Title
George Krohn interview (Buena Vista College employee), conducted by Sue Brinkman
Subject
Buena Vista College -- Oral histories
Oral histories -- Iowa -- Storm Lake
Baseball -- Iowa -- Storm Lake
Buena Vista College -- Baseball
Description
George Krohn was an employee of Buena Vista College. He grew up north of Storm Lake in Clay County and after having worked as a bus driver and custodian in Sioux Rapids, Iowa, he came to work in the Storm Lake school district. Eventually, he got a job with Buena Vista and also helped with the baseball team. He was a practical joker and shares some pranks he pulled on BV coaches.
Notes:
Scroll down to see the transcript. Numbers that appear in brackets show the timestamp of the conversation. To access the audio recording, click the arrow under the photograph to start.
To the best of the transcriptionist’s ability, this is a faithful rendition of the conversation. If inaccuracies are detected, please contact the BVU Archives by emailing archives@bvu.edu.
Notes:
Scroll down to see the transcript. Numbers that appear in brackets show the timestamp of the conversation. To access the audio recording, click the arrow under the photograph to start.
To the best of the transcriptionist’s ability, this is a faithful rendition of the conversation. If inaccuracies are detected, please contact the BVU Archives by emailing archives@bvu.edu.
Publisher
Buena Vista University
Date
June 6, 1985
Format
audio/mpeg
Language
English
Type
Sound
Identifier
http://bvuarchives.bvu.edu/Audio/OralHistories/GeorgeKrohn.mp3
Interviewer
Sue Brinkman
Interviewee
George Krohn
Transcription
SB=Sue Brinkman
GK=George Krohn
SB: [00:00:01] This is an interview conducted on June 6, 1985 by Sue Brinkman with George Krohn, a longtime employee of Buena Vista College. What is your background here? Where did you grow up, and where did you go to school?
GK: [00:00:14] I grew up-- born and raised in a rural area around Webb, Iowa, that's in southeast Clay County. And I graduated from Garfield Township Consolidated School in 1933. Our main sport there, at that time, was baseball because-- we had no gymnasium, and we didn't have football. But I have learned to follow the other sports, as well, with baseball still my-- my game.
SB: [00:00:49] You were a baseball player yourself.
GK: [00:00:51] Yes.
SB: [00:00:52] And quite good?
GK: [00:00:53] Well, my senior year I made the all-county team at shortstop. And then after school I played what they call semi-pro baseball league. Different towns around the area would have summer baseball, and it was mostly high school and college students that played [then]. We did not play for money because there wasn't any money. [laughs]
SB: [00:01:18] So, what brought you to Storm Lake?
GK: [00:01:21] I came to Storm Lake from Sioux Rapids, which will be 22 years ago this July. At Sioux Rapids I was a custodian and a bus driver. I drove bus for twelve years, was custodian for nine years, and I came Storm Lake and was a-- a custodian with the public schools here. That was what brought me here.
SB: [00:01:48] And then you got a job with Buena Vista.
GK: [00:01:50] I-- I was with the Storm Lake public schools for one year. And an opening came for park superintendent of the city of Storm Lake-- And I was fortunate to get that position, and I had that for three years. And then I was back to the-- public school again for three years, and then I went to work for Buena Vista College. And I have been with them since then.
SB: [00:02:26] So you've been with Buena Vista 15 years. Is there anybody who stands out in your mind, student, or a faculty member?
GK: [00:02:33] Oh, a-- A college this size you get-- You get close to so many that-- it would be hard to say any one individual would-- would stand out. There's a-- there's been a lot of-- of close-- Closeness-- among students and faculty as well.
SB: [00:03:03] Have students changed since you began here?
GK: [00:03:07] Well-- I would have to say yes to that-- I'd say-- it's hard to describe. It's hard to describe it-- For some reason or other especially I-- the thing I notice more is on the baseball team-- The kids, for some reason or other, seem to me like they're-- they're younger and smaller than what they used to be-- As I've worked with Coach Beekmann all the while I have been here, been very close to him, and he's been very good to me. And-- There-- there is a difference and-- and it's hard to describe.
