'Good things don't happen by accident.' -- Kirk Ferentz rewards a high school student's persistence

BELLE PLAINE - Over the last six months, Belle Plaine High School senior Tony Jones tried and tried to get Kirk Ferentz's attention.

We'd love to have you speak at our school, Jones wrote to the Iowa football coach last December. There was no reply. And then?

“I called their office maybe 30 times,” Jones said.

Ferentz gets a lot of personal-appearance requests. After the last regular-season game in November, there was recruiting, bowl-game preparation, more recruiting, spring practice, the I Club circuit ...

Last Friday, the call was finally returned. The coach had some time available on the following Thursday morning.

“It was pretty surprising. I thought they ignored it, to be honest,” Jones said minutes before he introduced Ferentz to Belle Plaine students and townspeople.

“I'm very nervous right now. You don't want to shake my hand.”

But Jones did just fine with his introduction, then listened with the rest of his schoolmates as Ferentz spoke for about 40 minutes.

The coach offered many of the same thoughts he shared with students at West Branch Middle School last week.

He asked the kids to ask themselves where they want to go, how they want to get there, and how will they put their plan into action.

How much that grabbed the students, who's to ever know? If one thought was taken to heart by one person, Ferentz's trip was worthwhile. Maybe one of his following statements stayed with someone in the bleachers:

“I think anybody can be successful. It's one of the amazing things about life.”

“Good things don't happen by accident.”

“One of the beauties of sports and one of the things I worry about (being lacking) in society is a team-first attitude. I think all of us need to carry that through life.”

Or, maybe the students learned something from one of their own about aiming high and not giving up.

After the students had returned to their regularly scheduled classes, Ferentz cited Jones' perseverance as a reason he made time in his schedule to drive to Belle Plaine.

“He was persistent,” Ferentz said. “Not in an obnoxious way, but in an impressive way.”

Jones got quite a few pats on the back in the last week.

“A lot of people were excited when Coach said he'd be here,” said Jones. “A lot of people were proud. A lot of people were shocked.”

This has been a bittersweet senior year for Jones. Things got off to a good start. He was a lineman and captain for the Plainsmen football team that won seven of its 10 games.

But he tore an ACL at a wrestling meet in December, ending his career in that sport. He had been a state-qualifier as a junior, reaching the second round.

“It kind of bothers me just talking about it,” he said. “Five of the 16 wrestlers in my bracket at state this year were guys I had beaten.”

But he never let that setback affect his duties as student president.

“Some people just want that title to put on their resumes,” said Belle Plaine Principal Dennis Phelps. “Tony really wanted to do some things and make a difference, quite frankly.”

Jones will attend Kirkwood Community College this fall, with hopes of advancing to a state university to possibly major in political science, education or communication studies.

“My dream job is to do the play-by-play announcing in Kinnick Stadium,” he said.

Don't bet against it happening. The commencement speaker at Belle Plaine's May 23 graduation ceremony is Sen. Chuck Grassley.

Guess which BPHS student helped make that happen.