God, what an outfield," he says. "What a leftfield. This must be heaven." "No. It's Iowa," I reply automatically--Ray Kinsella to Joseph Jefferson Jackson in "Shoeless Joe."

Come with me now as I provide a mosaic of our classmates from the heav­enly State of Iowa--that lovely oasis dubbed by jetsetters as being the "Uber­Chic Paradise Where Corn is King." All of the seven who were appointed to the Academy graduated: Gary Crew, George Elsea, RG Head, Jock Schwank, Jerry Stack, Don Wolfswinkel, and Doug Rekenthaler. Doug's our leadoff hitter-top of the first...

Douglas Arland Rekenthaler (Cross Country 4,3,2,1, Tennis 4,3, Track 4) was a Senior Pilot who retired as Lt Col in 1980, became involved in the purchase/sale of European aircraft, and is currently in the Juris Doctorate pro­gram at West Virginia University. We open the inning in Italy: "Life in Rome is beautiful. Living there in the late 1980s, I was making frequent trips into Moscow, Kiev, and Budapest. Tennis took the edge off, and one of my Italian tennis partners wanted to develop a business in women's professional tennis players. During my next trip inside the Iron Curtain, I found several candidates for consideration, including one young girl whom the Italians deemed too 'old' (at eleven). But I liked her style, heart, and aggressiveness, and elected to sponsor her myself after my Italian colleagues turned her down. Ira Kharun and her parents signed a contract: I would train her, serve as guardian, bring her to America for develop­ment and manage her career. Ira's job was to improve and win tennis matches.

"Fast forward a few years... Ira having been back and forth to the U.S. sev­eral times, living with my wife and me in Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia. She trained with the top teaching pros at Regency Racquet Club in Falls Church, VA; and, oft-times in Budapest, Prague and Kharkiv. Tom Hawkins, Regency's longtime professional, said, 'Ira's the finest natural athlete I have ever seen, and I have coached well over 2,000 athletes in my days.' She won, or was the run­ner-up, in scores of matches on the Mid-Atlantic circuit. When she graduated from Kharkiv's Athletes' High School Number One at 16, I made promotional videos of Ira playing tennis, and (coincidentally) throwing the javelin, her second favorite sport.

"That same year, she played a sectional tennis match at Carmel, IN, which the Indiana University tennis coach attended. IU's tennis coach liked what he saw, and made a scholarship offer for tennis. I had previously advised the IU track coach that Ira had made a record-setting 48-meter javelin throw at the European youth games the previous summer; so, the track coach was also in­trigued. IU's track coach watched 20 seconds of the javelin video and said: "I've seen enough. I'll take her. You can't coach the kind of talent I saw on that tape." Thus commenced Ira's four years in tennis and track at IU.

"This was not easy. When I left Ira, then 17, at IU, she was the youngest mem­ber of the IU tennis and track teams. She neither spoke nor understood univer­sity level English. Ira says it best: 'In classes, I understood about 10 percent of what my professors said. It was very difficult.' But, easy isn't a descriptor of any facet of Ira's life: training in the Ukraine has always been a five a.m. to eight at night activity. On the court, and on the track, life was not so difficult; she was a constant winner. To compete at the NCAA level, she had to be in school, so IU found it necessary to hold her over for the first summer semester each year, and she went to the NCAAs every year. Although her varsity tennis did not evolve to the professional level, Ira now holds IU's all-time women's javelin record. In May 2003, she won the BigTen Championship (see photo), then the Regional NCAA Championship, and in June 2003, the NCAA National Championship, setting the all-time women's collegiate javelin record of 202 feet, 10 inches. She also qualified for the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece, and is now training with the Ukrainian national team. Ira will throw in the qualifying round on August 28th, and for the championship and gold medal on the 30th.

"I've managed to open a few doors for this outstanding athlete. And, this has been enormously rewarding for me, with only the pleasure of sharing her achievement. Ira is throwing well enough in practice to medal at Athens. At 21, she is the youngest of the world's top 20 javelin throwers, officially ranked 11th in the world. I am sanguine she will win her first gold medal this summer, with future opportunities in 2008 and 2012. By that time, she hopes to be throwing for the USA. " Second inning next issue...

MiniSki XIV was held 28 Feb-7 March 2004, and Utah gave our Powder Hounds "some great weather and the best snow and deepest bases in years. Anywhere from four to eight inches of champagne powder on 125 inches of base made for excellent skiing with little effort. We skied only four of the eight resorts in the area, as the snow at these locations was just too good to pass up," reported host Andi Biancur. Attending was Greg Boyington, daughter Tiffany, friend June Colgan, Michelle and Manoucher (June's daughter and friend), Amanda and Jeff (Greg's daughter and husband), Reef, their son; Jerry de la Cruz; Howie Bronson; Jim and Jenny Glaza, friend Jim Boyle; Deke and Sally Johnson; Jim O'Rourke; Earl and Pat Van Inwegen; Vic Yoakum with friend Suzanne; Bruce Mosier; Les Hobgood; George and Diana Pupich; Andi Biancur; also Bob and Jan Brickey ('61), Jim and Judy Gallagher ('62), Karel and Carol Coffee. Missing was Al Johnson, Chairman/ CEO of the Al Johnson Ski and Lawn Mower Repair School, which produced rumblings of possible structural changes in leadership of the event (another Johnson? Daniel, perhaps?). Next year's MiniSki XV will be the first week in March 2005 -"The Best Damned Ski Week Ever."

(R: Although this column normally refrains from internecine struggles and turf wars, we did receive subsequent reports of Al's presence--during the MiniSki event--at "Al Johnson's Swedish Restaurant" in Sister City, WI, and a member of the paparazzi took these photographs. Does he, in fact, own the restaurant? Has he been living, God forbid, a Double Life? The eatery's motto: "Lower your expectations-ratchet `em way, way down!" In the meantime, and faced with this incontrovertible evidence, Deke Johnson wrestled control of the Ski School in a bloodless coup. Murky waters indeed. For details, visit: idahovfiv@vfw-online.com).

Friendly Fire: In a front-page article appearing in the Denver Post of 02/09/ 04: "Wife Suits Up For Pilot's Dream," the widow of Jason Dahl, who died Sept. 11, 2001 in the crash of United Flight 93 into a Pennsylvania field, fulfilled her dream of flying in an F-16 fighter. She was flown on that flight by Lt Col Mike Loh ('84, son of our own Jon Michael Loh) of the Colorado ANG ... The AFA-Navy Football Game Weekend, originally scheduled for Oct 1-3, 2004, has been rescheduled to Sept 29-October 1, 2004, since the game was moved from Sat­urday to Thursday evening ... If you're into sunsets, you'll love the pictures taken by Les Hobgood in Salt Lake City from this year's MiniSki e-mail: hobgoodl@flash.net.

Bye from the Rose.