Dan Cloeter

Cloeter was born on May 16, 1952, and grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, until he was ten years old.[1][2] During his high school education in Seward, Nebraska, Cloeter began running.[3] For his post-secondary education, Cloeter attended Concordia University Nebraska between 1970 and 1974.[4] During this time period, Cloeter competed at cross country championships held by the Amateur Athletic Union and National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics. In these championships, Cloeter was forty-eighth at the 1972 AAU Cross Country Championships and seventh at the 1973 NAIA Men's Cross Country Championship.[1][5]

In 1975, Cloeter continued his post-secondary education at Concordia Theological Seminary in Springfield, Illinois, and worked at J. C. Penney.[6] During the late 1970s, Cloeter went to Fort Wayne, Indiana, where the seminary had subsequently relocated, to complete additional studies and worked as a gym teacher.[7][8]

From 1973 to 1982, Cloeter ran primarily in American races ranging from the ten kilometers to marathon.[1] When the Mayor Daley Marathon premiered in 1977, Cloeter won the event with a time of 2:17:52.[7] The following year, Cloeter was third at the event.[9] When the event was renamed to the America's Marathon-Chicago in 1979, Cloeter won the event in 2:23:20.[10] After the event, Cloeter received medical treatment for dehydration.[11] The following year, Cloeter stated he would not compete at the 1980 Chicago Marathon due to leg injuries he had sustained from a dog.[12]

Outside of Chicago, Cloeter was 18th at the 1978 New York City Marathon.[13] Competing in the 1976 United States Olympic Trials, Cloeter was 24th in the marathon event.[14] Four years later, Cloeter qualified to participate at the 1980 United States Olympic Trials.[15] After the United States decided not to attend the 1980 Summer Olympics, Cloeter pulled out of the Olympic Trials.[8][16] Apart from the United States, Cloeter appeared at racing events in Bermuda, Puerto Rico, and The Bahamas before his last marathon in 1981.[1]

While competing in running, Cloeter began working at Lutheran churches in 1978.[17] Between the late 1970s and early 1980s, Cloeter was a minister and assistant pastor at a church in Norfolk, Nebraska.[3][18] In 1982, it was announced that Cloeter would continue his religious career in Racine, Wisconsin.[2] During this decade, Cloeter initially stayed in Wisconsin until he took a pastoral position in Hutchinson, Minnesota, in the late 1980s. At the beginning of the 1990s, Cloeter remained in Hutchinson.[19][20] By the end of the 1990s, Cloeter had moved to Omaha, Nebraska, to continue his pastoral experience.[21] While in Omaha, Cloeter was selected to give the opening ceremonial prayer at the 1999 USATF Junior Olympics.[22]

In the 2000s, Cloeter stayed in Omaha until he began pastor at a congregation in Ann Arbor, Michigan, in 2002. After he stepped down from his senior pastor's position in 2004, Cloeter worked for a San Antonio, Texas, financial company until 2006.[23] In 2007, Cloeter and his wife moved to Lincoln, Nebraska, to open up a church.[24] For the majority of the 2010s, Cloeter continued to work in as a pastor in Osceola, Nebraska, after starting there in 2012.[6][8]

In 1994, Cloeter was inducted into an athletic hall of fame for Concordia University Nebraska.[4] Cloeter is married and has four children.[20]