Versaevel), and the couple has two children: Kelli and Cole.
The Remmes live on Island Lake, about 25 miles north of Duluth.
