Dan Gasner, 61, teaches at Kennedy High School and brings a background in business and coaching to how he leads students and athletes. Rather than lean on the usual command-and-control style, Gasner leads through storytelling — drawing on the hard chapters of his own life to push others to keep going when things get rough, according to the Sun Current.
Gasner, who lives in Eden Prairie, grew up in Rochester with five siblings. His parents divorced and his father remarried, blending the family. The Sun Current reports his mother was diagnosed with bipolar depression in the 1970s, his sister was murdered by an ex-boyfriend in the 1980s, and his brother, an orthopedic surgeon in Orlando, later died by suicide.
Those losses are the backbone of his approach in the classroom and on the field: a philosophy centered on helping people, especially men, talk openly about hardship and grief instead of burying it, and on encouraging them to dust themselves off and get back up when adversity hits, per the Sun Current.
Gasner has turned those six decades of triumph and tragedy into a self-published memoir, "My Friends Call Me Gaz," available in hardcover, softcover and digital editions on Amazon. He's also promoting it through speaking engagements, with more information at dangasner.com.