Local ties to Colfax flood recovery and a Hall of Famer in a tough battle
A couple guys with Creston ties recently had extraordinary experiences.
I'll start with Matt Barkalow, 1989 Creston High School graduate. His story is unique in itself in that he ended a career of about 20 years with Hy-Vee to get his teaching degree at night and change careers.
He's been at Colfax-Mingo five years, as an elementary teacher, head track coach and assistant football coach. He also coached girls basketball one year. Barkalow was a standout football player and track athlete at CHS, and a talented musician who had the lead in school musicals.
During the first week of football practice this year, the Skunk River swamped Colfax with a highly-publicized flood. Head coach Mike Rupert canceled practice the next morning after the devastation, and the players worked all day to help residents move belongings or set up sandbag barriers. Several of those affected by the damage were team members.
KCCI ran a segment about the project as part of its Friday night pregame coverage last weekend, and the video can be searched on their website by typing Colfax-Mingo football.
"Talk about putting high school sports in perspective," Barkalow said. "We probably had 200 to 300 homes evacuated and our guys worked so hard. I was so proud of the kids, and the whole school district. A lot of people from our district who weren't affected were there helping out any way they could. We set up a Red Cross disaster area at the high school cafeteria."
Barkalow, who turns 40 this November, said he's never regretted the career change.
"I tell people I owe a lot to Hy-Vee," he said. "That's where I met my wife (Shellie). But, at the end of the day, I've never gotten a hug from my meat manager! Working with kids and having an impact on their lives is so rewarding."
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Iowa native and Hall of Fame baseball great Bob Feller was recently diagnosed with leukemia. His first bout of treatments was deemed successful, and the gritty 91-year-old was back in his Cleveland Indians skybox seat last weekend.
One of the local folks following his progress closely is Ron Pendegraft.
Several years ago, Pendegraft got involved in assisting the Bob Feller Museum in Van Meter as a volunteer. Along the way he got to meet Feller several times, and last month he accompanied "Rapid Robert" to Cooperstown for the Hall of Fame induction weekend.
"He got us into the hotel where all the Hall of Famers were staying," Pendegraft said. "One night I looked up when we were outside and there was Harold Reynolds talking on his cell phone. Then Earl Weaver came out. Tom Seaver came out, and started talking to Bob about his vineyard in California. I was standing there kind of thinking, 'Somebody pinch me!' It was incredible."
Feller has a reputation for being pretty grizzled and surly with certain people at times, but Pendegraft has never seen him be outright mean to anybody.
"He doesn't initiate it," Pendegraft said, "but he DOES have opinions and isn't afraid to give them. He doesn't mince words. He's old-school. A World War II vet, just an old-fashioned American kind of guy."
At 91, pretty tough, too, to brush off chemo and jump back into the press box!
"That doesn't surprise me," Pendegraft said, chuckling.
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There's all kinds of news regarding former CNA interns.
Freshman Hilary Loudon recently got her first article published in the Daily Iowan at the University of Iowa. It was a feature on a top returning Hawkeye golfer.
Jake Waddingham, besides running cross country and track at University of Texas-Tyler, has joined the campus newspaper staff. Multi-tasking is a way of life for Jake, so it should be a piece of cake for him.
Another runner-journalist, senior Scott Vicker at St. Louis University, headed for Pittsburgh Thursday for a meet, and will be back on duty Sunday night for his sports talk radio show at SLU. His show is broadcast 7 to 9 p.m. Sundays on KSLU radio and can be found online at kslu.slu.edu.
Also, there is a website set up where people can interact during the show — http://vickshow.webs.com. There, you can vote on poll questions, and use a chat feature to interact with others and with the show.
The intern who preceded all of those, Scott Levine, is assistant editor at the Clinton Herald and recently was involved in hiring a former CNA staff member, Kurt Ritzman, as a sportswriter. Ritzman has been working in Wyoming since leaving the News Advertiser.
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There are a couple new ways to follow the latest developments on our sports beat.
I'm now doing a blog, "Reporter's Notebook," on our website — www.crestonnews.com. It's found on the main sports page, next to that week's columnist. Under the blogs link, mine is in the pull-down menu. I'll try to post updates there semi-regularly, especially weeks that I don't have a column.
Also, you can now follow me on Twitter at www.twitter.com/larrypeterson
I won't be as compulsive as some people, tweeting every move of my day, but I will try to get important messages out quickly that way, and link followers to special items on our website.
I'm observing my 25th year at the CNA this month. I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks!
