2019 Inductee
Laverne Kloster Service Award
Terry Hersom is looked at as one of our foremost Iowa high school sports historians, ranking with the late Mike Henderson. His passion for sports reporting started as a student-athlete at Cedar Rapids Washington and extended 47 years, including his days as a student at the University of Northern Iowa, when he was a part-time employee of the Waterloo Courier and his senior year as sports editor of the Cedar Falls Daily Record.
In 1972 he started a five-year stint as sports editor of the Ottumwa Courier before moving to the Sioux City Journal in 1977. He retired January 1, 2016 ending a 38-year career with the Journal and covering high school and collegiate sports in a three-state area. He continues to write a column and cover the Sioux City Explorers baseball team for the paper.
While he covered all sports during his career, today we address, specifically, Terry’s role in track and field and cross country. He went nearly 40 years with never missing a Drake Relays or Iowa high school state meet. Many of his fellow reporters relied on him for information concerning high school and collegiate athletes he covered, and his knowledge made him a splendid edition to the Sioux City Relays Hall of Fame Committee, a group he chaired for over 25 years. His stories and columns over his career and continuing today, celebrate the achievements of a long line of area athletes who not only were high school and collegiate champions but went on to Olympic and world recognition.
His research extends through literally thousands of male and female athletes. A complete list would be eye popping but some harken to the 1920s champions (and Olympians) from the Sioux City area. From multiple high school champions, Sioux City Relays and Drake Relays champions, NCAA and NAIA champions, Olympian and 400 hurdles world record holder Morgan Taylor; through the glory years of Sioux City’s fabled prep runners such as Bob Prince and Doug Smith, the careers of throws champions like AJ Krueger and Robin Small through modern day stars Shelby Houlihan, Megan Glisar, Alexis Conway, and the Phelps Family.
Remarkably, Terry has been able to nurture many of these relationships in his retirement. He has won numerous awards for his body of work over a 47-year career.