maly, too: Bill Happel, A Very Strong Man

Monday, September 29, 2014

Bill Happel, A Very Strong Man

By RON MALY

There's some sadness in today's news.

I was informed by a Hawkeye fan from eastern Iowa that Bill Happel, a longtime friend of mine, has gone to the huge stadium in the sky.

Happel, 78, of Iowa City, died late last week in a hospice at Hiawatha, IA, near his hometown of Cedar Rapids.

Happel was an excellent athlete at McKinley High School in Cedar Rapids and later played for, and was an assistant coach on, some outstanding football teams at the University of Iowa.

I recall Happel's athletic skills when I was a teenager in Cedar Rapids.

I played some high school baseball [at Wilson in the southwest part of the city] at about the time Happel was participating at McKinley in the southeast part of town, but I certainly never had the baseball talent he possessed.

And baseball wasn't even his best sport.

When it came to competitive sports, the guy excelled at everything.

Especially football, which he played so well that Forest Evashevski, the best coach the University of Iowa ever had, recruited him to play for the Hawkeyes in the 1950s.

Happel--not especially big and not especially fast, but as tough as a steel post--became a standout back in Evashevski's spectacular wing-T offense at Iowa.

He played on the Hawkeyes' 1956 Big Ten Conference championship team that won the 1957 Rose Bowl game, and he was an assistant coach on Evashevski's 1958 team that also won the Rose Bowl game and was the best football team the university has ever had.

Happel's son, also named Bill, played football at Iowa, too.

As his obituary [printed below] points out , Bill Happel, Sr., displayed the strength to whip some demons that attacked him later in life.

In that regard, I'm happy for him and I'm happy for his family.

I'm also happy I knew Bill Happel in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City.

Rest in peace, Bill.

Bill Happel

William "Bill" Happel, 78, of Iowa City, died Friday, Sept. 26, 2014, at the Dennis and Donna Oldorf Hospice House of Mercy, Hiawatha. A visitation will be Monday from 4 to 7 p.m. at Cedar Memorial Park Funeral Home in Cedar Rapids. Memorial services will be 11 a.m. Tuesday at Cedar Memorial Chapel of Memories, Cedar Rapids. There will be a private inurnment at Cedar Memorial Park Cemetery, Cedar Rapids.

Survivors include his children, Jana (Jim Anaya) Happel of Tucson, Ariz., Bill (Tami) Happel of Hiawatha and Bob (Julie) Happel of Powell, Ohio. Also surviving are a sister, Judy (Russ) Leidigh of Goodyear, Ariz.; a brother-in-law, Jack Kaufman of Robins; and his grandchildren, Andrea Anaya Happel, Emilio Anaya Happel, Kayla (Cory) Hubler, Shauna Happel, Catherine Happel, Ray Happel and Samantha Happel.
He was preceded in death by his parents and a sister, Nancy Kaufman.

Bill was born July 15, 1936, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the son of Raymond and Naoma (Biskup) Happel. In 1954, he graduated from McKinley High School, where he was a multi-sport athlete and earned the honor of first-team All State in football. He was awarded a football scholarship at the University of Iowa, where he was a three-year letter winner and member of the 1957 Rose Bowl championship team. He married Kay Culver (Baty) in 1957 and remained married for 19 years.

Upon graduation, Bill joined the coaching staff at the University of Iowa and coached two Big Ten championship teams, including the 1958 Rose Bowl team. He went on to coach several other college and professional teams.

Bill also worked for his family's business, Happel & Sons farm implement dealership, as well as Byers & Happel Realty. In 1987, he returned to Iowa City to manage the Byers & Happel/Iowa Realty office and partnered in several local real estate developments.

Bill loved to travel, play cards with friends and watch his beloved Yankees, Cubs and Hawkeyes.

His 38 years of sobriety was the foundation for strong and loving relationships with his dear friends and family. He also was passionate in helping others achieve their own sobriety.

Bill's children and grandchildren were central to his life, and he loved nothing more than following their activities and accomplishments.

His unwavering love and support for them will remain in their hearts forever.

Memorials may be made to the Dennis & Donna Oldorf Hospice House of Mercy in Hiawatha.

-- Cedar Rapids Gazette

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.