HISTORY

We've come a long way!

The Boys Club of Ames was founded in 1963. The Articles of Incorporation were adopted August 13, 1963 and our Club was known as Ames Boys Club. President of the Board was Arthur Fogarty, who was State Secretary to the Lions Club. Vice President was Robert Caster and Charles Faber was Secretary-Treasurer.

The original Board of Directors was: Al Stoll, John Greenwood, Toche Terrones, John McKinney, George Nelson, Harold Olson, Jim Overturf, and Edward Moore.

Our first Executive Director was Jimmy Hale. The Club was located above the Hobby Shop located at 200 Main Street. The only funding for the Club's operation at that time was through charitable contributions. A list of possible donors were compiled to be approached, by the Board, for donations. This process was used until the budget was reached but was the procedure for many years.

The National Boys Club organization was very helpful by providing our Ames Boys Club with objectives, advice and leadership.

Robert Caster led our force as President after Art Fogerty moved to Florida. His leadership, like so many others that followed, saw our Club through some tough times.

John McKinney followed Caster as President. It was he who hired E.S. Ostberg as the Executive Director. Ostberg, (“Osty”) came to the Club with over 40 years of Boys Club experience. For several months his leadership showed great gains in numbers attending the Club.  In fact, it wasn’t long until he was looking for a bigger place to house the many boys.

In 1968, Herb Carr took over as President. He was great at collecting money and he dreamed of a bigger building for our Club. 1968 was also the year that the United Fund first helped support our Boys Club. (Approximately $6,000.00). This was tremendous help. Osty added more programs and John McKinney coached the baseball team to its first championship.

A setback occurred in 1969 for Osty and our Club. Osty could no longer climb the stairway over the Hobby Shop to direct the Club because of a health issue. Larry Baldus was elected President of the Board in 1970 and his first priority was to locate a building with ground level entrance in order to retain Osty as director. Osty recovered after a long illness and returned in the fall of 1970. This was a great day for our Club. January 20, 1970, the Club, at 104 Kellogg, was purchased from Dorothy Holdredge for $35,000. Possession was given for March 1, 1970. The building was formerly used for car and truck repairs, known as Earl’s Garage. The building had to be completely remodeled. The plumbing, wiring, floor, and ceiling were all replaced. All the rooms were created, a new furnace added, and the front entrance rebuilt. All this work took nearly a year to complete. All of the labor for the project was donated and the entire community pitched in to help.

In 1972, Bill Bossenberger was elected President. With a new building, a seasoned director, and the largest numbers of members even the future of the Club looked promising. Bad luck struck again as Osty became very sick and had to retire due to poor health. Douglas Brodie was hired and had great ideas mostly in the line of coaching. He resigned a few months later.

Keith Knowles was hired in 1974 as Executive Director and Ron Adams became the President of the Board. The budget at that time was approximately $20,000.

Don Faas was elected President of the Board in 1976 and served until 1978. Mark Albaugh was hired as the Executive Director on January 28, 1976. 

Larry Zwagerman was elected President of the Board in 1979 and served until 1980. The Club was now growing and utilizing all the support from Boys Clubs of America and the community.

Frank Schill was elected President of the Board in 1981 and served until 1982. Frank was able to utilize his building knowledge and was able to make repairs and find contacts that were able to help the Club stand up to the growing population it was now having.

Mary Kay Johnson was the first female elected as President of the Board and she served from 1982 to 1984. Janette Bezdicek was elected President of the Board in 1985 and served until 1987.

In 1988, the Veishea riots occurred and the board and staff from the Club knew they needed to come up with a program that would give teenage youth a positive alternative choice for their weekend activities. They came up with a program called Teen Scene and that program created a safe place for teens to go. It also allowed teens to participate in dances, play social recreational games, eat pizza, watch movies, and have fun in a safe and protected environment. Also, in 1988, Ken Jacob was elected as President of the Board and served through 1989. Ken was also involved as a police officer with the Ames Police Department and was able to start a special relationship with the officers and the members of the Club.

