Iowa State University Alumni Association| online edition | fall 2005

FALL 2005
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Dancing in Rhythm

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LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

The All-American
What a rush of memories on the Roland Rocket story
(“Gary Thompson: The All American,” summer 2005)!!
That cold night the Cyclones beat Kansas 39-37, I was a skinny 6’ 7” freshman track jock living in the West Stadium Athletic Dorm at Clyde Williams Field with 31 other freshman “scholarship” jocks and waiting tables at Birch Hall girls’ dorm. When the crowd erupted onto the floor after that game, I ran to get next to Wilt Chamberlain just so I could see how it feels to look up to another human being!! That was my first look up, since I was a head taller than anyone else in my class in Harlan High.

I have often wondered if the ISU Athletic Department
kept the shooting plots from Gary Thompson’s years. It would be very interesting to know what his scoring would have been if the three-point shot had been in effect in those years. My best memory of him is his patent demoralizer shot at the beginning of the game, in which he would launch a jumper from the time strip his first time down the floor with the ball. Usually, the other team was not even set up for defense when the ball ripped the net!!

Jim Jacobs**
’61 geology
Burlington, Iowa

After readIng the latest issue of VISIONS, I couldn’t
help but write to tell you how much I really enjoy this
publication, but especially the cover story about Gary
Thompson. I went to high school in Winterset and Ames in the 1950s and remember well listening on the radio the night that Roland played Davenport for the state championship. And then I continued to follow his career at Iowa State and was in the stands the night that Gary and the Cyclones beat Wilt Chamberlain and his Kansas teammates. What a game. As a member of the Ames High 1955 state championship basketball team, it was our goal to emulate the style of play that Gary exhibited. The
Cyclones gave us free tickets to all the ISU games, so we never missed seeing Gary play during his illustrious career.

Gary certainly has represented Iowa and Iowa State
University well over the years. While I left Iowa in 1960, I have continued to follow the fortunes of the Cyclones. They are the best.

Don Mathre*
’60 botany
Bozeman, Montana

Dialogue on diversity
That was a great piece Jeff Johnson wrote for the summer ISU VISIONS on diversity (Association News, “Dialogue on Diversity”). We would have a better and more inclusive society if more people, regardless of race, had the philosophies and values he shared. From the day I met Jeff at an ISU alumni breakfast
meeting in Des Moines, I have always thought he
exemplified the meaning of the word “class.” The Iowa State community and Alumni Association are very fortunate to have such a quality person in our family.

David Larson**
’94 journalism & sociology
West Des Moines, Iowa

Rediscovering Iowa
Aloha from the garden island of Kauai. The spring
2005 issue (“Rediscovering Iowa”) was, without a doubt, the best that I have seen in years! Having been born and raised in Cedar Rapids, as was my father before me, I am amazed at the changes since my graduation on June 4, 1943 – particularly with reference to the studies and research being done at Iowa State. It was a great issue!

Joe Stoddard**
’43 engineering
Kapaa, Hawaii

We found the sprIng 2005 VISIONS focus on Iowa ver
interesting. I left my home state of Iowa in 1987. Now we (my husband is not a native Iowan) are strongly considering moving “back.” As we have researched entrepreneurial business opportunities
in Iowa, we have been sadly surprised at some of
the comments we have heard from others who have moved to Iowa in recent years. The
article by Michael Luick-Thrams (“How can we solve
the problem with Iowa?”) touched on many of these
same issues. Lack of openness to new ideas, to those viewed as “outsiders” (anyone not from Iowa originally), and to new business opportunities have been discouraging. We are not deterred, however, and would like to work to change these opinions as change will be necessary if Iowa is to move forward.

Thank you for your great publication; it is always a joy to read.

Carol (McDonald) Tripp**
’83 farm operations & ag education
Simi Valley, California

I am writing to tell you how much we enjoyed the spring 2005 issue of VISIONS. Even though we lived in Ames for many years, the articles revealed new information about Iowa State University programs and events. We also read with interest the class notes section and recognized several names of ISU alumni
and discovered a few who live near us now. The entire magazine was packed with interesting and informative articles. We commend you for another excellent example of good journalism. We both have fond memories of our time at ISU and Ames, where we lived for 42 years until we retired in June of 1998. We now live in Hendersonville, N.C. Thank you again for this beautiful issue!

