THIS BHS ALUM HAS LIVED IN "HIGH COTTON"

      The Kornerman has some very interesting material to report about a BHS alum who has had the pleasure of  "working" with some of our nation's best known celebrities.

      Actually, John Hinz, BHS-64, coerced Mike Ahlstrom, BHS-61, into allowing the Kornerman to put into print some of his, "Mike's," work "adventures."

      After some prodding, Mike eventually conceded to John with, "Mo is a special person, and I know he'd get a kick out of this. It's kind of Boone-oriented but I haven't wanted to come across as "look at me", or anything like that. I've just been a very fortunate guy." 

     Without too much detail, following are some of the fortunate acquaintances Mike was able to enjoy during his work with Sears.

     Mike explained, "I was in charge of the Super Stars TV shows for Sears as part of that dream assignment. We taped those sports competitions in Rotunda, FL and Hawaii and we also did some shows taped in Malibu and Newport Beach, CA. Endless celebrity things are still hard for a Boone, Iowa boy to grasp.......playing tennis for two hours, just me and Farah Fawcett. Dancing with Wonder Woman Linda Carter is hard to forget or playing basketball with Bill Bradley, Dave Debusschere, Bob Cousy and Earl (the Pearl) Monroe."

     Early in his Sears career, Mike was in charge of the Ted Williams Sports Advisory Staff. "It mean't, for that time, that I was Ted's boss and Sir Edmund Hillary's also. Ted and I became good friends and we "climbed some pretty good mountains together" as Sir Edmund wrote when he personalized his book for me. I don't why Sears paid me......I would have done this all for free."

     Mike wrote, "one day I was at a fund-raiser in Chicago, where they had sports stars at every table. My chair was back-to-back with Ernie Banks and Bob Feller was at another near-by table. I turned around and said, "would a boy from Van Meter, Iowa sign a ball for a boy from Boone, Iowa?" Feller looked at me and said, "Boone? I was there last week." He said Mrs. Carolyn Carlson, who was, at that time, the Boone Public School District Nurse and a relative of President Eisenhower, was also a relative of his. He was in Boone visiting her."

     "When I got that promotion to the Williams Advisory Staff, I drove out to meet and spend a week with Ted Williams at his fishing lodge on the Miramichi River in Blackville, New Brunswick, Canada. I knocked on the door and there he was, the greatest baseball hitter of all time. I said, "I come from a baseball town, and in my town, you're either a Stan Musial man, or you're a Ted Williams man. I've always been a Musial man. I really don't know why I said that, it just "came out." He got a big grin, and said "Mike......I like you already." That started a great friendship."

     Mike concluded, "a year or two after that, we were in St. Louis for the National Collegiate Baseball Coaches Association convention. Ted said he'd heard there was a good restaurant in St. Louis. We pulled  up and Stan Musial was waiting for us. Ted hadn't forgotten what I said to him that first night we met at his lodge. It was Stan's restaurant and there I am, a boy from Boone, Iowa, having dinner with Ted Williams and Stan Musial in Stan's restaurant. Heaven.......just heaven."

     EDITOR'S NOTE: I guess none of us ever know what this life will bring. Mike's great experiences, of course, remind me of the opportunity the Kornerman had for eight years to induct some of our greatest  sports stars......Tom Landry, Arnold Palmer, John Wooden.......and many others into the National High School Hall of Fame. Mike Ahlstrom and the Kornerman......a couple of pretty lucky guys.

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     Question of the week: Do regular dogs see a police dog and think, "oh no, it's a cop."

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     Thanks to Jerry Manriquez, BSC-57, for the great pictures of former Boone school athletes and their teams. We're talking about images from the 1920's. Really enjoyed seeing them.

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     BOONE CONNECTED DEATHS: Robert (Bob) Lee Olson, 84, Boone..........Marvalene Peterson Anderson, 82, Stratford. Born in Boone. Stratford HS-57. Attended business school in Omaha and worked on the railroad in Chicago. Returned to Stratford and worked briefly for Bell Telephone in Des Moines. Married Darrell (Pete) Anderson. Worked for the Stratford schools for over 20 years and then the State Department of Education in Des Moines for over 13 years before retiring in 2002. Survivors include two daughters, including Kelli Peterson of Stratford and two sisters, including Sandy Stolte of Boone...........Richard Ahrens, 74, Boone. Born in Boone. BHS-64. Earned a degree from Boone Junior College. Graduated from the Police Academy in 1973 and joined the Boone Police Department. Was an officer for 15 years and then a detective and Assistant Police Chief for 15 years before retiring in 2002. Married Martha (Toby) Haaland Givens in 1993. Survivors include his wife, two sons, a brother Bob Ahrens and a sister Joyce Myers both of Boone. Brothers and sisters-in-law also survive.

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