![]() By J.O. Parker Chalmers William “Bump” Elliott, a longtime athletic director at the University of Iowa and a former coach and player at two other Big 10 schools, is the only man in history to participate in the Rose Bowl in five different capacities - player, assistant coach, head coach, assistant athletic director and athletic director. “He has a pretty amazing story,” said Neal Rozendaal, a Washington, D.C.-based author who just released the biography, Bump Elliott: The Best of College Athletics, last month. Born in Detroit on Jan. 30, 1925, and raised in Bloomington, Ill., Bump enlisted in the United States Marine Corps as a senior in high school and was assigned to the V-12 Training Program at Purdue University, where he played and received varsity letters in football, baseball and basketball. Bump left Purdue to serve a stint in China with the Marines during World War II. When he returned to the states, Bump enrolled at the University of Michigan, joining the football team where his brother, Pete Elliott, played quarterback. Bump starred for the undefeated 1947 Wolverine football team known as the “Mad Magicians,” a team that won the 1948 Rose Bowl. Bump led the Big 9 Conference in scoring, won the Chicago Tribune Silver Football as the conference’s Most Valuable Player and was selected as a first-team All-American by the American Football Coaches Association. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1989. After graduating from Michigan in 1948, Bump spent 10 years as an assistant football coach at Oregon State, Iowa and Michigan before being named Michigan’s head football coach in 1959. He led the Wolverines to a Big 10 championship in 1964 and a victory in the 1965 Rose Bowl. Bump retired from coaching in 1968 and was the associate athletic director at Michigan for a little over a year before landing in Iowa. Bump Elliott is best remembered in Iowa for spending 21 years as the men’s athletic director at the University of Iowa, hiring such coaches as Dan Gable, Hayden Fry, Lute Olson and Dr. Tom Davis. During Bump’s tenure at Iowa, the Hawkeyes won 30 Big 10 conference championships and 12 NCAA titles. “He is, in my opinion, the most important figure in Hawkeye athletics over the last 50 years,” noted Rozendaal, who spent five years writing the book. Rozendaal, a lifelong Hawkeye sports fan, is a 1998 graduate of Lynnville-Sully High School and a 2002 graduate of Iowa, where he holds degrees in economics, statistics and political science. He is the son of Bill and Norma Rozendaal of Grinnell. He has spent the last 18 years working for the Bureau of Labor Statistics in Washington, D.C. Rozendaal started writing articles about the Hawkeyes for online publications in 2005. Two years later, he had a chance meeting with Lyle Hammes, who was writing a book on the Hawkeyes. “I started talking with him and wound up becoming his co-author on our first book, Hawkeye Greats, By the Numbers,” Rozendaal said. Hawkeye Greats, which was self-published and released in October 2010, covers the best Hawkeye football and men’s basketball players to wear jersey numbers 1 through 50. It features such greats as Tim Dwight (#6), who played in the NFL and a Super Bowl with the Atlanta Falcons; Duke Slater (#15), the first African-American player elected to the College Football Hall of Fame; Nile Kinnick (#24), in whose honor Iowa’s football stadium is named; and Chris Street (#40), the Hawkeye basketball player who was tragically killed in a car accident in 1993. A year later, Rozendaal co-authored What It Means to Be a Hawkeye with Hammes and Michael Maxwell. Published by Triumph Books, it became a best-selling college football book on Amazon.com shortly after its release. The book came about when Hammes sent a copy of Hawkeye Greats to Triumph Books, a company that specializes in sports books. “They (Triumph) had an idea for a book of their own and needed someone to write it,” said Rozendaal. “They liked Hawkeye Greats so much, they asked us to write it.” What It Means to Be a Hawkeye is a collection of interviews with Hawkeye football players covering nine decades, from the 1930s through the 2010s. “We interviewed the two then-living teammates of Nile Kinnick for that book. We also interviewed Ricky Stanzi from the 2010 Hawkeye team and players from almost every year in between,” Rozendaal recalled. “We just asked all these players about their experiences and what it meant to them to be a Hawkeye.” His third book, Duke Slater: Pioneering Black NFL Player and Judge, is a biography of Fred “Duke” Slater, a legendary African-American football player at Iowa and in the NFL. “I had written a chapter on Duke Slater in Hawkeye Greats,” said Rozendaal. “I became so fascinated by his story that I wrote his biography.” Published in July 2012 by McFarland & Company, a