The Olympic Training Center at NMU - Maamawi-Ozhigi - Together We Grow

Written by Will Sharp, Graduate Assistant, Beaumier UP Heritage Center

The Olympic Training Center at Northern Michigan University has taken on many names and shapes during its decades of existence. The idea for a sports training center or an olympic training center began in 1965 when the University was given land outside the city of Marquette. It is noted that the president at the time asked the dean of the school to research the land and propose a recommendation for the area. Research was completed and the recommendation was to use the area as an Olympic Training Center. 

Primary players behind the effort were Dr. Roy Heath, the Great Lakes Training Center association, presidents of the university John Jamrich and James Appleberry, governor of Michigan James Blanchard, the Michigan delegation in Washington D.C. and President Gerald Ford. The vice president of research and development at the time, Dr. Roy Health, proposed Northern be designated as an Olympic Training Center. Dr. Russell Magnaghi, Northern’s university historian, writes in A Sense of Time, that at that time none existed in the United States. After this initial proposal, Upper Peninsula businesses and citizens formed the Great Lakes Training Site Association. Burton Boyum of the Cleveland Cliffs Iron Company served as the director and their goal was to work on developing a training center at Northern. Northern then made a request to the US Department of Commerce for technical assistance to develop an NMU Winter Sports facility for training athletes and coaches for competition. 

A wonderful resource about the development of the Training Center's humble beginnings can be found on UPLink following this link. This short film, titled 'Northern Michigan University Olympic Training Center Pitch' was put together by Northern Michigan University to get an Olympic Training Center established in Marquette. The entities that collaborated on the pitch were: Northern Michigan University, the Ishpeming Ski Club, the Marquette Figure Skating Club, the Cleveland-Cliffs Iron Company, and the cities of Marquette, Ishpeming, and Negaunee as well as Marquette County. 

In 1966, the federal government and the U.S. The Olympic Committee stated interest in a proposal for a winter sports area at Northern but it was not until a decade later that a proposal was submitted to designate NMU as a training center for the U.S. Olympic Site Selection Committee. In 1982, NMU created the Great Lakes Sports Academy to develop and support top U.S. athletes without the Olympic designation. Things continued to gain speed in the 1980s, when Governor James Blanchard played the role of supporter and even pledged state funding for a facility which could be used for training. NMU’s bid eventually won approval of the U.S. Olympic Committee in February 1985. The center took up residence in existing facilities, and began operations in July of 1985. In January 1987 NMU submitted a formal program statement calling for the construction of a Sports Training Complex. 

In February of 1988, three Northern Olympic Training Center athletes competed in short track speed skating during the Winter Olympic Games in Calgary, Canada. The same year, it was decided that the Center was not attracting enough participants and a change needed to be made. This change evolved into the center becoming the first and only U.S. Olympic Education Center (USOEC). The goal was to attract young athletes who were training for the Olympics but also wanted earn their degree from Northern. The center included dormitory and offices, and was headquartered in Meyland Hall. It had its own newsletter called Inside View. 

The idea of bringing an Olympic Training Center (OTC) at NMU joined them with Colorado Springs, Colorado, and Lake Placid, New York, where other Training Centers existed. NMU writes ‘because of the center's commitment to incorporating educational opportunities in addition to offering world-class training, the United States Olympic Committee changed the center's designation to the country's only “Olympic Education Center" in 1989.’

A 1985 article found in Horizons, a Northern Michigan University publication from the Alumni Association, featured the headline, ‘We’re an Olympic Training Center’. The author of the article wrote: ‘Triumphant. That’s the most fitting adjective we can think of. Triumphant. A designation of local residents, having successfully secured official Olympic Training Site designation for Northern Michigan University, arrived back in Marquette Sunday night to the rousing cheers of an appreciative crowd’. They wrote that the years of planning and preparation and long hours of work had finally borne fruit. They excitedly stated that the greater Marquette area was going to be a vital part of the Olympic movement.

At the 1992 Winter Games in France, USOEC athlete Cathy Turner earned a gold medal and the relay team won a silver medal in short track speedskating. Later, USOEC boxer Vernon Forest became the first American to win the 139-pound world title. Chris Jongis became the first American to win an Olympic contest in badminton. In February 1994, USOEC athletes accounted for four of 13 medals won by the United States during the Winter Olympics in Norway. 

In April 1995, USOEC Boxing Coach, Al Mitchell, was selected as head Olympic Boxing coach and the OSOEC Team Physician, Dr. John Lehteinen, was selected as the head physician for the Centennial Olympic Games (1996) in Atlanta, Georgia. During the Olympics in July, three USOEC boxers, Zahir Raheem, David Reid, and Lawrence Clay-Bey represented the U.S. on the U.S. Olympic boxing team at the Atlanta Games. USOEC boxer David Reid captured a Gold Medal, the only medal won by US boxers that year.

