Garry Greenlee is well known around the ISU campus and for good reason.

Greenlee first arrived at Iowa State in July 1979 as a student personnel. He was fresh out of getting his master’s degree in sports administration at the University of Southern Mississippi. His job was to hire, train and supervise officials.

“At USM, I had trained officials as an undergrad, so I had experience in training officials,” Greenlee said. “When I came to ISU, I [started] doing it professionally.” 

Greenlee has trained officials that are now Division I football and basketball officials; he even trained a Major League Baseball umpire, Eric Cooper, who is currently officiating the Detroit vs. Yankees playoff series.

Greenlee has since moved on from training officials and now oversees facilities.

“He doesn’t train officials anymore, but he was very good at training officials,” said Intramurals Coordinator Linda Marticke.

Greenlee was involved in creating intramural sports as well.

“We have over 100 sports to offer here at ISU, so we have to get a little creative sometimes,” Greenlee said. “We can’t just stick to the basic sports.

“One of my favorite sport we created was a game called Winger. This is where you take a giant sling shot and try to shoot people 100 yards away. This was a great game to watch and play, but too many people were getting hurt along with too many cars getting hit on Lincoln [Way].”

Greenlee also was the main contributor of building the disc golf course here at Iowa State.

“As a faculty, we decided we were going to build a disc golf course. We picked out the location and I was in charge of doing the rest of the work.” Greenlee said. “It’s been there for 10 years now, and going strong.”

Greenlee is now working on a new project in getting State Gym up and running, but also renovating the Southwest Athletic Complex fields.

“Intramurals are now going to get the D-I baseball field, the D-I softball field and two multi-purpose fields,” Greenlee said. “We are also going to get the soccer complex right outside of Lied [Recreation Athletic Center].”

Greenlee’s influence also extends beyond just facilities and sports. The impact he’s made on co-workers is evident as well.

“He has been a great mentor and gives 110 percent at his job everyday,” said Intramurals Coordinator Russ Jones. “He’s done a lot for ISU students all while still being a great person.”

This is Greenlee’s 32nd year and has been his only professional job. He started off here and does not plan to leave.

“I don’t want to leave this great place, this is home to me,” Greenlee said. “I don’t plan on retiring, I still have a great time here. It’s the students, the support and the administration that keeps me from retiring.”