B. J. Windhorst Is a Gamer, and I Hope He's Finally the Coach Who Can Take An Eraser To the Underachiever Label That Has Haunted Valley's Boys' Basketball Program Since 1993

By RON MALY

Hardly a day goes by when I can't figure out something I see in the paper, and today was no exception. 

I saw the story that said B. J. Windhorst will be Valley's new boys' basketball coach.  

Windhorst was quoted as saying, "When you have a position like Valley become open, it's a great opportunity. I'm extremely excited."  

In the last paragraph of the story, it says, "Windhorst did not immediately return calls seeking comment." 

To me, that sounds like either dumb reporting or dumb editing. 

My guess is it's probably both. 

But, like I said earlier, it's something else in the paper I can't figure out. 

All I know is this: I've written plenty of times that the Valley job is very challenging. 

The Tigers haven't won a state championship since Bill Harris' 1993 team did it. 

In recent years, Valley has been an underachieving boys' program, including during the years Jeff Horner was in charge. 

For a long time, it was thought that the best athletes in the huge school played football, not basketball. 

Could be. 

Football coach Gary Swenson has won five class 4-A state championships at Valley. 

Swenson is a wonderful coach, and obviously he's someone who understands Valley and its athletic program. 

The Tigers will be loaded in football again in 2014. 

They always are.

I don't know if they can beat Dowling [or, for that matter, Waukee and Southeast Polk], but they'll be representative, you can be certain. 

In my estimation, Valley is a sleeping giant in basketball. 

I hope Windhorst is the right guy at the right time at 35th and Woodland in West Des Moines. 

I do know he's a gamer. 

I covered him when he played basketball at Drake, and I like his attitude. 

He did a good job when he coached at Southeast Polk, which means he understands the Central Iowa Metro League. 

It's time Valley's basketball program rid itself of that underachiever label, starting in the 2014-2015 season. 

Here it is June 8 and I hear that the second game of the NBA's final playoff round is being played. That probably means that the championship will be decided on about the Fourth of July. Tell somebody to wake me up when the title game is on TV so I can see Michael Jordan make the winning basket. That's the only time I pay any attention to professional basketball.

Most of today was drab and rainy, but a 97-year-old firecracker of a guy injected some sunshine into it on my 32-inch Sony TV this afternoon. Lenny Merullo, the oldest living Chicago Cub to have played in a World Series, sent a charge through Wrigley Field before and after singing "Take Me Out To the Ballgame in the seventh inning. Merullo was a Cubs shotrstop from 1941 through 1947 and played in three games of the 1945 World Series, which Detroit won from the Cubs, 4 games to 3. The Cubs haven't been in a World Series since. The Cubs' 5-2 victory today over Miami was their fifth in a row, but the way they've played most of the season, it may be another century or two before they get to another World Series. Hopefully, Merullo will still be alive when it happens. Merullo was a delight while being interviewed by the Cubs' TV announcers before and after the song he sang with the Wrigley Field crowd. A guy nearing 100 years of age made more sense than Theo Epstein, the Cub president who is showing signs of brain damage these days in the wake of his decision to sign Manny Ramirez to be a player/coach for the Cubs' Triple-A farm team that plays at Sec Taylor Stadium in Des Moines. Merullo's appearance behind the microphone at Wrigley Field could be compared to, say, Paul Morrison of Des Moines, another soon-to-be-97-year-old, singing the Star Spangled Banner prior to a Drake basketball game at the Knapp Center.

Photo courtesy of cubs.com

The Chicago Cubs are such a bad team that even their radio station is giving up on them. That's right, WGN, which has broadcast the Cubs' games for 90 years or so, says it's somebody else's turn to bring lousy baseball over the air to longtime fans of the team. Starting next season, Chicago station WBBM will be the Cubs' flagship station. I don't know if that setup will in any way change what happens to people who want to hear Cub games in places like Des Moines, Cedar Rapids and Timbuktu, but we'll find out. Now, of course, Des Moines station KRNT broadcasts the Cubs' games, via a feed from WGN. I don't listen to nearly as many games on the radio as I once did [hell, I don't even listen to radio much anymore], but I hope KRNT makes a deal with the Cubs' new station next year and in years to come because it's sometimes fun to listen to how the radio announcers describe the comical way the Cubs play. As a kid, I'd try to listen to Cub games from my home in Cedar Rapids. I'd get a crackly sound directly from WGN, and not much else. The Cubs were no better then than they are now, of course. By the way, WGN-TV is also in the process of dumping the Cubs. That also may happen next season. Tough times for the battered old ballclub.

