A week of appreciating legacies with Creston roots

I had a wonderful week of rubbing shoulders with greatness linked to Creston last week.

On Tuesday, Deb and I went to the concert of Grammy-winning music producer David Foster and his wife, vocalist Katharine McPhee, at Hoyt Sherman Place. We weren’t the only Creston people in the audience, because Creston native John ‘JR” Robinson is the drummer for Foster’s tour.

Because I had written several stories in the past about Robinson’s contributions to so many No. 1 hits in the music industry, I reached out to him about the possibility of getting a photo that night for the News Advertiser. Fellow Creston grad Garry Law was organizing a post-concert meet and greet at Hoyt Sherman, and we joined that group.

As it turned out, Hoyt Sherman staff took the photo as Deb and I were asked to join John’s Creston friends for the group photo. Deb ended up right next to Foster, who has won 16 Grammys in an incredible career of producing hits for the likes of Celine Dion and Michael Buble.

The coolest part of the concert for us Creston folks occurred when Foster introduced Robinson and gave him the microphone. Robinson spoke of his love of performing in his home state, so close to his hometown of Creston. A loud cheer broke out.

The band then did a two-minute medley of five No.1 hits that Robinson played on — “Rock With You” and “Don’t Stop Til You Get Enough” by Michael Jackson, “Higher Love” by Stevie Winwood, “Ain’t Nobody” by Chaka Khan and “All Night Long” by Lionel Richie.

When you watch JR play the drums in person, you know you’re witnessing greatness. It’s mesmerizing. He and his group SRT will perform July 25 at the Omaha Wine and Jazz Festival.

JR loved playing basketball at Creston back in the day, when Jeff Longstaff was the star player in the early ‘70s.

So, it’s an easy transition to also talk about basketball here today. On Saturday there was all kinds of greatness celebrated, as Anson’s Bar and Grill was the venue for a ceremony organized by John Walters to unveil a display of photos of all-state players over the years, as well as the center circle from the Panther Pit gym donated by Jack Davis.

Larry Goodrich, 1962 graduate and Creston’s oldest living all-state player, was the keynote speaker. I really enjoyed listening to him talk about coach Maury Geist, even though I accidently referred to Geist as Jerry Waugh in the print version of our report. (Both have Mount Ayr ties, and I mixed them up while writing the piece on Sunday.)

When he talked about Geist being a stickler for details as the key to his success, I was reminded of my high school baseball coach in Fort Dodge, Hall of Fame coach Ed McNeil. One memory I still have 51 years later is the time he meticulously showed us the proper way to wear our stirrup socks, and how to fold the bottom of our uniform pants over those socks.

Fort Dodge not only played well under McNeil — I was a 12-year-old kid captivated by the team’s run to the 1969 state championship — but they always looked good. It was a first-class organization run by McNeil, and I took many of his lessons to heart in my journalism career.

Do the little things right, be thorough, and never take the easy way out. Music producer Quincy Jones once told David Foster that if you put your name on something, never apologize for something in it that you don’t like. Do it over and make it right. Good is the enemy of great, he said.

That appears to be how coach Geist operated his Creston teams, which won four Hawkeye Eight titles in his short tenure here. For seven straight seasons, Creston had the individual scoring leader in the conference, including Goodrich. He developed players.

During Saturday’s program, Goodrich related a memory of coach Geist.

“He inspired us by the way he coached, and even the way he dressed,” Goodrich said. “The guy taught us how to tie a Windsor knot! I remember that. You remember the little things. As time passes, you remember what happened in games. It’s the little things that are burned in your memory forever.”

Probably because of coach McNeil’s preachings, I still tell our middle school basketball players every winter that doing the little things will lead to big things. Don’t take shortcuts. Get it right.

Great, accomplished people like coach Geist and JR Robinson operate that way. They didn’t get to the top by thinking, “Oh well, that’s good enough.”

Getting to write about those great names from Creston’s past last week was a blast. THAT’S why I’m not fully retired.

I’m still looking forward to the next opportunity to be inspired.

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Contact the writer:

Email: malachy.lp@gmail.com

Twitter: @larrypeterson