Dan Gable was wounded, but showed up and did his job. Dan fell and broke a bone in his leg on Thanksgiving, but he was in Ames last night with broadcast partner Tim Johnson to cover the Iowa vs. Iowa State dual. It was the opening telecast of Iowa Public Television’s 34th season of bringing wrestling to fans in Iowa, southern Minnesota, eastern Nebraska, western Illinois and northern Missouri.
As I mentioned in last week’s blog, IPTV used the event as a fund raiser – and, true to form - Dan got out his checkbook. He does a fabulous job of “working his audience”. A couple of weeks ago when a touring team of Russian wrestlers was in the area for one of the “Russia vs. USA” Gable invited them to his house. In last night’s appeal he said that those young Russian wrestlers knew about Iowa and where Iowa is on the map. Then he pulled out the “exclusivity” motivator, “They probably don’t know about anyplace else in America, but they know about Iowa and wrestling.”
It’s a sign of what Dan Gable has become – American wrestling’s top advocate. In the past few weeks he has been in California to support the NWCA All-Star Classic and Cal-State Fullerton wrestling; then he was in Mount Vernon, Iowa signing autographs and contributing to the webcast of Russia vs. the USA and last night he was at Hilton Coliseum – crutches and all. He gives speeches, helps with clinics, raises money for new programs – anything that will grow the sport. It goes even beyond that. On Friday, November 20th several wheel-chair bound persons attended the Iowa City Duals. Gable spent time with every one of them – talking, signing autographs and laughing.
It’s no secret that I’m a Gable fan. It was a trip to Ames to see him wrestle that first drew me to the sport. I’d like to think that he has inspired me in some part to achieve whatever small successes I have. He and my father have been the shining examples of a principle in which I’ve come to believe – “Don’t talk – act”.
Wrestling is blessed with lots of “doers” - Michael Novogratz and Al Bevilacqua at Beat the Streets, J Robinson, Mike Moyer at the NWCA, Jason Bryant, Kyle Klingman, Lee Roy Smith and dozens of others from volunteer table workers to the parents who run youth wrestling clubs. Many contribute without any recognition.
Here’s my challenge – tell me about your favorite unsung wrestling “doer”. Who is that person you know who has worked countless hours to get more kids on the mat or more fans in the seats? You can send an email to me at jim@dmsolutions4u.com, leave a blog comment or respond to a forum thread. After Christmas I’ll include your top nominations in a blog. Here’s your chance to thank that person you’ve always wanted to thank or tell someone’s good story.
And, Dan – thanks.
Showing posts with label Iowa Public Television. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Iowa Public Television. Show all posts
Monday, December 7, 2009
Monday, November 30, 2009
When 1 meets 2
The anticipation is growing. Number 1 versus number 2 in a contest that won’t determine, but may well influence the outcome of a national championship. No – not Florida and Alabama for the SEC football championship. It’s time again for the annual dual wrestling meet between The University of Iowa Hawkeyes and the Iowa State Cyclones – one of the greatest rivalries in all of sports. ESPN has included this event on its list of “101 Things All Sports Fans Should Do Before They Die”. If you’re a wrestling fan and have never attended – shame on you.
The meet has somewhat of a different feel this year because former Iowa State coach and Cyclone icon, Cael Sanderson, has moved on to become the head coach at Penn State. Sanderson has been replaced by Kevin Jackson who in his collegiate competitive days transferred to Iowa State after LSU dropped wrestling. His matches with Iowa’s Royce Alger are legendary.
Legend – that’s part of the appeal. Fans on both sides have their favorite moments. For many Cyclone fans it’s Dave Osenbaugh pinning Lou Banach. Fanatics in black and gold favor a similar upset by Brooks Simpson over Eric Voelker. Each was a major upset and each won the meet.