An oral history interview with Jeffery Klienschmidt, who served as director the U.S. Olympic Education Center for two decades, discusses the beginnings and developments of the Olympic Training Center at Northern Michigan University. Kleinschmidt began working at the university in 1981 as a student employee at what then was known as the Great Lakes Sports Training Center. Klienschmidt said that athletes have participated in training for approximately 30 different sports at the Center. He also noted that athletes from all over the world have competed in Marquette. ‘Athletes regularly give a lot of credit for their success to Northern Michigan University’. 

Northern Michigan University writes about the The Olympic Movement on its website, stating that NMU is ‘dedicated to providing educational opportunities for its resident athletes while offering world-class training’. The only current resident training program is Greco-Roman wrestling. In order for athletes to be admitted to the program, they must be approved by NMU, the coaching staff, and their national governing body. Athletes attend NMU while training in their respective sport. The student athletes have access to academic tutoring, sports medicine, out-of-state tuition waiver, and training facilities. They note that some athletes may also receive athletic scholarships. The program is set up so that athletes are responsible for tuition at the in-state rate. They are also responsible for travel and other training expenses.

The USOEC’s designation was changed again in 2014 to Olympic Training Site. The site was given the title of National Training Site to recognize the partnership with USA Wrestling in 2020. Their affiliation with the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee (USOPC) ended in 2020. Approximately 25,000 athletes from more than 40 countries have participated in Olympic programs at NMU since its founding. More than 70 Olympic medals have been won, and more than 100 high school diplomas and college degrees have been earned. Twenty-nine sports in total have trained at the center on a short-term or long-term basis. The site has also hosted a number of international and national events, such as the short track speed skating World Cup in 2003 and the 2006 Olympic Trials. In 2010 the National Training Site hosted the USA Weightlifting National Collegiate Championships. It has also been host to numerous Junior Olympic Championships for boxing. Northern Michigan University Olympic Training Center athletes have won 15 medals in the last five Olympic Games. Eight NMU student-athletes participated in the 2016 summer games in Brazil, competing in boxing, wrestling and weightlifting. Sarah Robles took home a bronze medal and Helen Maroulis won gold (the first American female athlete to ever win gold in wrestling).

A timeline for the Training Site is as follows: 

Sports Added

1985 Women’s and Men’s Short Track Speedskating; Women’s Team Handball 

1988 Men’s Boxing 1989 Women’s and Men’s Cycling 

1990 Women’s and Men’s Badminton 

1991 Women’s and Men’s Biathlon; Women’s and Men's Nordic Skiing; Women’s and Men’s Ski Jumping 

1999 Men’s Greco-Roman Wrestling 

2003 Women’s and Men’s Olympic-Style Weightlifting 

2004 Women’s Freestyle Wrestling

Sports Discontinued

1990 Women’s Team Handball 

1991 Women’s and Men’s Cycling 

1992 Women’s and Men’s Badminton 

1998 Women’s and Men’s Nordic Skiing 

1999 Women’s and Men’s Ski Jumping 

2003 Women’s and Men’s Biathlon 

2011 Women’s Freestyle Wrestling Men’s Boxing Women’s and Men’s Short Track Speedskating 

2023 Women’s and Men’s Olympic-Style Weightlifting

Current Sports: Men’s Greco-Roman Wrestling

This year, 2025, Payton Jacobson and Andy Bisek won the prestigious honors of USA Wrestling Athlete and Coach of the Year. Jacobson is the first Northern Michigan athlete to earn the award since Andy Bisek did in 2016. Andy Bisek is the first Northern Michigan National Training Site head coach to be recognized with Coach of the Year honors. 

In 2023, Northern Michigan University and USA Weightlifting jointly announced the discontinuation of the NMU campus-based men's and women's weightlifting program. USA Weightlifting CEO Matt Sicchio stated that USA Weightlifting appreciated the long history NMU had with the program. He noted that the dynamics of the sport changed substantially and the national governing body changed its funding and training operations over the years since the original agreement with NMU was signed. Active scholarships through students' academic programs were honored.

In 2007, Dylan Dube, then a sports writer for The North Wind, wrote ‘I was 16 years old when I was first introduced to the United States Olympic Education Center (USOEC) at Northern. That year, NMU hosted the Junior Olympic National Championships. After qualifying for the tournament, I was able to visit Marquette and meet a few of the people associated with the organization, including coach Al Mitchell. From that point on, my goal was to get admitted into the USOEC residential boxing program’. He wrote that his initial interest was entirely focused on the coaching staff and training facilities of the USOEC, but over time he saw the educational opportunities that the organization offered equally impactful to his life and career. Dylan noted that the program distilled determination and discipline into its boxers, but also assisted them in acquiring lifelong skills, reaching goals, and achieving their dreams. The author talked about the pain of hearing that the program may close due to budget cuts, saying its closing would have a major impact on the university and community. Dylan writes that what made the program so unique is that it permits student athletes to pursue both an academic grounding and their athletic dreams. 

