Chapter 6

“THIS BUILDING represents a revival of athletics at Bartley High School,” Superintendent Jones proclaimed at the opening ceremony. “In fact, not only at the high school, but throughout our district, in the elementary and junior high, and among the citizens who support the schools. Some of you will recall that I was stubborn about not expanding our athletic program. I, like many of you, had become dulled to sports as an extracurricular activity that boys participated in to keep them out of trouble, but weren’t particularly enthused about. In fact, we’d had some troubled times in our athletic department and I considered shutting it down altogether. And then the girls arose! I had never seen the community come together as quickly over any subject as over our first season with girls’ basketball. And those girls have continued to live up to the reputation they forged with a State Championship their first year out and State Runner Up the second year. I believe they are taking us to a new height this year.”

The crowd applauded. Nearly everyone knew Jones had opposed the expansion, but two years ago, the election of two school new school board members who were mothers of girls wanting to play changed the direction the school district went.

“It would only be fair to recognize that one member of that first year team went on to DMACC to play for the Bears and was their second top scorer of the season with 293 points. She led the team with 124 assists and 62 steals. Angeline Brenda Grant!”

More applause. Brenda had cut classes to be at the opening ceremony, even though her season opened this week, too.

“She will be back on the court for the Bears Friday. Good luck, Brenda. And when the State University basketball season opens this Thursday, for the first time ever it will put four sisters on the court, all graduates of Bartley High School, though only two played here the past two years. I’m referring, of course, to Roberta and Daniella Armor, who were recruited by State and have joined their sisters Eva and Zoe. They couldn’t be with us today, but we wish them luck when their season begins.”

People liked recognizing the graduates, but they were eager to see the canvas rolled off the gym floor while they were seated in the bleachers.

“Now we come to this season. This was our second season with a volleyball team and we’re happy to note that most of the team will be returning next year, more experienced and better equipped to improve their seven and nineteen record from this year. The same is true of our new football team, which was mostly freshmen and sophomores this year with a few juniors who will be back to lead them in improving a one and seven season. During cross country season, Dennis Enders led the boys’ team and captured seventh place in the State Championships just this past Saturday. And Janice Goodman captured third place and led her team to the State Championship trophy for cross country. This will be the first new trophy to grace the case outside our gym.

“But we expect more. This week, boys and girls will be trying out for the four varsity and junior varsity basketball teams, and the wrestling team. And our revived cheerleaders who have led our teams in conditioning exercises each day, will compete in the State Cheerleading Championships on Saturday this week.

“Perhaps it is appropriate to use that as a lead-in to one of the biggest changes that has occurred in our district. Led by Student Assistant Coach Dennis Enders, assisted by the entire cheerleading squad, fitness and conditioning exercises have captured the participation of our entire community. Many adults join the daily exercise program with students both in the athletic program and simply getting fit. Dozens—perhaps hundreds—more are participating at home through the video sessions that Dennis and the cheerleaders record and present. That has only become an official school sponsored activity this summer and will continue as we have the expanded facility to house the hundred or more daily participants.

“And this has been made possible by the sponsorship of our community’s newest business, AgCentral. Because of their contribution to this program, and donation of this athletic facility, we will name it the AgCentral Athletic Pavilion. And in recognition of this, I would like to turn the podium over to one of our own boosters, Lon Stackhouse, Vice President of Development for AgCentral.”

There were more heartfelt cheers from the audience as they realized none of this would be possible without the donation of AgCentral, whose name was already on the football stadium. Lon was known to most of the people present as a supporter and representative of AgCentral.

“Superintendent Jones, school board, faculty and coaches, citizens, and most importantly, students and athletes of the Bartley School District. It is a great privilege to be able to address you at the opening of this new athletic pavilion. It was made possible by the close cooperation of the community with AgCentral and by the executive leadership of AgCentral, here to my left. We have a vested interest in the success of Bartley High School athletic programs—not only from the standpoint that my daughter has participated in them. No, it is even more personal than that. I’m going to ask our AgCentral CEO, Joseph Rimes, to come to the podium.”

This hadn’t been on the schedule, but no one was going to object to the CEO of their sponsor talking. As long as he didn’t go too long.

