Campus Mail, Fall 2024

On Top of the World

PHOTO COURTESY HEIDI MCNEIL STAUDENMAIER From left, UI alumni Melanie Ferguson (14BA), Renea Rathmacher (21MBA), and Heidi McNeil Staudenmaier (81BA, 85JD) are pictured atop Mount Kilimanjaro.

On June 30, Iowa alums Melanie Ferguson (14BA), Renea Rathmacher (21MBA), and I reached the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. The Uhuru Peak is 19,341 feet above sea level, the highest point in Africa and the highest free-standing mountain in the world.

I didn’t know Ferguson or Rathmacher prior to the trip. We found out the first day that we had our Iowa roots in common.

We reached the Kilimanjaro summit on day six of our seven-day trek. It has been a dream of mine for many years, so I decided to celebrate my 65th birthday with the hike. Our team bonded quickly and had the best time encouraging each other to make the trek. On our summit day hike, the sunrise over the mountains was simply breathtaking.

Hiking Mount Kilimanjaro was the most physically and mentally challenging feat I’ve ever undertaken in my 65 years. I’m proud of myself and my team for successfully reaching the summit. It was a long-time dream and bucket list item for me.

Heidi McNeil Staudenmaier (81BA, 85JD)
Phoenix

A Twice-Exceptional Program

As a parent of a college student with autism, I can tell you that the University of Iowa’s Academy for Twice-Exceptionality [“Twice as Bright: Innovative Iowa Program Helps Neurodivergent Students Shine,” summer 2024] is something parents have wished for their children to have in the college community. It is fantastic to hear about the program, and I hope it stays here at Iowa. It is of huge importance that these students receive the support and guidance that they deserve. Thank you so much for providing a program for all these wonderful students!

Shannon Grecian
Iowa City

As someone who went to a smaller college and is twice exceptional, I think this is a fantastic program, and I am proud to be an employee of a university that isn’t forgetting about those who might have fallen through the cracks otherwise. The line from the article, “Because their talents may hide their disabilities and their disabilities may hide their talents,” really got me. I appreciate this new program and hope it is successful for all involved.

Grant Carl
Cedar Rapids

Medical History

In the late 1990s and early 2000s, I worked for Learning Resource Services at the UI College of Nursing. I would pull the video of the Barbara Fassbinder (75BSN) story [“Historian Highlights Iowa Nurse’s Transformational Role in AIDS Epidemic,” summer 2024] for the instructors to use in the classroom. This is an important part of history not to be forgotten.

Carolyn Smith
Iowa City

Quarterbacks Remembered

I noted the passing of Wilburn Hollis (71BA) earlier this year [“In Memory,” summer 2024]. I was fortunate to have a class with him in my senior year. Since it was at 11 a.m., I would often have lunch with him after class. He loved the Hamburg Inn, so that’s where we went. He would have two of those monster burgers, while I could barely eat one. He was an unassuming, happy guy who loved Iowa football and Coach Forest Evashevski and was a great quarterback.

Hollis played in the 1960 Iowa vs. Minnesota game in Minneapolis, where Minnesota was No. 1 and Iowa No. 2. I was in the stands, and it was a great game that sadly Iowa lost, but Hollis played well. Sportswriters at the time noted that it was the first major college game where two Black quarterbacks faced each other: Minnesota’s Sandy Stephens and Iowa’s Hollis.

I also noticed that Kenneth Ploen (58BSCE) died in February. He was the quarterback who led the Hawkeyes to a 35-19 win in the 1957 Rose Bowl against Oregon State. It was a rematch from the regular season, where the Hawks prevailed 14-13. This was Iowa’s first Rose Bowl, and Ploen was named player of the game.

Martin Waldinger (61BBA)
Scottsdale, Arizona

Brainy Baller

I loved this quote from Ryan Bowen (98BS) in the Iowa Magazine article, “Iowa Basketball Alum Ryan Bowen Reaches the NBA Summit in Denver” [summer 2024]: “I was an effort and energy player for a majority of my career.” Truer words have never been spoken. Bowen wasn’t the most gifted NBA athlete, but he made up for that by being among the smartest and most tenacious. As a Hawkeye living in Denver, it was a pleasure for me to watch Bowen’s career with the Denver Nuggets. It’s no surprise that head coach Michael Malone now relies on Bowen to scout opposing teams and develop the Nuggets’ strategy and game plans.

