Monday, November 15, 2010

Football continues, Fall of 1966

We had won the very first game we had ever played in. The whole community was a buzz about the game and how we had played. I worked at the grocery store at nights and all day on Saturday's, all anyone wanted to talk about was the game. What a fun time.

Our next scheduled game was against Crestland of Early and their "B" team in Early. It was on a Monday night and quite cold if I remember. It was on October 10th.

We played ok, not alot that stands out in my mind about the game. I know that Doug Kructhen scored on a 3 yard touchdown run right before halftime. We had alot of penalites, 110 yards worth and stopped Crestland inside our own 10 yard line in the third quarter. We did move the ball to the 1 yard line late in the fourth quarter but the clock ran out before we scored. We could have scored if we had wanted too, we just let the clock run out. We had 278 yards of offense, I was 2 for 4 in passing, both to Dennis Stafford for 24 yards. We played ok, just alot of dumb penalties that every time we got something going we would stop ourselves. A win is a win and now were had won 2 in a row.

Our next game was with the Newell "B" team on October 17th. It was a much better night to play football and again our defense carried the day for us. We won the game 12 to 0. We had 220 yards of rushing offense and 40 yards of passing offense. I do remember that I had a 60 yard touchdown run off of the option and threw a 38 yard touchdown pass to Dennis Stafford to quote the Fonda Times " The pass to Stafford was a perfect strike that he took in full stride and out ran two Newell defenders to the goal line." I had 100 yards of rushing offense on 4 carries so all in all a good night. Gerald Johnson had 9 tackles, Doug Kruchten had 8 tackles and Dennis Smith continued to dominate on both the offensive and defensive side of the ball. Defense continued to carry our team. We seemed to have a nose for the ball and ran to the ball well. We had some very tough people up front who just didn't know that we weren't supposed to be this good yet.

Our first "A" game of the year was scheduled against Lawton-Bronson, they had just started football as well so we would be playing someone just like us for the first time. The game was scheduled in Fonda for October 24th and I do remember is was a very nice evening again.

Lawton-Bronson was huge compared to us, outweighing us 10 to 15 pounds per man on the line. What they didn't measure was the heart of our linemen and how hard they would play. Lawton took the opening kick off and moved right down the field throwing alot of short passes to take a 6 to 0 lead in the first quarter. We moved the ball some however, were forced to punt and Lawton took over on their own 20. The Lawton quarterback went back to pass and was hit by 2 of our linemen, knocking the ball lose. Don Smith picked up the ball and ran it in from 8 yards out to tie the score at 6 to 6. Neither team did much after that with it being a very defensive game again. Midway through the 4th quarter we would get lucky again. Lawton had the ball on our 30 yard line after a partially blocked punt, our line broke through on several occasions to sack their quarterback and with the penalties they were assessed, we had them 4th and 65. The punted to midfield where we took over the ball and started our winning drive. We got the ball down to the 13 where I handed the ball to Pat Murphy who got to the 11, two more running plays by Doug Krutchen got us to 6 yard line making it 4th and 3. I ran the quarterback option and pitched the ball to Dennis Stafford who did get the first down. Doug Krutchen ran it over on the next play to put us ahead 12 to 6. The game ended that way. For the evening we only had 150 yards in total offense of which 45 yards came from passing. Chuck Orr caught two passes and Alan Goetchius caught the other. Doug Kruchten had 41 yards of rushing, Pat Murphy had 26 yards in rushing and Dennis Stafford had 31 yards of rushing. We were now 4 and 0 and had one varsity win under our belts. It was incredible to just keep winning, the whole community was really behind us now and we had one more game to play to complete the season. Our final game was a rematch with Newell to play their "B" team again. Unfortunately, the night of the game the weather was terrible, so cold and windy that the game was cancelled due to inclement conditions. I remember being really disappointed as a TV station out of Sioux City was coming over to report on the game, I thought it would be a good way for my friends in Sioux City to see me play, unfortunately, didn't happen.

Our season was perfect, no one got hurt, we learned alot about football, life's lessons, learned that you never give up and that you support each other. You play for each other and that you are there to win the game.

At the end of the season we had a football banquet at the Checkerboard cafe. Was nicely attended. Coach Parman had very nice things to say about everyone and was especially nice to me, commenting on how I had to learn the plays, call the plays and how I had lead the team. Was very nice of him to say those things and very much appreciated still to this day.

Now on to basketball and see if we can get this team on the right track as remember we had lost 19 games in a row and with a new coach it would be interesting to see just how well we would do.

Hello to Helen Tiedeman

The very first post I did I got a nice note from Helen Tiedeman, OLGC class of 1970. When we first moved to Fonda we were neighbors to Helen and her family. She thanked me for talking about my time in Fonda as well as telling me how important her times were as well. Helen also mentioned to me that her daughter Ann and son-in-law Zach Lee live in Red Oak and if I was to ever see them, I should say hi.

Well, Helen, I did meet Zach a couple of weeks ago at the country club. We were having dinner and he came out to pick up his food to go. When he mentioned to the waittress that he was Zach Lee I told him that I knew who he was. A very strange expression came over his face until I told him that we were neighbors in Fonda many years ago and I knew you and your family. Funny thing about being from Fonda, everywhere I go, I always run into someone who knows someone from Fonda.

I just wanted you to know that I had met him and all is well.

My best to you and your family Helen.

John

Monday, October 25, 2010

The First Game, September 27, 1966

Our first football game is scheduled for September 27, 1966 on a Tuesday night. Seeing as we could not get a varsity game lined up for most of the year we would be playing the "B" teams from other schools. Our first game would be against the Pomeroy "B" team at 7:30 PM.

Monday's practice was set for a Monday evening to go over final preparations for the game and to get us under the lights so we had an idea of what it would be like to be to actually play football in those conditions. Our practice was no longer than an hour.

I remember finding it very difficult to sleep the night before the game. So many thoughts going through your mind, so much to remember, so much to consider, yet, so anxious for the game to actually be played.

Monday at school was a very exciting day, lots of anticpation, lots of people who had never even seen a football game in person would be attending their first game. There was an article in the local paper about the game and how it would be nice if the community could come out and support the team win or lose.

As hard as our coaches and players had been practicing, you also now had the band who would do something at the game and you now had to have cheerleaders as well. All of the cheerleaders that had cheered for Fonda all had been basketball oriented. You can't yell, R E B O U N D very well for football so obviously new cheers had to be learned. The cheerleaders for the 1966-67 football team were, Bonnie Dusing, Darlene Hunter, Sheral Adams, Jane Stauter, Judy Smith and Vicki Burditt.

