maly, too: The Fifty-Four Gang Hits the Big Six-Oh

Thursday, July 10, 2014

The Fifty-Four Gang Hits the Big Six-Oh

By RON MALY

It's been a while since I've written something about high school reunions.

Cedar Rapids Roosevelt

Indeed, it was 11 years ago that I wrote a column about the 50-year reunion of my Wilson of Cedar Rapids graduating class.

I wasn't able to attend the reunion, but I heard so much about it that I wrote about it anyway.

The reason I couldn't be there was because the reunion was held on the same Saturday that my son, Mark, was among four F-16 pilots from the 132nd Fighter Wing of the Air Force National Guard in Des Moines who flew over Jack Trice Stadium in Ames prior to the Iowa-Iowa State football game.

I certainly wasn't about to miss that.

My 1953 Wilson class has held irregular reunions, and I've been able to make it to just one of them.

That was the 40th.

It's a good thing they furnished name-tags because I sure had a tough time recognizing my classmates after all of those years.

The '53 gang didn't even bother having a 60-year reunion because of a lack of interest, and I'll write more about that later in this column.

Now I want to say a few things about the class reunion we'll be attending this weekend in Cedar Rapids.

It's the 60-year reunion of Maxine's 1954 Roosevelt High School class, and the committee members are doing things up right.

The reunion will be held from Friday night through Sunday morning, and there's enough stuff scheduled to please any bigtime party-goer in that age group.

Let me back up just a minute.

Wilson and Roosevelt were high schools in Cedar Rapids in the old four-school public school system there.

Wilson is on the southwest side of town, Roosevelt is on the northwest side. The other public high schools in that time period were Franklin on the northeast side of town and McKinley on the southeast side.

All four schools are still in operation today, but kids younger than high school-age attend classes there.

Roosevelt's students from the 1954 graduating class have always done an outstanding job of scheduling and planning their reunions.

The planning committee for this reunion is made up of Rae Jeanne Guthrie Kilberger, Emily Hanzlik Norden, Joanne Hays Hennessey, Jean Henderson White, Bob Kent, Howard Kucera, Ron Olson, Judy Thomas Morningstar and Nancy Thompson Reed.

The literature sent to us by the committee says things will get started at 6 p.m. Friday.

"Come early and visit the new Bo Market and revitalized flood-damaged areas," it says. "Eating places are available. There will be a 6-10 p.m. social gathering, with a cash bar, Pizza and snacks will be provided at Parlor City, 1125 Third Street SE."

The group tells us that a 2-hour bus tour, starting at 2 p.m. Saturday, will be led by longtime Cedar Rapids historian Mark Hunter.

Visits will be made to sites including downtown Cedar Rapids, the New Bohemia area south of downtown, Czech Village on 16th Avenue Southwest, the "old Kingston" area off Third Avenue Southwest, west side neighborhoods including Time Check, Ellis Boulevard, Roosevelt School and the neighborhood around the school, areas around Harrison, Fillmore and Cleveland Schools, plus the St. Patrick's Catholic Church neighborhood.

"See and learn," the literature says, "about the history of Cedar Rapids and unique architecture; changes and improvements in the six years since the flood of 2008; updates on new developments in the historic neighborhoods; the many historic preservation projects currently under way, and revisits to the old neighborhoods and areas where you grew up."

The bus tour starts at the History Center, 615 First Avenue SE, and to me it sounds like a very good idea.

A buffet meal at the History Center starts at 6 p.m. Saturday, and a breakfast will be held Sunday morning for people who are still in the party and eating mood.

I called Bob Kent to find out more about the 1954 graduating class.

He told me there were 164 students in the class, and 60 members of the class and their spouses are scheduled to attend the reunion.

Sadly, 60 members of the class are deceased.

Among the deceased is Wilbur Lagerquist, a man I got in touch with several years ago when I was told that he put 40 years of Roosevelt yearbooks on a website.

Lagerquist, who had been in the printing business, told me the yearbook project had become a hobby.

When I told Lagerquist that I didn't find his photo and name in the 1954 Roosevelt yearbook, he said, "Well, I didn't graduate. But, had I stayed in school, I would have gotten my diploma in 1954. The class invites me to all of the reunions anyway."

Sorry he won't be at this one.

"Actually, we had two or three other students who weren't able to finish school at Roosevelt and get their diplomas," Bob Kent told me. "But we invite them back to the reunions, too."

I wrote about my 1953 class from Wilson High School earlier in this column. I mentioned that a 60-year reunion wasn't held last year because of a lack of interest.

Now, however, there appears to be some movement on perhaps holding a--get this--61-year reunion.

In an e-mail sent to members of the 1953 class, Lyle Matthews wrote, "Duane Rinderknecht just called me about a 61-year class reunion...I just want to know if there is any interest in getting together for a simple meal and conversation. I am very open to suggestions."

Whereupon, Janet Dyal Bostwick wrote, "Wow! Great to hear from you. Our class is just the best ever. Who else has an eleven-year reunion and now a 61st reunion?!?!? I would absolutely love to see everyone. Right now we're staying at home in Arizona. Bob doesn't like to travel. However, if something gets put together, I might be able to make it. Please keep me posted. If I can do anything from here, would be happy to help."

Philippe "Phil" Faure, who spent some time at Wilson as a foreign exchange student from France, wrote that he and his wife probably won't be able to attend the reunion if one is held.

"It's just a pity," he wrote. "I have some problems of mobility because of my knees, and I am a bit [nervous] to travel [that distance]."

You're right, Phil. Nobody's knees are like they were when we were 17.

