Six honored at Newton High School alumni brunch

Lewis “Buzz” Levick, one of six members of the NHS Hall of Fame’s induction class of 2015, recalled several well-remembered moments at Saturday’s Alumni Brunch. Some of those moments involved things coach H.A. “Pop” Lynn did at pep assemblies.

“One time, he came into an assembly on a riding mower, talking about how we were going to ‘mow down’ the team we were about to play,” Levick said.

Levick’s words came after the NHS Alumni Association’s All-Classes Brunch and Hall of Fame Ceremony. The Hall of Fame, which is for athletics, activities, academics and many other types of NHS contributors, inducted Levick, 88, as the oldest of the six 2015 inductees to add to the 17 members who were inducted in the hall’s initial year of 2014.

Five of this year’s class were present at Saturday’s brunch, and they all expressed tons of gratitude to those who nominated them and the committee that voted to induct each one.

“I wasn’t here all that long, and I’ve been gone 50 years,” said Levick, whose Cardinal boys basketball teams won state titles in 1963 and 1964 before later embarking on a separate hall-of-fame coaching career at Wartburg College. “I’m impressed anyone remembers me. I thought they’d forgotten all about me.”

After the brunch, Levick, 88, and his wife of 67 years, Miriam, made their way over to the older gymnasium, where a logo on the court commemorates Levick and the two state championship teams. It was the first time Levick, now a Waverly resident, was able to see the logo in person.

One of the brunch’s most heartwarming moments involved former Cardinal football coach John Jenkins. With many family members in attendance, Jenkins was accompanied to the podium by his wife, Jo.

She said that because Jenkins suffers from dementia, she would speak for him, and she thanked many people for helping the award process move forward and to make the brunch happen. Jenkins coached the NHS football team for 17 seasons, and his teams won 77 percent of their games with him as head coach.

Dr. James Tiedje, Ph.D, a 1960 NHS graduate and a Distinguished Professor at Michigan State University, said going from rural schools north of Newton to Newton High School made a difference, as biology teacher Sarah Gracie Brown and vocational agriculture teacher Emeron Dettman were hugely important influences to him.

Tiedje went on to do groundbreaking work in bio-environmental DNA and in detecting life on Mars, and an MSU center is named for him. He said science is an exciting field, because new discoveries are happening constantly.

Tom Starr, a 1965 Newton graduate, earned honors in the military in Vietnam before embarking on a sports management career in which he has been the executive director for different college bowl games. He praised many people for showing pride in the City of Newton, including Executive Director of the Newton Convention & Visitors Bureau Linda Bacon.

Starr joked that although he didn’t feel deserved to be honored, he said Jackie Gleason once added to an award speech “Then again, I have arthritis, and I don’t feel like I deserved that, either.”

Chuck Jarnagin didn’t speak long, but brought a large family contingent with him that he called “Jarnagin Nation.” Jarnagin, 83, was the only University of Iowa athlete to be honored in the NHS 2015 class, having been a three-year starter for the Hawkeye men’s basketball team in the 1950s before a long career in the military and in the private sector.

Joanne Jackson, a 1955 NHS graduate, is a jazz singer whose career has taken her to Las Vegas and all over the world. She moved to the Los Angeles area a couple of years ago to be closer to her son, and was not able to attend the Reunion Weekend.

Several people who spoke Saturday also thanked Newton High School Activities Director Scott Garvis and Principal Bill Peters for all their hard work, both with the Hall of Fame and the school in general. Peters gave a general progress report on activities, academics and facilities at the school, and drew huge applause for calling the special-needs “Big Game” basketball event held each spring “the best night of the year.”

After a plaque had been presented to all the inductees, State Rep. and 1989 NHS graduate Dan Kelley then held a “roll call of classes. Morris and Eleanor Trout represented the earliest class at the alumni brunch, having graduated in 1939.

Kelley then ran through a class from every five years, starting with 1940 ending with the Class of 2015. A large group of Class of 1965 graduates were on hand to celebrate their 50th reunion. Each was invited to recite its chosen motto.

The entire room then sang the school fight song to concluded the event.

The closing date for nominations for the hall’s second inductee class was April 3. A committee reviewed the nominations, and completed nomination forms will be kept on file for five years.

Nomination forms for next year's class were distributed at Saturday's brunch. Forms can also be found at www.newton-cardinals.com.

Contact Jason W. Brooks at 641-792-3121 ext. 6532 or jbrooks @newtondailynews .com