Don Rinehart wrote (17 January 2017)
Dave, once again thank you for all you do in keeping this website going and updated. Great new look!
Just an update from the July posting regarding my cross country runners at Embry Riddle University. Great first season for the old coach! Our men’s and women’s teams both won our conference championship in Fresno, California and then went to the NAIA Nationals in St Louis in November. The men finished 20th and the women 27th in the nation with over 100 colleges and small universities competing. We also had our first All American in a young man that is only a sophomore.
I am just the assistant coach, but it was still thrilling to see our kids do so well against some of the best runners in the country! Mt. Mercy University in Cedar Rapids will host the National Meet in 2018…if I am still around, it will be fun to bring the kids to Iowa.
People ask me what is like to coach a bunch of runners that are mostly aerospace engineering majors? I just smile and say, “ Imagine if the characters in the tv show ‘Big Bang Theory’ were a cross country team!” Really smart kids…but also great runners!
Tami (Thompson ’74) and I will be celebrating our 40 year wedding anniversary in May…seems like just yesterday (well maybe longer than that) we were dating at West High! I went back to West in December, to try and recruit a couple of their distance runners. Hadn’t been in the building since the night we graduated – 43 years. Other than a new wing or two, the main building is unchanged…incredible!
Family is well, Tami and I enjoying our new digs in Prescott, Arizona. Several of the people that live in on our street there are retired Hawkeyes! We still have our home in New River (Phoenix) but use it mostly in the winter months. Our granddaughter turns 3 the end of January…she is a sweetie. Moved my mom out of her house and into the Methwick retirement community in Cedar Rapids after Thanksgiving. I wanted to get her a t-shirt that said “I am a Meth-head”, but she didn’t think that was too funny for some reason? She is still going strong at 86 and terrorizing other drivers in Cedar Rapids!
Well, all for now. Plan to be in Iowa City in May to get my mom’s house on the market, maybe will run into some classmates then. Hope everyone has a great 2017!
Don Rinehart