There were no dressing rooms at the baseball park so we had to dress at the school and then be bussed to the games. We got to the field about 6:30 and did our warm ups, it was a beautiful fall night, crisp yet not too cold. I remember the sky was full of stars, it was a wonderful night. As we warmed up the crowd started to show up as well, more and more people kept coming and soon the field on both sides was surrounded by locals who wanted to see the game. My best estimate is that there were at least 750 people for the game.

We lost the toss and kicked off to Pomeroy and forced them to punt. The snap back to the punter went over his head and by the time he retrieved it and punted it we had the ball at the Pomeroy 18 yard line. On the first play of the game for us offensively Doug Krutchen skirted the left end to the 4 yard line and scored on the next play. We were ahead!!!!! Pomeroy then took the kickoff and drove down to our 15 yard line where we stopped them and took over on downs. We drove the ball out to midfield and then I pitched the ball to Doug Kruchten again and he went 56 yards for another touchdown. We were now ahead 12 to 0.

Pomeroy would rally and tie us at 12 to 12 in the third quarter. One play that still stands out to me today is a play made by Dennis Smith in the third quarter. We set up a return on a punt. Don Darling and myself were the return men. The ball was kicked to Don and down the sideline he went, the wall was perfectly set up for him to score. I was trailing the play and saw that all Don had to do was beat one man and he was gone. The Pomeroy player had a good angle on Don, yet, he never saw Dennis Smith. Dennis had a better angle on him and put a block on him that was so devastating that he knocked the helmet off of the player as well as knocked him out of his high top shoes. I remember watching the player fly through the air and he landed and didn't move. It absolutely was the best block I have ever seen. Unfortunately Don got tangled up with Dennis Stafford and tripped over him and didn't score, but 44 years later, I still remember that block.

The game has now moved to the fourth quarter and we are still tied. We have been stopped twice, once on the eleven yard line and then again to the two yard line losing the ball on downs both times. Pomeroy tried to run a reverse on the eleven and Dennis Smith recovered a fumble and now with just minutes to go in the game we have a chance to score and win.

We ran two plays for no gain and then Pomeroy had a five yard penalty, we are on the six yard line. I gave the ball to Pat Murphy on a fullback dive and he got to the three yard line and then I ran a quarterback sneak to get the first down. There was less than a minute to go in the game. There was no scoreboard so the time was kept on the field. I ran another quarterback sneak and got just short of the goal line and then handed the ball off to Pat Murphy who scored with less than thirty seconds to go in the game, we didn't make the extra point so we now led 18 to 12.
We kicked off, Pomeroy tried a double reverse on the kick off, we tackled the runner and one play later the game was over, we had won!!!!! We had won the very first game we had ever played in. The crowd was crazy the players were just as excited. I remember getting on the bus and the bus went all over town as we were yelling, " We're Number One" over and over, honestly, it was incredible the amount of excitement and fulfillment we all had in that moment. We went back to the gym, showered, the kids were all at the school yelling and wanting to just touch us and be a part of the experience.

Statistically the team had a good night with Doug Kruchten being the leading runner, I did have a 42 yard pass to Dennis Stafford that helped our cause. The most important thing though was that we had won. There will be more games to be played and other memories yet, this one I will never forget. 20 kids and coaches can come together in August and in 6 weeks win a game they had never played before. To me, it talks well about the coaches, the team, the school and the community.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Fall 1966-Football comes to Fonda

It's 1966 and the school year is about to begin again. A great summer has passed and now back to the books and being around your friends. As juniors you now knew the lay of the land, while you were not the king of the study hall yet, you were moving in that direction.

Our class consisted this year of Nick Baskerville, Vicki Burditt, Carlotta Delano, Joyce Echher, Beckie Gottschalk, Jane Hatteberg, Myron Hatteberg, Darlene Hunter, Steve Meister, Dick Murphy, Pat Murphy, Karen Nieland, Charles Orr, Joleen Reis, Linda Seagren, Dennis Smith, Don Smith, Dennis Stafford and myself. We lost Philip Kelly and Steve Schossow. We gained Steve Meister midway through our sophomore year and also gained Charles Orr and Dennis Smith. There were 19 of us now.

The senior class was a really good class with many talented people in it. Roger Hatteberg was one of the most musically gifted people I have been associated with. He was a terrific singer, piano and organ player and set very high standards. Some of the other more talented people in the class were Jeanne Hatteberg, Sheral Adams. I also enjoyed very much Alan Goetschius and Darwin Samuelson.

As I mentioned in my last post, football was now coming back to Fonda. A very little known fact about Fonda football is that Fonda was the "mythical" state champions in football in Iowa in 1921 with Cedar Rapids. Fonda was coached by the legendary Jim Kelly who would go on to become the US Olympic track coach in 1956. Football was discontinued in Fonda in 1943 due to the war and was not played again until 1966.

Tom Adams who was the principal now not only had to get it all set up but his most important decision would be who would be his coach. In my opinion he made an excellent choice in hiring Wally Parman right out of college. Parman himself had been a very good athlete and was very good in relating to all of us. His assistant head coach was Tom Adams and Mike O'Brien who both excellent communicators and motivators.

My first encounter with Coach Parman was not the best for me. We had been playing golf and were at McCartan's Standard Station on the highway. I was in there with Terry Smith getting a bottle of pop. Coach Parman walked in, introduced himself and asked me if I was coming out for the football team. I told him yes, I wanted to be the quarterback. Smith then chirped in that I would have to give up the cigarettes and drinking to help get in shape. I about dropped to the floor as those were not things I did. I got this very quisical look from Coach Parman as he left. Fortunately for me Coach would see that those were things that I did not do. Coach Parman would also coach the other male sports to include basketball, track, baseball so we were his all year round.

We had 20 out for the team from freshmen to juniors. We only had one senior out for the team as the coaches thought that only having the player for one year would not be helpful to the program. Those who were on the first team in 1966 were, Gerald Johnson, Pat Murphy, Denny Stafford, Nick Baskerville, Elmer Smith, Denny Smith, Dick Murphy, Bob Cole, Tim Stauter, Don Smith, Don Darling, Allan Goetchius, Tim Bramble, Doug Kruchten, Chuck Orr, Marshall Enderlin, Carl Hatteberg, Rex Jackson, Steve Meister and myself.

