Former Gopher tennis coach Jerry Noyce retired recently from Health Fitness Corporation as vice chairman of the board. He is staying busy including consulting for the company and as a member of the President’s Council on Physical Fitness and Sports, a group started in 1954 by President Dwight Eisenhower.
Noyce is excited about a new initiative by President George Bush and the council called the President’s Challenge. The challenge begins on March 20 and encourages Americans to exercise 30 minutes a day, five days per week for six weeks. “The goal is to get one million Americans to participate,” said Noyce.
Among those on the 20 member council is New York Giants quarterback Eli Manning. Noyce said Manning may be a kickoff spokesman for the President’s Challenge that hopes to make exercise a part of daily routines for many more Americans.
The top five states by percentage of participation will be recognized in mid-May, Noyce said. More information on the challenge is available at www.presidentschallenge.org.
Noyce is a member of the council’s corporate health and wellness sub-committee to encourage employers to promote fitness to employees and their families. His term on the council will be over at year end.
When Noyce was coaching the Gophers the captain of his first Big Ten Championship team was Gene Sperling, now an economic adviser to Hillary Clinton. Sperling also advised former president Bill Clinton.
“He was a great teammate for all the players,” Noyce said. “He was very supportive of them and someone they could count on. He was a brilliant student in political science (at Minnesota) and went to Yale Law School where he was on the law review (he also has an MBA).”