The last three editions have featured newsworthy “extracurricular” aspects. In 2006 Iowa coaches Tom Brands and Dan Gable squared off in a heated debate with Sanderson and his assistant, Tim Hartung. It generated one of the most famous photos in recent years. Then came “the curtain” in 2007. Iowa State athletic director, Jamie Pollard, decided to limit seating by curtaining off thousands of seats. (Note: this will not be done this year.) Last year’s edition brought a new NCAA dual meet attendance record. People traveled from all over the country just to be able to say that they were there that night.
This year’s battle will feature two senior-dominated lineups, but two redshirt freshmen just might provide the highlight bout of the night. Both are three-time Iowa high school champions and both are off to undefeated and dominating starts in their first year of varsity competition. The Cyclones’ Andrew Long is from Creston and the Hawks’ Matt McDonough is from Marion.
For over 30 years Iowa Public Television has broadcast this and dozens of other top quality wrestling meets. Thanks to IPTV we’ve had the chance to see future Olympic and World Champions like Kenny Monday, Kendall Cross, John Smith, Tom and Terry Brands, Randy Lewis, Ed and Lou Banach, Cael Sanderson and Kevin Jackson as collegians. IPTV has used this broadcast as a fund raising event for the past several years. In these days of statewide budget cuts they’ll need your support more than ever. A feature of the telecast has been when Dan Gable gets out his checkbook and writes his check “on air” (by the way – according to IPTV’s public records – he writes a big one).
If you’re one of the 30,000 or 40,000 people watching the telecast – please call and make your pledge. If you’re going to be in Hilton Coliseum for the live action, stop now and send your check to
Friends of IPTV
PO Box 6400
Johnston, IA 50131
Make that number 1 on your agenda.
The meet has somewhat of a different feel this year because former Iowa State coach and Cyclone icon, Cael Sanderson, has moved on to become the head coach at Penn State. Sanderson has been replaced by Kevin Jackson who in his collegiate competitive days transferred to Iowa State after LSU dropped wrestling. His matches with Iowa’s Royce Alger are legendary.
Legend – that’s part of the appeal. Fans on both sides have their favorite moments. For many Cyclone fans it’s Dave Osenbaugh pinning Lou Banach. Fanatics in black and gold favor a similar upset by Brooks Simpson over Eric Voelker. Each was a major upset and each won the meet.
The last three editions have featured newsworthy “extracurricular” aspects. In 2006 Iowa coaches Tom Brands and Dan Gable squared off in a heated debate with Sanderson and his assistant, Tim Hartung. It generated one of the most famous photos in recent years. Then came “the curtain” in 2007. Iowa State athletic director, Jamie Pollard, decided to limit seating by curtaining off thousands of seats. (Note: this will not be done this year.) Last year’s edition brought a new NCAA dual meet attendance record. People traveled from all over the country just to be able to say that they were there that night.
This year’s battle will feature two senior-dominated lineups, but two redshirt freshmen just might provide the highlight bout of the night. Both are three-time Iowa high school champions and both are off to undefeated and dominating starts in their first year of varsity competition. The Cyclones’ Andrew Long is from Creston and the Hawks’ Matt McDonough is from Marion.
For over 30 years Iowa Public Television has broadcast this and dozens of other top quality wrestling meets. Thanks to IPTV we’ve had the chance to see future Olympic and World Champions like Kenny Monday, Kendall Cross, John Smith, Tom and Terry Brands, Randy Lewis, Ed and Lou Banach, Cael Sanderson and Kevin Jackson as collegians. IPTV has used this broadcast as a fund raising event for the past several years. In these days of statewide budget cuts they’ll need your support more than ever. A feature of the telecast has been when Dan Gable gets out his checkbook and writes his check “on air” (by the way – according to IPTV’s public records – he writes a big one).
If you’re one of the 30,000 or 40,000 people watching the telecast – please call and make your pledge. If you’re going to be in Hilton Coliseum for the live action, stop now and send your check to
Friends of IPTV
PO Box 6400
Johnston, IA 50131
Make that number 1 on your agenda.
Monday, June 15, 2009
Coming back
One year ago the Cedar River hit us with a 5 point move – threw us right to our backs.
