Former University of Northern Iowa head swimming coach Glen Henry is awaiting surgery in Minnesota after motorcycle accident near here Saturday left him partially paralyzed.

Henry, 64, is a longtime friend of swimming was the head coach of the Panthers for many years, and regularly served as a starter and referee for Big Ten and NCAA Championships. He and his wife, Karen, were injured when his 1999 Harley-Davidson Road King drifted onto the shoulder, said Capt. Mike Horstman with the La Crosse County Sheriff's Office.

The motorcycle apparently hit loose sand and gravel on the shoulder and went down, Horstman said.

Friends said Henry is paralyzed from the shoulders down. He is scheduled to undergo surgery to repair vertebra at the Mayo Clinic/St. Mary's Hospital in Rochester on Thursday, said friend and motorcycle companion Dan McConnell.

"He's a tough guy. He's got very good family support," McConnell said.

Henry's wife was on the back of the motorcycle at the time of the accident. She was taken to the hospital for wounds to her hand and other injuries and was later released, according to friends and authorities.

Former colleagues at UNI, from where Henry retired in the spring as a health instructor and swimming coach, are following his progress.

"There are a lot of prayers being said on campus for him," said Noreen Hermansen, UNI's director of Alumni Relations.

Henry was an experienced motorcycle rider, said McConnell, who has ridden thousands of miles with the retired professor and was traveling with him at the time of the accident Saturday.

McConnell and Henry and two other teams had set out for a three-day weekend touring the back roads of Wisconsin.

Henry and his wife were the last team in the pack. The group was winding southbound down a curvy highway shortly before noon when the other riders noticed the Henrys were no longer behind them, McConnell said.

McConnell said Henry apparently left the roadway when he took a curve too wide.

Henry was flown to Mayo by a helicopter, said McConnell, who has been acting as point of contact between family members and friends.

Henry started at UNI in 1966 and was an associate professor in the School of Health, Physical Education and Leisure Services while also serving as the head coach.

He retired in the spring but had been working as a consultant for the UNI Foundation, Hermansen said.