SB: [00:03:55] Do you notice any difference in training in baseball than how when you were playing?
GK: [00:04:01] Well, from the time when I was playing-- As far as baseball was concerned-- There was something about it that, that's just about all you thought about. You-- like the-- You probably have heard him [Beekmann] say you ate it and you slept it and that was just continually on your mind. From the time I was big enough to-- to even so much as play catch, I usually always carried two gloves and a ball with me, so if I could find somebody to play with, why-- See I didn't have any brothers. I had two sisters. And-- So I had to find somebody to play with, although in, in-- later years when I did get in high school to play, my youngest (?) (younger?) sister got to be as good a person to play catch with as, as some boys would have been.
SB: [00:05:02] What baseball players at BV do you think are really outstanding?
GK: [00:05:07] Oh, down through the years-- I-- there has been a lot of 'em. There has been a lot of 'em. 'Course, Larry Bittner was here when I was here. He-- He done a lot of pitching for Buena Vista when he was here-- I think back a little further and Coach Beekmann had-- Had some outstanding teams. I know-- Storm Lake hosted the, at that time in the NAIA, tournament here. And-- Coach had some really outstanding players at that time. He had a right-handed pitcher by the name of Drummond. And-- He had a left hander by the name of Naughton who was-- related to John Naughton. And they were, I-- I just remember them as being really outstanding right- and left-handed pitchers. At the same time, he had some, some outstanding fielders, infielders, and catchers-- It's, it's just hard to pinpoint anybody that was really above anybody else.
SB: [00:06:27] What's the best part of your day working at BV?
GK: [00:06:29] Well, right now-- 'course I'm just here part time. And-- Well, I guess, probably I-- In order to find something to consume some of my time, I-- I have established a little mail route on campus, and I enjoy carrying the mail around because you're always being involved with people. You see people and, and that's what I like is, is being around people. And-- As they say-- Being around students, college students-- I think that has kept, kept me young. Feeling that way, anyway.
SB: [00:07:19] Has there any-- ever been anybody that's given you trouble, been hard to work with?
GK: [00:07:25] Well not exactly. I wouldn't-- Want to get real personal with that. But when I was custodial supervisor we had a buildings and grounds superintendent that-- that-- [laughs] Well, I got along with him but it-- [laughs] It wasn't easy.
SB: [00:07:47] OK, you're to be married soon. [Krohn's first wife died, and he was entering a second marriage.] Is your wedding reception the first to be held in the Grand Ballroom?
GK: [00:07:53] No, there-- There has been some already. But-- That really didn't make any difference. I was-- I was kind of glad it turned out the way it did-- We were going to have-- had planned to have our reception at Cobblestone. And so, I called Jerry [Lawrence, later Dahlen] and talked to her and she says, "Oh my," she says, "I'm sure sorry," but she says, "That's the week after Fourth of July, and we always give our help that week off when we're closed." So I was talking with Greg Evans about it, and Greg says, "Why don't you come to the Grand Ballroom?" And I said, "Well, Greg, the only trouble is that-- we planned to have a dance, and that's all carpeted." "Oh," he says, "there's no problem." He says, "We have a portable floor we put down." So that was taken care of. Real easy.
SB: [00:08:44] Good. [Recorder turns off. When tape resumes, George is speaking.]
GK: [00:08:48] Down at Siebens Center. We-- We have had a-- I don't know, just a real good time. It's-- there's been a lot of fun along with it-- We get serious at times and all that but-- Oh, I re-- I recall the time that I, I tied a dead cottontail rabbit on the-- Coach Lewis's car, and I was standing in the foyer as I watched him take off and the rabbit dragged along behind, and it really turned out to be more funny than I thought to begin with, because Coach Lewis was going over to West School to pick up his young son, Brad, who was-- in kindergarten. And as he drove up along the east side of West School, why-- to pick him up, a local police car came along and the policeman asked him, and says, "What're you doing dragging that dead rat behind?" Coach says, "I don't know. I didn't know it was back there." [both laugh] And I tied a-- a dead squirrel on the back of Hershberger's car one time. [laughs] And-- He was in a hurry. We were having-- one of the high school state tournament finals down to Siebens and-- He was operating the northwest door down there, where the teams come through and-- He was kinda in a hurry, and I had done this while his car was parked at home. I knew he wouldn't see it because he come out of the house and backed out. And as he drove up down there, one of the students who was on duty down there said, "What are you doing with that dead squirrel?" [laughs] He just did-- oh, he just-- says, "That damn George." [both laugh] He knew right away who it was--
SB: [00:10:44] [talking at the same time as George] They knew it was you. [laughs] Did you ever have any punishment for all your pranks?
