Mike Swan Writes About 'The Perfect Season'

By RON MALY

Mike Swan, a former Iowan and a good friend of my columns and websites, has published a book titled The Perfect Season, which chronicles the accomplishments of the outstanding softball program at Harlan [IA] Community High School in 1979-1980.

Swan is an excellent journalist and teacher of journalism. He is a professor of mass communications and student sports media at Butler Community College in El Dorado, KS, which is located 20 minutes east of Wichita.

Mike sent me a copy of his 32-page book, I have read it, and it's a good one.

The book "looks back at a softball program that was ranked No. 1 during the summer and went  into the state tourney undefeated," Swan tells me via email.  He adds he "was fortunate to land a job as Harlan Newspapers sports editor right out of college. They run a great operation there."

For the book, Swan says he "interviewed the former coach and several of the players in the last couple of years to help put this together. This is definitely a niche publication...At the state tournament in Fort Dodge, one of their games included a 2-1, 16-inning loss to Charles City, the longest state game ever at the time. 

"Ironically, the previous fall, Harlan lost the state championship game to Charles City, 2-1, in the first-ever extra-inning game in the state tourney. Harlan's pitcher was Marcia Jacobsen, who had a 174-22 record in high school, before playing at Creighton. 

"In the fall tourney, they got past powerhouse Ankeny, which you would probably be most familiar with.  The Cyclonettes won, 2-1, against the likes of all-staters Connie Yori, Karlin Hayes, Cheri Andersen, Wendy Turner, Deb Schneider and Coach Dick Rasmussen. 

"This was, as you know, in the days when we would drive back to the newspaper office to complete our work. We would write the stories and headlines, develop and print the photos, lay out the pages, and turn around and do it all over again. A team like this made all that a lot easier. " 

Swan said, "The 1979-80 teams I wrote about were involved in three games that would qualify as 'historic' in Iowa high school girls' softball.  It's a niche story, but one that would perhaps be of interest to a few groups.  I contacted several of the former players and coaches in the last few years for interviews.

"In my office, I have a framed cover of a special supplement we did when I was sports editor of Harlan Newspapers back in 1980. On that front, there is a team photo I took after their 16-inning marathon loss to Charles City in the consolation game at the 1980 summer state tourney in Fort Dodge. That game had lasted close to 3 hours, at the time the longest state tourney game ever. 

"Harlan had gone into the state tourney as the only undefeated team in the state at 33-0. They won their first two in state play, then suffered a close upset, which led to the third-place game against Charles City.  Ironically, they were coming off the fall 1979 season, when they lost in the state championship contest [also to Charles City], 1-0 in nine innings, in the first-ever extra-inning state tourney game.

"Perhaps their biggest accomplishment was getting past Ankeny in that Fall tourney, 2-1. That was no easy task, as Ankeny had a half-dozen all-staters. And again, ironically, Ankeny took the summer, 1980 title, in a game that had to wait due to the Harlan-Charles City marathon.

"There's more, but that's the gist of how things went on the field.

"After all this, you would think there would be some long faces in that team picture as there were seven seniors in the group. They had played together for a long time. To my astonishment, after we made the drive back to Harlan and developed the film early in the morning, I saw everyone was smiling.

"The team had an outstanding Hall of Fame pitcher in Marcia Jacobsen [now Currie], who finished with a 174-22 record. In the booklet, one of her former teammates explains that Marcia's dad would spend countless nights in their barn catching her. Every time [the coach] would teach Jake a new pitch she would practice it until her fingers would literally bleed.

"The team also had to undergo a coaching change [the first for this group] before the summer 1979 season. That led to Russ Gallinger taking over, someone who was a taskmaster and served as an assistant on all those Harlan state championship football teams.

"As you know, Ron, covering a team through a season or seasons leads you through many ups and downs.  I've found the framed front provides a good conversation piece with students and others.  You can talk about the skill of athletes, how to handle interviews in different situations, and the sometimes grueling process of covering a team.

"But I really wondered about the people in that photo. I thought their story might resonate with some today. So, over the last few years, I've contacted at least seven of them and, of course, they are all over the country.  I also found that Gallinger, after many years in Harlan, lives in a town near here. I showed up unannounced one day, and a couple of hours later we had finished our journey down memory lane, with conversation over scrapbooks. 

"The booklet has been well-received by some of the former team members and others and has been advertised in the Harlan paper.

"I'm selling it for $15, and I can be contacted at:  mlsclone@hotmail.com or at 1403 Park Ave., El Dorado, KS 67042."


The  book was printed by Mennonite Press, 532 N. Oliver Road, Newton, KS 67114.