Since Fonda OLGC played fall baseball we really didn't have a place to really practice till their season was over. Our first practices were way down at the south end of Fonda in a hay field that was very uncomfortable to practice on. Very hard and quite painful. Eventually we would get to the baseball park and practice there, but the first several weeks we practiced down south of town or outside of the ball park.

Since none of us had really played any organized football there were alot of drills, fundamentals and terminology that had to be learned. The coaches had to determine who could play what positions and then also have to coach individual skills to those players. They had a good plan and again, both were excellent communicators and motivators.

Also in those days, coaches did not hydrate their players like they do today, the thought process being that by denying you fluids you got in shape faster and could stand the heat better. We never had a player go down or get sick, however, I am sure that would not be acceptable under today's guidelines.

I always was in pretty good shape, however, never ached as much in my life as I did after we actually started hitting and being hit. Incredible how much that could hurt and how you would bruise. After a while you did toughen up but I think we never knew how many aches and pains you could really have until you went through the total process.

I remember the first time we padded up. No one knew how to put on the pads, the thigh pads, it was incredible how naive we really were. Fitting your mouth piece was interesting as well. They were made out of a rubber component. You would put them in boiling water till they were very soft, then put them in your mouth to make the indentation of the rubber and hold them there till they cooled off. Yikes, that hurt.

Coach Parman and Coach O'Brien also were the good cop/bad cop at times. Coach Parman could really get after you at times and then Coach O'Brien would come over and put his arm around your shoulders and build you back up. There was nothing better to me in my life though than winning the praise of both of those coaches, they meant alot to me and I wanted to my best to make sure I did not let them down.

Since we did not have alot of players, some of the teachers and people in town would come out and scrimmage with us. Lee Hurlburt who played football in college would play, Verlyn Myers, Coach O'Brien, Jim Tjaden who played football in military school, Herb Delano, Ray Morgan and Doug Evans from OLGC scrimmaged with us a couple of times. I believe OLGC baseball coach Tony Sebben put the stop to that once he found out Doug was out there with us. These were mature men who would just beat the tar out of you, however, it did make us better and stronger as players.

I worked for Jim Tjaden at the grocery store, he was the owner. I do remember one time Jim was playing running back and he came around the corner on a sweep and I came up and hit him really hard. It was the best feeling to hit him, I saw him the next day at work and he was still limping. Made the day go much better as he spent alot of time in the office and not out telling me what to do.

Chuck Orr joined us about two weeks into practice. Chuck and his family moved to Fonda in the middle of September. His father Bill was the elevator manager. Bill had been an outstanding basketball player at Ware, Iowa and had earned a scholarship to the University of Iowa. The war broke out and Bill went to war serving in the Army in the South Pacific. A much higher calling for those young men and we are so thankful for what they did. Yet, I always thought there was a part of Bill who really wondered about playing at Iowa. A great man was Bill Orr.

Chuck Orr tells the story though about registering for school and meeting Tom Adams. Chuck got all of his books and the last thing that was put on top of the books was a football helmet. Chuck asked Mr. Adams what that was, Tom told him it was a football helmet. Chuck informed Tom that he was a basketball player not a football player. Tom told him he was a football player now, practice was at 3:30. So here comes Mr. Orr all 6'2" 145 pounds of him to join the football team.

Since we had no real idea of how to play the game. The coaches decided to make our offense very simple and rely on playing great defense. We ran the straight T formation offense. I did win the quarterback position and now had to learn the plays and call the plays. In those days the coaches did not send it the plays, the quarterback called the plays. Our backfield consisted on Doug Krutchen at running back, Pat Murphy at fullback and Don Darling at the other running back. Our offensive line was Denny Stafford and Alan Goetchius or Chuck Orr at end. Nick Baskerville and Denny Smith at tackle, Don Smith and Dick Murphy at guard and Gerald Johnson at center.

The football field had to be drawn out inside of the baseball park and the goal posts set. I remember that there was a problem in setting out the field, I don't remember if the hash marks were off but the field was not what I would call square, however, same for both sides, soon the goal posts would be set and the games would begin. The stage is set, anticipation is high for the first game in Fonda in 23 years.

Thursday, September 30, 2010

American Legion Baseball, Summer 1967

It is summer again, a wonderful time of the year and we all were looking forward to the upcoming baseball season. We had now all moved on from Babe Ruth baseball and were now going to be playing American Legion baseball.

In those years high school baseball was not as prevalent as it is today so we were sponsored by the Ray Murphy American Legion Post Unit 114 in Fonda. We were also allowed to go out and recruit players from other communities as well to play for us and we did usually have two to three good players from outside of Fonda who would play for us. Playing baseball at this level now was much more competitive and obviously those who may not have had enough talent to play alot, usually didn't come out for the team.

Our team this year consisted of: Mike Potter, Pat Murphy, John Sebben, Doug Evans, Gary Fulcher, Bob Longnecker, Dennis McManus, Terry Potter, Don Thompson, Larry Sauter, Ed Fitzgerald and Terry Cole. We were coached by Bill Evans and Gene Kilbride.

Doug Evans and I did most of the pitching that year with Doug having a very good year. I pitched well, however, didn't win a game. Seems we always hit and fielded the ball well when Doug pitched and I would get beat 5 to 4. Was a frustrating year for me, yet I hit well and played shortstop. I always felt we were better defensively when I played shortstop and Doug pitched and I think the results support my thoughts.

We ended up the year winning the district title game. We beat our arch rival Esterville 6 to 3 in 12 innings. I pitched the first 7 innings and allowed 3 runs and then was relieved by Jim Junkman from Manson who joined the team late in the season for some more pitching help. I got a triple in the top of the 12th inning to drive in two runs and then Pat Murphy got a single to drive me in. It was 3 to 1 going into the 9th inning and Mike Potter got a triple to drive in 2 runs to tie the score. It was a very intense pressure packed game for all of us and to win like we did said something about our team and how we never quit or gave up.

In the semi-final game we went to Aurelia to play Larchwood. We were beaten 2 to 1 in 1o innings. I scored our only run. Doug Evans pitched a great game for us, however we left 10 runners on base against the Larchwood pitcher Scholton who was an outstanding pitcher as well as he struck out 15 of us. I remember the very first inning we left the bases loaded. Terry Sauter hit a long drive to deep center field that was very close to being a home run, however was caught. As Terry ran off the field he said to Scholton that we would be getting alot of runs tonight. Must have made him mad, we sure didn't.

