By Ryan Stonebraker
It doesn’t get any easier the longer I am here at the newspaper. Growing up and getting older is never easy anyway and I am always adjusting to something it seems. One of the things that we all go through is losses along the way. Whether we move to a new town, have a loved one pass away or see friends move away. Last week, the Tipton school district learned that two pillars since I have been here at the paper will be moving on. Tipton middle school principal Sue O’Donnell and head football coach and teacher Josh Bahr will leave the district after the school year for great opportunities.
Both have meant a lot to the district over the years. O’Donnell as an administrator and what some may not know, a successful swimming coach of the Tigers swim team some years back where she routinely helped lead our kids to state swimming meets in Marshalltown. Bahr, as the leader of the Tigers football team. A builder of young men and programs as well as a respected teacher at the high school.
Since I have been here at the end of the summer 2005 season, here are the number of football coaches at each school I cover. All four schools have had a playoff run since I have been here. North Cedar - 6, Durant - 4, Wilton - 2 and Tipton 2, but soon 3.
Bahr will become the K-12 principal and athletic director at West Central (Maynard) High School in Northeast Iowa and O’Donnell will be a principal at one of the schools in Muscatine. Both outstanding opportunities for two driven individuals that love kids and love to build and develop.
Spring is not my favorite season. As nature blooms and warmer weather hits, I brace for changes in the area coaching line up each year. Ok, I get pretty excited for the start of the Major League Baseball season, I’ll give you that. I apologize to those who enjoy spring with both feet jumping into the new season, but I don’t join you. And, I’m not a fan of mowing my yard.
I work crazy hours, but hours I can control for the most part. I work for an awesome boss that expects excellence, yet gives me the freedom to make that look how I want it to, not from an office in the far away safety of corporate headquarters. Our family is well known here, but a lot of my friends and some of my closest friends are coaches at the four schools I cover. When they leave, I lose a ‘friend’ just like many of you do or if your kid loses a teacher. Often, in season coaches see me and I them regularly, but with a new season, I have new friends to catch up and I’ll catch up with the previous season coaches the next year and so on.
Over the years I have picked up my share of cliches. My wife will attest to it as I see the famous eye rolls when I repeat one. There is a bit of truth to them though, and not a blanket statement that you here in the athletic world. Here it is. Don’t be sad that it is ending, be happy that it happened. I am a collector. As a kid, the go to was sports cards, specifically baseball cards. As an adult with two kids, it is experiences. As a adult it is collecting things like coaching youth sports, sharing a favorite show and collecting smiles instead of material possessions. My go to after family is friendships.
I don’t have a corner on the cliche market and this very well may be one, but I will claim it as mine. I have a saying in recent years that I repeat to my close friends. Here it is. Enjoy it while you have it, because you never know how long it will last. Whatever ever ‘it’ means to you, enjoy it. A friendship, a physical item, a relationship, a job, whatever. Nothing lasts forever, and that is fine. People come, people go, things come into your life, things go. There are many seasons that make up one's life. I think that we all have enjoyed O’Donnell’s and Bahr’s time in Tipton and deep down we are happy for them and what opportunities they have.
So, on behalf of the Tipton community as a whole, the Tipton athletic community, and as a friend, I wish both Bahr and O’Donnell the best and good luck with your new paths.
Part of my spring involves white knuckle rides into the pre-summer weeks is keeping tabs on school board agendas and meeting minutes seeing if my friends are leaving. I think that I will retire that and look at minutes and be excited for their opportunities instead. Good luck, go get ‘em guys.
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