Norma and George Sisson**
’80 English / ’58 civil engineering
Hendersonville, North Carolina

Iowa and organic farming
I Just wanted to take a moment to respond to the
letter from Jerry Crew (“Letters to the Editor,”
summer 2005) regarding the “organic food industry.”
In the VISIONS spring issue, the love affair with the
state of Iowa was very well thought out, written about, and hit home with both in-staters and out-of-staters. My dad, Jerry Crew, has the privilege of being a life-long resident, excepting a 13-year Air Force absence, and can afford a somewhat cavalier
attitude about his beloved alma mater and state.

As a current resident of sunny Phoenix, Ariz., I would
love nothing more than to return to Iowa, for all the
reasons listed in VISIONS and more. Aside from the obvious uncomfortableness with city living, these desert-dwellers actually think grass in the middle of the cactus and dirt looks good! Which is to say
there’s a tangible lack of common sense here that seems to come naturally to those living in Iowa. The causal relationship may not be quite in line, but it’s been borne out during 15+ years of working and living
in the city!

I vividly recall the majority of my professors starting each semester with the promise to not only teach the subject at hand but to introduce new ways of thinking. I took that very seriously and, from the
visible infant beginnings of other economics besides agriculture starting to grow in Iowa, so are others. It gives me hope I may find suitable employment “back home” where strong work ethics, common sense, and intelligence are appreciated.

Dad was raised to “plow ‘er black” and is now one of
the state’s staunchest no-till farmers, thanks in part to science and technologies coming from ISU. Iowa society, like Dad, must and will continue to move forward, to accept that there may be more than one correct way to farm, more business economics than just agriculture, and more than one correct linear way of thinking.

After all, it’s only a matter of time before Dad finds
out organic farming is niche farming and can peacefully co-exist, right?!? If he can do it, anyone can! Thank you again for the “love affair with Iowa” issue – it was very refreshing and reassuring.

Cari Crew*
’89 transportation & logistics
Glendale, Arizona

The letter In the summer 2005 VISIONS from Jerry
Crew was the most biased, ignorant bunch of lies about the organic food industry I have ever read! Shame on VISIONS for publishing these statements without giving someone an opportunity to present a scientific rebuttal!

Barbara Short Marseille
’52 journalism
Port Townsend, Washington

P.S. Don’t put any stars after my name these days [indicating life membership] – not until my alma mater recognizes the value of organic farming and stops putting all its agricultural research money into genetically modified science.

Editor's note: Mr. Crew’s comments reflected his perception of organic farming, which we believe
he has every right to express. Ms. Marseille’s perception is that Iowa State is “putting all its agricultural research money into genetically modified science.” Actually, we believe Iowa State’s research
is quite balanced among many different farming practices and viewpoints, which is another thing we love about Iowa!

Wanted: old football films
My late father, Charles K. “Chuck” Hill (1904-87), was
the Cyclone varsity football quarterback for three years (1923-25), in the same backfield with the Behm brothers. (Jack Trice was also in the line until he was killed.) I was disappointed to learn from the ISU Athletic Department that they have no motion picture footage of the football team before the end of the 1930s. But I would like to think that SOMEBODY did save silent movie footage of the great Cyclone football teams of the 1920s, when there was virtually no pro football and when college football was king (and silent movies were also king). Surely someone
must have shot – and saved? – old football newsreels or even football home movies, depicting scenes from games and/or practice sessions.

Maybe print journalists in Ames, or movie newsreel
companies based in Des Moines? Local gridiron
fans and movie amateurs? Or even friends and family
of some of the coaches and players themselves, who
happened to have a silent movie camera? When one
reads that the oldest existing movie film of U.S. college football was shot in approximately
1903 in one of the Ivy League schools – surely somewhere, somehow, somebody must have photographed film footage of Cyclone gridders in the 1920s? If anybody has that footage today, please let me know!

I would be grateful.

Steven P. Hill
s-hill4@UIUC.edu