Ex-Creston stars join UNI Hall of Fame

CEDAR FALLS — Two legendary Creston athletes from the early 1960s were recently honored as part of a University of Northern Iowa Hall of Fame basketball team.

The late Ron Jessen, 1961 Creston graduate, and Larry Goodrich from the 1962 Creston class were both part of the 1963-64 UNI men’s basketball team inducted into the university’s Hall of Fame on Sept. 16. Their induction was also announced as attending team members were introduced at halftime of the home football game the following day.

Making just the second postseason appearance in school history, the State College of Iowa men’s basketball season of 1963-64 was highlighted by deepest postseason run in the history of the program. The team was coached by Norm Stewart, who would go on to a long career as head coach at the University of Missouri.

The Panthers of that year opened the season with 10 straight victories, including a 59-54 win over Iowa State. The Panthers finished the regular season with a 20-2 record, and an 11-1 mark to win the North Central Conference championship.

Jessen was a junior starting guard on the team, and Goodrich was a sophomore reserve forward. Pete Spoden earned AP first team All-American honors, while Duane Josephson and Jessen both earned all-conference recognition. Josephson had a team-high 16.8 scoring average and Jessen shot 50% from the field.

The Panthers hosted the regional of the NCAA College Division championship tournament and won the regional with victories over Washington University of Missouri and Mankato State of Minnesota.

Participating in the Elite Eight at Evansville (Indiana), SCI reached the final four with a 93-85 win over Southeast Missouri State. The Panthers fell one game short of the national finals, falling to eventual champion Evansville in the Final Four. SCI placed fourth in the tournament after losing to North Carolina A&T in the third-place game.

“Two of the guys were in my wedding so it was great to see them and I was glad I went,” said Goodrich, 78, a retired teacher and coach in Cherokee. “Norm Stewart came back. When I first heard about it I wasn’t sure what to think, but they made it into a pretty big deal. We marched up to the stage when they announced us one at a time, and we got a plaque. It was nice. Six are deceased, but most of the others were there.”

Larry Goodrich and wife Joyce are the parents of three children, one deceased.

Although his former Creston teammate couldn’t be there to share the moment, it did stir memories in Goodrich about the influence Jessen had on his life and their shared successes in Panther athletics.

“The two of us together was a pretty good combination,” Goodrich said. “Ron was a big influence on my life, more than he knew. Six generations of Goodrich worked on the railroad. The first one was a stage coach driver before the railroad came in. I just figured I would be the next. But Ron said no, you’re going to college. He was at (State College of Iowa) one year ahead of me, when I was a senior in Creston.”

Coach Geist era

They were part of a run of excellence in Hawkeye Eight Conference basketball under the direction of boys basketball coach Maury Geist.

Jessen came to Creston his junior year in high school when his father, Roy, was hired as principal. The superintendent was Gene Hertz, father of all-around athlete Tom Hertz, Creston class of 1959. Tom Hertz became an All-American football player at the University of Missouri.

In 1960-61, when Jessen was a 6-1 senior center and Goodrich a 6-3 junior forward, Creston was 13-1 as Hawkeye Eight champion and 21-2 overall. Jessen was the leading scorer in the conference for the second straight year with 334 points and named first-team all-state. Goodrich set a new conference single-game scoring record with a 43-point night.

Other starters on that team were seniors Roger McCay, Jack Davis and Dave Hayes.

In the postseason tournaments Creston beat Corning, Bedford, a tall and previously-undefeated Bridgewater-Fontanelle team and Council Bluffs Thomas Jefferson, Jessen’s former school. Creston lost to Manning in the substate final at Jefferson when only eight teams — all in one class — advanced to state.

“We only lost to Atlantic in the regular season and we came back and beat them the second time,” Goodrich said. “We just didn’t have our normal shooting night against Manning.”

Davis, longtime Creston auto dealership owner, was the team’s point guard.

“We had a bad night,” Davis said. “Maury Geist was an unreal coach. He taught you the game. I’ve seen a lot of athletes in my years. Tom Hertz was ahead of me in school and he was an All-American for Dan Devine at Missouri. We’ve had a lot of other great ones, but to me Ron Jessen was the most natural athlete that there was. He was a center for us, he could jump like a gazelle, but he played guard in college. He ran the 100-yard dash in about 10.1 or 10.2, in football he was the quarterback and recruited to play in college. In baseball he pitched and played a lot of different positions. He could do anything.”

Jessen was named second-team all-state in football when that honor encompassed all schools in Iowa in one class.

Another league title

When Goodrich was a senior and the only returning starter for Creston in 1961-62, the Panthers won another Hawkeye Eight championship at 12-2 and went 15-3 overall. Goodrich and Gary Matson were first-team all-conference players and Goodrich earned second-team all-state honors from the Des Moines Register.

Other starters that year were seniors Joe Wilson, Wade Motsinger and Robert Kenny.

Goodrich averaged 28.5 points per game that year, including a 46-point effort against Clarinda. In postseason tournament play the Panthers defeated Clearfield and were upset in the second game by Red Oak, which had lost to Creston twice during the regular season.

At the time, Goodrich held the Creston school career scoring record of 1,085 points, including 464 points as a senior. He set a new conference scoring mark of 399 points.

“For seven years in a row Creston had the leading scorer in the Hawkeye Eight under coach Geist,” Goodrich said. “John Frazee was right after Jessen and me, and then Randy Long came along and beat my records.”

Goodrich was also a tight end in football for coach Rollin Dyer, and for a time held school track and field records in both the high jump and hurdles.

Long graduated in 1965 with career records of 1,258 points and 608 rebounds. He was later passed by Kyle McCann in 1997 with 1,857 points. Dale Gordon is the school’s all-time rebounder with 868 in the late 1960s. Gordon also had a 53-point game as the single-game scoring record.

Goodrich was truly a chairman of the boards in his era, hauling in 20 or more rebounds in seven different games including 28 rebounds against Glenwood during his senior year. He totaled 286 rebounds as a junior and 334 rebounds as a senior. His 732 career rebounds was a school record.

“Goodie was a bigger guy than Jessen and a great rebounder, but he was also a good shooter from the corner,” Davis said. “We didn’t have the 3-point shot back then, but we made a lot of outside shots that would be 3 points in today’s game.”

Jessen taught and coached, finishing in Des Moines. Before his death in 1997 at age 54, Jessen was able to join Goodrich and other Panther alumni at the ceremony honoring the end of the Panther Pit gym in the former high school building that closed in early 1990.

“I was there and Ron was there that night when they closed the old gym,” Goodrich said. “When we stood at midcourt he mentioned he had been sick, and he just made it a few more years. It was fun to be back in there together where we had so many memories.”

And now, add University of Northern Iowa Hall of Famers to their list of accolades.