Breaking News

Personal touch solidifies softball’s future

The question had lingered for as long as I can remember. When will state softball be moved to a different location? The theory, through the years, kept the rumor mill churning. Not a matter of if, but when. Fort Dodge had enjoyed a good run for decades, but at some point, a changing of the ...

Pop quiz

Ryan Flaherty put me on the spot. I was inconspicuously having lunch with my second-grade daughter on Friday when Mr. Flaherty — the affable principal at Duncombe Elementary School here in Fort Dodge — announced to the entire room that I would soon be revealing the winner of the Iowa-Iowa ...

The first pitch

State softball week has officially arrived for the 56th consecutive season at Rogers Sports Complex in Fort Dodge. Players, coaches and fans from 40 of Iowa’s top high school programs begin arriving on Monday morning. The traffic into town will be steady for the next five days at the ...

THE ART OF SIMPLICITY

Dick Tighe was a simple man. He loved his family, his friends and football — especially Notre Dame football. Tighe, who passed away Tuesday at 94 years of age, made quite an impression on nearly every single person who came in contact with him. For much of his life, Tighe was around ...

Voice of the people

The powers-that-be may not realize it just yet, but there’s a storm brewing in the world of college athletics. I’m not speaking from the perspective of a mainstream media member, a coach, a player or a big-time donor. To a certain extent, we’ve always kind of just been living in their ...

Rallying point

It all started in December, when veteran Iowa softball coach Renee Gillispie announced she would be stepping away from the program for the 2025 season due to a personal health matter. Less than three months later, interim coach Brian Levin abruptly left the program in the middle of their ...