Rob Youle (76JD)
Evergreen, Colorado

A Writer’s Legacy

I am regularly impressed with Iowa Magazine and read it cover to cover. However, the recent story on Diane Oliver (66MFA) [“Diane Oliver ’s Unfinished Story,” spring 2024] was particularly moving. First, thank you for amplifying Oliver’s story of a life cut tragically short. It had a deeper meaning for me as I recently completed a PhD degree at Oliver’s alma mater, University of North Carolina Greensboro. On top of that, my commencement was presided over by fellow Hawkeye, UNCG Chancellor Franklin Gilliam (78MA, 83PhD). Go, Spartans! Go, Hawks!

Scott W. Wojciechowski (12MA)
Ardmore, Pennsylvania

Taste of Childhood

I have to say thanks to Ben Smart (04BS) and Nate Kaeding (04BA, 15MBA) for saving the Hamburg Inn, an icon of Iowa City [“Iowa Alums Nate Kaeding, Ben Smart Revive Hamburg Inn” spring 2024]. I too was born and raised here and have a lot of memories at the restaurant. I rode my bicycle to school from Mosquito Flats every day; when I had some change in my pocket, I would stop at Hamburg Inn and play a quick game of pinball before school.

What more could a child ask for when we had Hamburg Inn and Pearson’s Drug Store and John’s Grocery all on the way to school? I can’t forget George’s either.

It was John’s for lunch and Pearson’s for a Green River on the ride home, unless I decided to go to the Iowa Memorial Union to go bowling or shoot pool or play more pinball. What is more priceless in life than comfort food and good times?

David Larsen
Iowa City

An Evening with the Allman Brothers

On Feb. 19, 1972, the Allman Brothers Band played the UI Field House with opening act Big Brother and the Holding Company [“Ask Alumni: What Was Your Most Memorable Iowa City Concert?” summer 2022].

Big Brother at that time consisted of original members Peter Albin and Sam Andrew, along with singer Kathi McDonald and others—arguably one of their best post-Janis Joplin lineups. Albin and I had been friends for a few years, so a buddy and I wandered over to the Field House in the afternoon before the show to wait for them to arrive. Big Brother missed their flight from Chicago, so they were running late.

This gave us a chance to hang out with the Allman Brothers Band’s legendary road crew. I distinctly remember conversations with Red Dog and Twiggs Lyndon. We were just a couple of teenage knuckleheads with no real business hanging around backstage, but no one asked us to get out of the way.

The Allmans showed up, and we wound up in a conversation with Dickey Betts. I can still see him: not too tall, a small gold earring, slicked-back hair, and a mustache. He had on a brown suede jerkin with short fringes that I saw again years later on display at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. He looked like a biker to my Midwestern eyes. With his later reputation of being somewhat difficult, he couldn’t have been nicer to us, telling stories about playing in bar bands with Rick Derringer in Ohio in the 1960s. In a word, it was amazing.

Big Brother finally took the stage and put on a tremendous show. I remember burning versions of “Crazy ’Bout You Baby” and “Call on Me.”

Duane Allman had died four months previously, and the Allman Brothers performed with their short-lived five-man lineup. Fans had worn thick grooves in our copies of At Fillmore East, but we didn’t know if they were still that same incredible band; Betts had huge shoes to fill.

They burned, just took the paint off the walls of the Field House. As I recall, they played the Fillmore East set with a few additions. Toward the end of “Mountain Jam,” they inserted “Will the Circle Be Unbroken,” the same as we later heard on Eat a Peach. The road crew told us later that this was the first time the band had played “The Circle” since Duane’s funeral. In the parlance of the Allman Brothers Band, they were “hittin’ the note” that night.

Musically, it was an impossibly great performance cherished by me and any others who remember it all these years later. I still remember Betts’ kindness, too, in taking the time to have an unrushed and friendly conversation with a couple of strangers. He died earlier this spring.

Rest in peace, Betts and all the other Brothers who have gone on.

Ed Ripp (75BA)
Albuquerque, New Mexico