Aaron Banks will be one of the featured presenters at the Minnesota Athletes Celebration on Sunday, April 7th, at the Braemar Golf Club in Edina, from noon to 3:00 p.m. The public is warmly invited. Please call 507-301-4369 or write to pakkem@charter.net for free tickets.
March 26, 2024
“The influence of the farm was important on my life,” says Aaron Banks of his childhood on a 900-acre crop and cattle centennial farm near Lynd, Minnesota, 12 miles from the southwest regional city of Marshall. The youngest of four children of Perry and Marquita, a retired FACS teacher, Aaron was surrounded by activity and sports history. Perry was a sophomore on the tiny Lynd High School (closed in 1979) team that had run to the state basketball championship title game in 1946 before losing to a powerful Austin team (Lynd’s 1960 population was 259). Aaron’s siblings, Sarah, Charles, and Jason all competed in athletics at Marshall High School. “There was such an opportunity to develop and grow at Marshall which led to a culture of success. You were needed in multiple activities to keep the programs going,” Aaron says of his years playing football, basketball, and competing in track and field. Living in town during the academic year since their mother was a teacher, Aaron participated in choir, marching band, and 4-H, all major components of his high school lifestyle.
“George Corver, a science teacher and throwing coach on Marshall Middle School’s track and field team, was a great mentor and positive influence. He got me started on a dirt patch underneath a big oak tree.” Aaron adds, “He was an assistant basketball coach on Marshall’s 1963 state championship team.” And then there were his siblings. “I was always interested in sports. I was exposed to throwing around fourth grade because my brothers, Charles and Jason, were throwers. I grew up with the benefit of observing them.”
The Marshall Tigers were conference track and field champions from 1990-92, and Aaron qualified for the Minnesota State High School Track and Field Championships in discus by winning the region in 1990 as a sophomore but did not place at the state meet. He failed to qualify for the state meet as a junior, describing it as “heartbreaking, but it made me reassess and determine to be better.” Aaron credits Duane Clites, his high school throwing coach, for helping to refine his technique and improve both his physical and mental state following the letdown of 1991. Coming back vigorously as a senior in 1992, the 6’-3 ½ “athlete won every throwing event throughout the season and then claimed the state discus title by more than 10 feet, with a heave of 176’-2” and—as a bonus—placed 5th in the shot. “No one knew who I was at the state meet. My first throw went over 180 feet, but I fouled. It was super exciting to win and special to share the victory with Mr. Clites, teammates, and family. A lot of family came to watch the competition at the Blaine National Sports Center,” Aaron says, recalling the triumph.
Aaron had received attention from track and field coaches after qualifying for the state meet his sophomore year, but they dried up after his failure to make the state meet his junior year, although South Dakota State University showed interest in Aaron for football. “The spring of my senior year of high school, I was able to go to the Drake Relays—it opened my eyes to a whole new level of track. The Drake coach then came to watch me throw,” Aaron says of the experience which led to Aaron becoming a Drake Bulldog.
A disappointing first collegiate meet is one of Aaron’s most vivid athletic memories when he threw an “embarrassing” 43’ in an indoors shot put event at the University of Iowa. “I learned very quickly that there are a lot of talented athletes and to be able to compete, I would have to put in a lot of work.” By the end of his freshman year at Drake, Aaron improved measurably in the shot put (50’) and placed in discus competition at the conference meet. The throwing coach at Drake was leaving in 1993, so Aaron decided to transfer to Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota.
Thriving in the new and comfortable college environment where his brothers had also been successful throwers, Aaron became a 10-time MIAC champion and an 11-time All-American, winning NCAA Division III titles in the indoor championships in shot put in 1995 and 1996 and another crown in outdoor discus in 1995. A particularly memorable meet was the final indoors competition of his senior year in 1996 when he set a personal best shot put throw by two feet (59’-9”), breaking the NCAA Division III national meet indoors record. A freakish event occurred in the 35-pound weight throw when his weight broke and he used a UW—La Crosse rival’s weight, also setting a national meet record in that event until Ethan Brooks (later an NFL lineman for six years) of Williams College followed with a throw surpassing Aaron’s mark. “I fancied myself as a discus thrower coming out of high school, but in college I got a lot stronger and perfected my technique indoors in northern Minnesota,” says Aaron of the success in shot put now overshadowing his discus feats. “To be a good thrower you need a hearty appetite, strength, agility, and an obsessive desire to improve” says the 275- pound collegian with a laugh.
Graduating with a degree in biology in 1996, Aaron was burnt out from competition and opted to enroll at Miami University in Ohio for a master’s degree in health appraisal and enhancement. He was also hired as a throwing coach with the track and field program. In 1998 he began a doctoral program at Northern Colorado University and met classmate Brad Mears—later the 1999 Pan Am Games shot put gold medalist—who taught him about European-style weight training. “In six weeks, I was stronger than I had ever been. He encouraged me to compete in shot put at a small meet so he would get more rest time between throws, and I threw 60’-8 ½” and I thought, ‘Where did that come from?’” Suddenly, Aaron was in contention to qualify for the 2000 US Olympic Trials and achieved his Olympic quest in the spring of 2000 with a throw of 62’-5 ½.
“I had no expectations of making the Olympic Team,” says Aaron, weighing 310 pounds in 2000. “My goal was to qualify for the finals [top 12 of 24 qualifiers] of the Olympic Trials and I did it! I got the twelfth spot. It was awesome! My whole family came to Sacramento State in an RV. It was great being in the heart of the meet and was a celebration for me and my family.” While Aaron did finish 12th in the finals, friend and fellow Concordia College alum, Kris Kuehl made the Olympic team in the discus throw. “Kris’ making the Olympic team in 2000 was a highlight of my career. I was in the crowd that night and remember being so proud of her efforts.” Olympian Kuehl says of Aaron, “He’s a great guy, a real hoot, and his sons are throwers now.”
Since 2002, Aaron has been a professor in the Department of Health and Exercise Science at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota. He has written extensively and presents at national and international conferences. Aaron is married to Heather Brite, a health profession advisor at Gustavus, one of only two women’s basketball players at Chico State to record a triple double. The couple has two sons, Luke and Jake. Luke was runner-up at the Class 2A state track meet in the discus as a sophomore at St. Peter High School with a throw of 172’-6”. “He has a lot of explosion and power,” says the proud father. Jake also participates in track and field but leans toward another of his dad’s loves: music.
“Throwing is a sport that has been around for twenty-five hundred years. It is fascinating to see discus implements in antiquities museums. It is a historic event that has been contested for thousands of years.” says the Olympic qualifier. And a pair of Concordia throwers—with help from their siblings, teammates, and coaches—are part of modern history.
Minnesota Athletes 