Father to son, a legacy of Gazette high school sports coverage

Father’s Day, like a lot of non-holiday holidays, is a time for reflection more than anything.

We celebrate with a fishing outing, a day at the ballpark, a round of golf or by spending time with our families. But mostly, we think about our fathers, about being fathers.

And maybe taking a nap.

This time of year, my father — the late Jack Ogden — isn’t far from my thoughts. Like father, like son — my dad spent his adult years telling stories about other people.

He was the executive sports editor at The Gazette when he hired me as a part-time agate clerk. I was in high school when I decided I wasn’t going to play basketball my junior year. I was going to focus on getting ready for the spring track and field season.

My dad, you see, not only edited and wrote about sports, he also was a coach. Ever try to fool your coach?

“That’s great,” my dad told his 17-year-old son who had life all figured out. “But you’re going to get a job — and I have a job for you.”

Forty-five years later, here I sit in a “tiny town on the mighty Mississippi” thinking about how times have changed in this business he and I share. The fact that I can work from anywhere with a Wi-Fi connection would probably blow his mind even though he did live long enough to work on the first computers The Gazette offered.

“I can’t learn this new stuff,” he would often say, or something to that effect.

He died way too young at the age of 58 in 1982 and, for the record, he always learned the newest computers and always thrived — especially at the one thing that hasn’t changed in my 45 years or the 25 or so he worked here before my introduction.

Storytelling is what we do — whether it be about a star football player at the University of Iowa or a standout wrestler at the University of Northern Iowa.

Or, in his world, a little known girls’ basketball player from Anamosa or Sigourney or a longtime coach from northeast Iowa. That’s what he loved more than any Super Bowl, Masters golf tournament or the Indianapolis 500.

Telling stories in his “Athlete of the Week” features or Meet the Preps column gave him great satisfaction and endeared him to many readers of this section.

That legacy lives on today in the work of Jeff Linder, Jeff Johnson and K.J. Pilcher, as well as what The Gazette still holds dear — high school sports coverage.

Our high school audience changes every year with new freshmen joining the teams and seasoned seniors moving on to college. We attempt to reach the trifecta audience — parents, grandparents and maybe even a student or two with what we do in print and online.

We still strive to tell good stories.

Which brings up the reason I started writing this on a much-needed rainy Father’s Day — Jack Ogden’s legacy lives on in our Athlete of the Year honors.

And, for the 41st time the votes are in and tallied and we are close to naming this year’s finalists and this year’s winners. I won’t spoil our announcements with any names, but will tell you we once again had an outstanding crop of high school seniors to choose from.

It wasn’t easy picking the winners — and never is. That’s the way it should be.

A year ago, we celebrated 40 years of this award with a series of articles from our first winners to our 2022 honorees — Macy Daufeldt of West Liberty and Austin Hilmer of North Linn.

Who will top this year’s crop? You’ll have to check these pages out again on July 2 when we announce the 10 finalists. Then, on July 9, when we’ll reveal the winners.

One thing is for sure — the man who inspired these awards would love to be telling these stories.

Comments: (319) 398-8461; jr.ogden@thegazette.com