small academic press, Duke Slater tells the story of Slater, who played for the Hawkeyes from 1918-21 and was a key member of Iowa’s 1921 national championship team. He joined the NFL the following year, becoming the first African-American lineman in league history. Slater played 10 seasons in the NFL for the Rock Island Independents and the Chicago Cardinals, picking up seven all-pro selections along the way. Slater earned his law degree in 1928 and began practicing law in Chicago. In 1948, he was elected to the Cook County Municipal Court, becoming the second African-American judge in Chicago history. He served as a judge for nearly two decades until his death in 1966. Slater was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1951 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame’s Centennial Class in 2020. This fall, the University of Iowa named the field at Kinnick Stadium “Duke Slater Field” in his honor. Rozendaal published his fourth book, The Women’s Football Encyclopedia, in January 2016 under his own imprint, Rozehawk Publishing. Rozendaal said his wife Ashley was an exceptional college athlete, throwing the discus and hammer for George Mason University. After they married in 2012, Ashley played two seasons with the D.C. Divas, a premier women’s club football team. “Watching Ashley and the Divas, I greatly admired how hard these women worked at playing the traditionally male sport of football, all while getting none of the glory,” Rozendaal observed. The Women’s Football Encyclopedia chronicles the history of women playing the sport of football. “After writing so much about the Hawkeyes, researching the history of women’s football was a really fun digression for me,” Rozendaal said. With five books under his belt, Rozendaal said he doesn’t know the topic of his next book. “I don’t pick the subjects I write about; they pick me,” he laughed. “I just sort of stumble upon a topic or a person that fascinates me.” “I’m very excited about my book on Bump Elliott,” he added. “He was an incredible man, and I think Hawkeye fans are really going to like it.” Rozendaal’s books are available at Amazon.com and at nealrozendaal.com.
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Daria Kline - Grinnell Jenna Davenport - Grinnell Olivia Blankenfeld - Grinnell Sophia Tyler - Grinnell Sophia Puls - BGM Five area high school dancers have been selected for the Iowa State Dance Team Association (ISDTA) All-Iowa Honor Squad.
Tryouts were held in Newton, Aug. 28-29. Sophia Puls, a senior at BGM, was selected for the dance team for the third year in a row. Olivia Blankenfeld and Daria Kline, juniors at Grinnell, and Jenna Davenport and Sophia Tyler, seniors at Grinnell, were also selected to take part in the honor squad dance team that will perform at halftime of the girls’ state basketball championship game at Wells Fargo Arena on Saturday, March 5, 2022. All dance teams represented are members of the Iowa State Dance Team Association, and the dancers were chosen based on ability, attitude, dedication and leadership qualities. Josh Gerard Rachel Lakose Rob Hanlon The Brooklyn Opera House has selected the cast for its second community theatre production of their inaugural season, Every Christmas Story Ever Told (And Then Some). The performance dates are scheduled from Dec. 3-5th. Rehearsals will begin Nov. 1.
The 2021 cast is as follows: Josh Gerard, Rachel Lakose and Rob Hanlon. All three are from Brooklyn and alums from the BOH’s production of The Odd Couple. This show was written by Jim FitzGerald, John K. Alvarez, and Michael Carleton, who all performed in the production as themselves in the world premiere at Cape May Stage in Cape May, N.J. on Nov. 27, 2003. Instead of performing Charles Dickens' beloved holiday classic for the umpteenth time, these three actors will perform every Christmas story ever told - plus Christmas traditions from around the world. “These three nailed it during the reading at the audition,'' said Deborah Kennedy, co-director of this upcoming production. “This show is fast, funny and a bit quirky. When you read a show, you start to think of actors that are able to handle the type of humor in the script. These three were perfect for the production and are all wonderful people to work with. They are all fully committed to this production and are willing to give 110 percent - heart and soul.” This show requires audience participation, so audience members who are up for a bit of adventure are encouraged to sit closer to the stage. For more information, visit www.brooklynoperahouse.com. BGM teacher receives Outstanding High School Art Educator honors from Art Educators of Iowa (AEI)10/14/2021 Kelli Gartman, the BGM K-12 art teacher, was recently recognized by the Art Educators of Iowa (AEI) as Outstanding High School Art Educator.
