Hemer has seven grandsons playing on O-A team
By Tim Gallagher Journal staff writer | Posted: Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Shirley Hemer, center, is shown with her seven grandsons who play football this fall at Odebolt-Arthur High School. From left are: Jeremy Hemer, Colton Hemer, Colby Hemer, Tyler Schroeder, Eric Hemer, Ryan Hemer and Dalton Hemer. Some of parents standing behind the boys, from left, are: Lee Hemer, Carl Hemer, Rick and Kris (Hemer) Schroeder, Don Hemer and Dave Hemer. (Photo submitted)
If there are any fans busier this football season than Odebolt-Arthur supporter Shirley Hemer, I need to meet them. Hemer, 76, will spend football Friday nights cheering for her SEVEN grandsons, who suit up for the Odebolt-Arthur (Iowa) Trojans.
Shirley and husband Roy married in 1950 and started their large family. Eventually, they raised 13 children whose birth order alternated girl/boy/girl/boy ... the entire way through. All 13 Hemer children graduated from O-A and all of them played whatever sport was in season. (The family, Shirley is proud to say, survived despite having just ONE bathroom at home.)
Six Hemer boys played football and now their sons -- Shirley's grandsons -- sport the purple and gold of O-A.
Shirley has 41 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren. Roy died in April 2000, three months after they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. The couple had children in school for 30 straight years.
"I don't go to too many games any more because it's lonesome coming home to an empty house," she said Monday.
She did attend the school's soap scrimmage Friday night and had her picture taken with her grandsons. She'll probably be at home this Friday, awaiting word on the outcome as her Trojans face West Bend-Mallard in West Bend.
"I usually get a call as soon as the game is over and I hear who played, who scored and who got hurt," she said. "Cell phones are wonderful."
She plans on attending the home opener Sept. 7 in Odebolt as the Trojans face Graettinger-Terril.
Her grandsons playing this fall for Odebolt-Arthur are: Jeremy Hemer, Colton Hemer, Colby Hemer, Eric Hemer, Ryan Hemer, Dalton Hemer and Tyler Schroeder.
So, there could be a double-reverse flea-flicker pass that goes Hemer to Hemer to Hemer to Hemer to Hemer. Maybe Schroeder could kick the extra point or score the two-point conversion.
When I asked Shirley about her memories of football, she said she enjoyed the games, but was always nervous about her boys getting injured. She also knew a mountain of laundry faced her when she got home.
"Oh, I remember doing all the laundry," she said. "And I had to keep those dumb pads straight!"
Some additional notes from my visit to Remsen, Iowa, Friday night, the first of 10 Fridays I'll hit the road this prep football season in search of themes and tidbits that make football a special season throughout Siouxland ...
Heather Youde, the new activities director at Remsen-Union High School, spoke with me while standing next to a junked car parked on the hill south of the football field.
"Our senior boys got a car to trash for free," Youde explained. "It was a team bonding thing to get them riled up."
Seems the Remsen-Union Rockets senior boys get a junked car each year and take out their pregame football anxiety on the heap of metal, chrome and rubber. They often pick up the car after the popular Remsen demolition derby. That didn't happen this year, so the boys visited a local salvage yard and secured one for free.
The boys painted the car and then took lots of swings at it with hammers and baseball bats, per tradition. The coaches joined in.
While the spectacle looked intimidating, it must not have had quite they pull these Rockets desired. Spalding Catholic came from behind to defeat the hosts 22-14.
Most of the football players at Remsen St. Mary's High School were on hand to watch the game Friday. The boys from St. Mary's know Remsen-Union students well as St. Mary's students head to R-U high for classes in Spanish, physics, physical science and art.
***
Remsen-Union cheerleading captains Kelsey Gries, a senior, and Jeana Pick, a junior, told me cheerleaders kept plenty busy in the days leading up to the game. They attended a cheer camp in Storm Lake, Iowa, and learned to "hit the crowd" at the end of their cheers.
Hit the crowd?
Cheerleaders step toward the crowd and "engage them" by putting a fist toward them, or into the air.
"They say it works," Gries said.
These cheerleaders decorated the lockers of the Rockets and gave them all Blow-Pop suckers that said, "Blow 'Em Away!" They also took snacks to the cheerleaders from Spalding, a wonderful display of sportsmanship.
