Young YMCA director helps keep Peterson in SW Iowa

Truth be told, prior to 1979, Larry Peterson had never been to a single town in southwest Iowa.

He graduated from Fort Dodge Senior High School in 1975, then attended Iowa Central Community College, where he worked on the college newspaper staff. There, he also landed a part-time job in the Fort Dodge Messenger sports department while attending community college. His boss would be none other than the man he idolized, Bob Brown.

“It was a little intimidating at first (working for Brown),” Peterson said. “He had a standard and that standard was met. But, I got real-life experience there and it was great to learn from him.”

Peterson left Iowa Central after one year to attend the University of Iowa. There, he did internships with the university’s sports information department and was the Hawkeye correspondent for the Waterloo Courier until he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in journalism and minor in sociology from the university in December 1979.

Atlantic bound

After graduation, Peterson struggled to find available positions in the newspaper business. He had his degree, but the only job he could find was busing tables at a restaurant in Iowa City. That was until a reporter opening became available a couple of weeks later at the Atlantic News Telegraph.

“I’d never been to southwest Iowa or lived in a town as small as Atlantic, but I wasn’t going to bus tables at that restaurant,” Peterson said.

At the News Telegraph, he wrote news and sports stories, covered the local school board, adjusted news releases and a whole “hodgepodge” of other tasks. It was good experience, but he didn’t plan to stay long. He had visions of bigger.

“I was thinking I would leave right away, that I’d start sending out resumes,” Peterson said. “But as fate would have it, I did a story at the YMCA on a new program there. The program director I interviewed was Deb Imming.”

Turns out, Imming lived right above Peterson at Cherry Hills Apartments with one of her teacher friends.

“We got to know each other because we saw each other basically every day,” Peterson said. “Eventually, we got pretty serious and I started questioning, should I send out these resumes?”

The resumes were never sent out.

He and Deb, now married for 33 years, stayed in Atlantic together for four years together until 1984 when Pat Watkins — the editor of the Creston News Advertiser at the time — offered Peterson a full-time job at the CNA while at an Iowa Newspaper Association conference.

“He wanted me to be his assistant editor,” Peterson said.

Peterson took the job and Deb moved to Creston a short time later. Peterson later moved to the sports editor position at the CNA in 1985. He worked for a time with the late Max Sandeman, longtime sports editor at the CNA, who was inducted into the first CHS Hall of Fame in 2005.

“Max was a legendary guy, just like Bob Brown,” Peterson said. “He was such a hard worker and wanted to give every school (athletic program) their due, and that takes a lot of work. He was a great influence on me.”

Climbing the ladder

Peterson left the CNA in 1989, taking a job as assistant sports editor at the Mason City Globe Gazette. It was the “bigger” he was looking for.

He liked the job, but Peterson noticed some problems early on. His schedule was 4 p.m. to 1 a.m. most of the time, with no consecutive days off. Pretty much the only time he was seeing his children — 4-year-old Brett and 1-year-old Keith — was during his evening dinner break.

“That was pretty much my exposure to my kids,” Peterson said. “Deb was raising the kids by herself. We realized pretty quick this wasn’t going to work.”

Not long after, the sports editor position at the CNA came back open when Joe Loudon resigned, and new editor Jeff Young — who had met Peterson just before his departure to Mason City — brought the Petersons back to Creston.

“I have to give credit to Jeff Young,” Peterson said. “He gave me a chance to come back to Creston, and that was the best thing that could have happened to our family. We had a fantastic experience raising them here, going through St. Malachy and the Creston school system. I have no regrets about coming back to Creston.”