Sports Background
Bruce Heen was the starting secondbaseman on the Devils Lake American Legion baseball team in 1968 and the starting shortstop on the same team in 1969. The highlight of his final year was on July 20, 1969, the same day man walked on the moon, when he completed a triple play to help win a game for my hometown, Devils Lake, North Dakota. Bruce also played high school hockey but dislocated his left knee in each year of high school and wasn’t healthy enough to contribute.
After graduating from the University of North Dakota in 1972, Bruce Heen started teaching in Devils Lake, North Dakota and was the assistant varsity ice hockey coach from 1972 to 1977, at which time he left the teaching profession to return to college for an accounting degree.
In 1972, Devils Lake did not have an American Legion baseball team, abandoning the program. Bruce decided to start a new baseball team from scratch the following year, helping re-establish the lost program.
In 1973, the first year of Bruce Heen’s head coaching position, there were only two senior players, all the rest of the team were first year players. The first year players all played for him the summer before in Babe Ruth baseball. The team ended up finishing a respectable 20-22 after not even fielding a team the year before. Several of the players went on to play college baseball. Bruce continued coaching in the 1974 season and the team improved finishing four games over .500 at 24-20.
Bruce Heen also played fast pitch and slow pitch softball. The highlight of his carrer was on the Devils Lake Home of Economy slow pitch team that won the 1980 Class B North Dakota State Championship and also the 1980 Class B Regional Championship in Spearfish, South Dakota.
Bruce Heen’s Travels and Interests
Bruce Heen enjoys traveling and has been to Germany, France, Switzerland, Cancun, Mexico, Canada, the Bahamas, San Juan, Virgin Islands, Hawaii and every state in the continental United States. He has been to the Grand Canyon, Rocky Mountains, Yellowstone, Jackson Hole and the Grand Tetons, Yosemite Park, Maine and Acadia National Park, Great Smoky National Park, Crater Lake, Mount Ranier, Glacier National Park, Banff National Park and Lake Louise, Arkansas Hot Springs, Olympic National Park, Redwood Forest and the Badlands.
When Bruce Heen isn’t enjoying his travels, he enjoys fishing, having caught 25-30 pound northern pike up in northern Canada and also snapper and grouper deep sea fishing off the coast of Florida. Bruce is also an avid baseball fan and have been to games in Atlanta Fulton-County stadium, the new Turner Field in Atlanta, Coors Field in Denver, Chicago’s Comisky Park, Boston’s Fenway Park, the original Yankee stadium, the new Yankee stadium, Baltimore Camden Yards and countless other games in Seattle, Texas, San Francisco, Oakland, San Diego, Los Angeles Dodgers, Washington Nationals and the New York Mets.
Bruce has the unique distinction of attending Game 5 of the 1991 World Series with his wife Sheryl and their five month old son, Douglas, where the Atlanta Braves beat the Minnesota Twins 14-5. He also enjoys the game of golf and still gets out occasionally, both with friends in the Birmingham area and also in company tournaments.
Bruce Heen is a member of the Oak Mountain Presbyterian Church in Birmingham, AL, doing volunteer based work helping individuals and families with cash flow and budget problems.