At the end of the season we had a banquet at the country club that was attended by 150 people. Doug Evans was named the " Most Valuable Player" and I got the "Leadership" award.

I played in the Fonda Amateur golf tournament that year and made the championship round. The tournment was won by Bill Halligan from Ft. Dodge who shot 102 for 27 holes. Dean Prince from Sioux City was second at 107. Bill Evans had the best score for the members as he shot 112. I shot 119. I played horribly in the last round. It was my first time playing in the championship round and I almost missed the ball on my drive on the first hole. I can only imagine what the pressure would be to play in the Ryder Cup or US Open. Bill Evans also won the club championship that year shooting 72 to beat Mark Kelley in a playoff. I finished 8th shooting a 79.

The summer of 1966 was great. Good music, go to the Cobblestone on Sunday nights for the dances. See the Rumbles, The Fabulous Flippers all of the good groups who would play music. Soon it will be time to get back to school.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Labor Day 2010

I was home this weekend cleaning up my mom's place. Mom passed away June 6th of this year and so we go up periodically to help clean and get the house ready to be occupied by my brother Richard. We have had a terrible summer with all of the rains and we have had alot of water in the basement and additional expense to clean and replace damage to the furnace, sump pump and dehumidifier.

While coming thru Fonda on Saturday morning September 4th, Fonda was getting ready for it's annual Labor Day Celebration. As we pulled into town they were getting ready for the parade to start, not very many cars on main street yet not too bad. There were the horses, the flags, the fire engine all that makes small town Americana special, yet, something was missing. Things are just not the same as 40 years ago and I think that is part of the problem we are having today in this country. We have lost small town America and all if it's goodness and virtues. We have lost the small schools who now are consolidated to make it more efficient our politicians and experts tell us, yet, that is not so. We are so over regulated, so manipulated by our government and our leaders and we have been dumbed down so much, who do you believe anymore. The beautiful school buildings in Fonda that we have spent literally hundreds of thousands of dollars over the years to maintain are now sitting empty. Kids now get bussed to school and spend hours on the bus. If you want to attend the games or the functions you have to go to Newell to watch. This is efficient, not to me.

Our school administrators are hamstrung by the federal and state governments on what they can teach, how they can teach it. " No Child Left Behind" is a joke. Why do we allow the Iowa High School Athletic Association to set up the districts for football and who you are going to play. Shenandoah High School will travel 176 miles one way to play Prairie City/Monroe in a game this year..Why? They say it is all in the name of fairness and making sure all schools have the opportunity to get into the state playoff system...Hooey..I think the Athletic Directors of these schools didn't think this through when they gave the IHSAA the authority to set up the schedules. I think instead of individual schools being placed in a class you should class the conference instead and let the chips fall where they may.

If I was king for awhile, I would insist that we try to rebuild small town America. Give tax credits to companies who come to the small towns and build infrastructre, plants, manufacturing facilities and have people move to the smaller communities as that is where the jobs are. Good idea, however we would have to bring alot of jobs back from India, China, Mexico etc. so people could have a good job. How stupid we have become. I think those jobs should come back. God forbid that we would have to pay a little more at Walmart to purchase a product made in the USA by Americans not by the Chinese. The enemy is us, we have lost our minds.

I think there would be a mass exodus out of the cities as people are tired of the higher taxes, the gangs, the poorly run school systems. Ok,,,sorry for the rant today. Just hate what has become of a good way of life...

Saturday, August 28, 2010

1965/1966

Sophomores this year, you move over a couple of rows in study hall. You now have a year behind of you of high school and are no longer looked at as the dorks you really were as freshmen.

The class of 1966 was a good class not a great class in my opinion. Bruce Adams and Bob Seidler were very cool guys and this class produced the first Viet Nam casualty in Melvin Thompson who was the Salutarorian of the class and was killed in Viet Nam on November 21, 1968 in Quang Ngai Province, South Vietnam. Melvin was killed by hostile fire and you can find his name on the Wall at Panel 38W line 031. Melvin had gone to Viet Nam so he could get the GI Bill and go to school.

Our class consisted this year of 18 students. Nick Baskerville, Vicki Buditt, Carlotta Delano, Joyce Eccher, Becky Gottschalk, Jane Hatteberg, Myron Hatteberg, Darlene Hunter, Philip Kelly, Dick Murphy, Pat Murphy, Karen Nieland, Joleen Reis, Steve Schossow, Linda Seagren, Don Smith, Dennis Stafford and myself.

Again since Fonda did not play football and there was no girls volleyball at that time, all of us could not wait for basketball season to start. I had grown almost 8 inches over the summer and was now a full 6' tall. Every joint in my body hurt and due to the rapid growth I was certainly not the most coordinated. Both the boys and girls basketball teams had lost alot to graduation and so this was certainly going to be a rebuilding year, yet, hopes were high that we would have good teams.

The girls team was again coached by Lee Hurlburt and they did not win a game during the regular season. They were led by Karen Schoon and Jane Hatteberg in the forward court and by Jeanne Hatterberg and Sheral Adams in the guard court. The team was very young playing alot of juniors and sophomores who previously did not have alot of game time experience and better things would come.

The boys team was coached by Phil Rihner. Mr. Rihner was a wonderful man, shop teacher, drivers education teacher, however, was not a great coach and unfortunately for him, he also would have a very young and inexperienced team this year. Our best player was Bruce Adams who would quit the team before the season started. We started that year, two sophomores, two juniors and one senior, and our subs were a freshmen and a junior who had never played before, disaster was about to occur.

In those days you did not have the youth traveling teams, you did not play 25 games a year in junior varsity, that just wasn't the way it was done. So, when you have a very young team, you were going to struggle. Our practices were never more than 90 minutes long as we had to share the gym with the girls team and we were always home by 6PM for dinner.

You never understand the speed of the game until you get into the game. Plays that would work in practice just never seemed to work in live game action. I remember our first game was against Rembrandt and they had a very good team. I was playing point guard and the first two passes I threw were intercepted and taken in for lay-ups. The speed of the game and the quality of the opponent was too much for us to handle and we were beaten soundly. The whole year was that way and we like the girls did not win a game that year. Most of our losses were by big margins and the closet we got to winning a game was the last game of the year. Newell beat us 80 to 70. I had 19 points. Pat Murphy and myself were the two big scorers, we played Palmer one night and Pat had 31 points and I had 29 and we still got beat by 20 points. We were a very poor basketball team, but help was on the way.

