Memory lane is filled with family traditions

This was originally supposed to be part of last week’s Progress section in the News Advertiser, under the theme of “Then and Now.”

It didn’t make it in there, but what we discussed doing was a retrospective, first-person account on my experience covering multiple generations for the paper, particularly in sports. (Although, I have certainly covered multiple generations of fine arts kids since I began taking photos at concerts and plays in 1984, and still occasionally involved.)

I apologize in advance for any obvious omissions or mixing up first names. My head is full of 44 years of memories in News Advertiser work, and 27 years of coaching some of the same kids. (I just started coaching offspring of kids I coached in the early years, as I hung up the whistle this season.)

It’s been equally fun to coach and cover kids of people I covered for the paper years ago. If I hang on just a few more years, I think I’ll be covering grandchildren of kids I covered in the early years. Three generations would be wild.

In looking at last year’s high school yearbook, I counted at least 32 kids who had at least one parent on a team I covered back in the day. That doesn’t even count the kids whose mother may have a different married name now, so I missed them in the original count.

Staff members

And the staff! Heck, just at the high school I have several examples. Clay Arnold played on three straight substate final basketball teams coached by Shane Paben, and he played on the East Union junior high team that handed our St. Malachy boys team its only loss when he was in eighth grade.

Trish Dickinson came from that strong basketball tradition in Diagonal. Scott Driskell was an all-state quarterback who played in Shrine Bowl practices the same week as he was a starting pitcher for the state runner-up baseball team at the state tournament. That was when Creston dominated Hawkeye Eight baseball (before Kuemper, Denison-Schleswig and St. Albert joined.) He was also on a great Vic Belger basketball team that lost to the state champion two years in a row in a substate final. Wife Melissa Winterstien was a good athlete in her own right.

I first knew Teri Keeler as Teri Bunkofske, a hard-hitting third baseman for Ron “Fox” Clinton’s softball teams after Fox succeeded Mike Gerleman. Her daughters were terrific players, too. I covered softball coach Dave Hartman. I coached AND covered Brandon Phipps as a terrific all-around athlete. Bryce Schafer played in Corning, which was regularly covered by us back then. As for football coach Brian Morrison, he in an enemy uniform at Lewis Central in the ‘90s against some really strong Panther teams.

Later, I got to cover his kid’s teams here and coach their daughter, Ady.

I both covered and coached with Cole Crawford, Brenna Baker and Brielle Baker, while Brad Baker was on the first basketball teams I covered at both Creston and SWCC. I didn’t cover Steve Shantz, but he was a college teammate in Dubuque with the first great all-around athlete I covered in Creston, Casey Bryant, who entered the Iowa Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame a few months ago.

There are so many examples from the current generation of students who often remind me of their parents. Watching Evy Marlin wrestle with confidence and aggression, I’m taken back to my first Creston state champion as a reporter, her father Randy from the 1986 tournament. Then, of course, sons Jake and Trevor were outstanding, with Jake becoming southwest Iowa’s first four-time champ. They were all so tenacious and fun to watch.

Randy was a hard-hitting linebacker on Creston’s first playoff football team, which had so many tough kids. Sometimes they were just as tough off the playing field, but that’s another story for another day!

The running back on that 1985 team was Todd Downing. Todd and Lesa had kids who were great Creston athletes. Trevor started in the offensive line for Iowa State, earning all-conference recognition. There are so many Downings coming through now I’ve warned Cody I will surely mix up some names.

Family traditions

So many families have sent excellent student-athletes through the schools here after I watched their parents. Briley (and Antisdel), Turner (Strider and Bruce too), Hanson, Staver, Rieck, Adamson, Scherer, Kuhns, McDonald, Levine, Hayes, Ray, Adamson, Calvin, Bailey, Evans, Kinsella, Mahan, Scarberry, Stalker, Pokorny, Coen, Hagle, Travis (and Henderson), Evans, Haines (and Kramer), Luther (and Gammell), Hulett, Baker, Hudek (Jondle), Troutwine (Klejch), Ide, Sharp, Somers, Kralik, Galanakis, Hagle, Lents, Freeman, Busch, Berning, Smith, Dunphy, Higgins. That’s just some of them.

You watch Jaycee Hanson play volleyball, you think of the great running back, Tyler Hanson. You see the grit of catcher Pat McDonald from a 41-2 team when you coach daughter Sidney. There’s no way not to remember Mario Galanakis on the Hawkeye mat when watching Alainah wrestle.

You think of the toughness of the Downing brothers whenever you see their kids out there now. Same with any Travis or Kinsella kid. When Cael Turner was the cool commander of Creston’s most prolific record-setting football team, I certainly recalled tough competitor Travis Turner and the smooth athleticism of mom, Emily Bruce. Likewise with the Hayes boys, I remember parents Jason and Wendy from the ‘90s.

Justin Staver was a bulldog for East Union, and now we’ve seen kids Milo, Avery and Sidney in Creston uniforms.

I could go on, and on and on. Because there are many examples at all of the other schools too. I got to spend a lot of time in Afton, Greenfield, Orient, Corning, Lenox, Diagonal, Mount Ayr, Murray and even closed schools in Prescott and Kellerton. (It was hard to get all of that in with 1.5 sports employees back then! But we had a lot of pages to fill. Sleep was optional.)

It’s been a fun ride. Heck, since I’m this close, let’s go for that third generation!

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Contact the writer:

Email: malachy.lp@gmail.com

X: @larrypeterson