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!!!!!!
Saturday, August 28, 2010
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.
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.
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.
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