The numbers were staggering – over 20,000 residents displaced and hundreds of businesses closed. In terms of financial loss, the Cedar Rapids flood of 2008 is the fifth worst disaster in American history (source: Iowa Public Television documentary, City Under Water). Numbers, however, can sometimes be meaningless. But, there’s no ignoring what happened to my friend Terrance and his family (his mother, 2 brothers and little sister) or my friend Jamie, her husband and 4 kids – they lost everything. Taylor School, where my wife and daughter worked for years (and where I volunteered) was declared a loss.
Somewhere along the line we fought off our backs and we’ve started our comeback. According to the latest reports, over 450 flood-impacted businesses have reopened. My friend Jamie and her family found a new home within weeks of being displaced and almost immediately started helping other flood victims. The Taylor School families refused to let their school die and it is scheduled to re-open this fall and my daughter, Emily, will be returning.
Make no mistake – we still have a long fight left. Depending upon whose report you read – once you add up all the money promised us by the state of Iowa and the federal government, we’re going to fall somewhere between $1 billion and $2 billion short of full recovery. As you drive through the Taylor neighborhood you’ll still see flood debris piled at the curve – a tragic reminder of lives forever transformed. Dozens of businesses are gone. Terrance’s family is one of over 150 still living in FEMA trailers.
I’ve learned a lot about the strength and goodness of people in the past 12 months. At our darkest hour, when faced with the closing of our last well – and thus the loss of our last source of drinking water – the call went out for 800 volunteer sandbaggers. Over 2,000 showed up. Officers from the Saint Paul, MN police department worked tirelessly to help people they didn’t even know. Church groups came from all over the country and pitched in. The Americorps volunteers became like family to many of the victims.
You in the wrestling family have also made a difference. After I wrote about Terrance’s losses I started to get emails, “Can I send you money to help Terrance?” I started to get checks and money orders. You all helped his family start over with new kitchen furniture, dishes, towels, glasses, clothes and silverware.
Cedar Rapids hosted the NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships just 3 months ago. I’ve heard a number of stories from recovering flood victim business owners about the kindness and generosity of the DIII fans who were here. Thank you.
As hard as we’re fighting – we still need your help. You can make an online donation to The Greater Cedar Rapids Community Foundation flood relief funds. A simple way to help is to eat more Quaker Oatmeal – or Cap’n Crunch – or Aunt Jemima Syrup – or Fruit Roll Ups. All are made in Cedar Rapids. You can also just come here and stay for a couple of days and watch wrestling – the Iowa State High School dual meet championships will be here in February and the Division III Championships will once again be held here. Come join us.
I leave you with a video of one of my all-time favorite wrestling comebacks. Fittingly, it features a Cedar Rapids native. This is how I see us battling back.
(Video provided by and reproduced with the permission of Iowa Public Television.)
The numbers were staggering – over 20,000 residents displaced and hundreds of businesses closed. In terms of financial loss, the Cedar Rapids flood of 2008 is the fifth worst disaster in American history (source: Iowa Public Television documentary, City Under Water). Numbers, however, can sometimes be meaningless. But, there’s no ignoring what happened to my friend Terrance and his family (his mother, 2 brothers and little sister) or my friend Jamie, her husband and 4 kids – they lost everything. Taylor School, where my wife and daughter worked for years (and where I volunteered) was declared a loss.
Somewhere along the line we fought off our backs and we’ve started our comeback. According to the latest reports, over 450 flood-impacted businesses have reopened. My friend Jamie and her family found a new home within weeks of being displaced and almost immediately started helping other flood victims. The Taylor School families refused to let their school die and it is scheduled to re-open this fall and my daughter, Emily, will be returning.
Make no mistake – we still have a long fight left. Depending upon whose report you read – once you add up all the money promised us by the state of Iowa and the federal government, we’re going to fall somewhere between $1 billion and $2 billion short of full recovery. As you drive through the Taylor neighborhood you’ll still see flood debris piled at the curve – a tragic reminder of lives forever transformed. Dozens of businesses are gone. Terrance’s family is one of over 150 still living in FEMA trailers.
