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"No Ordinary
Conference" provides a unique look at the history of the Midwest
Conference |
George Drake, a former Midwest Conference student-athlete and 1956 Grinnell College graduate, has culminated a project he calls “a labor of love” with the completion of the 100-page soft cover book “No Ordinary Conference,” an introspective history of the Midwest Conference.
The Midwest Conference office is making the book available to the general public at a discounted price through its Web site,
www.midwestconference.org. The price of $25, which includes a $5 shipping charge, is available for a limited time only. Orders are expected to ship in September, and a small number of copies may be available at full price after that time.
Drake, who remains a professor at his alma mater, teamed with 2001 Grinnell grad John Aerni to provide a unique look at the league’s history through interviews with Midwest Conference student-athletes and unprecedented access to league minutes. “No Ordinary Conference” also features a 34-page photo gallery of some of the conference’s all-time great athletes, coaches and administrators, and conference commissioner Chris Graham said that Monmouth graduate
Matt Troha “also deserves praise for his efforts editing and collecting the wonderful pictures that have been included.” Troha works for the conference as its sports information director.
Four “all-time greats” from Monmouth College were recently in the news, as the school’s all-time leading rebounder,
Ashley Yeast, was named the Midwest Conference’s representative for the NCAA Woman of the Year Award. Yeast, who also lettered four times in volleyball, was a three-time Academic All-District selection for the Fighting Scots.
Yeast’s basketball coach at Monmouth,
Melissa Jones, was a finalist for the NCAA award in 2003 thanks in part to her All-American honors in track, and she was also in the news recently, marrying former MC track star Bryan Bittner on June 28.
Finally, June 30 marked the official end to the
Terry Glasgow era at Monmouth College. Glasgow, who had passed along his coaching duties in baseball and basketball to Roger Sander and Mark Vershaw after the 1993 and 2007 seasons, respectively, ended his tenure as athletic director and professor of physical education.
Glasgow will no longer maintain a daily physical presence at the college he has called home since 1972, but it’s really not accurate to say that his era has ended. The instruction and life lessons that Glasgow have provided will be carried on by hundreds of his student-athletes, including scores who have gone into coaching and teaching and are continuing his legacy.
From those coaching and teaching disciples, to the facilities he helped to create and inspire, and from the championship teams he produced to the classic one-liners and stories he provided, “TG” will remain a large part of Monmouth’s fabric for years to come.