Homecoming King and Queen this year was Kathy Stauter and Bob Seidler. Queen Candidates were Kathy Behrends, Karen Schoon and Jeanne Hatteberg. King Candidates were Bruce Adams, Martin Hatteberg and Jack Winkler.

In the spring time we played golf and ran track. Allen Goetchius was our best track performer and I was the medalist on the golf team.

Every year we had an all school awards banquet where you got your medals and awards for the year. There was always a big meal followed by the awards being given out. This year was particularly interesting as at the end of the banquet, Mr. Adams announced that Mr. Rihner would not be coaching next year and the Fonda would be starting a football team in the fall of 1966. Football was coming to Fonda!!!!!!

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Summertime in Fonda

The summers in Fonda, Iowa were great. In the summer of 1965 the Beatles were still the group you liked to listen too, muscle cars were becoming more prominent with the Mustangs, GTO's and Chevy Supersports all really fast. The war in Viet Nam was not that prevalent yet on our nightly tv screens, yet in November of 1965, Colonel Hal Moore and the 7th Cav will tangle with the NVA in the Ia Drang Valley. 170 US troops will be killed as well as 1800 NVA regulars. Gas for regular was 19 cents a gallon and ethel was 24 cents a gallon. We would all get in the car throw in a dollar a piece and have enough gas for the night.

While every building in Fonda had a business in it, Fonda, like many other small towns was an agriculturally based community and how well the merchants did hinged on how well the farmers did. Unlike today, if you wanted a job in the summer you could work. Most of my friends lived on farms and worked there and we would walk beans, detassle corn and put up hay in the summer. I also worked at the local grocery store and had a paper route.

Fonda had a nice swimming pool, we had band concerts on Saturday evenings and one of my favorite places was the golf course. Fonda's golf course opened up in 1964. I had only played golf a couple of times with my father in Sioux City so playing golf was something new to me. Some of the better players in Fonda at that time were Mark Kelley, Bill Evans, Kelly Boettcher, Gary Boettcher and Terry Smith. Par on the course was 35. Many of the men who played golf at that time belonged over in Newell. Newell at that time had sand greens and they really weren't much fun to play on. Fonda had beautiful big grass greens when it opened and was a much better course to play.

One of the great things we did at the golf course was league golf. You had two man teams and every Monday night you had a team competition. The team captains would pick there teams at the beginning of the league season and you would go out and play based upon your handicap. I was on the team with Gary Boettcher and truly enjoyed the competition.

I remember one evening I was in a match against Kelly Boettcher. Kelly was a very good player however, I had to give him a stroke. The seventh hole in Fonda is a long par three and the number one handicap hole. As we were standing on the tee, Kelly asked me if I thought he could get there as there was a wind in our face. There was also a group in front of us putting out on the hole. I told him I wasn't sure. He told me he didn't think he could so he hit the ball. He hit it quite well and as it hit the ground it started to roll and up onto the green it went, hit Larry Calkins in the foot and rolled right into the hole for a hole in one!!!!! I obviously lost the hole and the match. It was the first hole in one for Kelly and he would always remind me of it years later when I saw him. Kelly was a wonderful man who I liked very much. There was also other good matches with Bill Evans, Bill beat me on the last hole one night by making about a 50 foot side winder putt that only Bill could make. It is funny the things you do remember, however, I do remember that putt. I also remember playing Dale Garlock who owned the local newspaper. I beat Dale handily one night and his next column was how he got beat by a 15 year old kid and how he bowed to youth. I still have the article. I also remember Allen Blume. Allen was the local barber at that time. We all would get our haircuts and Allen would make fun of us because we all liked to play golf. He could not understand how anyone could go out and chase a little ball and have any fun. He called golf "pasture pool." Ironically, Allen did take up the game of golf and got hooked on it. In the winter he would hit balls in his garage to keep his game sharp as he would say. Allen became a very good golfer and I will still see him occasionally when I go home and visit the course.

I also remember playing basketball at Mahaney's. Mahaney's was the local funeral parlor so there was plenty of room there, nice big garage and a hoop. At nights we would play pick-up games until late into the evenings. There would always be anywhere from 6 to 10 of us and we always had great games and just alot of fun. If your parents wanted you, you were easy to find.


At the end of the summer we would have a Labor Day Celebration, held down by the baseball park. There would be a small carnival and the big event was always the tractor pull. There was always plenty of food to eat, beer to drink, tractors to watch and great looking girls at the ball park. In the evening there would sometimes be a talent show for local talent to sing and dance and the ball park was usually full.

Summer is over, school is about to begin again. Sophomore's this year.

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Summer Baseball 1965

Summer Babe Ruth baseball started out with the hope that we would have a good season. We lost Doug Evans and Larry King, however, we gained John Leo Hartnett who would be joining the team. John Leo was huge compared to the rest of us. He was probably already 6'3" by the time he was a freshmen in high school. He could throw very hard, his only problem was sometimes he didn't know where it was going. I can tell you he was legendary in Little League baseball and you never dug in on John Leo. John Leo would go on to play at University of Iowa where he played on Iowa's conference championship team that made the College World Series and I believe threw a no-hitter against Arizona while in college.

Since Doug Evans was no longer playing with us we had a new coach in Lee Hurlburt. Lee was a teacher at the public school and also the girl's basketball coach and for the most part did a good job with the team.

We played very well during the year with John Leo and myself doing most of the pitching duties. I remember we played Ida Grove and John Leo threw a one hitter at them as we defeated them 13 to 4. I pitched most of the important games and had a very good season with a strike out ratio of almost 2 stike outs per inning. Our season was a good one with John Leo Hartnett, Pat Murphy, Terry Cole and myself making the Northern League All Star team.

We played our prelimary tournament games in Sac City and won the championship easily. Pat Murphy played very well and I pitched in one of the games as well. It was now time to go to Boone and play for the State Babe Ruth championship.

Going to play in Boone was truly a wonderful experience. You did not stay in some fancy hotel, people in the community would bring players into their homes and you stayed with one of your teammates and another family. You were fed, taken to the ball park, had a good bed to sleep in and stayed with really nice people. It was a wonderful experience.