SB: [00:10:49] Any retaliation?
GK: [00:10:50] Yes. Yes I have. [laugh] But-- [laughs] I would-- I would rather not say anything about that because there might be some names involved, and it wouldn't sound so good, I don't know. [both laugh]
SB: [00:11:05] OK. We'll let it go. [laughs] [Recorder clicks off, when the tape resumes, George is speaking.]
GK: [00:11:10] I have seen it. Vast exch-- [corrects himself] change in the college itself, especially the campus. When I came here, I thought Siebens Center looked like an awfully large place. Now we have the new Forum building. It's not as wide open, of course, as what the Siebens Center is, but it-- does cover a lot, a lot of area. From the very beginning, when they started talking about it and when they started moving dirt-- I wondered what-- the final look was going to be and now that it's here, it-- it's really, it is really something.
SB: [00:12:03] You really think it's going to increase enrollment or at least interest in BV?
GK: [00:12:08] Well, I think with their, their business and their mass communications programs, you're-- I think a lot of students are going to take it into consideration. I certainly would, if I was that age, I know that.
SB: [00:12:26] Thank you, George. It's been a pleasure.
GK: [00:12:32] [The interview seems concluded, but this additional dialogue is on the tape.] The college has been very good to me-- Twice the-- baseball team won the Iowa conference and Coach Beekmann decided and-- to take me along. I tried to help out in any way I could, but-- As far as being official, I, I was just more or less went along. And-- at the time the football team was in the playoff, NCAA playoff at-- at-- Wisconsin, why, I went with the team that year. And-- Ever since I retired, I have been going with the baseball team to-- We've been going to Texas. I missed one year. A year ago, I came down with pneumonia about a week before, I didn't get to go. But otherwise-- This year they went to Florida, and-- I was able to help out by being a relief driver for the charter bus. Never had been to Florida, and I really enjoyed the trip. It was a long, hard trip with 36 hours straight through, seventeen hundred and fifty miles, but it was worth it. So-- No, Coach Beekmann has really treated me very royally, if you want to put it that way.
SB: [00:14:16] Thank you, George.
GK=George Krohn
SB: [00:00:01] This is an interview conducted on June 6, 1985 by Sue Brinkman with George Krohn, a longtime employee of Buena Vista College. What is your background here? Where did you grow up, and where did you go to school?
GK: [00:00:14] I grew up-- born and raised in a rural area around Webb, Iowa, that's in southeast Clay County. And I graduated from Garfield Township Consolidated School in 1933. Our main sport there, at that time, was baseball because-- we had no gymnasium, and we didn't have football. But I have learned to follow the other sports, as well, with baseball still my-- my game.
SB: [00:00:49] You were a baseball player yourself.
GK: [00:00:51] Yes.
SB: [00:00:52] And quite good?
GK: [00:00:53] Well, my senior year I made the all-county team at shortstop. And then after school I played what they call semi-pro baseball league. Different towns around the area would have summer baseball, and it was mostly high school and college students that played [then]. We did not play for money because there wasn't any money. [laughs]
SB: [00:01:18] So, what brought you to Storm Lake?
GK: [00:01:21] I came to Storm Lake from Sioux Rapids, which will be 22 years ago this July. At Sioux Rapids I was a custodian and a bus driver. I drove bus for twelve years, was custodian for nine years, and I came Storm Lake and was a-- a custodian with the public schools here. That was what brought me here.