I’ve learned a lot about the strength and goodness of people in the past 12 months. At our darkest hour, when faced with the closing of our last well – and thus the loss of our last source of drinking water – the call went out for 800 volunteer sandbaggers. Over 2,000 showed up. Officers from the Saint Paul, MN police department worked tirelessly to help people they didn’t even know. Church groups came from all over the country and pitched in. The Americorps volunteers became like family to many of the victims.
You in the wrestling family have also made a difference. After I wrote about Terrance’s losses I started to get emails, “Can I send you money to help Terrance?” I started to get checks and money orders. You all helped his family start over with new kitchen furniture, dishes, towels, glasses, clothes and silverware.
Cedar Rapids hosted the NCAA Division III Wrestling Championships just 3 months ago. I’ve heard a number of stories from recovering flood victim business owners about the kindness and generosity of the DIII fans who were here. Thank you.
As hard as we’re fighting – we still need your help. You can make an online donation to The Greater Cedar Rapids Community Foundation flood relief funds. A simple way to help is to eat more Quaker Oatmeal – or Cap’n Crunch – or Aunt Jemima Syrup – or Fruit Roll Ups. All are made in Cedar Rapids. You can also just come here and stay for a couple of days and watch wrestling – the Iowa State High School dual meet championships will be here in February and the Division III Championships will once again be held here. Come join us.
I leave you with a video of one of my all-time favorite wrestling comebacks. Fittingly, it features a Cedar Rapids native. This is how I see us battling back.
(Video provided by and reproduced with the permission of Iowa Public Television.)
Monday, February 23, 2009
TV or Not TV
Saturday night I watched several future college wrestlers on television. Once again, all finals matches of the Iowa High School Wrestling Tournament were broadcast live. Future Golden Gopher Bart Reiter joined his brother Mack as a 4-time state champ – making them the only two brothers to win four titles in Iowa. Cyclone recruit, Trent Weatherman won a title as did Hawkeye signee, Dylan Carew and Des Moines Roosevelt’s, John Nicholson, who will be joining his brother at Old Dominion University. Many of the athletes I watched will go on to be the mainstays of future Iowa Conference programs for years to come.
The finals were broadcast by The Iowa High School Sports Network, a cooperative venture of the Iowa High School Athletic Association, the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union and Iowa-based Krogman and Associates. Since 2006 IHSSN has broadcast all sanctioned Iowa high school finals from football to bowling. But before there was IHSSN there was Iowa Public Television.
For many years we watched lead announcer Doug Brown and a few different color commentators, along with “floor reporters” Dean Borg and Dick Trotter. In real life Borg was the director of public information for University of Iowa Hospitals and host of IPTV’s Iowa Press. Trotter was the wrestling coach (and my daughter’s math teacher) at Franklin Middle School in Cedar Rapids. While Saturday’s team of Mark Allen, Jim Gibbons and Mark Ironside did an excellent job, I miss the “good ol’ days”.
On Thursday, just after IPTV had finished its 33rd season of airing college wrestling with a live broadcast of Tuesday’s Iowa Conference finals, an article in The Des Moines Register reported that budget cuts may force IPTV to drop College Wrestling from its broadcast schedule. All state agencies in Iowa have been mandated to cut 6.5% from their budgets. For IPTV this amounts to $567,995. According to a quote in the Register article from Daniel Miller, IPTV’s executive director, a season of five to seven meets costs $40,000.
Last year I wrote a blog about IPTV called, “Banach is in Trouble”. With over 3,500 views, it is by far the most popular I’ve ever posted. Was this because there are that many wrestling fans that care about IPTV and College Wrestling? Sadly – I don’t think so. I suspect that most of the views were because College Wrestling producer, Pat Rowen, allowed me to post one of the most famous of all of the matches ever shown on television – Iowa State heavyweight Dave Osenbaugh’s upset pin of Hawkeye great, Lou Banach.
