The Culture of Success

 

Recently, I was contacted by a 1970 FHS graduate who was also a member of the 1970 State Tournament 4^th Place Team.  In her comments, she shared her appreciation that the 1970 team was featured in a posting shared on the Alumni Association Facebook page. 

Her words included:

“Once the 1971 team won the state championship, not much attention was given to the 1970.  Might be a good opportunity to give another shout out to the coaches and teams that went ahead of the “70 and ’71 teams.

The coaches did such a good job of incorporating the high school team members in helping train the elementary age and middle schoolers.  Seems like in those days it was Saturday programs, summer programs and kids playing at halftimes of the big games.  Also, big kids helping the little ones in PE classes.  I remember some of the awesome role models the teams of ’70 and ’71 had.  It’s difficult to start naming names for fear of leaving people out, but a few who come to mind are Beverly Bickett ’67, Sandra Cullin ’67, Lynda “Pixie” Pease ’67, Marianne Cullin ’69, and SuEllen Hopkins ’69 … “  

I appreciate her “nudge” and respect her perspective on this topic. 
I also believe her sentiment brings focus to something bigger than basketball regarding our experiences as graduates of FHS. 

The coaches she references were teachers.  Their responsibilities included classroom instruction, which required preparation outside of the classroom.  Teachers were also tasked with serving as class sponsors, sponsors of activities and clubs, chaperones, bus drivers and coaches. Money alone wasn’t their sole motivation as the financial compensation did not equal the investment of their personal time.  We were most fortunate to have enjoyed the opportunity, from kindergarten to flipping of tassels, to have been in the presence of people who were so invested in our success. 

I know we each have our favorites because when I ask alumni the question, they are unhesitant in sharing names, stories and most always with a smile.  Most of us likely did not realize or appreciate at the time that we were surrounded by teachers who created a culture of success for us.  This was true in the classrooms, choir and band competitions, FFA contests, Industrial Arts projects and all others that I am overlooking. 

For many reasons, athletics was probably the school activity that drew the most attention and community support.  Growing up, kids looked forward with great enthusiasm to the time they could wear the uniform representing their activity and school.  I imagine this was true among kids in all schools and yet there were differences among schools.

Why would one small school in the southwest corner of Iowa enjoy such a long history of success in the sport of basketball, in a game in which the rules prevented its players from dribbling the ball more than twice on a court with a centerline that could not be crossed?  What made Farragut girls’ basketball different?

The first Farragut girls’ team began play during the 1923-24 school year.
From that beginning until March 1976, Farragut’s girls’ basketball teams represented the school and community at the Iowa Girls’ High School State Basketball Tournament in Des Moines 15 times.  The teams were led by three different head coaches during this time and earned a 3^rd Place trophy in 1937; 4^th Place trophy in 1970; and the Championship trophy in 1971.

During the 17-year period (1959-1976), the Adettes earned their way to the State Tournament 10 times.  This level of consistency led to growing expectations that traveling to Des Moines in March to watch the girls compete in the State Tournament was just something people planned to do…even before the basketball season began each year.  This unrealistic expectation was not meant to add pressure to the coaches and teams but …

Why did the community feel this way about the girls’ basketball program?
I think the answer lies in the Culture of Success that had been developed and nurtured through the years…on the basketball court and in the classrooms and other non-basketball activities of the school.  The teachers were invested in their student’s success as much as the basketball coaches were.

A word on the coaches

I can’t speak with first-hand knowledge of what it was like being around Coach Ted Reith.  My memories of Orin Mann begin after he had stepped away from coaching. 
I do have personal experiences and memories of Asst. Coach Livingston and wife Charlotte (chaperone) and their total commitment and dedication to the program.
Frequently Coach Plummer and Coach Livingston sat at the Livingston dining room table discussing opposition scouting, game plan development, player evaluations, and  creation of new plays (that Charlotte would reproduce at school the next day) that were then distributed to the players.  For you players of the time, there were also discussions regarding player curfews (and enforcement of)…if you know you know 😊

As mentioned by the former player, the commitment and dedication these coaches gave to the school, the basketball program and its players was incredibly noteworthy.  The parking lot on the south side of the gym on Saturday mornings looked like a game crowd.  The new gym had the feature of transforming into two courts (running north and south) by pushing the bleachers in to their storage position.  Young players stood against the wall on the east and west ends while waiting their turn on the court.  I couldn’t estimate the number of young aspiring Adettes that showed up each Saturday, but I recall the sounds made by hundreds of Chuck Taylor All-Star Converse Canvas High-Top sneakers in that large gymnasium.

So why did these coaches do what they did?  Working with school age kids to hone their basketball skills was what you saw them doing and the results of these efforts were displayed years later on basketball courts in Farragut and along the way to Des Moines.  For the real truth of what was happening in the gym on Saturday mornings, in the high school practices after school, and during games and tournaments, you should ask a former player.  Everyone of them I have talked with speak of lessons and values learned, aside from basketball.  None of them play competitive basketball anymore but they carry with them what they learned from those they got to spend time with.

I suppose it is somewhat natural if the accomplishments of the 1970 team lost a little of the limelight to the 1971 Championship team.  There is a little of the “what have you done for me lately” in human nature.  Very few people ever mention the 1937 team that brought home the State Tournament 3^rd Place trophy.  There are also lots of players from those teams that made it to Des Moines over the years that didn’t come home with a trophy.  Some played at the Drake Fieldhouse but most played at Veterans Auditorium (The Barn).  And there is an even larger group of players that were equally committed to the hard work of practices and all else required of them who faced the unrealistic expectations of participating in the State Tournament.

Knowing what happens to trophies over time and knowing how these former players feel about each other, their coaches and their experiences while attending school in Farragut, they are all winners as products of the Culture of Success they experienced.   The “light” shines on all of them.

- Dwight Durfey FHS ‘71