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Author: Jason Hackett

Mason Barta, football family, part 3

Posted on by Jason Hackett

By Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

During the last two weeks, we’ve learned about the Barta family and their success in Kansas football. Today, in the conclusion of this three-part series, we’ll learn about the youngest branch on this football family tree. Many thanks to K-State Sports Information and writer Austin Siegel for the following information.

From left, Brooks Barta and Mason Barta
From left, Brooks Barta and Mason Barta

Previously, we’ve learned about coach Roger Barta at Smith Center and his son Brooks Barta. Both Bartas became successful coaches. Today we’ll learn about the third generation in this remarkable football family.

Mason Barta is the son of Brooks and Tonya Barta and the grandson of Roger and Pam.  He grew up at Holton where he was coached by his father and finished his high school career as the top-ranked outside linebacker in the state of Kansas. When it came to his collegiate football career, his father’s alma mater, Kansas State University, was one of the obvious choices.

Mason Barta remembers climbing the steps of the old Vanier Family Football Complex when he was a kid. His dad seemed to know everyone in the building. After his dad renewed old acquaintances, Mason walked into coach Bill Snyder’s office for the first time. Continue reading “Mason Barta, football family, part 3” →

Brooks Barta, football family, part 2

Posted on by Jason Hackett

By Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

High school football is a family affair in rural Kansas. On Friday nights, moms and dads, grandparents, brothers and sisters, friends, neighbors and community members gather at the high school stadium for the weekly football game. It becomes a unifying community event. Today we’ll learn more about a Kansas family with a remarkable, multi-generational record of success in high school football.

Brooks Barta
Brooks Barta

Last week we learned about Roger Barta, the legendary high school football coach who led the Smith Center Redmen to the nation’s longest high school winning streak. Not only did Roger have a great career, he also coached his son Brooks, who was a tough player and an outstanding athlete at Smith Center, a rural community of 1,665 people. Now, that’s rural.

Brooks went on to play college ball at K-State. These were the bad old days of K-State football, when the team was mired in a 27-game winless streak that would lead to the team being identified by Sports Illustrated as Futility U. But shortly after Brooks Barta arrived on campus, so did another gentleman by the name of Bill Snyder. Things began to change.

“The time and effort (that was required) probably doubled under coach Snyder,” Brooks said. Barta met the challenge of this demanding new work ethic and he saw the results. Continue reading “Brooks Barta, football family, part 2” →

Roger Barta, football family, part 1

Posted on by Jason Hackett

By Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

There are two legendary football coaches who are retired and living in Manhattan, Kansas. One is Bill Snyder, a multiple-time national coach of the year and a member of the National College Football Hall of Fame. The other is a legendary high school football coach who led his team to the longest winning streak in the nation while coaching in rural Kansas.

“Our Boys,” a book about Roger Barta
“Our Boys,” a book about Roger Barta

Roger Barta is the retired high school football coach who set these records in Smith Center, Kansas. His accomplishments were so noteworthy that an East Coast writer spent a year in Kansas to write about them. In 2010, the book chronicling these achievements was published.

Roger Barta and his wife Pam grew up in the rural community of Plainville, population 1,903 people. Now, that’s rural. In high school, Roger played quarterback but couldn’t continue football due to injury. After graduating from Fort Hays State and earning a master’s in Georgia, he embarked on a high school teaching and coaching career. In 1987, he took his first and only head coaching job in Smith Center. Continue reading “Roger Barta, football family, part 1” →

Jacob Yingst, Schlaegel’s Popcorn

Posted on by Jason Hackett

By Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

It was three in the morning. Jacob and his buddies were driving straight through to the K-State bowl game in Arizona, and they stopped for gas at a station in Texas. Jacob grabbed a bag of cherry-cheesecake flavored popcorn as a snack. “It was not very good,” he said. “I think I could do better than that.” Years later after college, Jacob would return home and join his family’s popcorn business where he would perfect a cherry-cheesecake recipe. That flavor and others would become part of the offerings that this business provides at Christmastime and year-round.

Schlaegel’s Popcorn
Schlaegel’s Popcorn

Jacob Yingst is manager and co-owner of Schlaegel’s Popcorn at Whiting. His grandparents, Gary and Marian Schlaegel, were dairy farmers and operated a tax accounting business. They also raised some popcorn on the farm for family use. They started giving the popcorn as Christmas gifts and selling the unpopped popcorn. Then they started flavoring the popcorn. The response was so positive that Schlaegel’s Popcorn became the family business.

Jacob’s great-grandmother had her own delicious recipe for making caramel corn. “All our sweet or glazed flavors are variations on her family recipe,” Jacob said. Continue reading “Jacob Yingst, Schlaegel’s Popcorn” →

Now That’s Rural: Alan and Carol VanNahmen, RollBedder

Posted on by Jason Hackett

By Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

“I need to reach the stuff in the back of my truck. If only I could get to it better.” That statement could have served as the inspiration for this new innovative product which uses rollers to help truck owners access the material in their truck beds.

RollBedder kit
RollBedder kit

Alan and Carol VanNahmen are the owners of this entrepreneurial company which produces this new product for truck beds. It’s called RollBedder.

Alan grew up on a farm in southwest Kansas, attended Dodge City Community College and then Kansas State. He embarked on a career with Deere and Company which would take him across the United States and around the world – literally. Alan led initiatives for Deere and Company in France and China, for example. He later worked for a German company named Claas and at a research facility in Indiana before leaving corporate life.

