Max Herseth

Max Herseth rowed in the Ormsund Roklub’s inriggers coxed four at the 1912 Stockholm Olympics. A first place in the heats and a defeat against Sweden in the semi-final were enough to win bronze in this event. He was also an excellent speed skater, who won international races.

In Norway, Herseth worked as a clerk and married Anne Katterud in 1913. In the same year, they emigrated to the United States. After a few years they returned to Norway and got divorced. In 1916, he went to the United States again, where he re-married in the following year. With his second wife, Maybelle Anna Herseth (née Reum), he had three daughters and one son.

In the 1920s Herseth was a swimming coach in Ely, Minnesota. He purchased land at the Kabetogama Lake and started to build cabins for rent. The family resided there during summers and Herseth worked as a schoolteacher in Ely during the winters. He retired from teaching in 1939 and settled permanently in his “Kabetogama’s Vacation Camp“. The next two generations of the Herseth family continued to run the facilities under the name “Tomahawk Resort” well into the 1990s.