Same old stuff at the paper. As has been the case for the past 15 years, the news is being distributed Pony Express style. Jack Dittmer died last Saturday, and his obituary--all 6 paragraphs of it in small type under the heading IOWA SCENE--was in Tuesday's paper. People at the paper should be ashamed of themselves for short-changing Dittmer, a member of the paper's Hall of Fame. Jack Dittmer, from small northeast Iowa community Elkader, was a rare athlete. The guy was awarded a phenomenal nine letters in three sports at the University of Iowa. Something like that is unheard of now. He also was a major league baseball player for more than 5 seasons. A truly amazing person. I'm very happy I was able to spend a day with him 26 years ago in Elkader. I'm glad I was able to hear him tell his story. I'm glad I was able to write his story.

Here's my 1988 story on Dittmer when he became the 117th member of the paper's Hall of Fame:

By RON MALY

Jack Dittmer

Elkader, Ia. -- When Jack Dittmer was a second baseman for Milwaukee in the 1950s, no player knew him better than Ernie Johnson.

Johnson, a pitcher, was Dittmer's roommate when Milwaukee, not Boston or Atlanta, was the home of the Braves. Because the two spend so much time together, Dittmer said Johnson was his best friend on the club.

Dittmer, 60, now sells automobiles in Elkader, and regularly listens to Johnson talk about the Braves on television. Johnson is a commentator for the Atlanta games carried by cable station WTBS.

"Dittmer was a good, bear-down ballplayer," Johnson recalled when told his old roommate was becoming the 117th member of The Des Moines Sunday Register's Iowa Sports Hall of Fame.

"I don't know how many people realize it, but he also was quite a prankster.

"I'll never forget an incident that happened one night in St Louis. While 'The Star-Spangled Banner' was being played, the stadium lights were turned out. Dittmer than gave Manager Charlie Grimm a hotfoot by setting fire to his shoelaces.

Born in a Small Town

"Grimm let out a yell, saying, 'Dittmer!' when he felt the firse. He knew right away it was Jack who did it."

Small-town Jack Dittmer a hotfoot artist? Jack Dittmer, the kid with the flat-top haircut from Elkader, causing a stir in a big-league dugout? Jack Dittmer, who won a record 12 letters at Elkader High School and a rare nine at the University of Iowa, torching Charlie Grimm's shoelaces during the national anthem?

Well, just because Dittmer was a product of small-town America doesn't mean he didn't know how to have fun in the big city.

***

On a hot, dry afternoon in this picturesque northeast Iowa community of 1,500, Jack Dittmer is as far removed from a major-league dugout or a major-college football stadium as he could be.

His only connections with professional baseball are the telecasts he watches and the occasional games he sees in person in Milwaukee. Every fall, he makes the drive to Iowa City for two or three Hawkeye football games, and he watches most of Iowa's basketball games on TV.

He's still a Hawkeye fan, still knows who's doing what in the National and American leagues.

But today, he talks about how this town he has always called home needs rain. On a typical busy afternoon, he drops off the mail, pays a couple of bills, then makes a brief stop at home. He comes across as anything but a dugout hotfoot specialist as he shows a visitor the baseball caps, autographs in his recreation room.

Braves Dissatisfied

They are reminders that Dittmer was an outstanding baseball and football player at Iowa, and that he spend five years and three days as a major-league baseball player -- four of the seasons with Milwaukee.

Dittmer's first year in the majors was with the then-Boston Braves in 1952. In 93 games, he hit .193. But improvement came quickly.

His best season was 1953, after the franchise was moved to Milwaukee. It was his first season as a regular, and he hit .266, belted nine home runs and 22 doubles and had 63 runs-batted-in.

You would have thought that would be enough to install him as Milwaukee's second baseman for at least several seasons. But that's not the way it happened.

"I think the Braves made a big mistake after that season," Johnson said. "Dittmer had enjoyed a good year, and was only 25 years old. Then, all of a sudden, the club dropped a bombshell and got Danny O'Connell from Pittsburgh. The deal didn't help either Dittmer or O'Connell. Danny played a little more than Jack, but I could never understand why the Braves thought they needed to make a change."