We won our first game handily and came time for the second game. The game started inthe late afternoon and was very very hot. John Leo was pitching for us and while doing fine was very wild on this day, walking as many as he would strike out. Every inning I was up and getting warmed up ready to come in and somehow John Leo would get out of the inning. One particular inning was very exciting as John Leo walked the bases loaded and up I got again to get ready to come in. It just so happens that I was ready and I remember the manager saying that if John Leo doesn't get this guy out to be ready to come in so I am standing and watching the activities. The batter hit a line drive shot right back to John Leo who caught it, the runners were going as they were sure it was a hit, he threw the ball to second for out number two and the shortstop then threw it to first for a triple play. It was amazing how quickly it happened and it just took the life out of the other team. The manager had seen enough, I came in the next inning and pitched three innings of no hit, no run ball and we did win the game. Now onto the championship game.

Since I had pitched three innings the day before I would not be pitching unless absolutely necessary. I had the type of arm that did not recover quickly and I got sore and needed a couple of days rest before I could go again. It was a overcast rainy day and we were playing a team out of Des Moines. They got off to a fast start and before you know it we were behind ten to nothing and that is how the game ended with the pitcher from Des Moines throwing a no hitter against us. No trip to Minnesota to play in the National tournament, no trophy, no plaque, you just went home.

None of the players were aware of this, however, the parents made arrangements for when we got back to Sac City to have a parade for us, ride on the fire trucks and give us a warm welcome. You went from very sad of losing to very happy to be a part of this and being shown how much the people enjoyed our team and how hard we played. I remember sitting with Pat Murphy on the fire truck and how much fun we had at the tournament and we just couldn't get over that people really did care enough to give us this parade.

Baseball was over for the summer, yet there were still fun things to do in Fonda.

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

1964/65

Our freshmen year, we now get to sit in the big study hall with all of those who are in High School. Our high school journey has now officially started and we are full of hope and promise. Starting in the fall of 1964 there were 18 of us in the class of 1968. They were: Nick Baskerville, Vicki Burditt, Carlotta Delano, Joyce Eccer, Becky Gottschalk, Jane Hatteberg, Myron Hatterberg, Darlene Hunter, Philip Kelly, Dick Murphy, Pat Murphy, Karen Nieland, Joleen Reis, Steve Schossow, Linda Seagren, Don Smith, Dennis Stafford and myself. We lost Barb Meyer, Paul Erickson. We lost Barb Meyer and Paul Erickson. We gained Joyce Eccer, Becky Gottschalk, Pat Murphy, Karen Nieland.

Our year started out very nicely with Freshmen initiation, we had to wear burlap bags all day long and the seniors had plenty of things for us to do which for the most part was all in fun. On Friday night we had the big initiation where each person gets there turn. I had to sit on a block of ice while the proceedings went of during the evening as I was told I thought I was a "hot" trumpet player and needed cooled off. Obviously there wasn't much feeling left in the buttocks after having sat on the ice for about 30 minutes. The next tradition was to take the freshmen out and "dump" them, basically take them out of town and leave them and make them walk back into town. Steve Walters and Bruce Schoon were the designated dumpers of myself and Dennis Stafford, they took us out of town about 2 miles and we got out of the car and started to walk back into town. They didn't leave us long as it was very late in the evening, however, some of the parents got wind of this and went to find their children, my father being one of them. Now, my father was not someone you messed with and he did find us before Steve and Bruce did and there was heck to pay, the parents were calling Tom Adams the principal and were quite unhappy.

Baby Boomers are those children born between 1946 and 1964. To me the Class of 1965 is probably one of the best classes to ever come out of Fonda High School. People of character, integrity and knew right from wrong. Really the first or second class of "Boomers" to graduate from High School. I do have a theory that suggests that the earlier "Boomers" to graduate took on more of their parents viewpoints and culture and the younger ones became the more spoiled, the more pampered and less independent and not as accepting of their parents value system.

Since we didn't play football in Fonda the basketball season was always looked forward too. This year should be a good year for both of the girls and boys teams as they have alot of returning players.

Girls team posted a 12 win 5 loss team losing to Schaller 70 to 54 in the Sectionals. They were lead by Dee Ann Darling and Janet Peterson in the forward court and Nancy Maddy and Elaine Johnson in the guard court. Girls basketball in those days was the 6 on 6 version, with three guards and three forwards. A much better game than today's attempt at women's basketball. They were coached by Lee Hurlburt.

The boys team was coached by Phil Rihner. Expectations were high as the team had returning Charley Maschino, Steve Walters, Bruce Schoon who were all starters the year before and we were adding Bruce Adams and Darvin Dirks. The team started out slowly, however, played well enough in the middle of the season to end up winning the CPW Conference Championship. Charley Maschino was first team all conference and Steve Walters was second team all conference. I remember we beat Pomeroy 64 to 61. Was a big game to us as it counted as either two wins or two losses as we only played them once during the year. Pomeroy was a big favorite as they were very good. Pat Murphy, a freshmen was playing alot now and was very good. Pat made two free throws in the last minute of the game to help preserve the victory. Quite an accomplishment for a freshmen. We lost to Schaller 72 to 50 in the sectionals to close out the season at 10 wins and 8 losses. Honestly the team had much more talent than the wins and losses showed and was coached by a wonderful man who knew absolutely nothing about basketball. My season was dressing some for the varsity games and playing in the jv games. I was not very good at the beginning of the year. I was only 5'4 inches tall and had only played 8 games of basketball in my life. I was way behind the others in fundamentals, yet, I had alot of drive and desire to be good. I did get to dress for the sectional game against Schaller. I remember we got new uniforms for the game. Since I was the last person to dress I got the last uniform, the number was 54. If you know anything about uniforms, the bigger the number, the larger the uniform. The armpits were down to my waist it was so big for me but I did get to suit up. I did also get to play the last minute of the game. I took a shot that hit the side of the backboard, not a good shot, yet, I did get one off.

Since we did not have football in Fonda, our homecoming every year was during the basketball season. We like other schools always had a King and a Queen. The Queen that year was Janet Peterson and the King was Steve Walters. Steve Walters was a hero of mine, he was smart, talented artistically, had a great car and wonderful parents. He was the one I would have wanted to be most like. I always had a huge crush on Dee Ann Darling and Linda Barlow. Do you remember being a younger man and wishing you could have the woman of your dreams. Well, either one of them would have done very nicely for me. LOL Both were very pretty and smart and always nice to me.

Marching band was great fun with this group. We would always take a couple of trips a year. We usually went to the Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa usually marched at the Morningside College parade in Sioux City, Iowa and the Buena Vista College parade in Storm Lake, Iowa. This was a great group to go with, we sang on the bus, the older ones took care of the younger ones. I remember Ray Peterson was the best marcher I ever saw. Ray played the saxophone and marched with his knees high and a smile on his face. We all should have marched like Ray and enjoyed it as much as he did.

