The sun shone brightly on about 50 people in front of the Mary J. Barnett Memorial Library in Guthrie Center Saturday. They witnessed the grand opening ribbon cutting of the Smithsonian Institute’s exhibit, “Hometown Teams: How Sports Shape America.”
The ceremony began with performances from the Adair-Casey/Guthrie Center pep band and two selections from the upcoming summer show, “Six-On-Six: The Musical.” Then Smithsonian Committee member Becky Carico introduced the exhibit and Mayor Dennis Kunkle cut the ribbon. The event continued inside with a coaches forum featuring several coaches with Guthrie Center ties, including: Ray Svendson, Steve and Bart Smith, Joe Rasmussen, and Jim Flanery. The coaches spoke for about two hours about all things basketball, particularly the influence six-on-six girls basketball had on the Guthrie Center community.
All of the coaches gave their perspective on the different topics, but one commonality was their admiration for Guthrie Center. Former Guthrie Center head girls basketball coach Ray Svendson was particularly vocal about his love for the community. “I coached in five schools. There was not harder workers than there was in Guthrie Center. I’ve never seen kids work like that…This is my favorite place because of the parents and the kids. I mean jeepers creepers, they would have run right through the wall if we would have asked them too. They were just amazing.”
The exhibit will be open at the library from now until August 5th. The next event will be Iowa State University Day, starting with a tailgate party from 11am-1pm. It is open Monday-Thursday from noon-6pm, Friday and Saturday from 9am-4pm, and Sunday from 1-4pm.
Tentative Schedule:
*June 30th- Iowa State University Day, with special guest Merv Krakau
*July 5,6,8- Six-on-Six the Musical
*July 6- Karen Mason from IA Women’s Archives presentation on six-on-six
*July 7- All School Reunion
*July 14- Baseball Day, with special guests Barry Monahan and Alan Mahaffey
*July 18- Dan Gable Book Signing; 5-8pm
*July 21- University of Iowa Day, with special guest Kent Stephenson