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Pioneer Press features St. Olaf's 'boxing philosopher'

By David Gonnerman '90
May 7, 2012

The St. Paul Pioneer Press begins its profile of St. Olaf faculty member Gordon Marino, "Meet the boxing philosopher of Northfield's St. Olaf College," with two "surprising" facts: 1) the Wall Street Journal has a boxing writer and 2) he's a philosophy professor at St. Olaf. "The life of Gordon Marino has a lot of twists like that," writes Richard Chin.

"Marino is a teacher who spends a lot of his time in a cool, hushed lecture hall of a rural campus, prodding college students to wrestle with densely reasoned essays on existentialism.

"But he's also a coach and trainer who spends a lot of time in an inner-city Minneapolis gym or in the basement of a Mexican delicatessen in Northfield, schooling sweaty athletes on the fine art of how to throw a punch and avoid being punched out.

"He's a scholar who has written books on ethics and Soren Kierkegaard.

"But he's also been a prolific freelance sports reporter, taking on topics ranging from Yao Ming to arena football for publications such as the New York Times and Philosophy Now."

The story also includes video of Marino "in action" in the classroom and the gym.

Contact David Gonnerman at 507-786-3315 or gonnermd@stolaf.edu.