Tourney founder looks forward to next generation
By Tim Gallagher, Journal staff writer | Posted: Monday, January 14, 2008
Herb Irgens attended the final Maple Valley Conference Wrestling Tournament Saturday at Kingsley-Pierson High School in Kingsley, Iowa. Irgens, a longtime coach in Ida Grove, Iowa, started this tournament in January 1969. Saturday marked the final MVC league tourney. (Photo by Tim Gallagher)
KINGSLEY, Iowa -- Herb Irgens sipped a Diet Coke near a computer recording results from the 2007 Maple Valley Conference Wrestling Tournament here Saturday.
When Irgens started this event, computers weren't part of the athletic scoring landscape.
Heck, I don't think Diet Coke was either.
"I came to Ida Grove to teach and coach in 1968," said Irgens, 67. "Ida Grove had started wrestling five years before that."
Toward the end of his first season, Irgens called the coaches of the eight Maple Valley Conference schools together and hosted the first league tournament in Ida Grove. Four of those coaches were recognized Saturday in the final conference tournament.
The schools in the Maple Valley loop will merge next year with the Boyer Valley Conference to form the Western Valley Activities Conference, a change largely brought about by pending school consolidations caused by declining enrollment.
Those four coaches lauded Saturday included: Dick Kingsbury of Maple Valley, Rich Krosch of Kingsley-Pierson, Rodger Miller of Odebolt-Arthur and Irgens.
"I have mixed emotions about today," said Irgens, now the junior high wrestling coach for his school. "In a way the new conference might be great because Logan-Magnolia is a part of it and they've been so strong in wrestling for years.
"You'll have to be at the top of your game to compete," he added.
Irgens has been at the top of his game for decades, said Tony Spradlin, a former Westwood High School prep who later coached for a decade at Battle Creek-Ida Grove. He's now a principal serving Odebolt-Arthur, a district that shares wrestling with Battle Creek-Ida Grove.
"Herb has been at this for 40 years and he's just as motivated now as he's ever been," Spradlin said. "And the kids just love him. When I coached he was always a person I called when I wanted input about our kids and our program."
People still look to Irgens and he's still involved. Need proof? His wife Jo spent Saturday at home putting illustrations on the brackets used for each weight class in the giant invitational Ida Grove hosts this weekend. That tournament, like the Maple Valley Conference tourney, can trace its origins to Irgens and the 1968-69 school year, his first year at the school.
"I began our invitational that year and then expanded it to 16 teams in 1975," said Irgens. "I wanted to give wrestlers in Northwest Iowa more of a feel of what the state tournament would be like."
His work, you might say, gave thousands of Norhtwest Iowa grapplers through the years a dress rehearsal for the state meet.
A runner, not a wrestler
What surprised me while visiting with Irgens is that this dean of MVC grappling never was a wrestler himself. He ran track and cross country as a prep at Fort Hamilton High School in Brooklyn, N.Y.
I had to ask: How did he get from Brooklyn to Iowa?
"I took the bus," he joked while jotting down a name on a bracket for the 103-pound weight class. "Seriously, I don't think I had the grades I needed to get into some colleges out in New York. My minister had gone to school at Luther College in Decorah (Iowa) and he managed to help me get into school there."
Irgens ran for the Norsemen in college and served as a manager for the wrestling team. That's when the wrestling bug bit. Soon after his graduation he was hired to teach and coach at Turkey Valley of Jackson Junction, Iowa. One of his pupils: Jim Fisher, now the longtime wrestling coach at Woodbury Central in Moville. "I got my 100th wrestling victory as a coach against Jim," said Irgens.
While at Turkey Valley, Irgens earned $500 to coach wrestling. When he went to Ida Grove, he not only coached the varsity wrestlers and ran his tournament; he coached the junior high team and started a youth wrestling invitational in Ida Grove.
What did he like so much about wrestling?
"I like that it's an individual sport, a lot like track," he said. "There are no timeouts. And it's just you out there competing as hard as you can."
While many Maple Valley league fans are sad to see dwindling enrollments in the area create this shift to a bigger conference, Irgens remains excited about the competition. Wrestling programs, he figured, will have to rise to meet challenges other schools will present.
And where might he be when the Western Valley Activities Conference hosts its first conference tournament next year?
Irgens put down his program near the computer and picked up his Diet Coke. "My team will be there," he said as he sipped. "So will I."
Western Valley
Here are the teams which will compete in the new Western Valley Activities Conference next year:
Schools in the North Division include: Battle Creek-Ida Grove, Galva-Holstein, Kingsley-Pierson, Lawton-Bronson, Maple Valley/Anthon-Oto, Odebolt-Arthur, Remsen-Union, River Valley, Westwood of Sloan and Woodbury Central.
