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Sports Columns

DIAMOND QUEEN

The list of Iowa’s career 100-game high school softball winners appears lengthy at first blush. The names appear annually in the state tournament program. Full-page spread, small type, sharing space as a seven-decade trip down memory lane for our state’s all-time great pitchers. Fort ...

A TRADITION OF EXCELLENCE

Sports are my passion, but I’ll let you in on a little secret: I’m also a big fan of musicals. To clarify, I’m no aficionado — mostly just an admirer from afar. This dates back to witnessing my first Fort Dodge Senior High performance, a rousing rendition of “Oklahoma!” in the ...

CRISIS INTERVENTION

A referee in Fort Madison was knocked unconscious by an angry fan at the community’s middle school during a 3-on-3 basketball tournament last Saturday. A softball umpire for a 12-and-under youth event was punched in the face by an unruly parent in Mississippi. Another ump was attacked by a ...

The story of Gene Elston: Fort Dodge’s MLB Hall of Famer

We’re coming up on the 80th anniversary of the iconic Chicago Cubs-Chicago White Sox exhibition game, which first brought baseball to Dodger Stadium in Fort Dodge on April 9, 1942. Seated in the press area that day was a young Fort Dodge broadcaster named Gene Elston, who started working for ...

FOCUSING ON THE BIG PICTURE

Reflecting on such an incredible five-year experience in college athletics is no easy task, and right now, it’s something everyone has been encouraging me to do. “Sit down and write about your experience,” I’ve heard from my family, coaches and former teammates. Well, how are you ...

Chain reaction

My first published article appeared in our high school’s student newspaper during the fall of 1994. The topic? A work stoppage in Major League Baseball. Approaching the story as both a passionate fan and newcomer to journalism, I fervently studied the ins and outs of this player strike, ...