The year ends, a great class now leaves to follow their own dreams.

Monday, February 15, 2010

Summer Baseball 1964

At last the baseball season had arrived. This would be a new team for me as I had played baseball the summer before in Sioux City making the 13 year old All-Star team. So, new team, new players, had to be accepted and prove I could play. In the 60's you played Little League baseball at ages 10, 11, 12, Babe Ruth baseball at 13, 14, 15 and American Legion at 16 and 17.

Our coach was Bill Evans. Bill was one of the finest men I ever met. Very competitive, yet Bill would never yell at you, he would just give you that look of " what are you doing" and made you feel so bad cause you let him down. Bill was an excellent baseball man and had played the game and could teach it. He also was a WWII veteran who played the game to win the game. WWII veterans had a much different outlook as they were placed in an environment where losing was not acceptable. They did bring a mentality of winning at all costs.

Today with our socialized athletics we don't get that. When I played the best 9 played until the game was decided. Then the substitutes would get their turn. It was understood and if you wanted more playing time, then you had to get better. Today, it is you have to play everyone at least 2 innings and they have to get to bat at least once. Where is the reason to get better if you get to play whether you are good or not? I never liked that approach and still don't.

We had a pretty good team that summer. I pitched and played shortstop. We had 17 kids on the team. Gerald Johnson, Tim Stauter, Doug Kruchten, Bob McLaughlin, Dean Harrold, Gary Stairet, Danny Noethe, Ed Fitzgerald, John Sebben, Terry Cole, Les Miller, Doug Evans, Garry Fulcher, John Hartnett, Larry King, Pat Murphy and myself. Roger Evans was the batboy.

Our best player was Doug Evans. He was a very good pitcher as well as a great catcher. Doug threw really hard and when he caught, he would throw the ball back to me harder than I threw it to him sometimes, especially if he was mad. Evie did have a temper. Some of the other good players were Terry Cole, Larry King, Pat Murphy and John Sebben. We were having a pretty good year till we went to Newell to play a game. It had been raining and their field was very wet and muddy. Doug Evans went to slide into second base and his cleats caught and he broke his ankle. Doug to his credit would not let that deter him and he tried to play with a leg in a cast. He caught the rest of the year. Doug, Pat Murphy and myself made the county All-Star team that summer. Doug continued to catch and in the All Star games it hindered his play. He hit into a couple of double plays to end innings and hard for him to chase after the passed balls. We lost both games and had an early exit from the tournament. No fault of Doug's, yet he was put in a situation that was not the best for him or the team. In those days there were no designated hitters so you played or you sat.

I believe the team ended up with a 10 and 6 record however, would not swear to that one. We played in a beautiful ball park as Fonda had one of the best. Old time ball park. Big green fence, good hitting background, grass infield and a nice backstop. Nothing better than playing right after the grass had been cut and could smell the freshly cut grass. Nothing better than baseball in the summer in Fonda. We always had a big 4th of July celebration and every year played a game. We used to have big crowds of 500 to 600 people come to those games, followed by fire works afterwards. These were the best of times.

Friday, February 12, 2010

8th grade year 1963-1964

The eighth grade year was a new adventure for me. Much smaller school, knew your classmates more closely. Being is a small school was good because it took everyone to be involved in things to get them done. In our class was, Joleen Reis, Dick Murphy, Paul Erickson, Jane Hatteberg, Carlotta Delano, Steve Schossow, Myron Hatteberg, Nick Baskerville, Barbara Meyers, Don Smith, Darlene Hunter, Vicki Burditt, Linda Seagren, Dennis Stafford and myself.

My first real excitement was our first marching band trip. I had played trumpet in the 7th and 8th grade bands in Sioux City and wasn't going to be in the band at all in Fonda. My father bought me a brand new trumpet though to entice me to join the band. I don't remember where the first place we went was to march, however, I got to march right beside Ross Nixon. Ross was the coolest guy in the senior class, very good trumpet player, excellent basketball player and athlete. Ross was the man. Fonda had a pretty good basketball team with Ross Nixon and Charley Maschino being all conference. Both Sam Withers and Steve Walters were excellent players as well, Bruce Schoon and Bruce Adams were also good players on the team. The basketball team was 8 and 8 for the year with some high moments as well as some low moments.

The girls basketball team won the county tournament that year beating Pocahontas 73 to 68. They really had a very good team and played very hard. All of their games were close and they lost to Rockwell City 78 to 76 in the sectional tournament. Girls played 6 X 6 in those days and the games were exciting and fun to watch. Dorothy Jackson, Elayne Johnson, Nancy Maddy and Delored Dirks were the main guards and Janice Hatteberg, Dee Ann Darling, Janet Peterson and Judy Johnson were the main forwards. These were very good basketball players who happened to also be very good people.

Our 8th grade basketball team was 6 wins and 2 losses that year. The girls had the same record.
Denny Stafford was our best player, with Gerald Johnson also being good. I played guard and did ok. For the girls teams Jane Hatteberg and Jane Stauter were the best forwards and Linda Seagren and Carlotta Delano were the best guards. We were full of hope for being the future stars of the school.

We played spring baseball in Fonda. I played in all of the games we had, though I don't remember how many there were. I don't think we played that many. I do remember losing to Pochahontas Catholic in the sectionals that year. I did get a hit.

Every year in Fonda we had an all school carnival. The gym was decorated, you had booths to play games in, throw darts, pie sales, all to raise money for the school. One of my favorite memories then was of the talent show that was put on every year. That show was done in the home economics room. We had our little band that played and different people would put on acts. The biggest draw was the hula girl dancers. Men dressing up as hula girls and they would come in and we would play the Hawaian War Chant while they danced as hula girls. Was incredibly funny and fun and the room was always full. Gene Walters was the Master of Ceremonies who would introduce the acts. He would dress up in a tux with a white coat and flower and his wife LaVonne would also assist. After we would do our last show, Gene and LaVonne would always go down and buy maid rites and pop for all of us and we would sit around and talk about the evening and how much fun we really had. In the band was Steve Walters, Ray Petersen, Bruce Adams, myself and Mr. Gottfried who played the drums. Those were wonderful times and would love to do them all over again.

