June 05, 2009

ROAD TRIP THIS FRIDAY

Rain or shine, we’ll meet at Q.U. Stadium for lunch and to talk a little baseball. (We’ll be under a tent.) The Quincy Gems open a new season in a new league on Thursday night. The Gems are now a part of the Frontier league and so are the Hannibal Caveman. (Who come to town for the first time on June 9th. The two teams will meet in America’s Hometown for the first time on June 20th.) The field looks great and a number of improvements have been made to the stadium. Place looks great! Should be a good program so bring a guest and join us.

FRIDAY LAST

District #172 Superintendent of Schools Lonny Lemon did a great job recapping what was an interesting first year for him. Lonny is within a few days of his first full year on the job. Lonny spoke in great detail about the stimulus funds, the strings attached, and how it all sorts out in #172. Good stuff. Our thanks to Lonny for stepping in at the last moment to help us out. Lonny is a good dude and we are lucky to have him back in Quincy.

Two Fridays ago was of course the kick off to 2009 Gus Macker. Scott McNeal, Tony Wysinger, Ty, and many others from Macker were on hand as we got it started. More on Macker immediately below.

MACKER RECAP

Congratulations to Steve Green and Doug Greenwell for a job well done on the 2009 Gus Macker! Both took to the podium last week to recap the event and hand out thank yous. Without their leadership, none of it would have been possible. While the number of teams may have declined, sponsorships (65 total court sponsors with 51 paid), food, and beverage sales were outstanding! (As a reminder to all members, we make our fundraising dollars on the sponsorships so the number of teams does not necessarily have a direction relationship to our profit.) Not sure who Steve and Doug assigned as weekend weatherman but they have the job from here on out. What an absolutely beautiful weekend – no rain! Great job and thanks to all the men who made this a successful fundraiser. Another one in the books – 19 now. Wow!

NEWEST MAN OF ACTION

Congratulations and welcome to Joel Koch on becoming the newest Man of Action. Joel, to be forever known in this club as “Dennis’ Boy”, is no stranger to Exchange. Joel has been a Gus Buster for the last three years and has served at “Time Out Teddy” during Dogwood and several other events. Good to have this young man among us. Welcome, Dennis’ Boy!

VIP DATES

5/27 – Curt & Charlotte Moore celebrated their 37th anniversary

6/1 – Roger & Nancy Player celebrated their 35th anniversary

6/3 – Brent & Julie Fischer celebrate their 9th anniversary

6/4 – Slim Sommerville celebrates his 86th birthday and Charlie and Carla Ledbetter celebrate their 22nd anniversary

6/7 – Mayor John Spring and Todd Moore both celebrate birthdays – Todd’s 45th

6/8 – June Board Meeting 11:45 @ The Pier and the Planning Meeting for 2009/2010 Year – 6:00 @ Dennis Koch’s office

6/9 – Steve Peters celebrates a birthday and Dale & Marty Venvertloh celebrate their 37th anniversary

6/11 – Smoke on the River Meeting – 5:30 @ The Dock

6/17 – Flag Day Concert/Family Picnic

6/25 – Smoke on the River Meeting – 5:30 @ The Dock

6/25-28 – District Convention in Fairview Heights

6/26 – Induction of New Officers/Exchangite of the Year

7/13 – July Board Meeting @ The Pier

9/11 & 12 – Smoke on the River

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

So many to choose from over the last couple weeks. Skip Rueter and Mel Dillman offered several each but I thought I would go with another favorite Macker moment: “That’s going to cost you Macker 2010 young man.” My quote to the 15 year old boy as the ball he punted just seconds earlier soared on top of the Quincy Herald-Whig. (Good thing the Whig was one of our major sponsors. It was a nice punt – good hang time.) The best part of it was when the buster on that court panicked because he had planned on buying the ball. Seconds later, and no joke, I saw the buster on top of the building retrieving the ball. Not sure how he got up there that fast. Classic Macker Moment…

THIS & THAT

Call it a slow Macker recovery or just an extremely crazy busy time but no bulletin last week. For those of you who hold your breath until you get the Exchangite every week, I do apologize. I did intend on publishing but Monday became Tuesday and Tuesday, Wednesday and so on. We are back on track now… Double the news in this issue. What a deal… Jared Haugh with the prayer and Skip Reuter with the pledge on 5/22. Rich Zeidler offered the prayer and Kirk Frageman started the pledge on 5/29. Kirk became my kids second favorite Exchangite when he came over to my house and helped mark free throw and three point lines on our little court. At least I think I am number one… Hats off to Jeff Dorsey on the bang up job he did delivering John Tripp’s eulogy. John would be proud, Jeff, as we all are of you. It is still tough to accept that our friend is gone… President Art telling us about a thank you from Cornerstones – we sponsored a hole in their golf outing… Treasurer Chris Parker no longer at Cornerstones – new job at Transitions. Congratulations, Chris… President Art presenting Hal Broadwater with his pin and certificate from national… On 5/22 Dr. Frank Gianfriddo enjoyed his $400 lunch and Lt. Col. Gary Dorsey the guest of brother Jeff on 5/29. The good colonel helped cook at Macker… A few more notes regarding John Tripp. President Art announced that the club will award the first Distinguished Service Award to a club member on 6/26. This award will be appropriately called the John Tripp Award. How prestigious is that? The Club donated $500 to the QHS Choral Department in John’s name. Last thing, the Quincy Park Band performance on June 17th will be dedicated to the memory of John Tripp and the many times he served as guest conductor. This is the same night as our family picnic – more on that next week… Perry Terwelp won the 50/50 on 5/22 but picked the wrong card (two of diamonds). Tim Wiewel won it on 5/29 but picked the eight of clubs. The pot should be close to, if not over $750 next time… Bruce Broemmel twisting tails on both Fridays. The widows and orphans fund benefiting from Bruce’s good work and thanks to Chris Parker, we have a new tail twister bucket… I saw Slim Sommerville’s wife at the Senior Citizens Expos last week and she reports that Slim is doing well as can be expected. As noted above, he’ll celebrate his 86th birthday on Thursday… That's all for now, 'til next time, may God’s love, grace, and peace be with you and the ones you love.

PHOTO OF THE WEEK

Macker Men: C0-Chairman Steven Green, Tony Wysinger, Scott McNeal, and Co-Chairman Doug Greenwell