T.S. Berger: Empty Bowls potter lives with full heart

By Libby James
Correspondent

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T.S. Berger's hands are happiest in a mess of wet clay. His feet are most at home in an old pair of running shoes, on the road, sharing what he knows about his favorite sport with the Poudre High School cross-country team. And his heart goes out to every child in Larimer County who goes to school hungry.

"I used to think that one day I'd be able to talk about Empty Bowls (a food bank fund-raiser) without getting emotional," he said, taking off his glasses to wipe away a tear. "Can't do it."

After 33 years teaching art at Poudre High School, Berger retired from his classroom duties last fall. But every afternoon during the season he spent encouraging and cajoling, letting the cross-country team in on secrets learned during more than four decades of running. In November, when it came time to make bowls for the annual event that has become the Food Bank for Larimer County's largest fund-raiser, Berger was back at his potter's wheel, helping students make bowls and producing 500 special small bowls with silver rims to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the event.

"The first 250 were really fun to make," he said.

Born in Salem, Ohio, 56 years ago, Berger moved to Denver with his parents and older sister when he was 5. In high school, he was drawn to art and had an inkling he might be good at it when an art teacher from another high school bought his drawing of a weed pot. He enrolled in Colorado State University as an art major and at the same time went out for track.

"I felt as if I were living two different lives," he said. "I worked hard to keep my art friends and my track friends separate."

In 1971, his parents gave him a plane ticket to Phoenix for Christmas so that he could run in the Fiesta Bowl Marathon. He completed the 26.2 miles in two hours, 34 minutes to finish sixth overall, a time CSU track coach Del Hessel thought good enough to qualify for the 1972 Olympic Trials. When the qualifying time was changed from 2:45 to 2:30, Berger embarked on a campaign to qualify which included marathons in Las Vegas, Denver and finally in Ames, Iowa, where he did 2:29:14, placing him 122nd of the 130 Olympic trials qualifiers.

When Berger asked his pottery teacher for a couple of days away from class to compete in Eugene, Ore., in July, the professor grumbled that so many countries paid their athletes these days that he surely wouldn't have a chance. Competing in record-breaking temperatures, Berger came in 42nd, watching faster athletes fade away before the finish because of the heat. Frank Shorter came in first, initiating an enormous boom in running in the United States.

"How did you do in the trials?" his professor asked in front of the whole pottery class.

"Fine sir," came Berger's answer.

"What trials? What did you do?" asked his good friend, seated next to him. She had no idea he was a runner, and few of his running friends had any idea that he was an art major.

"I'm a Pisces," Berger explained. "A sign symbolized by two fish swimming in opposite directions. I fought the art versus running thing for a long time before I realized that those two things are just me. My idea of a perfect day is one that includes a run and time in the studio."

After a taste of big-time running in Eugene, Berger was hungry for more - perhaps even a shot at the 1976 Olympics. He trained hard enough to earn 67th place overall in the Boston Marathon in 1976 and has since gone on to compete in a total of 20 of the grueling long-distance events, setting an example for all those he's coached over the years.

Mike McCarthy, Lopez Elementary School teacher and founder of Empty Bowls, first asked for Berger's help in 1997. He agreed, remembering that his dad had told him never to turn down a request, that it could become an opportunity. That year he had a student teacher he was counting on to help make bowls. When she became ill, he made them all himself. Forty people, seated in kid-size chairs at Lopez Elementary, ate soup, donated their money and then took their bowls home with them, starting a tradition that was to grow way beyond anyone's expectations.

In 2005, when Berger and his students made their 1,000th bowl, he reminded the students that through their efforts over the years, 87 families of 4 had been fed for an entire year. Each $1 donation to the Food Bank results in the purchase of food with a value of $10.70. For his ongoing contribution to Empty Bowls, Berger was chosen as a Channel Seven Everyday Hero in 2004. The following year, the T.S. Berger Award was established and Berger became the first recipient of a trophy created using the 1,000th bowl.

This February, Empty Bowls, held at the Hilton Fort Collins, raised $55,000 for the Food Bank in a single night.

It's not possible to be part of the Fort Collins running community and not know of Berger's pottery. He's made ceramic awards for the Firecracker Five, CSU Homecoming Run, Run for Hope and the Horsetooth Half Marathon. Whether it's a bowl, a mug, a vase, a hurricane lamp or a plate, Berger's work is coveted and treasured by runners.

During the months since his retirement he has provided support and encouragement to his son Jeff, now attending art school in Denver, taught art classes for education majors at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley, and enjoyed having time to visit his parents. He hopes one day to have a retrospective show with his dad, well-known Denver painter Tom Berger.

His wife, Terri, who shares his love of children, teaches English and speech at Cache La Poudre Junior High School and assists in coaching the cross-country team, running or biking with them a couple of times a week and producing a slide show of the season's highlights complete with music.

It would be hard, perhaps impossible, for Berger to leave teaching altogether. "I love the interaction with the kids as much as I love teaching the processes and techniques," he said. "Art is unique. It's so much fun. When you praise a piece, you are praising the young person who created it."

Berger remembers a time when he spent a month eating soup and not much else, as he struggled with medical bills for a son who died before he was 5 months old. In his honor, Berger created the Branden Richard Berger Award, presented to an aspiring art student at Poudre High School each year. Now called the Poudre Fine Arts Scholarship, the award came full circle last year as Jeff Berger won it. Over the years, $58,000 has been awarded to help art students with post-secondary education.

"Start slow and taper off," Berger used to say to his buddies as they lined up at the start of a race.

That was good for a laugh, and to break the tension a little, but it's a world apart from the way T. S. Berger leads his life.