SB: [00:01:48] And then you got a job with Buena Vista.
GK: [00:01:50] I-- I was with the Storm Lake public schools for one year. And an opening came for park superintendent of the city of Storm Lake-- And I was fortunate to get that position, and I had that for three years. And then I was back to the-- public school again for three years, and then I went to work for Buena Vista College. And I have been with them since then.
SB: [00:02:26] So you've been with Buena Vista 15 years. Is there anybody who stands out in your mind, student, or a faculty member?
GK: [00:02:33] Oh, a-- A college this size you get-- You get close to so many that-- it would be hard to say any one individual would-- would stand out. There's a-- there's been a lot of-- of close-- Closeness-- among students and faculty as well.
SB: [00:03:03] Have students changed since you began here?
GK: [00:03:07] Well-- I would have to say yes to that-- I'd say-- it's hard to describe. It's hard to describe it-- For some reason or other especially I-- the thing I notice more is on the baseball team-- The kids, for some reason or other, seem to me like they're-- they're younger and smaller than what they used to be-- As I've worked with Coach Beekmann all the while I have been here, been very close to him, and he's been very good to me. And-- There-- there is a difference and-- and it's hard to describe.
SB: [00:03:55] Do you notice any difference in training in baseball than how when you were playing?
GK: [00:04:01] Well, from the time when I was playing-- As far as baseball was concerned-- There was something about it that, that's just about all you thought about. You-- like the-- You probably have heard him [Beekmann] say you ate it and you slept it and that was just continually on your mind. From the time I was big enough to-- to even so much as play catch, I usually always carried two gloves and a ball with me, so if I could find somebody to play with, why-- See I didn't have any brothers. I had two sisters. And-- So I had to find somebody to play with, although in, in-- later years when I did get in high school to play, my youngest (?) (younger?) sister got to be as good a person to play catch with as, as some boys would have been.
SB: [00:05:02] What baseball players at BV do you think are really outstanding?
GK: [00:05:07] Oh, down through the years-- I-- there has been a lot of 'em. There has been a lot of 'em. 'Course, Larry Bittner was here when I was here. He-- He done a lot of pitching for Buena Vista when he was here-- I think back a little further and Coach Beekmann had-- Had some outstanding teams. I know-- Storm Lake hosted the, at that time in the NAIA, tournament here. And-- Coach had some really outstanding players at that time. He had a right-handed pitcher by the name of Drummond. And-- He had a left hander by the name of Naughton who was-- related to John Naughton. And they were, I-- I just remember them as being really outstanding right- and left-handed pitchers. At the same time, he had some, some outstanding fielders, infielders, and catchers-- It's, it's just hard to pinpoint anybody that was really above anybody else.
SB: [00:06:27] What's the best part of your day working at BV?
GK: [00:06:29] Well, right now-- 'course I'm just here part time. And-- Well, I guess, probably I-- In order to find something to consume some of my time, I-- I have established a little mail route on campus, and I enjoy carrying the mail around because you're always being involved with people. You see people and, and that's what I like is, is being around people. And-- As they say-- Being around students, college students-- I think that has kept, kept me young. Feeling that way, anyway.
SB: [00:07:19] Has there any-- ever been anybody that's given you trouble, been hard to work with?
GK: [00:07:25] Well not exactly. I wouldn't-- Want to get real personal with that. But when I was custodial supervisor we had a buildings and grounds superintendent that-- that-- [laughs] Well, I got along with him but it-- [laughs] It wasn't easy.
SB: [00:07:47] OK, you're to be married soon. [Krohn's first wife died, and he was entering a second marriage.] Is your wedding reception the first to be held in the Grand Ballroom?
