As each sports season begins, the athletic department is flooded with players on the freshman, junior varsity and varsity teams scrambling for their uniforms and equipment. With all this chaos, it seems difficult for each team to successfully get their supplies together on time. 

For 24 years, Marc Lofchie has been working in the basement, handling the hectic athletic department year-round. His job can be tedious and stressful, but he always manages to supply each team with his positivity and his organized work ethic. 

After coaching the girls basketball team for 17 years, Lofchie was offered the job as head of the athletic department by Walter Sargeant, the previous athletic director. Over those 17 years, Lofchie has learned how to be reliable and organized when certain challenges come his way. 

“Trying to help athletes when multiple kids come in with problems all at once can be difficult.  This is especially true when they have a game to go to or a bus to get on,” Lofchie said. “Things come up that I fortunately have seen over the years and can deal with pretty easily. My biggest struggle is having to get students to turn in their stuff on time.”

For Lofchie, however, the rewards of his job heavily outweigh the struggles he faces.

“Dealing with various sports and helping kids out is my favorite part of the job. I love putting new uniforms or equipment into play for teams. It’s a lot of work to heat press bar codes on them, but it’s fun to see new designs and materials being used,” Lofchie said.

Lofchie often hires students as his assistants. This allows him to deal with issues while they scan and enter items and uniform bar codes directly on the computer. 

Junior Caroline Andersen worked as Lofchie’s assistant for over six months. 

“On a normal day, we would scan all the uniforms, bags and equipment that is used on sports teams at the high school and then rent them out to coaches and students,” Andersen said. “Other than working the computer, we would store away returned uniforms or equipment into Lofchie’s very specific method of organization.”

Softball Coach Ronnie McNeil is also one of Lofchie’s longtime friends. Along with Andersen, he was quick to bring up Lofchie’s methodical work ethic.

“Marc is the most organized person I know. He is always looking to make things more efficient or work better,” McNeil said.  

Andersen said that different teams coming for their equipment at once, meetings with coaches, paperwork and continuously ordering new equipment can be stressful elements of the job. However, she continued to describe her experience with a positive smile.

“The coffee machine, candy and stocked mini-fridge that Lofchie supplied made every part of touching the dirty football uniforms worth it,” Andersen said. 

Along with this, she said his delightful and jubilant traits further brightened her time. 

“Lofchie is an extremely optimistic, energetic, and hyper boss. Naturally, there is always a very lively vibe in the athletic department, making even writing late fees to friends bearable,” Andersen said.  

McNeil’s description of Lofchie’s character was nothing but positive.

“He always makes time for the kids and coaches who come into his room and greets them with a smile,” McNeil said. “He knows what I need for my sport and has it.”