I grew up in Kinsley, Kansas, graduated from high school in 1961, attended FHSU from 1961-65, attained my Bachelor of Arts in political science, and stayed another year to complete my master’s degree in political science.
What do you now do for a living? How did you end up choosing this career path?
My first and only job was as a political science instructor at Independence Community College. I started fresh out of graduate school in the fall of 1966 and taught for 40 years before retiring in 2006. I taught American Government, Principles of Political Science, Contemporary U.S. History, and Introduction to Leadership. I “organized” a tennis team in 1967-68 and coached those teams (men and women) through 1991. I later started coaching tennis at Independence High School. I coached in that position from 1992 – 2014 (boys from 1992-2013 and girls from 2008 – 2014).
My mother was an elementary school teacher, and my sister was a college teacher, so teaching ran in the family.
Why did you choose to attend FHSU?
I attended FHSU mainly because my sister, Lou Jean Brown (Fleron), was a senior during my freshman year. She was also a political science major. Lou Jean was honored with an alumni award at FHSU in 1993. My mother also got her teaching degree from FHSU.
What are your favorite memories from your time as a student?
I loved FHSU! I had many excellent political science classes from Don Slecta, John Tomlinson, and Dick Heil and history classes from Dr. Welty, Dr. Wilma Smith, and Dr. Foresyth that prepared me well to teach at ICC. I was also in a fraternity (TKE) that bettered my social and leadership skills and allowed me to compete in many intramural sports. FHSU’s great intramural program often pitted the top independent teams against the top fraternity teams – basketball, softball, track, tennis, touch football, ping pong, swimming, etc. The TKEs won the All Sports Trophy a couple of years while I was there, and we also had varsity players on the basketball and tennis teams that I enjoyed watching play.
What advice do you have for current or prospective FHSU students?
Do everything you can in college – participate in many activities and take as many classes as possible in every discipline. When you are my age, your college years will be a flash in your life!
Tell us about someone at FHSU who has left a lasting impression:
Besides the faculty mentioned above, Phyllis Bigby, a P.E. teacher, was the person who “shaped” my life. When I attended back in the ’60s, all students had to take four credits in physical education – Team Sports, Individual, and Dual Sports, plus any two of your choosing. I enrolled in Ms. Bigby’s Beginning Tennis class in my sophomore year. I never played a high school sport or tennis, but I fell in love with the game. The next semester I enrolled in Intermediate Tennis. I continued to play often – for my fraternity or just for fun. After I began teaching at ICC, I frequently played tennis with several students, although the college didn’t have a team. The second year I was here, the president of the college suggested that I organize all these students into a team and compete against other junior colleges. I’m not sure which stretches the definition more – calling those boys a team or calling me a coach because neither of us were very good, but that was the beginning of my 50-year career as a tennis coach. (I don’t want to brag, but three of my college teams qualified for national tournaments in the ’80s, and five of my high school teams have won team state championships and five individual state championships. Furthermore, Independence was recognized by the United States Tennis Association as one of the Top Three Tennis Towns in America in 2009.) Although I never saw Ms. Bigby after I left Hays, I owe her a debt of gratitude for teaching me the fundamentals of the game and instilling a love for the game in me.
In what ways are you proud to be a Tiger?
I loved my five years in Hays. I often cited my experiences at FHSU to my students at ICC, particularly when they grumbled about having to take required general education classes. I told them that had I not been required to take physical education classes at FHSU, I would have never enrolled in beginning tennis because I only wanted to be a political science teacher. I never dreamed that my “other” career would be as a tennis coach. KSHSAA recently recognized that “other” career by placing me in their Hall of Fame.