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Time Machine: Doxsie reporting
Gazette sportswriter took on champs in 1979 weekly series
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Good-natured, unflappable, even-tempered and just plain nice. That’s how I’d describe Don Doxsie, a Gazette sportswriter for five years beginning in 1978. Don was an imposing newsroom presence, at 6 feet, 6 inches, 245 pounds.
The first Gazette story with Doxsie’s byline appeared March 24, 1979. It was about Denise Long Sturdy, No. 1 all-time scorer in girls prep basketball history and a member of the Iowa Cornets pro basketball team.
Two months later, Doxsie, who was 25 at the time, began a 16-part, weekly series where he tried out different sports alongside experienced athletes, including University of Iowa wrestling coach Dan Gable. Doxsie had never tried many of the sports, so his experiences were not pretty, but they were amusing.
The Gazette promoted the series in an ad showing Doxsie wearing 13 uniforms from the sportswear and sporting goods departments of Armstrong’s department store.
Iowa fencer Doug Dobbs (left) and The Gazette's Don Doxsie square off in Iowa City in May 1979 for the first in a series of stories Doxsie wrote about participating in sports with experienced athletes. (Gazette archives)
Don Doxsie (left) of The Gazette winces as national karate grand champion Dave Batchelder throws a punch in June 1979. (Gazette archives)
Gazette sportswriter Don Doxsie tries weightlifting at the Cedar Rapids Athletic Club in August 1979.
Gazette sportswriter Don Doxsie goes through a ball-handling drill with members of the Cedar Rapids Rugby Club in August 1979.
All-American pitcher Laura Paulus throws a ball right past Don Doxsie who is trying his hand at playing fast pitch softball in August 1979.
Fencing, karate
The first report, on May 27, was about fencing, when Doxsie dueled with Doug Dobbs, president of the University of Iowa Fencing Club.
As Doxsie put it, “I didn’t know a piste from a riposte, a parry from a salle. I wasn’t even sure whether it was going to hurt or not when Doug jabbed the flattened tip of his foil into my chest.”
The next week Doxsie joined the batting practice with the Kernels’ predecessor, the Giants, at the old Veterans Memorial Stadium.
He took a few punches from national karate grand champion David Batchelder, a Toddville native, crediting karate pads for saving his life.
Batchelder told Doxsie he had weighed 205 pounds when he won the national championship in 1978. He had since lost about 35 pounds. “I feel a lot faster now. I’ve always fought people bigger than me,” he said.
Doxie’s response: “I only wish he’d told me that before our match.”
Doxsie squared off with Doug Hale, a Cedar Rapids man he described as “the closest thing the Cedar Rapids area has to a full-fledged ‘pool shark.’ ”
On a windy day, he faced Micki Schillig, three-time state high school tennis singles champion who would go on to a successful college and pro career.
“To a passing observer, it may well have resembled the sight of a slender young cobra casually and methodically sniping away at an overweight burro,” Doxsie wrote. “I have to admit I felt like an ass at times.”
The final score: 6-0.
Basketball, boxing, track
Next up was a basketball match against Iowa City Regina High School phenom Mark Gannon. Doxsie lost to Gannon, of course, 10-3. Gannon on went on to play for Lute Olson at Iowa and then was drafted by the San Diego Clippers.
A five-round sparring match against light heavyweight state boxing champion Steve Eden was up next. Eden was a three-time state champion in both Golden Gloves and AAU.
Doxsie’s hopes of “going the distance” with Eden were short-lived.
At a track meet at Kennedy High School, Doxsie reported, “I finished second in my division in the shot put. … I was fourth in the high hurdles, sixth in the 440-yard run.
“Unfortunately, in the Open class, there were only two entries in the shot put, four in the hurdles and six in the 440. That’s right. I was last in everything … except heavy breathing and pain-ravaged calf muscles.”
Houshang Bozorgzadeh, former national table tennis champion in both Iran and the United States, was a couple heads shorter than Doxsie when the two met for competition in Independence, Iowa. Size didn’t matter. The champion allowed Doxsie one point, for the final score, 21-1.
An Iowa City Polo Club match in North Liberty found Doxsie on the ground after being hit by an errant ball and falling from his horse. For the only time in his series of sport adventures, he backed away from a game.
Weightlifting was next at the new Cedar Rapids Athletic Club, followed by rugby with the Cedar Rapids Rugby Club, and archery with the Waltonian Archers of Linn County.
In a try at hitting Laura Paulus’ fast-pitch softball pitching, Doxsie succeeded in connecting with five out of 26 pitches.
After a two-hour practice on the offensive line of the Coe College football team, Doxsie discovered that having a belt for his pants was essential. The one provided for him didn’t fit, so he went without. Not surprisingly, his pants began to slide off during a play.
Wrestling Gable
Gazette sportswriter Don Doxsie gets spun to his back by Hawkeye wrestling coach Dan Gable in September 1979. (Gazette archives)
Gazette sportswriter Don Doxsie wrestles Hawkeye Coach Dan Gable in September 1979.
The last story of the series featured Doxsie taking the mat against Olympic gold medalist and University of Iowa wrestling coach Dan Gable.
“Ever try to wrestle a legend? I did,” Doxsie wrote. “My bout with the legend didn’t really last that long. The most liberal estimates pegged the actual wrestling time at about 10 minutes. But it seemed longer.”
Doxsie left The Gazette to become sports editor of the Quad City Times in 1984. He retired from the Times in 2022 after a stellar career that included induction into the Quad City Sports Hall of Fame, winning state and national writing awards, authoring at least three books, and being nominated for a Pulitzer for an award-winning, six-part series on runners from Kenya who consistently won the Quad-City Times Bix7 race.
Comments: D.fannonlangton@gmail.com
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