WHAT A WEEKEND WE HAVE HAD IN KIRKWOOD, I'M WAXING RATHER NOSTALGIC TODAY SO PLEASE BEAR WITH ME.
A couple of months ago Dr. Seth Harrell left me a phone message telling me he is the principal of KHS and "I have some great news for you". I immediately tried calling but reached voicemail so had to wait til Monday to finally reach him. When I identified myself he said "Your team is going to be inducted into the KHS Athletic Hall of Fame in September." I had to think about that for a second and probably said something stupid like "Which team?" the reply being the 1964 Cross Country team. Well, dummy me I thought he meant the cross country team of the class of 1964 so I told him I was the wrong person to talk to so I'd get him to the right person!!! Well, somehow or other I got the picture that it was OUR '65 boys so I called the person at the alumni affairs office to whom I was directed and spoke to Amy Bullmer and when I quizzed her about why I got the call from Dr. Harrell she said, "Well Leslie YOU nominated the team! I have the nomination sheet in front of me." Well folks when she said that I had immediate recall, luckily my mind is not quite as bad as I sometimes accuse it of being. It was 2012 when I did that!!!! For awhile back then I watched the KHS public places wondering when the team would be honored and after some time I guess I just totally forgot! At any rate, I've spent some wonderful few late summer weeks working with the great gals at KHS on the program, finding and contacting the inductees, making new friends and visiting with those KHS65/66 members who were all so surprised and honored to be recognized for their amazing talents way back in our youth.
Fast forward to this past Friday we had a reception for the inductees and families and invited friends, then went up to the amazing MODERN football field and watched the Pioneers trounce Pattonville 50 to 20. I was so busy talking and taking pix I had to google the score just now, last I saw it was only 6 points for Pattonville - I guess I wasn't a good football fan the last half of the game. There was something amazing that happened to me personally that night so admittedly I was side-tracked a bit, but that story has to wait for another time. And we were interrupted by having to get our herd of cats down to the football field to be introduced and honored, along with all the other inductees of the night, during the half-time show. They all entered the field, single file in order and were introduced individually, it was a GREAT few minutes. That ceremony was followed by a rousing performance by the fabulous KHS Marching Band, another special treat.
Yesterday began with a reception for the inductees, family, friends and the public, then the induction ceremony in the Keating Theatre. The inductees were seated on the stage and Doug Vaughn of CBS local channel 4, a KHS74 alum himself and frequent emcee for all things KHS, introduced Dr. Harrell, Corey Nesslage, Athletic Director and Dr. David Ulrich, School Superintendent who each presented short greetings. Doug then introduced the 12 individual athletes who spoke, 2 being deceased but others spoke for them; next were the teams, the long-awaited opportunity for our guys to shine once again! Representing the 1962 team & chosen to be the spokesperson was Kent Overbey, their coach. We spent great time with him at both receptions, what fun he is at age 86! Our own Joal Charleville Russell's brother Joe was one of the posthumous awardees as were Mike Hensgen, Charlie Harris & Rick Haefele. Dan Dykstra, Steve Jones, Tom Goodwin and Ken Mulherin (a neighbor of ours in Sugar Creek Ranch) were other team-mates not in attendance but with us WERE Doug McDougall and our OWN ROD BRUCKDORFER! Yes, Rod was on the winning team in our sophomore year as well as our senior year! More about that in a moment. Joal was given the award for her late brother. I forgot to ask Rod if he received 2 but I bet he did because I think they had the year on them. As I am typing a long-lost memory popped into my head- happens to me a lot. I was dating Jack Maris our sophomore year and we went somewhere on a double-date and I haven't thought of it in eons but as I typed the name I realized it was Charlie Harris and whomever his date was! I had to check the '63 PIONEER to be sure my memory was correct! Funny how our brains can just toss us a long-lost memory at the oddest times! In my next life I'm going to study the mechanics of how the heck our brains do that!!!
Finally it was OUR turn to honor our inductees - the 1964-65 Cross Country Team. Those with us last night were Rod Bruckdorfer & wonderful wife Lenora from NC, Phil Mills (KHS66), Bill Pape, who drove from upstate NY, Mike Bosworth, Bob Leonard driving from San Antonio and Judge Gary Schmidt who rode the train in from Jefferson City (Alumni Hall of Fame 2010 individually for his stellar legal career). Also on the team were Jim Olson who was the individual State Champion that year, and is already in the Athletic Hall of Fame (2009) individually and who is no longer living, Bill Barrow and John Rogers also deceased. I throw out the places and means of transport here to give me the entree to reminding everyone that Bill Pape RODE HIS BICYCLE here from New Jersey for one of our class reunions! I'll never forget that factoid, Bill is an amazing guy, a long-time lawyer and municipal judge.
