Richard Leutzinger (1961)

Jack Marriott was our Teacher of Mathematics throughout our High School years 1957-1961.   Calculators and Slide Rules were not in vogue yet.   Paper and pencil seemed to work pretty well, at least in our minds.

Jack was our Field and Track coach for 9th and 10th grade in addition to being a fine and understanding Teacher of Mathematics.   We probably caused him to run away to Montana for our 11th grade year but amazingly, he returned for our Senior year.

Instead of coaching us in the efficiency and practical use of the slide rule; he utilized the Theory of that well known English Economist and philosopher Thomas Malthus (circa 1800).   Malthus put a lot of energy into developing his Theory of Population Rise and Decline.  His main theory was that population grows more rapidly than the Food supply.  His important thought (and Mr. Marriott's) was that population grows until it exhausts the Food Supply; resulting in:  War, Famine, and or disease.   If Jack were alive today, he might be seeing some of Malthus' work coming to pass.   

I wanted to share something that I have always been grateful to Mr. Marriott; and I had the opportunity to share this with him when I met up with him again while I was at Iowa State University.  You see, as a freshman, I had just followed the crowd and went out for Track (as I knew it back then).  Most of my friends ran Half miles and Miles.   I was probably the 9th or possibly 10th best Half miler on the team.   In other words, I got to run plenty, but did nothing  other than delay the Meet while I finished my event.   The District meet really wasn't suited to my level of talent.  Mr. Marriott put me down to run in the One Mile Run.  I still to this day remember crossing the finish line with One lap to go; just as the winner was crossing the Line.  In polite terms, I got lapped in the Mile Run.

I decided that I needed to find a new career.   I discover much joy not too much pressure involved in Throwing Implements.  Namely Discus, Shotput and at that time; Football Throw.  Mr. Marriott thought that might be a good idea also; however, he plainly stated that he knew nothing about throwing events.  In those days, UHS did not have a Track or a Field.    Throwing took place on the Sidewalk next to the Annex and Throws were aimed at a grove of trees (Some of those trees are still there; south of the Walgreens Store.

I'm forever grateful to Mr. Marriott, not only as a teacher of Mathematics, but for his fine eye, being able to recognize (:No talent).   In fact, he and I had a laugh, when he wandered over to where I would practice throwing the Discus and Javelin up at Iowa State.  (He apparently was completing Graduate courses and was on his way back to Polk City when he discovered me working at trying to get better at Throwing objects for distance at the collegiate and National level..

Because of Mr. Marriott, I was able to compete successfully with some of the best athletes in the country back in the middle 1960's.  

Michael Connelly (1968)

Jim, we had a couple plays where we would split our ends, Dave Halverson and myself, out but when you are so stacked with unstoppable running backs, Garry Graham, 245 lbs fullback, and speedsters like Scott Stanfill and Danny Christianson we didn't throw the ball all that much.  Dave and I usually would just block.  Yes, I had moved back to Des Moines and Coach Burgett passed away from Covid pretty much at the height of the pandemic.  They had his memorial service quite a bit later.  I believe I was the only former UHS student/football team member at the service.  A ton of people from the Eastside, an area that he loved.

James L. (Jim) Beasley (1967)

Mike:

Kinda what I figured.  Did you and Dave make All Conference, or All State your Senior years?  I know Graham did.  One tough dude!

Dave was also a great catcher on the Baseball team.

Richard:

Same here, sorta.  My first track meet, Conference Indoor at Drake, I was a lap behind at the end.  I believe it was the 880!  I just hated running The Square.  But I lettered four years in golf, and can still do that.  

Slip stick was my undoing at Moo U, and got me out of the Engineering College after just one quarter.  Because I was a year ahead in math and science at Urbandale, I didn't take any my Senior year.  So, my first quarter at Moo U was a real unwakening.

John West Hunt (1960)

Having seen recent postings mentioning long-ago coaches/teachers Jack Marriott and Norval DeWitt, I thought I might throw in a comment.  Then Richard Leutzinger's (1961) posting about his discus throwing cemented my interest in writing since I (1960) could directly relate to that too.  Both of the mentioned teachers/coaches were among my favorites, along with Dick Boyer (band), with whom I still have occasional email contact.  I visited both coaches at UHS when I could get to Urbandale while attending ISU, although my parents had moved to Illinois the summer before my senior high school year at UHS.  I had stayed at the Laverrenz's.  In typing class, Mr. DeWitt let me use a keyboard with all the characters on the keys so I could look at them as I typed, then memorize a line and type it, etc.  I actually was pretty good at it, but he knew what I was doing.  So one day he put me on a typewriter without marked keys and I had to look at the chart on the wall, memorize a line at a time, and type each one.  Having had fun with me and made his point that I would never be a touch typist, he let me go back to "my typewriter" to cheat for the rest of the term (but he gave me a B, probably for speed/accuracy and at least using all of my fingers).  I'm down to 8 fingers now.  He and I played table tennis in the old lunchroom (in a separate small building from the original high school) after everyone cleared out from lunch.  

Discus: I was a pack, at best, mile/cross country runner in high school and was more useful as track manager by keeping track of records.  That gave me time to play around with discus throwing.  Being a 5' 8'' 115-pound thrower (not much strength but with long arms and a fast rotation), my throws were a gross number of yards shorter than Richard Leutzinger's.  I could almost toss my numerical weight in distance, and once in awhile even earned some points for the team by beating the other team's backup thrower.  I still have the black, rubber discus my parents bought me to practice throwing when I was in high school.  I sometimes wish I could still spin and take it out for a spin....  As others have mentioned their slide rule days, I also still have my 1960 K&E slide rule from ISU.  No, it never comes in handy, but I can't just throw it away. 

