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Braddock picked for Cedar Co. Wall of Fame
by Darren Miller · Sports · March 30, 2022
Three individuals and the combined Tipton High School girls’ cross country (2003-06) and track and field (2004-07) teams will be inducted into the 2022 Cedar County Sports Wall of Fame.
Individuals are Kevin Braddock of West Branch, Dave Paul of Tipton, and Chris Schaefer of Clarence-Lowden/Lincoln.
The ceremony will be held at the Cedar County Fair with the date and time to be determined.
Braddock, a 1992 graduate of West Branch High School, was a five-sport athlete for the Bears, participating in football (four years), basketball (four years), golf (four years), track and field (four years), and baseball (two years).
A running back, Braddock helped West Branch to a 13-0 record as a senior in the fall of 1991, rushing for 1,498 yards.
In the championship game (a 42-12 win over West Bend-Mallard), he set a championship record with 311 rushing yards, five touchdowns, and a 91-yard touchdown run.
Braddock was elected to the Iowa High School Athletic Association Football Hall of Fame in 2019. He was a member of a Class 2A state champion 4x400-meter relay team in 1992.
“It’s an honor,” Braddock said. “I’ve never liked personal honors and I still don’t like them today. But I’ve been fortunate to get to play on really good teams and I was the guy to get the ball. It’s a cool accomplishment to get an honor like that, but I’ve felt that it’s always been a team accomplishment.”
He considered it “really neat” to join the ranks of other Wall of Fame honorees, like Sandy Tuttle and Jim Wheeler.
And he considers it “incredible” that his name will appear next to football players and coaches he admired as a boy: Marv Cook, Butch Pedersen and Warren Pierce.
He said he remembers his grade school years watching Cook play before going pro.
“I always wanted to emulate him,” Braddock said.
Pedersen was his teacher in grade school and then his coach.
“Butch ... has been around my athletic and coaching career — I’m 48 years old, so I’ve known him for more than 40 years — and he’s a legend in West Branch,” Braddock said.
Braddock, an assistant coach on the Bears’ football team, said he enjoys helping shape young athletes to excel in sports.
He said West Branch High School saw a swell of excellent athletes over a five-year span in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and he hopes he can help the next great batch of competitors succeed.
“We’re trying to recreate that now,” Braddock said. “That’s what so fun about coaching.”
He said teenagers in his day spent their off-season baling hay, climbing trees and playing in the back yard. Today, athletes spend a lot of time in camps and off-season training.
“Now it’s keeping up with the Joneses,” he said.
The Tipton girls’ cross country teams won four consecutive Class 2A state championships from 2003-06, scoring 58 points in 2004 and winning by 88 points. All-state performers in those four seasons were Ashley Miller (runner-up in 2003, champion in 2004, fifth in 2005, champion in 2006), Ashley Tholen (runner-up in 2004), Kelsey Stueland (fourth in 2004), and Missy Miller (fifth in 2006 competing with a torn ACL).
The Tigers also won four Class 2A state track and field championships from 2004-07, scoring 73 points in 2005.
Ashley Miller was 15-for-15 in state finals races, never losing a race at a state competition. State champion relay competitors were Tholen, Steph King, Brittney Latare, Carrie Larson, Christine Marchik, Kaylee Kotz, Clarissa Kotz, Ashley Miller, Ashton McNutt, Nadine Dils, Missy Miller, Gus Reichert, Maggie Wehde, Ashley Chapman and Brittany Foulks.
Paul, a 1971 graduate of Tipton High School, is regarded as one of the most versatile and talented athletes in Tiger history. When Paul was a junior and senior, Tipton won 16 of 18 football games. In his final high school game, he kicked field goals of 33, 34, and 37 yards to defeat West Liberty, 9-8. In 1970, Paul led the WaMaC Conference in receptions and receiving yards and set a conference record with nine touchdown receptions.
As a senior, he led Tipton’s basketball team in points, rebounds, field goal percentage, and free throw percentage. Paul was WaMaC champion in the 120-yard high hurdles, high jump, and 880-yard relay. He was fourth at state in the 120 hurdles. After high school, he won the state pentathlon.
Tipton started its baseball program when Paul was a sophomore and he played three seasons. A successful slo-pitch softball player, Paul helped Sports Column to the 1986 state championship in the open division.
Schaefer, an exchange student from Germany who attended Clarence-Lowden in 1994-95, won a conference, district, and state championship for Lincoln in 1994. On the track, he won the 1995 Class 2A title in the 3,200 meter run and was runner-up in the 1,600.
At Loras College from 1995-99, Schaefer was a two-time NCAA Division III All-American in cross country and a three-time All-American in track and field. He earned an NCAA Postgraduate Scholarship and while competing for the University of Arizona in 2000, placed fifth at the Pac-10 Championships in the 1,500-meter run.
The Cedar County Sports Wall of Fame was formed in 2008 and is under the control of the Cedar County Historical Society. To nominate for the Wall of Fame, contact committee members Mike Bixler, Pat Kedley, Verl Lekwa, Jeff Linder, Darren Miller, Gene Schroeder, Bruce Seehusen, Derek Sawvell or Mike Quinlan.
Cedar County Sports Wall Of Fame Classes
2009: Martin “Farmer” Burns, Marv Cook, Susan Koering, Ashley Miller, Butch Pedersen, Clement Wilson
2010: Frank “Kinney” Holbrook, Bill Huckstadt, Al Koch, Jim Wheeler, 1925 Stanwood baseball team
2011: E.W. Breneman, Dave Fetterman, Scott Jehle, Linda Lafrenz
2012: Sean McCarty, Shawn Stolte, 1992 West Branch football team
2013: Robert Hartig, Ryan Kedley, Arnold “Bud” Paulsen, Jon Roehlk
2014: Ann Cavey, Jamie Cavey, Matt Fields, Dave Vogelgesang, 1989 Tipton High School girls’ cross country team
2015: Norman “Doc” Paul, Carroll Rugland, Stacy Schlapkohl, Larry Stolte
2016: Les Hipple, Kathy (Siebel) Heedles, John Sissel, 1988-89 Durant girls’ basketball team
2017: Royce Alger, Linda Jennings, Todd Sturdy, Lauren “Bumps” Willert
2018: Lee Crawford, Shane Light, Marilee Oldorf, 1999-2000 North Cedar girls’ basketball team
2019: Betty McGregor, Ryan Morningstar, Stan Stolte, Sandy (Slach) Tuttle
2020: Suzanne Friday-Mathieu, Warren Pierce, Jake Soy, 1968 & 1969 Tipton football teams, 1989-92 West Branch boys’ golf teams
2021: Dave Rummells, Gary Stamp, Gary Bachus, Cheyanne (Boddicker) Kofmehl, Mearl Naber
2022: Kevin Braddock, Dave Paul, Chris Schaefer, 2003-06 Tipton girls’ cross country and 2004-07 Tipton girls’ track and field teams
— Gregory R. Norfleet contributed to this report
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