O'Connell hit .279, .225 and .239 in his years with Milwaukee.

Dittmer played in 66 games in 1954 and hit .245. He appeared in 38 and 44 games the next two seasons before winding up his major-league career at Detroit in 1957.

No Bitterness

His final two seasons in Milwaukee he hit .125 and .245. With the Tigers, he hit .227, leaving him with a composite major-league average of .232.

Dittmer spent half the 1957 season at Detroit, then was sent to the minors at Birmingham, Ala. He played for Phoenix in 1958, Seattle and Sacramento in 1959, then retired.

Dittmer displays no bitterness at the way things went.

"I guess the Braves wanted a second baseman who could hit better than .266," he said.

"But that .266 average could make a lot of money for a player now."

We hear a lot about the millionaires who play the game today.

Dittmer wasn't one of them.

"I got a $6,000 bonus when I signed with the Braves," Dittmer said. "The minimum major-league starting salary then was $6,000 a year, and the most I earned was $13,000 in my one season with Detroit."

Dittmer supplemented his income by working for his father at the Dittmer Motor Co. in the offseason. He took over the business after his father died in December 1962. He sold the company in 1985, but still manages the dealership.

***

Although Dittmer came from the corn belt, he said he had no problem adjusting to the fast lane of major-league baseball.

"I was traveling all the time when I played two major sports at Iowa," he said. "Our football team played UCLA in Los Angeles before about 80,000 fans. Being in big cities ans playing in front of big crowds, wasn't anything new to me once I got to the Braves."

Dittmer attended Iowa on a football scholarship, and lettered four times on Coach Eddie Anderson's teams during the 1946 through '49 seasons, playing end. He also earned four letters in baseball and one in basketball before graduating in 1950 with a degree in general science.

Nine-Letter Hawkeye

Surprisingly, he says basketball was his best and favorite sport. But, even in the 1940s, the demand wasn't great for 6-foot 1-inch centers.

Dittmer said the last Hawkeye athlete before him to earn nine letters was Erwin Prasse, who got three each in football basketball and baseball in the late 1930s and early-1940s. Dittmer said no University of Iowa athlete since him has earned nine letters.

That Dittmer played on just one Hawkeye team that had a record above .500, was on no Big Ten championship squads and went ot no bowl games didn't dampen his career.

He was chosen Iowa's Most Valuable Player in 1949, and was in the school record book for a long time as the career leader in touchdown catches with 13. As a senior, he set a Big Ten Conference season record for yards gained in pass receiving with 333.

Dittmer had good hands and adequate speed.

"If the quarterback could get the ball to me," he said, "I could catch it. And if I got into the open, no one caught me from behind."

Despite his light weight (165 pounds), Dittmer never backed away from a collision on the football field. Following a rare Iowa victory over Ohio State in 1948, Dittmer was asked about a run-in with the Buckeyes' 220-pound Joe Whisler.

Although Whisler had steamrolled him, Dittmer said: "Did you see me take him on? I wonder if he's out of the hospital yet."

Dittmer's nickname was Skinny. The years have added bulk to his body, and the nickname no longer fits. He plays an occasional round of golf, and it's his goal to trim a few pounds soon.

He and Darlene, his wife of nearly 38 years, are the parents of three children -- daughters Lisa, 32, and Jan, 30, both of whom are married; and son, Doug, 17.

