Memories of the pink Vannoy’s basketball truck

       Montezuma’s ‘Go Bravettes & Braves’ 1973 pink, blue and white tilt cab truck was a fixture at state basketball games in the 1990s. The truck featured blue truck lights around the ‘Go Bravettes & Braves’ that where powered by a generator. Rick Warden of Montezuma, who worked at Vannoys at the time, helped paint the truck and also drove it to Des Moines during state tournament games and parked it on the northwest corner of Veteran’s Memorial parking lot. Originally, the front of the truck over the cab featured the words, ‘Basketball Capitol of Iowa, Montezuma.’ It was changed when the 1990 team won the state tournament. Photo courtsey of Doug and Deb Ver Meer at Vannoy Chevrolet.

By J.O. Parker 
         Montezuma has a long history of basketball success and memories.
        One of those memories is the pink, blue and white painted 1973 Vannoy Chevrolet tilt cab box truck. 
    “We drove the truck to the state tournaments and parked it in the northwest corner of Veteran’s Auditorium parking lot,” recalled Doug Ver Meer, owner of the local Chevrolet dealership. 
         Ver Meer said painting the truck came about on a whim. 
        “One day we decided to paint the truck pink,” recalled Ver Meer. “We then decided to paint ‘Go Bravettes & Braves’ and ‘The Heartbeat of Montezuma,’ on the sides of the truck.”
         The word Heartbeat was painted pink and the rest of the words were painted blue. 
         “We had blue lights on the Go Bravettes & Braves,” recalled Ver Meer. 
         The dealership used blue colored truck lights. 
         The truck cab was painted pink. 
        “It took a long time to put the lights on and paint it,” said Rick Warden of Montezuma, who worked as a mechanic at Vannoys and helped with the truck project. 
         The lights were powered with a generator. 
     Originally, the front of the truck box over the cab featured the words, ‘Basketball Capital of Iowa, Montezuma.’
       When the 1990 Montezuma Boys team won the Class 1A basketball championship, the words on the front of the truck were changed to, ‘1-A Champs 90’.” 
       Warden recalled one time when the truck got stuck in gear and broke down in the Veteran’s Auditorium parking lot. 
        “I had to unload all the kids riding in the cab with me and tilt the cab and work on the transmission in the parking lot,” he said. “It was cold outside.” 
       Ver Meer said he bought a bunch of pink hats one year and anyone who went to the games at Veteran’s Auditorium got one. 
        The hats had, “Heartbeat of Montezuma and the Vannoy Chevrolet emblem on them.” 
        “We had a lot of fun,” Ver Meer said of those early days. 
     “It was a lot of fun,” added Warden. “That truck was old and worn out, but we made it to Veteran’s Auditorium several times.” 
        Ver Meer said they kept the truck on the lot and later sold it. 
        “I’ve been on the lookout for it ever since,” said Ver Meer. “I heard it might be in Tama County.”