Gary Rohrer, Edina Native, Excels in Handball

Gary Rohrer is no stranger to victory. The Edina resident has won 37 national championships in handball, in both singles and doubles, and recently added four more feathers to his cap. Last year, Rohrer won three national tournaments and one tournament in Canada, only four years after having two hip replacements. Rohrer, who began playing handball when he was 14, has won at least one national championship every decade of his life since age 20. In 1998 he was inducted into the Minnesota Handball Hall of Fame.
   
“You have to play three times a week to stay where you are or slightly improve,” Rohrer says of his philosophy for excellence. “If you can play more than three times that’s helpful too, so long as you don’t wear yourself out.”
   
Rohrer also credits his success to his old coach, George Roggee, who taught him skills and to love the game at a very young age. When not on the court, Rohrer works as a dentist and loves spending time at his cabin with his grandchildren in Wisconsin. “I’m just a normal grandparent,” Rohrer says, although his legacy is anything but typical.