Campus Connection

[caption id="attachment_5133" align="alignleft" width="269"] Jeff Bloxdorf earned degrees in accountancy and finance from UW-LaCrosse.[/caption]

Alumni group sets up scholarship to honor Jeff Bloxdorf

Jeff Bloxdorf brought dozens of his college friends together for nearly 40 years. Each year “Blox,” a man with a quick wit and a dry sense of humor, would send out a letter inviting his college friends back to La Crosse for a summer weekend annual golf outing — the La Crosse Inverrary Classic. When Bloxdorf died unexpectedly at age 57, his college friends decided the golf outing would go on — this time to honor him. At the 2015 event, the group raised more than $25,000 to endow a scholarship in his name — the Jeff Bloxdorf Memorial Scholarship for future UWL finance students — honoring Jeff as he was president of UWL’s finance club in college. The contribution also put Bloxdorf’s name on one of the rooms in the new student center opening on campus in fall 2016. “He would be so pleased and blown away that they did this and the extent to which they did it,” says Bloxdorf’s wife, Lisa. “They all have busy lives and careers, but they arranged a date to get everyone together for this fundraiser.” Lisa was planning to set up a UWL scholarship in honor of Jeff herself when she found out his college friends were already doing it. "The group has always been like one big family," she says. And since Bloxdorf’s death, she feels very blessed to continue to have them in her life. [caption id="attachment_5116" align="alignright" width="350"] Lisa Bloxdorf and her three kids at the Inverrary golf event in summer 2015. The event ultimately raised more than $25,000 to endow a UWL scholarship in Jeff Bloxdorf’s honor.[/caption]

“When you lose someone, you feel like you are going down this path by yourself. Only me and my kids can go through it,” she says. “But I feel like they’ve been right here next to me holding my hand. I’m so grateful. So many people don’t have that and I don’t know how they get through something like this.”

Outing dates back to college days Bloxdorf started the La Crosse Inverrary Classic Extraordinaire while the group of 20-30 friends were still in college. They were a group that laughed a lot and truly enjoyed being together, says Kathy (Pandl) O’Connor, ’80, who is part of the group. The group stuck together long after college graduation. “I think that as we all grew farther apart in distance and further apart in life experiences, we also grew closer in the need to always get together and embrace those fun memories while making many more,” she says. Bloxdorf continued to organize the golf outing every year after college, drawing friends from as far as Florida and California back to La Crosse. Every year, usually late at night, at the last minute, he’d sit down to compose the letter inviting his friends to the event, explains Lisa. Sometimes that letter arrived so late it was after the golf outing was over, she adds. But on time or not, it always made the recipients laugh. Bloxdorf, who had a great memory, would highlight comical things that happened the previous year and often quote a famous movie line or comic tag line — usually very random but popular at the time, notes Kathy. [caption id="attachment_5136" align="alignnone" width="650"] La Crosse Inverrary Classic group in 1980.[/caption] “Most people looked forward to that letter more than the Christmas cards they’d get that year,” says John O’Connor, ’79, one of his close friends. The only thing comparable to the letter in fun and humor is the event itself. They would don visors and Hawaiian shirts while enjoying music and their common bond — UWL.  The winners take home the coveted Goodwill-style green jacket with burn holes in the lapel. With Bloxdorf at the helm, with his causal style and inclusive nature, the event was about the fun — not the competition, says Kathy. [caption id="attachment_5140" align="alignnone" width="550"] Jeff Bloxdorf, third from the left in the back row, with the group of alumni and friends at the La Crosse Inverrary Classic.[/caption] “If trophies were left at home — which they were — or the giveaway prizes did not show up — which happened — or we got reprimanded at the course — which usually happened, it was a funny footnote to that year — not a cause for panic,” says Kathy. Steve Schwager, one of the friends in the group, says it was because of Blox that the group of alumni got together every year to celebrate friendship. “Some of my best friends I have in life today are from our Inverrary La Crosse Group,” he says. “We all have Blox to thank for keeping this tradition going for close to 40 years and having such a profound effect on all of us.” Bloxdorf, whose parents instilled in him the value of education, would likely be very pleased to know a scholarship in his name was helping future students earn their degree, says Lisa. It makes her happy just to know that someone who meant so much to her, touched others as well.  “I can’t think of a better way to honor him,” says John. “He was a great friend to everyone — as true a friend as you could ever ask for.”