I have been privileged to be a friend of Gary Schmidt's for many years; he has been of great help to me during some dark times, and I'm so proud of his record as a jurist, athlete, father and friend to many. He sent me his talk (teams were allowed 5 minutes with one spokesperson) to look over which I did, tweaked it a bit and then made sure I kept a copy so I can share it here. We should ALL be so proud of ALL of our KHS athletes, but these guys were and still are superior people and super friends.
"In
1964 Kirkwood’s cross-country team finished second in the
nation. Arch-rival Riverview Gardens finished fourth in the
nation, but never came close to Kirkwood. In the National
Championship Kirkwood could have had better luck with weather or
injuries, but that's not what happened and Kirkwood finished with the
silver medal by two seconds.
In
many ways our slowest runner was our MVP. In practice and at a
meet Kirkwood runners never quit. Every athlete applied
constant pressure to the teammate in front of him. And that
upward pressure went to the top of the lineup. Kirkwood was
deep and every member of the team made a significant contribution.
Rod
Bruckdorfer was the team captain for a group of very strong-willed
individuals. Herding cats would have been far easier.
To this day, no one can explain how that dead fish found its way to
Jim Olson’s locker. Several teammates awoke to find dozens of
“real estate for sale” signs in their front yard. One
athlete discovered his car had been listed for sale. No
one knows how these things happened, they just HAPPENED.
But
when it came time to work, the team concentrated and worked hard.
The hard work paid off with great results.
Coach
Lyon was an excellent coach who had succeeded the very much beloved
and also excellent Coach Overbey. Several years later Kirkwood
won a National Championship under Coach Lyon.
Jim
Olson was the individual State Champion, and second in the nation.
But this was a great bunch of guys, each with their own great
story. I want to share with you one of those stories from
Bill Pape.
"I
was running on Longview near my family home for a Boy Scout merit
badge during the summer before 10th grade.
A
car pulled up beside me and some tough guys rolled down the window
and directed me to show up at Kirkwood Park to run that Saturday.
I
asked Coach Overbey
about this and he admitted he sent soon-to-be-seniors on the team to
go look for recruits.
They
saved my life because I was a shy kid going nowhere fast.
Suddenly, I had friends, a coach, and a life."
At
that time high schools did not have women’s sports. Becky
Emrich, Mary Domrese, and Chris Hofstetter, as well as the
cheerleaders made up for this lack by providing incredible
support for the team. [Mary was in the audience and Gary pointed her out and she waved then joined us later at dinner.]
Before
the State Meet, the Cheerleaders delivered boxes of Special K to the
home of each teammate. Although the cereal is gone, sixty years
later I still have the box, it meant so much to me (and I suspect the
others).
At
the State meet Chris, Mary, and Becky rallied what seemed to be
hundreds of great young ladies who ran all over the course ahead of
the runners imploring them to go faster, faster, always faster.
Words cannot express the effect this had on a sixteen year old.
It was magnificent inspiration.
We
would like to thank Leslie Richards and Lisa Wade for the work they
did putting us together with this event. We thank them
and we thank the committee for the honor of our induction. I
think the team would agree, going to Kirkwood and being on this team
was like winning the lottery.
We
have six surviving inductees with us today. Unfortunately
Jim Olson, Bill Barrow and John Rogers have passed away.
With
us tonight are, in no particular order save Bill Pape who threatened
me, Bill Pape, Bob Leonard, Mike Bosworth, Phil Mills,
Captain Rod Bruckdorfer and me, “the Tiger”, Gary Schmidt."
On the walls at the school were large posters with pix of some of the inductees, including the 'official' photo of the full 1964 Boys Cross Country Team. I'll post it and some other pix when I have a chance, today is a gorgeous cool day and hubby Jack and I have a LOT of neglected yard work to tend to so I'm off to grab a rake and some pruning shears. Come to our 2025 60th reunion to see the poster, and lots more KHS65 memorabilia....keep your eye out here for Reunion date and news in coming months and hopefully I'll get lots more pix posted 'ere too long. THANK YOU TO ALL who participated this weekend, including Lee and Karen Walters who joined us for dinner last night, as well as Karen Lowe Adams who did also and Steve Woodard who happened to look to his left as he was parking his car to have dinner at PJs and recognized my license plate, I glanced over and saw his face and knew immediately who he was so he joined us for few minutes too! Dianne Eddins Cook & hubby Frank also had dinner with us, always so much fun to be with them, Dianne the consummate cheerleader who never stops caring about our KHS65 friends.
Signing off - as I watch a hummingbird flitting around in the tree by my office window, on its way to my feeder no doubt. It will soon be the end of watching those amazing little birds as I work, they head south by the end of this month. Thanks for reading and happy September, my favorite month!