Rev. Galen Peckham was elected President of the Board in 1990 and served until 1991. This was a very important time in the history of the Boys Club. At the national level, they realized there was a growing need for the girls programming. The Boys Club of Ames realized that need as well. Officially, in 1991, the Boys Club of Ames changed its name to the Boys & Girls Club of Ames and welcomed females to join the Club as well. It took some time for the members to get used to the concept of females being allowed to come to the Club, but with time and patience, all went well and membership grew even more.

Rick Carter was elected President of the Board and served until 1992. Larry Ricketts was elected as President of the Board in 1993 and served until 1996. Larry was extremely involved with the Club and his efforts rewarded him with the outstanding volunteer award from the Iowa/Nebraska Area Council in1995. Geff Gescheidler was hired as Executive Director on February 15, 1994. He and Larry were elected to serve as Chairman and Executive Secretary of the Iowa/Nebraska Area Council. At this time, there was serious talk about building a new facility to meet the needs of our Club. Memberships were increasing at a fast pace, so a capital campaign was started to raise funds for a new building located on South Fifth Street.

Kris Magel was elected President of the Board and served in 1997. She kept up the hard work Larry had put forth and helped keep with Club going in a positive direction toward the $1 Million that was needed to be raised for the construction of our new Club.

Dick Johnson was elected President of the Board in 1998 and served until 1999. Dick was able to put the final touches on the campaign and announced the Club was soon going to make a move. In April of 1998, our Club moved into its new building at 210 South Fifth Street. The building was designed by Architects Rudi-Lee-Dreyer. When our Club left the Kellogg site, there were 423 members. By the end of 1999, our Club had over 800 members and the numbers were still growing.

Mary Jo Mertens was elected President of the Board in 2000. In 2000, the Boys & Girls Club of Ames Youth of the Year, Brandon Heath, won the State of Iowa title and received a $25,000 scholarship from the Oprah Winfrey Network.  

Jeff Johnson was elected President of the Board in 2003. Jeff accomplished his goals of establishing a Board Development plan, polished board relations, and improved the format and purpose of board meetings. Our Club officially became Boys & Girls Club of Story County to better represent the individuals we serve. The Club obtained a Power Up grant through the Boys & Girls Clubs of America for a Technology Center with 10 new IBM computers and $15,000 of software. Jeff initiated a “Beyond 40” fundraising campaign as we celebrated our 40^th year of operation.

Jon Harvey was elected President of the Board in 2004. A membership tracking system, KidTrax, was purchased in early 2004 to help track memberships and renewal dates. New board members were added throughout the year. Retirement and Life Insurance plans were adopted for full time staff. 

In 2006, Russ Cross was elected President of the Board. Russ was instrumental in the reorganization of the Board committee structure. Geff was elected the Executive Secretary of the Iowa/Nebraska Area Council and also the State Coordinator for the Youth of the Year competition. Ashley Searcy was name the state of Iowa Youth of the Year in 2007 and competed in the regional competition in Chicago. 

In July of 2007, Tom Shelton was elected President of the Board.  Tom was instrumental in establishing and enhancing a relationship with the Ames Police Department and the Boys & Girls Club. Hosting the Shop With A Cop program, Carving With the Cops pumpkin carving, Annual Banquet, and just visiting the facility on a regular basis are just a few of the things that the Ames Police officers got involved with. The group has also become a very generous financial supporter as well. Another goal was to have a member of the Ames Police Department on our Board of Directors at all times. Geff was elected President of the Story County Human Services Council and served a 2-year term. Geff was selected as the Panel 3 Representative for the ASSET funding team. In 2007, our Club had the opportunity to work with a group of Iowa State University football coaches’ wives to raise funds for the remodel our Teen Room. This project was due to recent crimes in the city and a way to attract more teenagers to our facility. With a grant from Lowe’s, Geff had the opportunity to work with a Chamber of Commerce Leadership Ames group to raise funds for the remodel of our Learning Center with new tables, chairs, floor and computer systems. In 2008, our Club received a grant from the Ames Noon Rotary Club to remodel our kitchen area in support of our Kids Café Program.

In 2010, Cathy Adams and Danny Wilson were selected as Co-Presidents for our organization and are currently in that role.