Mikaela Mayer is a name one cannot pass over when talking about the legacy of the USOEC and the Training Site at NMU. Kristi Evans, the News Director at NMU in 2016 wrote that Mayer was disenchanted with her training in Los Angeles, and made what she describes as the best decision for her boxing career: moving to Marquette to join the former boxing program at the Olympic Training Site at NMU. Supposedly, her father saw an ad on the USA Boxing website and it sounded like a dream come true for her. She noted, ‘You could train with a respected Olympic Coach and also get a college education. I was there within two weeks.’ Mikaela made sure to say that ‘if they hadn’t cut the USOEC boxing program a short time after I started, I probably would have my degree by now. I attempted to go back to school two years ago, but had to suspend it to train and travel. I have every intention of finishing my degree when I’m done boxing’.  Upon her arrival at NMU, Mayer said Coach Al Mitchell broke her down and then built her back up again. Mayer competed for the U.S. in 2016. She has held the WBO welterweight title since September 2024. She currently holds 22 wins and 2 losses. 

Coach Al Mitchel was the longtime director of the boxing program at the U.S. Olympic Education Center. He has since been inducted into the USA Boxing Alumni Association Hall of Fame. Mitchell has worked with ring champions including Mikaela Mayer, Vernon Forrest, Floyd Mayweather, David Reid and Larry Nicholson and more than 800 national champions. He was USA boxing coach of the year in 1994. In 1996 he was Head Coach of the Atlanta Olympic U.S. boxing team. He served as a technical adviser to the U.S. boxing team at the 2004 Athens Olympics and the 2012 London Olympics. Mitchell also was inducted into the NMU Sports Hall of Fame this fall. He was 43-1 as a boxer in his native Philadelphia before he moved to Marquette in 1989 to direct the USOEC boxing program. He has been an influential member of the national boxing community for over 60 years and has touched the lives of many athletes. He also served as legal guardian for several of his high school boxers in the USOEC program in Marquette.

Though many of the sports are no longer official programs at Northern, the lasting impact and legacy of the training site can be seen within the fabric of the Marquette community. Take for example Emmanuel Sally, who is a Marquette resident, National Heavyweight Golden Glove Champion, and Owner of BODYPNCH. Originally from Chicago, he now resides in Marquette. He serves the community as a boxing coach, where he ‘helps people fight anxiety, doubt & depression’. His larger goals as a coach are building stronger individuals, families, and communities. He said in an interview that ‘Marquette was once the home of top amateur boxers. Marquette was a real magnet. The training center made it so’. 

Sally said that he sees how the Great Lakes Region is changing radically– and that he wants to be a leader as things change. Sally trains his students in the same gym as former USOEC Coach Al Mitchell. Much like the education and training center focused on athletes as whole people, Sally is curious about helping people develop spiritually, culturally and economically, not just in their boxing. He sees sports as a segway towards other things and other successes. He said in an interview ‘My goal is to utilize the sport of boxing as a vehicle towards the formation of human beings’. Sally stated that ‘Here in Marquette, the leadership of the Olympic training community has long embodied that spirit. The coaches didn’t just teach people how to fight—they taught them how to overcome. Physically, yes—but even more importantly, mentally and spiritually. Many of the best boxers learned that the true source of strength doesn’t come from their fists; it comes from within’. 

Emmanuel Sally states that the Olympic Training Site once brought youth to Marquette to train as representatives of the United States. He noted that this was ‘only possible because of the Marquette community coming together—from the university providing housing, to local families offering support, to teachers giving extra help to students. That sense of community is why I chose to stay—and it’s also why I’m committed to continuing that legacy.’

This winter at the Westwood Mall in Marquette, MI, BODYPNCH will be hosting a community boxing event. The boxing event is more than just a showcase of athletic talent— but a celebration of perseverance. Sally writes ‘It’s a reflection of what our fighters, students, and community have overcome to keep the fighting spirit of Marquette and the U.P. alive. It’s also an opportunity for all of us to come together, cheer, shout, and celebrate the home team with pride and joy’. The event will feature a full competition ring, athlete walkouts, and an electric night of amateur boxing under the bright lights. 

Sources:

Central Upper Peninsula and Northern Michigan University Archives

Sally, Emmanuel. (2025, October 15). Interview with Emmanuel Sally. 

Hilton, Miriam. Northern Michigan University – The First 75 years. NMU Press, Marquette, 1974.

Magnaghi, Russell. A Sense of Time: The Encyclopedia of Northern Michigan University. NMU Press, Marquette, 1999.

Northern Michigan University Athletics. (2021, August 16). National training site history. NMU Wildcats. Retrieved October 13, 2025, from https://nmuwildcats.com/sports/2021/8/16/information-National-Training-Site.aspx

UPLINK (Upper Peninsula Digital Network)