Woodland’s Win Triggers Memories
June 18, 2019 at 2:14 a.m.
By Mark Howe-
Well, depending on how one defines “big time.”
But there’s something about pulling for someone from your hometown that makes a sporting event additionally special. While watching Woodland finish off his U.S. Open win, I have to admit to a little bit of homesickness.
Between the Plumlee brothers and Nic Moore, I know Warsaw sports fans know what I’m talking about, especially for those who are reading this with roots inside and have built lives outside of Kosciusko County.
In fact, four summers ago when Moore joined up with the Kansas Jayhawks to play at the World University Games in Korea, that was a blast for me. I got to combine great things from, basically, my original and second home town.
Something else Warsaw and Topeka have in common is the perception by some that we live in “fly-over” country, and nothing much happens here.
I’d just as soon they keep that attitude at that altitude. We don’t need ‘em here and we don’t need them in Kansas or points in between.
Before Sunday, other Topekans had made a mark in the world. Ken Berry was a major league pitcher for a number of years, but he was basically done by the time I was a kid, and he wasn’t even the most famous person by that name in Kansas; that honor went to the actor who was a regular on The Carol Burnett Show.
And we had an Olympian from Topeka, Margaret Murdock won a silver medal in the 1976 Montreal Olympics in Three-Position Rifle. I still don’t know exactly what that is.
Current Maryland men’s basketball head coach Mark Turgeon led his high school to back-to-back state titles and an undefeated season in his senior year before going on to play for Larry Brown at KU.
The list goes on. Alfred Landon was defeated by Franklin Roosevelt in the 1936 Presidential Election. (Landon got eight electorial votes, so we know a little something about landslides in Kansas, too.) Charles Curtis was vice president from 1929 to 1933.
Arguably, the most famous people to come from Topeka are members of the Westboro Baptist Church. With that particular group of people, I use the term “famous” a little too loosely. But I can tell you some of those members were classmates of mine in elementary school. I think they turned their attention to a national scale because we ignored them in Topeka.
Anyway, in a few weeks I’ll be headed back to visit the old stomping grounds, and see some of those friends that social media has made it simpler to stay in touch with.
But to be honest, I would have loved to be hanging around friends back home while Woodland etched his name into professional golf history. I understand there were quite a few celebrations around town Sunday evening, and I’d have been right there.
Then again, I’m going to miss another celebration this weekend, and some of the people I miss most will be away on vacations of thier own: proof positive the world doesn’t revolve around my desk.
It was nice that I could get some work done while watching a guy from “back home” win big Sunday.
But still, there’s just nothing quite like being there.
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Well, depending on how one defines “big time.”
But there’s something about pulling for someone from your hometown that makes a sporting event additionally special. While watching Woodland finish off his U.S. Open win, I have to admit to a little bit of homesickness.
Between the Plumlee brothers and Nic Moore, I know Warsaw sports fans know what I’m talking about, especially for those who are reading this with roots inside and have built lives outside of Kosciusko County.
In fact, four summers ago when Moore joined up with the Kansas Jayhawks to play at the World University Games in Korea, that was a blast for me. I got to combine great things from, basically, my original and second home town.
Something else Warsaw and Topeka have in common is the perception by some that we live in “fly-over” country, and nothing much happens here.
I’d just as soon they keep that attitude at that altitude. We don’t need ‘em here and we don’t need them in Kansas or points in between.
Before Sunday, other Topekans had made a mark in the world. Ken Berry was a major league pitcher for a number of years, but he was basically done by the time I was a kid, and he wasn’t even the most famous person by that name in Kansas; that honor went to the actor who was a regular on The Carol Burnett Show.
And we had an Olympian from Topeka, Margaret Murdock won a silver medal in the 1976 Montreal Olympics in Three-Position Rifle. I still don’t know exactly what that is.
Current Maryland men’s basketball head coach Mark Turgeon led his high school to back-to-back state titles and an undefeated season in his senior year before going on to play for Larry Brown at KU.
The list goes on. Alfred Landon was defeated by Franklin Roosevelt in the 1936 Presidential Election. (Landon got eight electorial votes, so we know a little something about landslides in Kansas, too.) Charles Curtis was vice president from 1929 to 1933.
Arguably, the most famous people to come from Topeka are members of the Westboro Baptist Church. With that particular group of people, I use the term “famous” a little too loosely. But I can tell you some of those members were classmates of mine in elementary school. I think they turned their attention to a national scale because we ignored them in Topeka.
Anyway, in a few weeks I’ll be headed back to visit the old stomping grounds, and see some of those friends that social media has made it simpler to stay in touch with.
But to be honest, I would have loved to be hanging around friends back home while Woodland etched his name into professional golf history. I understand there were quite a few celebrations around town Sunday evening, and I’d have been right there.
Then again, I’m going to miss another celebration this weekend, and some of the people I miss most will be away on vacations of thier own: proof positive the world doesn’t revolve around my desk.
It was nice that I could get some work done while watching a guy from “back home” win big Sunday.
But still, there’s just nothing quite like being there.
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