“I’m going to make this brief and we can get back to the scheduled opening,” Rimes said. “The success shown here is very personal to me. I visited the school here a year ago when Lon was in the process of convincing me that we should dig deep to sponsor Wolverine and Angeline sports. During that visit, I was asked to view a workout session in the gym, led by students for all comers. I saw over a hundred people, not all students, engaged in a high-energy workout.

“It happened that at the time, I was overweight and experiencing pains in my chest. I went to my doctor. He said I was suffering from an overstressed heart and was a prime candidate for a heart attack if I didn’t get my weight down. Of course, he prescribed some medication to regulate my heart and thin my blood, but he prescribed an exercise program that almost exactly matched the beginners’ program recorded and posted online by Dennis Enders. My wife joined me in the workouts and together we began to get healthier. I’m happy to say that I’ve lost over fifty pounds in the year since we began this program, and I follow the tips in the healthy living blog as well. My wife has also lost unneeded pounds, but she told me if I mentioned how much, she’d make sure I didn’t live to regret it.

“Let me just say that I sincerely believe the people and spirit of this community, as shown in the video program I’ve been following, literally saved my life. My doctor has exclaimed over the turnaround and recovery and has cleared me to move to the next level in the exercise program. It’s not an isolated case. We made the programs a part of our benefit package, offering various rewards for people getting fit. The people in our corporate offices have lost a total of 535 pounds in the past year. Medical leave days have been reduced. Production is up. This building is a small testament of our gratitude from the people at AgCentral to the people of Bartley and your athletic program. Thank you.”

He stepped away from the podium as his words still echoed in the gym. The applause was riotous. Cheers filled the air. Principal Morris stepped up to the microphone.

“I don’t think we need any more words of motivation or thanks after that,” she said. “What we need to do is cut the ceremonial ribbon and roll back the canvas. I’m calling forward the class representatives who were chosen for this ceremony: Senior Natalie Armor, junior Rae Dean, sophomore Rachel “Thoms” Thomas, and freshman Carrie Vogel. Holding the ribbon, CEO of AgCentral, Joseph Rimes, and Bartley Athletic Director, Dr. Neil Griffith.”

The six approached and lots of pictures were taken as they ceremonially cut the ribbon with a huge pair of scissors. As soon as they had finished, the school custodians started pulling back the tarp that covered the gym floor. People cheered when the Wolverine logo was uncovered at center court. But that was only the beginning. As soon as the tarp was off the floor, the senior Angelines who had been juniors the previous year ran onto the floor in their last year’s uniforms. They were led by Brenda, in her DMACC Bears uniform, number 0, dribbling a ball. From the other side, Natalie came running toward the basket. Brenda launched the ball and Natalie picked it up in the air to slam dunk the first basket of the season.

The people in the stands went wild.

After the quick demonstration, people continued to wander through the facility while the coaches called together all students planning to try out for the winter sports.

“We’re going easy on you all today,” Neil said, addressing nearly seventy-five students. A few more filtered in, led by Frank Wilson, the junior high gym teacher. This younger cadre filled in seats at the edge. “By that, I mean I’m not going to have Dennis start workouts today. Tomorrow, official tryouts begin and you should all come prepared for a full fitness and conditioning class prior to fitness evaluations. This week is going to be a full week of testing and evaluating at every level.”

“What if we’re only coming for the fitness and conditioning?” Lonnie Rasmussen called out. Neil turned to Dennis.

“Well, first off, Lonnie, team managers are not exempt from fitness and conditioning. We have a place for you and you’ll need to know all the exercises in order to lead your team when it comes to warmups,” Dennis said. Lonnie gulped. His girlfriend, Sara, a senior cheerleader, nudged him in the ribs. Dennis continued. “However, I’m assuming you were asking on behalf of others who are either here or want to join. One of the new things we’ve instituted, effective immediately, is that all participants in the school athletic program, which includes fitness and conditioning, must turn in a medical release form and parent permission form. We’ve got those forms available for everyone to pick one up after this meeting. If you filled one out for football, volleyball, cross country, or cheerleading this fall, you don’t need a new medical release. Just bring the appropriate parental permission form.”