The 1981 Green Mountain Rams featured (left to right) Mike Lane, Rob Spykstra (obscured with arm raised), Rob Schreiber, Brad Jordan, Larry Lucero, and Mike Hanak. Contributed photo.
When Dennis Shepherd arrived as new hire at Jefferson High School in 1967, he was told he would coach cross country, basketball, and track. He had only one question, “What’s cross country?”
Born and raised in Great Falls, Montana, Shepherd had no previous experience with cross country. He had coached basketball and track for four years in Terry, Montana, before coming to Colorado, but cross country wasn’t part of the experience.
When he retired 30 years later, he would be widely recognized as one of the all-time best high school cross country coaches Colorado had ever seen. Shepherd was selected for the Colorado High School Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 2000.
But it’s what happened during the years in between that makes the story.
Shepherd’s first five years were spe...