I attended my 55th high school reunion in July of 2012 and was inspired to write Home Town Memories of Grinnell, Iowa. This work is not intended to be an all inclusive, comprehensive, scholarly history with a preoccupation for exact dates, etc. It is simply a personal history, my recollections of the old home town during a limited period in the towns history the 40s, 50s and 60s. I have written in my own way using a flow of words that came to me as I wrote. In a town of 8,000 9,000, as Gri...

As a student of local history, I find Daves stories of old Grinnell very fascinating. We who lived in this era of the 40s, 50s, and 60s have some interesting things to share with others about our town and its people. His broad knowledge continues to amaze me. How he remembers so much from 50-70 years ago and is able to record it for the rest of us to enjoy is wonderful. If he wants to expand on a topic of which he is unfamiliar, he knows the right person to contact. Yes, he lives in Texas,...

I have written these articles and essays which are mainly historical-nostalgic and also on the topic of aging. They were published on the Grinnell, Iowa website ourgrinnell.com under the heading of Readers Share Thoughts. I was born in Grinnell, graduated from Grinnell High School in 1957 and Cornell College in 1962. I have a Master's Degree from Iowa State University and the University of Leon and a Doctorate from Middle Tennessee State University. I have lived and worked on Okinawa, in M...

I wrote two previous books about my home town of Grinnell, Iowa, a nostalgic-historical approach. I have done something similar here with "Memories of Cornell College, 1957-1962", it is also nostalgic-historic and I reflect on my time at Cornell, some memories pleasant enough, others not so pleasant. In one of the final scenes of "Cambridge Spies", a non-fiction BBC presentation of the story of a small group of privileged Englishmen who betrayed their country and the Allies and spied for t...

A Century of GHS Athletics is an effort to put as many individual and team achievements as possible in one place.

I like the idea of a sentimental-historical approach to articles about Grinnell and other topics. Maybe there is no past or no future, only the present. I have a good memory, which is my main research tool. Share ideas and establish contact with old friends and others. Somehow, I believe the blogs on aging are of some value to others. Feedback confirms that. It gives me something worthwhile to do. Too much leisure can be the booby prize of retirement, as can be too much activity. This is a...

The Rider e-Book of Lists: iPad & e-Reader Edition is the first ever ‘e-book’ on the Saskatchewan Roughriders Canadian Football League (CFL) team. This e-book expands on The Rider Book of Lists published in print form in 2010 by the same authors: Sheldon Green and Rod Nasewich.  It provides a different and sometimes off-beat look at Rider players and coaches and at the Riders as a team, organization, a pop...

Wrestling is as much a part of winter in Iowa as is snow and cold. Dreams of state championships begin in elementary school and, since 1972, come to fruitionor heartbreakingly fall shortat an arena in Des Moines in February or March. The tournament finals sell out, and individuals and teams carve their names on the sports history tree each year. Some champions were deaf, some were amputees, but all earn the respect of thousands for their work ethica hallmark of the states populace. Is this...

This is a reference book; it contains a comprehensive listing of all the high school All-State football teams selected by The Oklahoman, the leading newspaper in Oklahoma, during the twentieth century. Today, numerous newspapers in Oklahoma select high school football teams, but it was The Oklahoman, published in Oklahoma City, that initiated the practice in the year 1913. That year, the newspaper published the first to be named Oklahoma high school All-State football team, designated the ...

Plattsmouth, Nebraska lies at the confluence of the Platte and Missouri rivers. The people of Plattsmouth are proud of their small towns rich history, of their strength and determination as a community. They also share something that larger towns cannot, something that for generations has helped unite them and shape their very lives. What they share is a community-wide excitement on fall Friday nights, the rush of a close game, the heartbreaking losses, the exhilaration of a big win what t...

Home to both the University of Connecticut's men's and women's NCAA championship teams as well as the Connecticut Sun WNBA team, this small state has made a name for itself in basketball. Infatuation with the sport started here in 1896 with the first intercollegiate game between Yale and Wesleyan Universities. The roster of Connecticut's round ball greats includes Naismith Hall-of-Famer Calvin Murphy; NBA stars Vin Baker, Marcus Camby, Charles Smith, the late John Williamson, Johnny Egan a...

The All-American Soap Box Derby, the brainchild of Dayton newspaperman Myron Scott, began as a local race in that city in 1933. With some creative promotion, Scott turned it into a national competition the next year. By 1935 it had found a home in Akron. This move was solidified by the construction of Derby Downs. This unique facility, built in 1936, provided a much needed home. National sponsorship was provided by Chevrolet in cooperation with the Akron Beacon Journal and other newspapers...