James Herzog 1944-2023

Educators across the state have been sharing stories about Jim Herzog, a longtime administrator with Owatonna Public Schools who died last week.

While many of them begin with, “Jim hired me in …”, Darryl Hill’s story is the opposite.

“I was there first,” he laughed. “I was an assistant principal at the high school, and we needed another assistant principal – so we hired him.”

It was 1975, about 10 years into what would eventually become Herzog’s 50-year career in education.

“I worked with him for years,” Hill said, “and he was a good friend, so that made it twice as good.”

Herzog was good with the students, too, Hill said, teaching them accountability.

“He could talk to the kids, get them to say, ‘yeah, I was wrong.’ That was kind of the way we tried to work with them.”

By the time Len Olson was hired in 1985 as a teacher and head coach of the OHS boys basketball team, Herzog had taken on the role of athletic director.

Always, though, Olson said, “the number-one priority on Jim Herzog’s list was the education of the students of Owatonna. It didn’t matter if it was in the classroom or the athletic arena – he was always a fair person to talk to about education. He was very, very good to work for.”

Olson led teams to three state tournament appearances, two state championships, and multiple trips to Section 1AA finals.

“At tournament times, he always asked what we needed,” Olson said of Herzog, “and he’d certainly come forth with advice that was good for all of the students on the basketball team. He always attended the games, and certainly was there not only for crowd control – but he truly loved every sport that we had at Owatonna.”

Jeff Williams, a science teacher at OHS and current head football coach of the Huskies, said the same thing.

“He was at absolutely every event,” Williams said. “He would be at a basketball game, then jump in the car and drive over to the Four Seasons for hockey, then swing into gymnastics. He just genuinely wanted to support everything.”

Williams said Herzog was “maybe the first person I interviewed with” when he came to town in 1989.

“He was the athletic director and the assistant principal, and he leaned back in his chair, put his feet up and said, ‘Alright, Williams, brag about yourself.’ It was a little disconcerting,” Williams said, “but he wanted to see if you were confident. He left it open to you to either expound – or implode.”

In 1991, Herzog was named principal at OHS, a position he held for 10 more years.

“He was a phenomenal principal,” Williams said. “The kids adored him. He had boundaries, but he could open up. He had a gravitas about him that was pretty rare.”

When he transitioned into the principal role, it was important to Herzog “that all the things we did with the kids at Owatonna were recognized. Everything was valued, and it was all tied up into the educational experience. They are athletes, students, musicians, artists – and everything was valued,” Williams said.

Despite the gravitas, though, Herzog once “rolled into a pep fest in the gym on a Harley, wearing full leather, cut-off sleeves, the whole deal,” Williams said. “The kids had no idea who it was … and (when) he walked up on stage, there was just a roar.”

In August of 1991, Herzog hired Peter Grant as his assistant principal at OHS.

“We worked together until he retired in 2001, and we have remained friends since then – so it’s been 30-some years,” Grant said. “It’s not too often that your boss becomes your mentor, and your mentor becomes your friend. He was just a tremendous person that you wanted to work with.”

Now living in East Gull Lake, Grant said he and Herzog talked almost every day.

“I would have to say that Jim and Joan and Peter and I are best friends,” said Shelley Grant. “Jim was the kindest person I have ever met.”

“People had a tremendous respect for him,” Peter Grant said, “because he was an honest person, and always found something good in everybody.”

It was one of the many lessons Herzog provided as a mentor to him.

“Jim never, ever got flustered,” Grant said. “I was able to learn to be a better listener, and not let emotions get in the way of decision-making. He had just a tremendous respect for staff and students … you had to work with them, you had to help them, and you needed to be respectful so you could accomplish the goals that needed to be done.”

He was an educator, through and through, his friends said, and that never wavered.

“His idea of doing what’s best for students and student-athletes was the same, always,” Olson said. “He wanted the best for the entire population, as far as OHS was concerned.”

Even after he retired, Herzog “stayed close to events happening in Owatonna, whether in the classroom or the sports arena,” Olson said. “His heart was always royal blue and silver, and he was amazed by the accomplishments that were put forth in the development of the new high school.”

Bob Olson, director of facilities, infrastructure, and security for OPS, said the day he learned Herzog died, “I had a letter in the mailbox from him.”

Olson had given Herzog and his wife, Joan, a personal tour of the new high school, and the mail “was a thank-you. He was famous for always following up with a note. He was a great man.”

Williams, like Grant, considered Herzog a mentor.

“He was a huge influence in my teaching and coaching careers,” Williams said. “I was young and rambunctious, and Jim always had a wise, guiding hand. I’m where I am today in large part because of Jim Herzog.”

But before and after Herzog was a teacher, coach, and administrator, he was a family man.

“He was an educator, but more importantly, he was a great husband and a great father,” said Olson.

Grant echoed the sentiment.

“He loved Joan, he loved his kids, and he loved his grandkids,” Grant said. “He was so proud of them; he always went to any and all of their activities, and he was just a great Christian. He was the consummate family man.

“Jim was somebody you could always count on to be there,” he said. “I’m going to miss him terribly, because he just helped me be a better person and a better educator.”

Funeral services will take place Friday at 10:30 am. At Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Owatonna. A complete obituary can be found elsewhere in this edition.