Iowa's 1/2 of Superman - Kent Taylor

Most know about the connection to Iowa in Star Trek, with Captain Kirk hailing from Riverside, but surely less are keen on another superhero connection to the state.  Nashua born actor Kent Taylor one half of the inspiration behind the naming of Clark Kent, Superman's alter-ego.  A handsome bloke, he and Clark Gable merged in the mind of superman creators Jerry Siegal and Joel Shuster in the form of the somewhat nerdy, passive, yet compelling secret side of the Man of Steel.

Kent Taylor earned himself a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, most likely for his earlier career of leading and supporting roles.  Later in life B movies like  Satan's Sadists, Blood of Ghastly Horror, I Spit on Your Corpse, dominated his repertoire. Surely the villains in those low-budget horror flicks were unaware that they had a demi-superhero in their midst!

Moses Bloom - First Jewish Mayor

For some reason I was surprised to learn that the first Jewish mayor of a major city in the United States was Moses Bloom who led Iowa City from 1873-1877.  It never ceases to amaze me just how many progressive milestones were achieved or supported by Iowans.

Sue Hettmansperger - Artist

Brilliant work, Hettmansperger is a professor of art at UofI.  Do yourself a favor and have a look around at her online gallery.  Going to do some more digging for great artists in Iowa.  If you have a suggestion let me know.  Art is made everywhere, every day, but certain locales certainly bring out the best in artistic souls, I do believe Iowa may be one of those special regions.

Otto Frederick Rohwedder - Inventor Sliced Bread

The invention of slice bread has long been the gold standard to which all other innovations have been compared.  In fact, apart from the wheel I cannot think of any other product that has served as the base of more cliches than Mr Otto Rohwedder's creation.  Of course these days us food snobs prefer to buy an unsliced loaf and a sharp bread knife as opposed to seeking out the gooey wonder that is Wonder Bread. So  perhaps the bread slicer was but a stepping stone to culinary convenience, which ultimately has led to a dominance of prepared foods in our diet.  The more I type the more I question Otto's genius. So I'll leave it at this, at the very least he certainly entered into the lexicon of the English language in a big way, and yes he is an Iowan.

Bryan Berg - Card Stacker

One thing I love about writing this blog is that I often stumble across something unexpected and extraordinary and it always is made much cooler that the source of whatever has inspired me is in someway related to my home state. Such is the case with Bryan Berg, the world's greatest cardstacker.  Originally from Spirit Lake, Berg is an ISU and Harvard trained architect that first broke the card stacking world record at the age of 17.  Also the only known card stacker to be featured in a music video, Berg has certainly carved (or more appropriately stacked) out his niche in this world and the results are pretty breathtaking.  

Gordon Jones - Mike the Cop - Alden IA

Gordon Jones was a famous sidekick in comedies and westerns. Interestingly his last film was in support of another Iowan John Wayne in McLintock! He also once starred at the Green Hornet. From Alden to Superhero to Sidekick.

Babe Bisignano

My grandfather Bill Hyland was quite the ball player in the early 1940's for Dowling Catholic High.  Later in life, after I came around, he was quite the storyteller.  The two came together often when he would talk about Babe Bisignano, a larger than life Des Moines business man who ran THE DSM restaurant "Babes" for 52 years.  As grandfather would tell it, Babe took him under is wing when he was playing shortstop and introduced him to all the important folks in town including all the sportswriters who might help him make it to the next level.  Just how deep this relationship truly was we will never know as both have passed away but I do know that my grandfather made it into the Yankees organization after HS and that Babe was a fixture in his stories until the end.  Reading this article by Chuck Offenburger tells a very similar tale, from the sounds of it he was the character my gramps talked about. 

Iowa Blackie - Iowan Hobo

I have long known about the National Hobo Museum in Britt, Iowa though I have never really dug into the lore of those who ride the rails.  Surprising given my own propensity to crash wherever my head found rest in my younger years, I often considered myself a bit of a vagabondish hobo but reading now about some of the lives the real rail riders lead I am certainly too soft to be considered in their league.  One of the most notorious of all hobo's Iowa Blackie passed away last month.  A google search for Iowa Blackie quickly returns 128,000 results and over 16,000 images.  Certainly not all are related to the life and art of Richard Gage of New Hampton who spent a good deal of time hopping cars and writing poetry but there is much about his life and work online and some amazing photos as well.  There are artists to be found everywhere and Blackie's masterpiece just may have been his life which was clearly not devoid of adventure.  

Harrison Barnes - Hoopster

For some reason it is crazy to me that Iowa would ever be home to the country's top high school basketball player but that is exactly where the state found itself last year when Harrison Barnes finished up his time at Ames High.  Now at the University of North Carolina Barnes is projected to be a top 10 pick in the NBA draft should he decide to leave NC after one year. So this short kid from central Iowa will soon be a newly minted millionaire and we shall see if he ever high rolls it back to Iowa.  From the sounds of it in this video he has a pretty good head on him and certainly Iowans should follow his career and feel a sense of pride wherever he ends up. Of course unless he ends up in Oklahoma City playing for some good ole'  boys/team thieves, but thats another story for a different blog.