Debora Holmes (1978)

Wondering if anyone remembers Mr. Cedarholm? I had him in 10th grade for Creative Writing. Anyone who knows his whereabouts or where he went after Urbandale? He made a big difference in my life and I'd like to thank him.

James L. (Jim) Beasley (1967)

I, too, owe a debt of gratitude to a lot of people at UHS back in the day, which it took time to realize.  Coming in as a Roosey, I have to admit that those who counted gave me a fair chance.  I had opportunities at UHS I would not have had there.

James L. (Jim) Beasley (1967)

Hurricane Ian:

We got the clean side at our Englewood, FL Winter home.  No storm surge and no flooding.  Lotsa trees down, and they all missed our house and outbuildings. No electricity, no water or sewers, no gas stations, no internet, spotty cell service.

Anthony N. Woloch (1972)

Glad you are ok Jim.  Hope things get better for you soon!

Jerry Stuckle (1970)

Glad to hear you didn't have any significant damage, Jim.  I was worried after hearing of the other damage in Englewood.  That's a pretty area.  Wish I could convince my wife to retire down there.  Spent a lot of Christmases with my parents at Weston's Resort (now the WannaB Inn) and loved every minute.

James L. (Jim) Beasley (1967)

Thanks.

We're going down the last week of October to do cleanup.

I reached out to a fraternity brother on Sanibel and he said "both" his "houses" are still standing, but he was worried about his "boat company" in Cape Coral.

We're not in the same tax bracket. 

Two roads diverged in the woods and I, I took the one less traveled by.

And that has made all the difference.

James L. (Jim) Beasley (1967)

Could it still be true that Mike Connelly holds 10 Urbandale Basketball records, but is not in the Hall of Fame?

Really!?

https://j-hawks.com/hof/Records/Records_by_Sport/Boys_Basketball

Valerie R. De Hart (Baker) (1977)

Michael Connelly (1968)

Hey Jim....thanks.  Apparently it was an oversight that was never corrected.  Coach DeWitt and Coach Page told me they were trying to find an appropriate picture to use and then nothing.  Must admit, it has always bothered me a bit.

James L. (Jim) Beasley (1967)

Well, as best as I can tell, the contact for the Hall of Fame is

Surely someone who still holds ten records after 54 years, plus all the other accomplishments Mike did, should be in the Hall of Fame.

I am going to start by sending this discussion.

James L. (Jim) Beasley (1967)

 

Jim Beasley

 

-----Original Message-----
From: william.watson@j-hawks.com
To: jandjatthelake@aol.com
Cc: 'Andrew Olson' <andrew.olson@j-hawks.com>
Sent: Sun, Nov 6, 2022 11:08 am
Subject: RE: Mike Connelly Should Be in The Urbandale Hall of Fame
 

Jim

 

You are correct – he should be on the Hall of Fame listing based upon making 3^rd Team All-State.

 

Thanks for sending this our way.  We will get this updated this week.

 

William R. Watson, Ph.D., CAA

Director of Activities and Community Education

Urbandale Community School District

7111 Aurora Avenue

Urbandale, Iowa  50322

Phone:  (515) 457-6994

FAX:  (515) 457-6949

E-Mail:  william.watson@j-hawks.com

Websites:  www.j-hawks.com / www.urbandalecommunityed.com

 

Debora Holmes (1978)

Valerie R. De Hart (Baker), thank you ever so much for taking the time to reach out! I have now located Mr. Cederquist's whereabouts at the University of Utah (retired). I may try to contact him through that University. Thanks again!! Debora

Valerie R. De Hart (Baker) (1977)

Timothy J. Lyons (1968)

James L. (Jim) Beasley (1967)

A little more about Mike Connelly . . . If I counted right, there are stiill 17 Urbandale individual and team records attributed to Mike standing for 1965-68, after more than 50 years.  With all the great athletes that have come since, that's hard to believe.  You can find basketball records here: https://www.j-hawks.com/hof/Records/Records_by_Sport/Boys_Basketball 

Anthony N. Woloch (1972)

Well deserved.

Congratulations Mike?

Well done James.

Anthony N. Woloch (1972)

Congratulations Mike Connely!

Your entry into the UHS Athletic Hall of Fame is well deserved.

Way to go Jim for your advocacy on Mike's behalf.

Thank you William Watts for helping get this done. 

Sincerely,

Anthony N. Woloch

UHS Class of 1972

Anthony N. Woloch (1972)

correction:  William R. Watson

James L. (Jim) Beasley (1967)

I don't know if you saw my last comment, but I said a person who is responsible for 17 personal and team records that are still standing after more than 50 years ought to be in the Hall of Fame.

 

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Andrew Olson <andrew.olson@j-hawks.com>
To: william.watson@j-hawks.com
Cc: jandjatthelake@aol.com
Sent: Mon, Nov 7, 2022 2:56 pm
Subject: Re: Mike Connelly Should Be in The Urbandale Hall of Fame
 

I have added Mike onto the Hall of Fame listing (link deleted)  I see there are a few others that we have missed as well.  I'll work to get those updated yet today or possibly tomorrow.

 

Thank you for bringing this to my attention.  I'm sorry he was not included originally.

 

 

Andrew Olson

Stadium Manager, Urbandale Community School District

7111 Aurora Avenue, Urbandale, IA 50322

Direct: (515) 457-6937   |   Office: (515) 457-6945   |   Fax: 515-457-

Michael Connelly (1968)

Thank you, Jim Beasley and Tim Lyons for thinking of me.  It is very much appreciated.  As they say, better late than never!!!  Thanks again!

Mike

James L. (Jim) Beasley (1967)

Where's my hundred bucks.