Monday, February 8, 2010

Moving to Fonda

We moved to Fonda in September of 1963. We were living in Sioux City, Iowa prior to moving. My father was a banker and took a postion at the Fonda bank. I did not want to leave Sioux City. I was enjoying success in baseball having made All Star teams and throwing two no hitters. I also was a starter on the 7th grade basketball team at North Jr. High and was looking forward to playing football as an 8th grader. I had friends and really didn't want to move. At North Jr. High there were 1,000 students in 7th, 8th and 9th grade and I would have gone to Sioux City Central as a 10th grader.

My first day at Fonda was a typical first day at a new school. You were enrolled, I met the Principal Tom Adams, he took me through the school, showed me the gym and told me if I worked hard I might play there someday. He then took me upstairs and introduced me to Denny Stafford and told Denny to show me where to go the rest of the day, take me to lunch and make sure I got the hang of things.

I still remember walking to the class room. You had to go thru study hall to get to the room and the study hall was full. All eyes were on me as I walked thru the study hall to class.

In Fonda in those days there were two schools. There was Fonda Public where I attended and there was also Fonda O.L. G. C. the parochial school. We had a 15 kids in 8th grade and I think O.L.G.C. had like 43 give or take. Fonda was very split on religion in those days so that is the reason why the two schools. Also, why we were good at baseball in the summer and really only average to a little better than average in the other sports. I have always said that if the two schools would have been together, what we would have had for athletic teams would have been incredible. We had state tournament caliber teams if together.

We lived in the country when we first moved to Fonda as there was no housing available in town. Actually we lived in the Lytton school district, but my brothers and I rode with my father everyday to school. We moved to Fonda proper in the spring.

I started on the 8th grade basketball team. Dennis Stafford was really the best player. Mr. O'Rourke was our coach. I remember my grandmother came up from Early to watch me play as an 8th grader. I fouled out in the first half as I wanted to impress her so much. She thought the refs were picking on me. lol

The biggest event of 1963 was the assasination of President Kennedy. They say there are events in your life that you will never forget, this is one of those. We were all in music class sitting on the stage when it came over the intercom that the President had been shot. It was a Friday. We sat there and talked amongst ourselves, Jane Stauter was sitting next to me and I told her I thought Jackie had him shot, trying to be cute. About 15 minutes later they informed us he was dead and sent us home. A very long weekend, we were all scared, the weather was terribly cold, I know we lost power over the weekend and a farm house in the winter is not the place to be. I also remember that Sheral Adams and I played taps at the ceremony in Fonda in the parking lot of the post office. It was so cold the spit froze in the trumpets and we had to stay in the post office till it was time to play. Sheral had a problem with the high notes when playing. She asked me what key we were going to play it in. I told her we would play it in open valve, meaning we would not depress any of the keys. She lead off and I followed her as we played what is called "Echo Taps" It didn't take long for me to figure out that she was not playing open valve but playing with the first and third valves down, making the key much lower than what I was playing in. We got it done, no one said anything but I certainly was not a happy person with her. lol

Friday, February 5, 2010

We continue

Fonda, Iowa is located in Pocahontas County, some of the world's richest farmland is in this county. Many of the kids I was friends with lived and actually worked on those farms. We would walk beans in the summer, put up hay and straw and we had a way to actually make some money and earn what we made. We used to walk beans for $1.50 per hour and would start early in the morning and depending on how hot the day was usually go to midafternoon. If you got behind, you came back in the evening when it cooled down. Today with the roundup ready seed corn and beans, you just spray for the weeds, much more efficient and certainly does a much better job. Farmers used to work most of the year to make a living, now we actually joke about all of the farmers with the 4 X 4 decals on the side of their vehicles. It means you work 4 weeks in the summer and 4 weeks in the fall. Not true, but certainly fun to pick at them.

Every building on main street in Fonda had a business in it, it gave us the opportunity to have jobs and work. I worked at the Super Valu grocery store as well as had a paper route. I was paid 50 cents an hour to work and would work after school, all day on Saturday and some Sunday mornings. Most of my friends had jobs as well and was nice to have our own spending money. It taught us the value of work as well as the value of money. It also taught you that you had to show up on time, do your job and do as you were told, there wasn't alot of voting going on then.
Today's kids show up when they want, complain about how little they make and how the owner of the company doesn't understand them. I think more tragically though that most kids even if they want to work can't find jobs so they do learn those valuable life lessons early on. I was working at 14 about 25 to 30 hours a week. I wasn't abused, didn't need the government telling me that I was too young to work and protect me from all of the evils associated with working.

My father was a very no nonsense man who put alot of value on hard work. He grew up on a farm in Wall Lake, Iowa, was a B-29 pilot stationed on Tinian during the war and flew 12 missions over Japan. My father was a very stern person who grew up in a German household. His grandfather still spoke German in the house till WWII started and we declared war on the Germans. His name was Hans, at 15 he stowed away on a boat, leaving Hamburg, Germany to come to this country. My mother is absolutely the opposite of my father, very loving, very giving, very supportive so we had a very interesting pair of role models in our parents. I have two younger brothers who from a personality standpoint are much different than myself. We were an American family with traditional values, middle class, had more than some, less than others.

Thursday, February 4, 2010

Who am I.

My name is John Tischer, I grew up in a small town in Iowa called Fonda. My fondest memories are of growing up in this community and the people who lived there.

I moved to Fonda in 1963, John Kennedy was President. The town had approximately a thousand people who lived there. It had two car dealerships, an implement dealer, two grocery stores and every building was occupided. Fonda to me was like growing up in Mayberry, USA. All the values of a small town and the characters to go with it. We had our Otis the town drunk, we had Floyd the Barber, the town band, two schools and four churches. For the most part everyone cared about each other and was there to help you. We had no crime and the bad kids were the ones who had the cigarettes rolled up in the sleeve of their t-shirt and might go out and drink. There were no drugs and we lived in carefree and simple times. Today Fonda is all but gone, only a memory of what once was. No different than most of small town Iowa, yet painful to see.

We played alot of baseball in Fonda and had alot of good teams, with the two schools it was hard to be very good in basketball, football or other sports as the numbers of kids in our class did not support having as they say a deep bench. I graduated in a class of 19. When we played baseball though in the summer there was not the seperation of the kids and success followed.

I graduated in 1968 at the height of the Viet Nam war. It seems all of my belief values were challenged and torn apart during the conflict. Many a young man went and served and gave his life for our country to come home to be spit on and accused of being a baby killer. So much anger, there was no middle ground. Unlike today where we at least support the troops, then there were those who would do anything to damage the effort of our soldiers and leaders.

I will post more about Fonda in the future. I loved that community, the people in it and miss those times.