“Did You Know This About Geary County History?”
By Dr. Ferrell Miller
Geary County Historical Society Board Member
“History of the Junction City Sertoma Club”
Terry Heldstab shared some of the history of the Junction City Sertoma Club. “Sertoma stands for Service to Mankind”. Sertoma started in America on April 11, 1912 and the Junction City club received their charter in 1959. Some of the early members were Webb Davis, Harold Olmstead, Norwood Koepsel, Don Greenawalt, Wayne Pray, Dean Keller, Norm Helmke, Jack Gouldy and John Leonard.
The emphasis of the group was speech and hearing. Club members assisted many lower income people in getting recycled hearing aids at no cost to the individual. In the early 1960s, Sertoma Club members went door to door to sell light bulbs to raise money for this purpose.
The members built and maintained Sertoma Park on East 6th Street in Junction City; built the backstop and the bleachers; added much of the playground equipment that is still in the park and maintained the field for many years until the City took over the park.
The main fundraiser during the last thirty plus years was the pancake feed. This event was always held in late October at the Knights of Columbus Hall on West Seventh Street. Club members used those funds to support local youth programs, baseball teams or other local projects decided by the membership.
Sertomans met in different places during their many years as a club. Some of those were the Best Western Restaurant (Tyme Out Lounge) and Stacy’s Restaurant in Grandview Plaza. In Junction City, they met at the Lamer (Bartell) Hotel; Sirloin Stockade on Goldenbelt Boulevard; Valley View Estates dining /meeting room on Pearl Drive; and the final place for meetings was in the Hampton Inn Meeting Room located on South Washington Street.
Like most clubs, the Sertoma Club allowed only men to be members. However, Linda Jark was recommended by Terry Heldstab and was accepted. In the late 1980s members’ wives also joined. Linda eventually became the President of the Club.”
The Club disbanded four or five years ago, when the four remaining members were Kay, Randy, Mike and Terry Heldstab. Terry Heldstab was a member of the Sertoma Club for 35 years.
“Al Simpler, The Coach and Family Man”
With the last football game having been played at Al Simpler Stadium on November 13, 2020, it is appropriate to reflect on the Coach, his career and the involvement of his family in Junction City High School (JCHS) football. Some of the information included in this space came from an article written by G.S. Peters, who was the Daily Union Sports Editor in 1983 and other information came from interviews with those mentioned.
Through all his years as a coach, one common denominator has held true, concerning athletes who played for Al Simpler. He set high standards for his players.
Discipline made him a winner. Bobby Whitten, a 1977 JCHS graduate stated that “Coach Simpler was firm with his rules, and I respected them. Our curfew was 11 PM on weeknights and 12 midnight on the weekends. If you didn’t want to play by his rules you could leave. We lost some good players because they didn’t follow those rules, but the ones who stayed respected him.”
Coaching was not just a job for Al. The whole family was involved. From the time the Simpler family moved to Junction City in 1958, there was a movie screen set up in their basement for players to watch game film. The players would go to the Simpler’s house on Sunday afternoons after lunch and watch film of previous games and/or of the next opponent.
When the football field needed to be reseeded, it was Al and his family who did the job. Before the days of the watering system, Al would stretch the hoses himself. Mrs. Simpler remembers during dry summers, when the grass was at risk of dying, they would change the hoses as late as 2:30 in the morning.
In the early part of his career, when Al coached at Hominy, Oklahoma, Helen, his wife, was his greatest scout. She would chart the games of upcoming opponents and then Al would be able to prepare his team for the next game. Jim Pendarvis, former JCHS Assistant Principal and Athletic Director, recalled that when he was a player on the Blue Jay football team, “players would go to the Simpler’s house to watch New Year’s Day Bowl games on television. If Al saw an offensive or defensive scheme he liked, he would immediately jot down notes and use that information or a modified version of a play with his team.”
There were only four losing seasons during Coach Simpler’s 23 years at JCHS.
Coach Al Simpler retired in 1983, which was the same year Simpler Stadium was dedicated. He died October 24, 2007.