It has been a fun ride.
I was thrown right into the fire when I started at the Iola Register a year and a half ago.
Allen Community College at Neosho County Community College basketball was my first assignment and immediately I got the feel for just how passionate this sports community can be.
Since then, I’ve seen some pretty amazing feats. Humboldt advanced to the state tournament in volleyball and girls basketball, breaking a drought that stretched back to the ’80s in both sports. Yates Center’s Hadley Splechter won three state championships on the track. The Fillies cross-country team won a league title with four freshman in their top-five runners.
Those and hundreds of other memories from the field or court are ones I’ll never forget as I move on from the Register and Allen County, but I’ll also take away memories like learning about the great teams of the past from Marv Smith or Jack Steiner, or Jason Bauer picking on Kane “Butter” Rogers at an American Legion game, or seeing Steve Uitts smiling from ear-to-ear when the Double-A Post 15 Indians gave him a pair of batting gloves for his birthday.
There are so many players, coaches and parents that I should thank, but I don’t want to steal too much of Tim Everson’s first front page design as sports editor.
I thank you all for embracing an Iowa kid (an Iowa State fan nonetheless) straight out of college who was taking his first full-time journalism job, and helping me to feel right at home in Allen County.
Now I get to watch from afar and simply become a fan of all of the great kids here — it was hard not to cheer for them openly anyway.
Thanks for so many fun memories