***
Regional Editor Tim Gallagher can be reached at tim.gallagher@lee.net or by calling (712) 293-4229.
Video highlights
See video of Tim Gallagher's visit to Remsen-Union High School for the Rockets' seasoning-opening game Friday night. Go to www.siouxcityjournal.com
Shirley and husband Roy married in 1950 and started their large family. Eventually, they raised 13 children whose birth order alternated girl/boy/girl/boy ... the entire way through. All 13 Hemer children graduated from O-A and all of them played whatever sport was in season. (The family, Shirley is proud to say, survived despite having just ONE bathroom at home.)
Six Hemer boys played football and now their sons -- Shirley's grandsons -- sport the purple and gold of O-A.
Shirley has 41 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren. Roy died in April 2000, three months after they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. The couple had children in school for 30 straight years.
"I don't go to too many games any more because it's lonesome coming home to an empty house," she said Monday.
She did attend the school's soap scrimmage Friday night and had her picture taken with her grandsons. She'll probably be at home this Friday, awaiting word on the outcome as her Trojans face West Bend-Mallard in West Bend.
"I usually get a call as soon as the game is over and I hear who played, who scored and who got hurt," she said. "Cell phones are wonderful."
She plans on attending the home opener Sept. 7 in Odebolt as the Trojans face Graettinger-Terril.
Her grandsons playing this fall for Odebolt-Arthur are: Jeremy Hemer, Colton Hemer, Colby Hemer, Eric Hemer, Ryan Hemer, Dalton Hemer and Tyler Schroeder.
So, there could be a double-reverse flea-flicker pass that goes Hemer to Hemer to Hemer to Hemer to Hemer. Maybe Schroeder could kick the extra point or score the two-point conversion.
When I asked Shirley about her memories of football, she said she enjoyed the games, but was always nervous about her boys getting injured. She also knew a mountain of laundry faced her when she got home.
"Oh, I remember doing all the laundry," she said. "And I had to keep those dumb pads straight!"
Some additional notes from my visit to Remsen, Iowa, Friday night, the first of 10 Fridays I'll hit the road this prep football season in search of themes and tidbits that make football a special season throughout Siouxland ...
Heather Youde, the new activities director at Remsen-Union High School, spoke with me while standing next to a junked car parked on the hill south of the football field.
"Our senior boys got a car to trash for free," Youde explained. "It was a team bonding thing to get them riled up."
Seems the Remsen-Union Rockets senior boys get a junked car each year and take out their pregame football anxiety on the heap of metal, chrome and rubber. They often pick up the car after the popular Remsen demolition derby. That didn't happen this year, so the boys visited a local salvage yard and secured one for free.
The boys painted the car and then took lots of swings at it with hammers and baseball bats, per tradition. The coaches joined in.
While the spectacle looked intimidating, it must not have had quite they pull these Rockets desired. Spalding Catholic came from behind to defeat the hosts 22-14.
Most of the football players at Remsen St. Mary's High School were on hand to watch the game Friday. The boys from St. Mary's know Remsen-Union students well as St. Mary's students head to R-U high for classes in Spanish, physics, physical science and art.
***
Remsen-Union cheerleading captains Kelsey Gries, a senior, and Jeana Pick, a junior, told me cheerleaders kept plenty busy in the days leading up to the game. They attended a cheer camp in Storm Lake, Iowa, and learned to "hit the crowd" at the end of their cheers.
Hit the crowd?
Cheerleaders step toward the crowd and "engage them" by putting a fist toward them, or into the air.
"They say it works," Gries said.
These cheerleaders decorated the lockers of the Rockets and gave them all Blow-Pop suckers that said, "Blow 'Em Away!" They also took snacks to the cheerleaders from Spalding, a wonderful display of sportsmanship.
***
Regional Editor Tim Gallagher can be reached at tim.gallagher@lee.net or by calling (712) 293-4229.
Video highlights
See video of Tim Gallagher's visit to Remsen-Union High School for the Rockets' seasoning-opening game Friday night. Go to www.siouxcityjournal.com
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del wrote on Aug 28, 2007 9:50 PM:
sioux city wrote on Aug 28, 2007 4:35 PM:
Brooks wrote on Aug 28, 2007 2:39 PM:
Jim wrote on Aug 28, 2007 7:16 AM: