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Sports Columns

Play ball!

The state softball tournament arrives on Fort Dodge’s doorstep for the 55th consecutive year beginning Monday at Rogers Sports Complex. Forty of Iowa’s best high school teams visit our community in a tradition that dates back to 1970. At that point, the event was just 13 years old and ...

BEING A GRAD DAD

It was a random day early in the 2009 school year. My son and I were at R.D. Mitchell Park in Fort Dodge after one of his very first preschool classes. We decided to have a picnic, and I remember watching him play and run freely, ducking in and out of the tunnel there that only 4-year-olds ...

Iowa’s Bluder always had a bigger picture in mind

She was a legendary coach long before landing a once-in-a-lifetime recruit. Yet to many, Lisa Bluder’s career will forever be defined by her time with Caitlin Clark — an era of Iowa Hawkeye women’s basketball filled with fame and fortune. The 63-year-old Bluder announced her retirement ...

Legend of Nitzke lives on at Dodger Stadium

In 1992, the baseball field at Dodger Stadium was named after Hall of Fame coach Ed McNeil. McNeil, who had died of a heart attack the year prior, was an icon in both Fort Dodge and baseball circles. His name in our community will always be synonymous with the sport, which saw tremendous ...

GOING THE DISTANCE, WITH A PURPOSE

BOSTON — Keegan Jones was seeking a physical challenge and emotional courage. The 2013 Fort Dodge Senior High graduate found both by supporting a cause deeply personal to him. Jones is now just a few days away from his first Boston Marathon experience. The former Dodger standout athlete ...

Dreams came true

“Dad, I’m really nervous.” I watched my 12-year-old daughter — donning her Hawkeye colors — anxiously pace in the living room, hours before the Iowa women’s basketball team would play in the national championship game for a second consecutive season. Think about the heights ...