WOW! A Toreador Sets an ALL-TIME State Record

     Before I, the Kornerman, forgets it, someone mentioned barber Loran Upton and I'm not sure that I have ever passed his name along.
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     The locals are aware by now but you out-of-towners may not know that we had a rare event for our little community last weekend. One of our Toreador athletes set a new all-time Iowa state record in the 3200 meter run at the Drake Relays. Folks, this was not just a Drake record.......it was the first time an Iowa high school athlete had ever run that event in less than nine minutes.
     Albert Meier's time was 8:58.46. That was a full six seconds better than the previous record. WOW! What an accomplishment. The Kornerman has personally watched Boone High athletic achievements for over 70 years and has studied accomplishments by BHS athletes for the years prior to that and I can't recall any previous Toreador athlete establishing an all-time state record. Please let me know if I've forgotten or am overlooking an equal achievement.
     Albert was named the top high school performer at the Relays
     Congratulations to Albert. He certainly gave Boone some great media publicity for a few days.
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     John Kueck has some more memories of the Barry family and also of the Drake Relays. He wrote, "I believe Percy Barry headed the department responsible for "welfare services." While at the Barry home, I remember people showing up requesting government "free cheese." His wife was Florence, but, as I recall, she went by Rusty, probably because of her red hair. She did work at Duffy's. One time when I was about 12 years old, Percy asked me if I'd like to go to Ogden with them to a parade. I said, "I don't know." Percy said, "Well, if you don't know, then we'll go without you." I ran home crushed and sobbed to my mom that they went to a parade without me. Needless to say, that was a good lesson that I've carried forward in life...........to not hesitate when someone wants to do something for you."
     John added, "In high school, I ran in the Drake Relays, which was the only time I had gone to the relays while in Iowa. In Minneapolis, through my wife, I met a friend who graduated from Drake and who had gone to the relays each year. My wife and I joined this couple and his parents to attend the relays for many years. Our friend's father also graduated from Drake and had been going to the relays forever. He'd buy the best tickets year after year so we had really great seats. Unfortunately, with the passing of the parents, we have discontinued this annual trek. I had even interested my children in going to the relays and my daughter and I ran in one of the 5k pre-races one year. As a runner and track enthusiast, the Drake Relays are as good as it gets to watch track and field."
     Hey, the old Kornerman attended the relays while a BHS track team member and then, while working for the IHSAA for 30 years, I and Jo attended the relays each of those years. It is truly a great event and should be on everyone's bucket list. Watching the greatest track and field athletes in the world do "their thing" is amazing.........especially if the weatherman cooperates.
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     Mark Tompkins wrote, "Several weeks ago, the Korner had some information about the Freedom trains that once passed through Boone and Des Moines. Last evening I chanced into a 15-minute documentary about the 1947 Friendship Food Train that stopped in Boone. The train was largely the idea of newspaper columnist Drew Pearson. It started on the west coast and gathered foods and medicine along the route to waiting cargo ships in New York. Between the main route from Los Angeles and a supplementary northern route that started in Indiana, the trains made 44 stops. In Iowa, those stops were in Council Bluffs, Boone, Ames, Cedar Rapids and Clinton. Folks donated food or money to buy food. In some towns, kids in junior high school would collect money to buy canned goods. Does anyone know if this was done in Boone? The train left Los Angeles on November 7, 1947, and by the time it got to New York, over 700 boxcars of food and medicine had been obtained to go to the ports in war-torn France and Italy. The first cargo ship arrived in France on December 18, 1947, and triggered a welcoming truck parade in Paris. Think of it, some Booneites can of evaporated milk got paraded through Paris.!"
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     Boone Area Deaths: Stephen Peterson, 35, Gilbert. Boone survivor is his brother, Jarod Peterson...........Joyce Platter, 73, Boone. Worked at Bourns and the DOT in Ames. Lived in Pilot Mound before moving to Boone. Boone survivor is her son, Chris Cox...........Doris Shaw, 89, Boone. Attended Boone High. Was a cook and home care health aide. Boone survivors are sons Boyce Williams Jr. and Ross Williams and daughter Dorothy Knight............Ruby Henley, 84, Boone. Moved to Boone in 1989. Boone survivor is her daughter Von Richards.........Frances Peter, 92, Boone. Farmed in Boone County. Moved into Boone in 1981.
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kelleyskorner1@gmail.com.