Roswell Garst - Seed Salesman - Peace, Profits and Corn

Anyone who has attended a rural Iowa potluck knows just how well food can bring friends and foes together to the same field and if only for a brief moment in time mend wounds and build bonds rooted in laughter over sweet corn and Jello casseroles. So it is no surprise that the highlight of the USSR's Premier Nikita Khruschchev's visit to the US in 1959 was a visit the the farm of the infamous seed corn salesman Roswell Garst.  The consummate peddler of hybrid seed, Garst made quite the impression on Khruschchev and forged a bond that crossed the line drawn at the time by the cold war. I can only help to think that when Khruschchev and Kennedy were nearing potentially devastating conflict during the Cuban missle crisis a little bit of the Premier was thinking about his time on the Garst family farm with fondness and in turn hesitation to be hasty at all.  For that perhaps we can thank Garst for not only sowing the seeds of commerce that ultimately benefited Iowa globally, but also for breaking chains that bound the globe at the time and perhaps, just perhaps saving mankind as well.  Quite a stretch but I'll go with it.  

Sparky "Spirit Fingers" Polastri

Ian Roberts only lived for a few years in Iowa while attending Grinnell College but his brevity is no reason to keep him from making the list, if only that I might have a place to quickly visit this clip from the classic Bring It On.  Come to think of it, I went to a few parties in Grinnell that got quite theatrical and I would venture to say that Sparky might just have been inspired in central Iowa.  

Bertha Raffetto - Nevada State Song

There is no questioning the fact that Iowa is awesome. That said many native sons and daughters have wandered far from the Hawkeye State for one reason or another and have ended up falling in love with another state.  I am sure I will highlight my own journey from Adel to the Evergreen State at some point, but suffice to say my adoption of Washington has not been devoid of longing for home, and even though Snoqualmie is home now, home will always remain metaphorically Iowa for me.  I do believe that Iowa lays the foundation for love of place, perhaps it is the connectedness its people feel to the top soil, or the isolation from the coastal centers of culture that fertilize the pride in Iowa, whatever it is it is certainly real and surely leaves its mark on all Iowans, even those like Bertha Raffetto, who began her life in Bloomfield and ended up becoming famous for penning the state song of Nevada.  Here is the band the Killers singing her song at a political rally, she certainly was fond of the Silver State, but I would venture to say that her childhood in Iowa was the first spark of personal sense of place in her life.

Matthew Ashford - Jack Deveraux

I've never been on for soap operas (one viewing of the clip below should give you and idea of why) but there was a brief period of time in my youth when I was spending alot of time at my Grandmother's house and my Aunt Paula was an avid Days of our Lives fan.  For about 18 months I followed the twists and the turns, or should I say the sands of the hours glass, of some of the most iconic characters in soap history.  Little did I know that one of the stars was born in Davenport Iowa.  Matthew Ashford, or Jack Deveraux debut on the soap in 1987 the year I was sitting in front the the tube dreaming of the lady in red and wanting to be Bo Brady.

Laura Ingalls Wilder - Sending Birthday Wishes to the Little House on the Prairie

The famous author of the Little House on the Prairie books only lived in Iowa for two short years.  Her family had wondering ways and her father helped to run a hotel for a spell when she was young.  The hotel still stands and is set in the rolling hills of Northeast Iowa. Alyssa was very excited to visit and apart from dodging a loose dairy cow on the roadside the trip to Burr Oak a couple of years ago was quaint if not spectacular, certainly worth a brief detour if you happen to be in the area.

Laura shares a birthday with Ashton Kutcher, two more different cultural icons likely do not exist, but Iowa is a tie that binds even the most radically different of souls.  

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Ashton Kutcher - Happy Birthday Kelso

You have to tip your hat to Ashton Kutcher, likely the most famous of all contemporary Iowans, any man who can muscle the leading lady away from John McLane clearly has his mojo rising. From Dude Where's My Card to Venture Capitalist, Punk'd to Philanthropist, just when you think you have him pigeon-holed he has the canny ability of throwing you a curve.  In the video below, the man with the most followers on twitter speaks highly of his fellow Iowans, surely such kind words must have some sort of positive Butterfly Effect!   

Zach Wahls

David Armbruster - Father of the Butterfly Stroke

The folllowing video of Michael Phelps crushing the world record in the 200 meter butterfly would not have been possible were it not for inspired University of Iowa swimming coach David Armbruster.

Daniel David Palmer - Crack My Back Please

Are you one of the millions around the world who love to have your spine manipulated? If so you have this Iowan to thank,  DD Palmer founder of Chiropractic.  

Stephen Blumberg - Bibliomaniac

Bibliomania...the collecting of books which have no use to the collector nor any intrisic value to a genuine book collector...I had no clue there was a name for my disorder.  To be fair, my love of books is tempered by a level headed wife and limited funds, but I do have a hard time passing a stack of dollar discounts without picking out at least one.  Chances are 50% of my books will never be read in thier entirety, but they sure look pretty in the boxes Alyssa has put them in in the garage. 

 

Now if you want to know what bibliomania looks like when fully manifested you will want to dig into the life of Ottumwa resident Stephen Blumberg.  Called the most succesful book thief of the 20th century, we was like a literary Bonny and Clyde on crack.  When he was arrested the authorities found over 5.3 million in rare books in his home.  Local librarian legend Nancy Pearl would surely have had a blast sorting through his stacks.  Since being released from prison in 1995 Blumberg has left his book theft ways behind but has found himself behind bars for burglary of other items.  If only he was content to bide his spare time curled up with a good one on a couch. 

Carol Morris - Miss Universe

In 1956, according to the pagent gods, Iowan Carol Morris was essentially voted the best looking, most talented woman in the world.  To this day the only Iowan to have won the Miss Universe title, she certainly was a looker in a time when pagents may not have had the creepy taste they leave in my mouth today. 

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