In one week, 3,500 wrestling fans viewed a prime example of the outstanding contributions made to the sport by IPTV. In the past 33 years viewers have seen future World and Olympic greats like John Smith, Cael Sanderson, Kenny Monday and Tom Brands compete in their college years.
Here’s my question – is the wrestling community willing to let this happen? If you live in Oklahoma or Pennsylvania or Ohio – why should you care? Because you care about wrestling. Because IPTV has supported and promoted college wrestling in a way very few other entities have. Because the loss of a pioneer in broadcasting wrestling might stand as a roadblock to the future expansion of wrestling on television. Because you want to win – you want to beat the odds.
Get off your butt and support College Wrestling on Iowa Public Television. You can go right now to the IPTV website and become a Friend of Iowa Public Television. Be sure to click on “College Wrestling” when they ask for your favorite programming. If you’re more of a check writer than an online donor, write one and mail it to
Friends of Iowa Public Television
PO Box 6400
Johnston, IA 50131
If you’re a business owner, why not be a corporate underwriter for College Wrestling?
Do it now – let’s show the world what wrestling fans are made of.
The finals were broadcast by The Iowa High School Sports Network, a cooperative venture of the Iowa High School Athletic Association, the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union and Iowa-based Krogman and Associates. Since 2006 IHSSN has broadcast all sanctioned Iowa high school finals from football to bowling. But before there was IHSSN there was Iowa Public Television.
For many years we watched lead announcer Doug Brown and a few different color commentators, along with “floor reporters” Dean Borg and Dick Trotter. In real life Borg was the director of public information for University of Iowa Hospitals and host of IPTV’s Iowa Press. Trotter was the wrestling coach (and my daughter’s math teacher) at Franklin Middle School in Cedar Rapids. While Saturday’s team of Mark Allen, Jim Gibbons and Mark Ironside did an excellent job, I miss the “good ol’ days”.
On Thursday, just after IPTV had finished its 33rd season of airing college wrestling with a live broadcast of Tuesday’s Iowa Conference finals, an article in The Des Moines Register reported that budget cuts may force IPTV to drop College Wrestling from its broadcast schedule. All state agencies in Iowa have been mandated to cut 6.5% from their budgets. For IPTV this amounts to $567,995. According to a quote in the Register article from Daniel Miller, IPTV’s executive director, a season of five to seven meets costs $40,000.
Last year I wrote a blog about IPTV called, “Banach is in Trouble”. With over 3,500 views, it is by far the most popular I’ve ever posted. Was this because there are that many wrestling fans that care about IPTV and College Wrestling? Sadly – I don’t think so. I suspect that most of the views were because College Wrestling producer, Pat Rowen, allowed me to post one of the most famous of all of the matches ever shown on television – Iowa State heavyweight Dave Osenbaugh’s upset pin of Hawkeye great, Lou Banach.
In one week, 3,500 wrestling fans viewed a prime example of the outstanding contributions made to the sport by IPTV. In the past 33 years viewers have seen future World and Olympic greats like John Smith, Cael Sanderson, Kenny Monday and Tom Brands compete in their college years.
Here’s my question – is the wrestling community willing to let this happen? If you live in Oklahoma or Pennsylvania or Ohio – why should you care? Because you care about wrestling. Because IPTV has supported and promoted college wrestling in a way very few other entities have. Because the loss of a pioneer in broadcasting wrestling might stand as a roadblock to the future expansion of wrestling on television. Because you want to win – you want to beat the odds.
Get off your butt and support College Wrestling on Iowa Public Television. You can go right now to the IPTV website and become a Friend of Iowa Public Television. Be sure to click on “College Wrestling” when they ask for your favorite programming. If you’re more of a check writer than an online donor, write one and mail it to
Friends of Iowa Public Television
PO Box 6400
Johnston, IA 50131
If you’re a business owner, why not be a corporate underwriter for College Wrestling?
Do it now – let’s show the world what wrestling fans are made of.
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