GK: [00:07:53] No, there-- There has been some already. But-- That really didn't make any difference. I was-- I was kind of glad it turned out the way it did-- We were going to have-- had planned to have our reception at Cobblestone. And so, I called Jerry [Lawrence, later Dahlen] and talked to her and she says, "Oh my," she says, "I'm sure sorry," but she says, "That's the week after Fourth of July, and we always give our help that week off when we're closed." So I was talking with Greg Evans about it, and Greg says, "Why don't you come to the Grand Ballroom?" And I said, "Well, Greg, the only trouble is that-- we planned to have a dance, and that's all carpeted." "Oh," he says, "there's no problem." He says, "We have a portable floor we put down." So that was taken care of. Real easy.
SB: [00:08:44] Good. [Recorder turns off. When tape resumes, George is speaking.]
GK: [00:08:48] Down at Siebens Center. We-- We have had a-- I don't know, just a real good time. It's-- there's been a lot of fun along with it-- We get serious at times and all that but-- Oh, I re-- I recall the time that I, I tied a dead cottontail rabbit on the-- Coach Lewis's car, and I was standing in the foyer as I watched him take off and the rabbit dragged along behind, and it really turned out to be more funny than I thought to begin with, because Coach Lewis was going over to West School to pick up his young son, Brad, who was-- in kindergarten. And as he drove up along the east side of West School, why-- to pick him up, a local police car came along and the policeman asked him, and says, "What're you doing dragging that dead rat behind?" Coach says, "I don't know. I didn't know it was back there." [both laugh] And I tied a-- a dead squirrel on the back of Hershberger's car one time. [laughs] And-- He was in a hurry. We were having-- one of the high school state tournament finals down to Siebens and-- He was operating the northwest door down there, where the teams come through and-- He was kinda in a hurry, and I had done this while his car was parked at home. I knew he wouldn't see it because he come out of the house and backed out. And as he drove up down there, one of the students who was on duty down there said, "What are you doing with that dead squirrel?" [laughs] He just did-- oh, he just-- says, "That damn George." [both laugh] He knew right away who it was--
SB: [00:10:44] [talking at the same time as George] They knew it was you. [laughs] Did you ever have any punishment for all your pranks?
SB: [00:10:49] Any retaliation?
GK: [00:10:50] Yes. Yes I have. [laugh] But-- [laughs] I would-- I would rather not say anything about that because there might be some names involved, and it wouldn't sound so good, I don't know. [both laugh]
SB: [00:11:05] OK. We'll let it go. [laughs] [Recorder clicks off, when the tape resumes, George is speaking.]
GK: [00:11:10] I have seen it. Vast exch-- [corrects himself] change in the college itself, especially the campus. When I came here, I thought Siebens Center looked like an awfully large place. Now we have the new Forum building. It's not as wide open, of course, as what the Siebens Center is, but it-- does cover a lot, a lot of area. From the very beginning, when they started talking about it and when they started moving dirt-- I wondered what-- the final look was going to be and now that it's here, it-- it's really, it is really something.
SB: [00:12:03] You really think it's going to increase enrollment or at least interest in BV?
GK: [00:12:08] Well, I think with their, their business and their mass communications programs, you're-- I think a lot of students are going to take it into consideration. I certainly would, if I was that age, I know that.
SB: [00:12:26] Thank you, George. It's been a pleasure.
GK: [00:12:32] [The interview seems concluded, but this additional dialogue is on the tape.] The college has been very good to me-- Twice the-- baseball team won the Iowa conference and Coach Beekmann decided and-- to take me along. I tried to help out in any way I could, but-- As far as being official, I, I was just more or less went along. And-- at the time the football team was in the playoff, NCAA playoff at-- at-- Wisconsin, why, I went with the team that year. And-- Ever since I retired, I have been going with the baseball team to-- We've been going to Texas. I missed one year. A year ago, I came down with pneumonia about a week before, I didn't get to go. But otherwise-- This year they went to Florida, and-- I was able to help out by being a relief driver for the charter bus. Never had been to Florida, and I really enjoyed the trip. It was a long, hard trip with 36 hours straight through, seventeen hundred and fifty miles, but it was worth it. So-- No, Coach Beekmann has really treated me very royally, if you want to put it that way.
SB: [00:14:16] Thank you, George.
Original Format
audio cassette
Duration
0:14:30
Bit Rate/Frequency
80 kbps