Gartman, who holds a BFA in Art Education from the University of Northern Iowa, graduating in 2015, and an MA in Art Education, also from UNI, where she graduated in 2020, has taught at BGM since 2015. She is in her seventh year of teaching at the school. “Looking back on my first few years of teaching, I could not imagine a better district to start out at,” Gartman said of BGM. “My co-workers, administration, and students have welcomed me with open arms and have supported the directions I've aimed to steer the visual arts curriculum. Because of this, I credit much of this award to their support and helping me to realize my potential as both an artist and educator.” Gartman has been an attendee of the AEI Conference as well as a presenter discussing Arts/Autism and her graduate program research program findings. Outside of AEI, Kelli was awarded UNI’s Sign of Dedication for aiding students in their high school success and college search process. As an artist, her work is displayed on murals through her community at Holiday Lake and is the process of others at Center Ground Coffee Shop in Brooklyn. Within her practice, a strong emphasis is placed on cross-curricular connections which is shown through student projects such as Inspire (written/visual book publication) and a collaborative sculpture unit that works alongside UNI’s Public Art Incubator program. JR Glenn, BGM Secondary Principal, said, “Mrs. Gartman does a great job of promoting student-centered approaches and recognizing each students’ accomplishments, which are many. What is so impressive to me is her ability and willingness to allow for student agency and choice. Having students take ownership and allowing for choice are foundational in her courses.” The AEI is an Iowa-based professional organization that was established in 1950. The organization soon began to recognize those who stood out as exemplars in the field. Awards are given each year to peer selected members of the Iowa Arts Education community who have shown stellar dedication to the craft of teaching art to children across the state. "I am overwhelmed with gratitude and humbled to be receiving the Outstanding High School Art Educator of the Year award,” added Gartman. “I am honored to have my practice recognized in this way by the AEI as I know how hard art educators work to advocate for their programs and place value within the arts for our students. Much of my teaching passion stems from visualizing connections to other disciplines and my hope is that students can also build meaningful connections in their own work as it relates to other content areas and fields of study they choose to pursue outside of the classroom." A trip to the Corn Palace in Mitchell, S.D. and the National Pedal Pull was on the agenda for a Brooklyn brother and sister duo. Emmitt Albers, 11, and his sister, Bella, 8, where among 400 youth who qualified to compete in the national event on Saturday, Sept. 25. Emmitt had a pull of 30-feet while Bella had a full pull then had a pull off and pulled 20-feet. She finished third in the nation for 8-year-old girls. Emmitt and Bella competed in the national event in 2018, when he was 8 and she was 5. Bella finished third that year. Emmitt and Bella are the children of Andy and Angela Albers. While in Mitchell, the Albers family enjoyed a parade and car show. “We are so proud of these two,” said Angela.
Attendees at BGM football and track and field events might notice a new engraved rock honoring Mollie Tibbetts next to the sports complex entrance gate. The rock was left by the concession stand last month by an unknown party and moved to its permanent location by custodial staff. “So, if you are responsible for this gift, thank you for remembering Mollie in such a beautiful way,” said Billie Jo Calderwood, BGM office personal.
Join the Grinnell Parks and Recreation Department along with multiple local businesses and community group for our Trunk-or-Treat this year on Saturday, Oct. 23 from 9 - 11am! We will have a mixture of tents and vehicles decorated in different themes for all ages of kids to enjoy," noted Shelby Davis, Grinnell Recreation Coordinator. "This is a FREE event to all participants."
If you are a local business or community group and are interested in reserving a free parking spot, please email Davis at [email protected] The Brooklyn Library is hosting a Murder Mystery Party for the entire month of October!
What is it? It is an event where you and four to 10 of your friends get to dress up in 1920's garb for a night out, only to find out that someone was murdered, and it might be one of you who did it! “You'll have up to 90 minutes to become your character, and try to find out if a killer walks among you,” noted the Brooklyn librarian. Where is it? Uh...the library. When is it? Anytime during our regular business hours that you would like to schedule in the month of October! We hope to do it for as many groups of people that want it. How much is it? This event has been sponsored by the BGM Junior After Prom Committee. It is a free event, but we will be accepting donations for after prom. To schedule your group, call 641-451-5235, or email [email protected] Joseph Irlbeck and Ryanne Martin, middle, where crowed BGM Homecoming King and Queen on Wednesday, Sept. 29 during the school community wide pep rally. Joining them, at left, are 1st Attendants, Alexa Coleman and Ryan Hopwood, and 2nd Attendants, at right, Kayden Heishman and Gabrielle Fye.
Event to include fundraiser dinner along with silent and live auction The Brooklyn Opera House announced its grand opening event on Oct. 22. Following an extensive, 13-month renovation from May 2019 to June 2020, the opera house now stands as a performance hall, event center and movie theatre. The event will celebrate the new changes and its historic presence in the Brooklyn community.
“Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we halted our grand opening until this fall,” said Laura Manatt, General Manager. “With the renovation, our team worked hard to preserve the historic elements of the building and create a space where our community can come together. ”The fundraiser dinner and silent auction begins at 6:30 p.m. Dinner will be catered by Peppercorn Food Company and will include tossed salad, chicken and pork tenderloin, garlic mashed potatoes, steamed broccoli and raspberry cheesecake. Vegetarian options are available upon request. The event will continue with a live auction at 8 p.m. The silent auction will conclude at this time. To donate an item towards the silent or live auction, please contact the opera house at (641) 522-2424. For more information or to reserve a table, please go to www.brooklynoperahouse.com or stop by our front desk to pick up a RSVP form. |
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