Some wonderful things happen in the music departments at the West Des Moines public schools, and there hasn't been a presentation in recent years that didn't receive a "1" rating in my personal scorebook. Maybe because it was the most recent, maybe not, but the music [instrumental and vocal] produced by students at the Valley Southwoods Freshman High School Fine Arts Festival was perhaps the best I've seen and heard. A massive group of ninth-graders [one of whom was my youngest grandaughter, who fills the air with some excellent clarinet music, if I say so myself] put on quite a show before an overflow crowd in the Southwoods gym. My favorite number was Pie Jesu by the Valley Southwoods Orchestra & Chorus. Pie Jesu is a wonderful piece of music originally produced by the famous Andrew Lloyd Webber, and the Southwoods students performed it masterfully. In addition, the Southwoods Orchestra performed Portrait for Two Cellos In G Minor, Allegro, Halo No. 3 Themes and Orange Jam. The Full Orchestra did Orpheus In the Underwold, the Concert Band did Led Zeppelin On Tour, the Basie Band and Singers did Duke's Place, the Southwoods Singers did Return, the Treble Clef Choir did I'm Goin' Up a Yonder, the Bass Clef Choir did The Drunken Sailor, the Combined Clef Choir did Count On Me, and the Music Department did Irving Berlin's America, Hello, Goodbye [songs of the Beatles in concert]. It was great to hear God Bless America, and it was a nice gesture to invite members of the audience on stage to perform with the students in the Beatles Medley. An adult woman seated in front of me came fully prepared for that. She brought a violin in its case into the school, then unpacked it and carried it onto the floor to help with the music. There were others who did the same thing. A number of adult singers also joined the student choirs. If I'd have known they were going to let people bring their musical instruments into the gym, I would've brought the clarinet I played for a few months when I attended fourth grade at Lincoln School in Cedar Rapids. Just kidding about that. I think my dad sold the clarinet shortly after I quit taking lessons many, many years ago.

On Second Thought

By RON MALY

After giving the latest Manny Ramirez fiasco more thought, I've changed my mind just a bit.

I originally thought Ramirez, a baseball bum if I ever saw one, should be banned from Des Moines and the state of Iowa, if not the entire midwest.

I guess that's kind of harsh. 

Now I think Ramirez should feel free to hang out at Sec Taylor Stadium, but only while being handcuffed to Mike Gartner.  All he'll be permitted to do is play with Gartner's bow tie.

Just keep both of their asses [Ramirez's and Gartner's] off the field and out of the suburbs.

If the local Triple-A team lets Ramirez get anywhere near the Chicago Cubs' top prospects--if, indeed, they're still called prospects--Ramirez should be arrested and sent in a Polk County sheriff's car to Cedar Rapids so he can clean up the southeast part of town. 

I still think Theo Epstein, the Chicago Cubs' president, is absolutely insane for sending him here to be a player-coach.

I wouldn't permit that clown to talk with anyone on the team, including the people who clean the restrooms in the clubhouse and the rest of the ballpark.

Ramirez apologized yesterday to the Boston Red Sox, one of his past employers, for his rotten behavior, and now he should apologize for being born. 

By the way, the paper has changed its position somewhat on Ramirez, too.

When Ramirez's hiring was announced by Epstein, the paper was kind of giddy about the whole deal. 

Not until the next day, after noticing that 99 percent of the people in America slammed the idea of Ramirez coming here, and that everyone else in baseball [other than those in the Chicago Cubs' front office] was laughing at the idea, did the paper say it's a risky idea.

How's that for taking a stand?

*

Speaking of the paper, Reid Allen [one of the best athletic business managers Drake University ever had] tells me something funny.

A while back, I ripped the idea of Des Moines building a new $9 million football stadium for its high school football teams.

Asking Des Moines taxpayers to finance a $9 million stadium for public high school teams that would be drubbed by most of this state's 8-man teams is among the stupidest proposals I've ever heard.

The paper wrote about the stadium idea, too, and [naturally] didn't take a position on it.

"Maybe you didn't notice it," Allen told me, "but the last part of that story in the paper was on the obituary page." 

That's where the whole thing belonged. 

Instead of building a new football stadium for the public schools in Des Moines, the school board should consider fielding flag football teams for both boys and girls. and playing the games at Waterworks Park.

That's about as competitive as the Des Moines schools are in football.

Des Moines teams are so bad that the games they play against suburban powerhouses turn into laughers. 

Teams such as Dowling, Valley, Waukee, Johnston, Southeast Polk, Ankeny Centennial, Ankeny and Urbandale can run up 60, 70 or more points against the Roosevelts, Lincolns and Hoovers of central Iowa, clear the benches, implement the "mercy" rule, then get criticized by idiots in the opinion page department at the paper for running up the score.

*

So the old Register building at 8th & Locust might be turned into apartments, offices and a restaurant, huh? How many times have we seen that movie? How the hell many more apartments does downtown Des Moines need? Who's moving there, and why? I want to stay as far away from downtown Des Moines as I can get. You never know who's going to show up down there with a can of kerosene and a match. Ask 'em over there at the burned-down old Younkers building about that.