JOLTIN' JOE GOT IT STARTED

When Ron Maly was a kid in Cedar Rapids, he wanted to enter an essay contest, and he did. He wrote about Joe DiMaggio of the New York Yankees being his favorite baseball player. For finishing second in the contest, Ron won a Louisville Slugger baseball bat autographed by DiMaggio. Ron later wanted to be the first person in his family to attend college, and he was. He earned a degree in political science from the University of Iowa, and did what all political science majors do. He became a sportswriter. He had, after all, covered high school football, basketball and baseball games for the Cedar Rapids Gazette while he worked parttime during his university days. Ron wanted to sit in the press box and write about an Iowa-Minnesota football game, and he did. It happened while he was the sports editor at the Albert Lea [Minn.] Tribune, and the game was at Memorial Stadium in Minneapolis. Ron wanted to cover a World Series, and he did. Also when he was working for the Albert Lea newspaper. Ron wanted to cover Rose Bowls, Sugar Bowls, Orange Bowls, Cotton Bowls, Holiday Bowls, a Freedom Bowl, a Sun Bowl, a Super Bowl and NCAA basketball tournaments, and he did those things after he moved to Des Moines. Ron was a four-time sportswriter of the Year in the state of Iowa [the years were 1977, 1978, 1994 and 1996]. In 2006, he was named a charter member of the University of Iowa's media Wall of Fame in the Kinnick Stadium press box. A photo of the plaque that's displayed in the press box is displayed above this story. Following Ron's retirement from the newspaper business, a publisher asked him if he wanted to write a book about the rich football tradition at the University of Iowa, and he did. The hardback version of "Tales from the Iowa Sidelines" was a best-seller, and so was the revised, softback version. Now he's been asked by his publisher to update the book for a second time. He's in the process of doing that at the present time. Ron considers being asked to update a best-selling book for the second time to be the supreme compliment, considering the Hawkeyes won just four games in the 2012 season. When Ron isn't working on books, he's busy traveling and spending time with his family. Indeed, he attends the athletic, theatrical and musical [both vocal and instrumental] events in which his six grandchildren participate. He also writes about anything that interests him for his many websites. Every chance he gets, Ron proudly wears his America Needs Farmers T-shirt.

The Hawkeyes' Rich Football Tradition, Revisited

I mentioned a while back that I was in the process of updating my Tales from the Iowa Sidelines book. Updating it for the second time. The original hardback edition of Tales from the Iowa Sidelines [pictured at the right] was published in 2003, during the 10-3 season, when coach Kirk Ferentz and his Iowa football team had a 10-3 record that included a 37-17 victory over 15th-ranked Florida in the Outback Bowl and after the Hawkeyes went 11-2 in 2002. That book was a best-seller, so the publishers came to me again in 2005, a season that finished with a breathtaking 30-25 victory over No. 11 Louisiana State in the Capital One Bowl on New Year's Day, 2005. Because buyers had cleaned out the the shelves in the bookstores, the publishers wanted to know if I'd do an updated version of the book. I agreed, The revised, soft-cover edition [pictured at the left] was published in 2005. Warren Holloway, who teamed with quarterback Drew Tate on a miraculous 56-yard touchdown pass to win the Capital One Bowl, was featured on the cover. That book, too, turned into a best-seller, So I had reason to feel very good about my years as a published author. It's not every day that a the original version is a best-seller, and so is the updated version. Then, imagine my surprise when I received an e-mail from a senior editor at the publishing company last fall, wanting wanted to know if I was interested in doing a second updated version of the book. It came at a time when things weren't going well for the Hawkeyes in the 2012 season. They lost their last six games and finished with a 4-8 record. Frankly, the thought of doing a revised edition of the book during a 4-8 season seemed to be a stretch. "Maybe producing a revised edition in a year or two would be a better idea," I told the publishers. "We'd like to do it now," I was told. "Let me think about it," I said. After a few days of thought, I accepted the idea. I talked myself into the idea that this was the supreme compliment--being asked to do a second book update during a 4-8 season showed strong confidence by the publishers in me and in the Hawkeyes' football program. So I got back into the business of interviewing players and coaches again, going to postgame press conferences, weekly press conferences and a scrimmage in West Des Moines. After a press conference in Iowa City, I did a one-on-one interview with coach Kirk Ferentz, and mentioned to him that I was in the process of doing a revised edition of my two best-selling books. I congratulated him on the excellent things he had done for Iowa's football program--all of which contributed to the success of my books. "I think Coach Fry had more to do with it," he told me, bringing up the name of Hayden Fry, his one-time boss at Iowa and a man who brought Iowa's football program back from the dead in the 20th century. That's modest Kirk Ferentz for you. Even though the 2012 season wasn't something Hawkeye coaches, players and fans will recall with any special feeling, Ferentz has a 14-year record of 100-74 at Iowa that includes two 11-victory seasons [2002 smd 2009], two 10-victory seasons [2003 and 2004], plus he's been the Big Ten coach of year in 2002, 2004 and 2009, and national coach of the year in 2002. Indeed, Ferentz has done some wonderful things at Iowa City, and I fully expect his success to continue. I've concluded my writing for the second update of Tales from the Iowa Sidelines, and the senior editor has furnished me with an early look at the book. Not only are the Kirk Ferentz years included in the updated version, but so is the stuff I previously wrote about Howard Jones, Dr. Eddie Anderson, Heisman Trophy winner Nile Kinnick and the 1939 Hawkeye Ironmen, Ronald Reagan, Ozzie Simmons, Ossie Solem, Randy Duncan, Alex Karras and lots of other legends from Iowa's rich football history. I expect the book to be in stores soon. I hope you like it.