Alan was also an inventor and entrepreneur. He served as a consultant on various projects such as the bi-rotor combine and the ARRO head harvesting system. As we have previously profiled, he founded the Farm Buddy company to help individual farmers advance their product ideas into corporate commercialization. Continue reading “Now That’s Rural: Alan and Carol VanNahmen, RollBedder” →

Heather Hartman, Mitchell County Strong

Posted on by Jason Hackett

By Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

“Hungry Hungry Heroes.” Hmm, that sounds like the game called Hungry Hungry Hippos. This variation on that name is one example of the creative ways that leaders in Mitchell County supported their communities during the pandemic with a collaboration called Mitchell County Strong.

Mitchell County Strong
Mitchell County Strong

Heather Hartman is Mitchell County director of community development. A Beloit native, she had been a small business owner in Mitchell County before becoming county community development director in 2012.

“When the pandemic hit, it was scary,” Heather said. “There were projections that 30% of locally owned small businesses would close.” Heather’s office in Beloit is co-located with two other offices: the Chamber of Commerce and the community foundation. “Each of us was a separate organization, but what we did would never have happened if we weren’t all here together,” Heather said.

As shutdown orders were being issued, the three directors of these units immediately met to discuss what could be done. “Our main goal was to help these businesses and nonprofit organizations stay afloat,” Heather said. Continue reading “Heather Hartman, Mitchell County Strong” →

Jeff Grieshaber, TravAlum Trailers

Posted on by Jason Hackett

By Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

Some days I feel pulled in different directions. Probably lots of people feel that way these days. Today we’ll meet a company which finds that its products are definitely being pulled in lots of different directions – but that’s a good thing. That’s because this company makes livestock trailers that are pulled by trucks from Kansas to locations all across the continent.

TravAlum trailer
TravAlum trailer

Jeff Grieshaber is co-owner and manager of TravAlum Trailers, produced by Liberty Inc. in Manhattan. From its home base in Kansas, this company’s trailers are being pulled in lots of different directions.

TravAlum Trailers has its roots in the Travalong trailer company which was based in Waterville. In 1991, Jeff’s father Tom and two other gentlemen bought the Travalong company. Jeff came on board in 1992.

Travalong Trailers were built from steel. In 1995, this group also bought an aluminum stock-trailer business in southwest Missouri. After operating two facilities for a number of years, they brought that business to Kansas. In 2014, they sold the steel factory at Waterville along with the Travalong brand name, in order to concentrate on the aluminum trailer business. Because of the historical connection with Travalong and because these trailers are made of industrial strength aluminum, these trailers are called TravAlum. Continue reading “Jeff Grieshaber, TravAlum Trailers” →

Tara Vance, Norton County Community Foundation

Posted on by Jason Hackett

By Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

Bingo! That’s a fun game that many people love to play. Today we’ll meet a creative community foundation which used bingo and other projects to support its community during the pandemic.

NorCoBingo card
NorCoBingo card

Tara Vance is executive director of the Norton County Community Foundation. A Stockton native and Fort Hays State grad, she became director of the Norton Chamber of Commerce. In 2012, she was asked to serve as part-time director of the community foundation as well.

The more she learned about the importance of local philanthropy, the more committed she became to the community foundation. “I’ve developed a passion for it,” she said.

Scott Sproul, director of the Northwest Kansas Economic Innovation Center Inc., was Norton County economic development director at the time. “He was a great mentor to me,” Tara said. “We saw that the private donor world would be essential (for our community) if tax dollars aren’t there someday.” Continue reading “Tara Vance, Norton County Community Foundation” →

Greg Howard, Lecompton PRIDE

Posted on by Jason Hackett

By Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

“Some people want to tear old buildings down. We want to build old buildings up.” That statement from the chair of the Lecompton PRIDE program, Greg Howard, symbolizes the vibrant spirit of this community.

Lecompton PRIDE building
Lecompton PRIDE building

In 2020, Kansas PRIDE is celebrating the 50th anniversary of its founding. This is another in our series highlighting Kansas PRIDE communities.

Kansas PRIDE is a partnership of K-State Research and Extension, the Kansas Department of Commerce, Kansas Masons, and Kansas PRIDE, Inc. Through the program, local volunteers identify their community’s priorities and then work with the resources of these partners to create their ideal community future.

Lecompton is one example. “We’re just a group of volunteers that come together for the community,” Greg said. He works at the post office in Lawrence and is a longtime Lecompton resident who served on the local school board for 20 years. Continue reading “Greg Howard, Lecompton PRIDE” →

Kansas Wheat and K-State Grain Science flour distribution

Posted on by Jason Hackett

By Ron Wilson, director of the Huck Boyd National Institute for Rural Development at Kansas State University.

Flour power! No, I’m not having a flashback to the 1960s. I’m referring to the kind of flour that comes from wheat and is used for baking bread.

When the pandemic hit in Spring 2020, and people were stuck at home, such flour was less available in stores. Then Kansas Wheat and the K-State Department of Grain Science and Industry mobilized to provide a free flour distribution to Kansas families. Such generosity led to these entities being recognized as Ag Heroes by the Kansas Department of Agriculture during the 2020 Ag Growth Summit.

Wheat flour distribution at K-State
Wheat flour distribution at K-State

Justin Gilpin is the chief executive officer of Kansas Wheat. Gordon Smith is head of K-State’s Grain Science and Industry Department. That department includes several facilities, including the Hal Ross Flour Mill. These entities came together to provide this flour distribution in June 2020.

Kansas Wheat is the product of a cooperative agreement between two organizations:  The Kansas Wheat Commission and the Kansas Association of Wheat Growers. Continue reading “Kansas Wheat and K-State Grain Science flour distribution” →