Schools in the South Division are: Ar-We-Va, Boyer Valley, Charter Oak-Ute, Irwin-Kirkman-Manilla/Manning (which are expected to whole-grade share after next year), Logan-Magnolia, West Harrison, Woodbine, West Monona and Whiting.
The conference will also cover fine arts programs and quiz bowl activities.
When Irgens started this event, computers weren't part of the athletic scoring landscape.
Heck, I don't think Diet Coke was either.
"I came to Ida Grove to teach and coach in 1968," said Irgens, 67. "Ida Grove had started wrestling five years before that."
Toward the end of his first season, Irgens called the coaches of the eight Maple Valley Conference schools together and hosted the first league tournament in Ida Grove. Four of those coaches were recognized Saturday in the final conference tournament.
The schools in the Maple Valley loop will merge next year with the Boyer Valley Conference to form the Western Valley Activities Conference, a change largely brought about by pending school consolidations caused by declining enrollment.
Those four coaches lauded Saturday included: Dick Kingsbury of Maple Valley, Rich Krosch of Kingsley-Pierson, Rodger Miller of Odebolt-Arthur and Irgens.
"I have mixed emotions about today," said Irgens, now the junior high wrestling coach for his school. "In a way the new conference might be great because Logan-Magnolia is a part of it and they've been so strong in wrestling for years.
"You'll have to be at the top of your game to compete," he added.
Irgens has been at the top of his game for decades, said Tony Spradlin, a former Westwood High School prep who later coached for a decade at Battle Creek-Ida Grove. He's now a principal serving Odebolt-Arthur, a district that shares wrestling with Battle Creek-Ida Grove.
"Herb has been at this for 40 years and he's just as motivated now as he's ever been," Spradlin said. "And the kids just love him. When I coached he was always a person I called when I wanted input about our kids and our program."
People still look to Irgens and he's still involved. Need proof? His wife Jo spent Saturday at home putting illustrations on the brackets used for each weight class in the giant invitational Ida Grove hosts this weekend. That tournament, like the Maple Valley Conference tourney, can trace its origins to Irgens and the 1968-69 school year, his first year at the school.
"I began our invitational that year and then expanded it to 16 teams in 1975," said Irgens. "I wanted to give wrestlers in Northwest Iowa more of a feel of what the state tournament would be like."
His work, you might say, gave thousands of Norhtwest Iowa grapplers through the years a dress rehearsal for the state meet.
A runner, not a wrestler
What surprised me while visiting with Irgens is that this dean of MVC grappling never was a wrestler himself. He ran track and cross country as a prep at Fort Hamilton High School in Brooklyn, N.Y.
I had to ask: How did he get from Brooklyn to Iowa?
"I took the bus," he joked while jotting down a name on a bracket for the 103-pound weight class. "Seriously, I don't think I had the grades I needed to get into some colleges out in New York. My minister had gone to school at Luther College in Decorah (Iowa) and he managed to help me get into school there."
Irgens ran for the Norsemen in college and served as a manager for the wrestling team. That's when the wrestling bug bit. Soon after his graduation he was hired to teach and coach at Turkey Valley of Jackson Junction, Iowa. One of his pupils: Jim Fisher, now the longtime wrestling coach at Woodbury Central in Moville. "I got my 100th wrestling victory as a coach against Jim," said Irgens.
While at Turkey Valley, Irgens earned $500 to coach wrestling. When he went to Ida Grove, he not only coached the varsity wrestlers and ran his tournament; he coached the junior high team and started a youth wrestling invitational in Ida Grove.
What did he like so much about wrestling?
"I like that it's an individual sport, a lot like track," he said. "There are no timeouts. And it's just you out there competing as hard as you can."
While many Maple Valley league fans are sad to see dwindling enrollments in the area create this shift to a bigger conference, Irgens remains excited about the competition. Wrestling programs, he figured, will have to rise to meet challenges other schools will present.
And where might he be when the Western Valley Activities Conference hosts its first conference tournament next year?
Irgens put down his program near the computer and picked up his Diet Coke. "My team will be there," he said as he sipped. "So will I."
Western Valley
Here are the teams which will compete in the new Western Valley Activities Conference next year:
Schools in the North Division include: Battle Creek-Ida Grove, Galva-Holstein, Kingsley-Pierson, Lawton-Bronson, Maple Valley/Anthon-Oto, Odebolt-Arthur, Remsen-Union, River Valley, Westwood of Sloan and Woodbury Central.
Schools in the South Division are: Ar-We-Va, Boyer Valley, Charter Oak-Ute, Irwin-Kirkman-Manilla/Manning (which are expected to whole-grade share after next year), Logan-Magnolia, West Harrison, Woodbine, West Monona and Whiting.
The conference will also cover fine arts programs and quiz bowl activities.
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jp wrote on Jan 16, 2008 2:43 PM: