THINGS OF INTEREST

     As I've mentioned before, much of the material we include in the Korner is "old hat" to local readers but, many, perhaps, even a majority, who browse the Korner are former residents and now wake up each morning quite some distance from the Central Iowa area.

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     BREAKING NEWS: For years there have been rumors of an Olive Garden restaurant, a fan favorite, coming to Ames but the talk has always been rejected as just a "bad joke." No more. They say now it will definitely be happening in the near future.

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     Remember Ankeny, that little burg just north of Des Moines? That city requested a special census recently and the results are astounding.

     Since the 2020 census, little old Ankeny has grown by a double digit percentage, 12.3%. The population is now 76,200, which edges out Iowa City as the fifth largest city in Iowa. 

     The special census request cost the city $1.4 million....HOWEVER. The city will now receive more than $1.1 million more in additional road use tax funds every year. A pretty successful result I'd say.

     P.S. As the entire Des Moines metro area continues to grow, another good example is Bondurant, which has reached a population of 9,393, a 27.5% increase since 2020.

     I, the Kornerman, remembers when Ankeny, that little bump in the road enroute to Des Moines, defeated our Toreadors in the 1948 State Boys Basketball Tournament. We had a great all-state player in Pinky Clifton but Ankeny had the THREE Fontana brothers.

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     Picked this news of former residents up off the wire.....Caryl Achenbach Poshusta, BHS-56, said she and her husband, Ron Schmickley, BHS-54, have lived in a retirement community for five years, with good health and are happy they made the move when they did. They enjoy the Northwest and Spokane. Two of her children and lots of grandchildren live close by and there are others in Colorado and the Northwest U.S..Caryl's sister, Roma Achenbach, was a classmate of mine, BHS-53.

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      The State University of Iowa has a new men's basketball coach, Ben McCollum, and there's a Boone connection.

     When McCollum played collegiate basketball from 1999-2001 at North Iowa Area Community College, he was coached by Boone resident Steve Krafcisin.

     After coaching the men's team at NIACC, Krafcisin came to DMACC, Boone Campus to coach the Bears women's team from 2005-2022. He's remained here in retirement.

     Krafcisin thinks McCollum will be successful as the Hawkeye coach. He told Mike Hlas of the Cedar Rapids Gazette that, "I think he's definitely ready for this. I think people will love him and the guys will love him. A lot of kids will want to play there." 

     Krafcisin has always been part of a head scratching trivia question. What college basketball player/s played in two Final Fours for two different teams? Two is the correct answer. Bob Bender played for Duke and Indiana in Final Four play and Krafcisin played for North Carolina and Iowa, 1979-80, in the Final Four.

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     The Kornerman received some information about a Pilot Mound Midgets Legion baseball team of years past. A photo was also included.

     The story mentions several familiar Pilot area names, Loel Johnson and Bill Caldwell, who were members of and pictured in the story on the Midgets. Both played later on some outstanding  basketball and baseball teams there through their high school days. Both are now deceased.

     A couple other players pictured were Bob Harris and Billy Parrish. Neither finished high school at Pilot. Harris, BHS-58, graduated from Boone High and Parrish moved away from the Pilot Mound community.

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       Worldwide Korner headquarters are located at 928 South Jackson, Boone, Iowa 50036-4932. Phone number is 515-432-1530. Leave a message.To email your stories/memories/comments/death notices......https://kelleyskorner1@blogspot.com.