2016 Hall of Famer Tom Thoma

2016 NIACC hall of famer Tom Thoma - distinguished service award

When Tom Thoma started talking about his time covering NIACC athletics for the Globe Gazette and the years he's spent around the Trojans, he mentioned the likes of Herb Konigsmark, Art Lundblad, Kaye Young, Jerry Dunbar and Dick Ramsey among others.

Several of the names he threw out are already members of the NIACC athletics hall of fame.

Add Thoma to the list of NIACC athletic hall of famer as he received the 2016 distinguished service award.

"I was shocked," Thoma said of the hall of fame call he received from NIACC athletic director Dan Mason. "There are many more people that deserve this award than me. I'm honored they would think of me.

"And the call also meant a lot because of the guy that called me."

Thoma, who attended NIACC from 1967-69, started working full-time at the Globe Gazette in 1971. He's held many titles at the local newspaper over the years, including a stay in sports in the late 1980s to the mid-1990s.

Thoma continues to follow the NIACC athletic teams and is often seen in sitting in his lawn chair down the first base line at Roosevelt Field during the Trojans’ baseball season, in his chair at the NIACC men’s soccer games and in the first row of bleachers at NIACC’s home basketball games.

Thoma was also instrumental in starting Logos, the NIACC student newspaper when he was a student in the late 1960s.

Bob Fenske, who is the editor of the New Hampton Tribune, said Thoma is very deserving of the honor.

“When I interviewed for the Globe position, Tom gave me a tour of Mason City and the first place he took me was out to NIACC,” Fenske said, “and he introduced me to guys like Herb Konigsmark, Dick Ramsey, Jerry Dunbar and John Oertel, all legends in their own right.

“We were driving back into the city and Tom says to me ‘NIACC is a pretty special place and we’re lucky to have it here in Mason City.’

“And he really backed it up as sports editor. We covered NIACC as well as any paper in Iowa covered a junior college. He made sure of that.”

Thoma said he’s enjoyed building relationships with the people at NIACC over the years and has many great memories.

“I will always remember Herb and John Oertel,” Thoma said. “Herb was so colorful. I will always remember Joyce (Herb’s wife) making meatballs at media day.

“There are so many names – (Dennis) Schaeffer, (Terry) McKissick, the (Brad and Ryan) Pippetts.”

NIACC just didn’t mean athletics to Thoma. He was interested in all parts of the school.

“Tom loves the Performing Arts Series, Quodlibet and all the great things NIACC brings to Mason City,” Fenske said. “I guess in the end it comes down to this. NIACC in a lot of ways put Tom on the road he’s still traveling today and he’s repaid NIACC with amazing loyalty and dedication.”

Thoma also added that covering NIACC athletics over the years created relationships and memories with other schools in the Iowa Community College Athletic Conference.

Following and covering the two-year schools in the 1970s through the 1990s was always a fun time for the media with several different personalities roaming the sidelines.

“You got to see guys like (Ellsworth’s) Bud Fischer, (Iowa Central’s) Dennis Pilcher, (Iowa Lake’s) Bob Grems and (Waldorf’s) Denny Jerome and Dave Bolstorff.”

And everybody in North Iowa knows Thoma.

Fenske loves to tell the story about former legendary Iowa State basketball coach Johnny Orr and Thoma at a Cyclone golf outing in Clear Lake several years ago.

Fenske was covering the event for the Globe Gazette and went over to get an interview with Orr while he was golfing. Fenske’s first question was the basic “how it’s going, coach Orr?”

“Well, it’s taking too damn long,” Orr said, “because everyone keeps stopping the group ahead of us and talking to that guy (Thoma).”