Observations all along the line - Kimball & the Southern Panhandle First

Jock Talk

Kimball’s Madison Biesecker has been a busy young lady last week and again this week as she participates in All Star athletic events she was honored to be selected to perform in.

This past weekend she was at North Platte Mid Plains College on Thursday and Friday to play in their All Star Basketball game. As the players rotated in and out she got about 14 minutes of court time, scored 2 points on two free throws, and played some solid defense and ball handling.

She missed out on the Friday practice sessions for the Panhandle Prep All Star Game held Saturday evening at Cougar Palace in Scottsbluff, but showed up Saturday morning for the final practice and played in that game as a member of the Blue Team Saturday evening. She helped her Blue Team win out over the Red Team even though Madison was the lone player on the court dressed in a red uniform. The Red Team wore their white, or light colored home school uniforms while the Blue Team wore their colored team uniforms. Madison had another solid performance playing the point guard and bringing the ball down court. She accounted for several assists, had some All Star defensive plays, and even hit one of her patented 3 point field goals.

The 2016 Kimball High grad is now through with the game of basketball as she is turning her attention to volleyball, the sport she was recruited to play in college by Southeast Community College in Beatrice. This Saturday she will play for the West Team in the annual West Nebraska All Star Volleyball match at Cougar Palace in Scottsbluff with a start time of 2 p.m.

Ethan Land, another Kimball High 2016 grad, will also be in action this weekend in Scottsbluff as a member of the West Team in the 38th Annual West Nebraska All Star Football game being played at Scottsbluff Bearcat Stadium with kickoff set for 7 p.m. Land will be wearing jersey number 18.

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Catching you readers up on some local golf happenings, the Panhandle Junior Golf play got underway this past week with the first tournament of the season being held at Gering. The younger players played just one day and only 9 holes while the older players actually played 18 holes on Thursday with the top 8 golfers advancing to play 18 more holes on Friday.

Kimball’s Payton Wise won her 6-7 grade division shooting 50 in her 9 hole round of play. Jordan Greenwood finished fourth in the boy’s grades 10-12 division with scores of 81-81 with Dillon Wise just one stroke back in fifth place with his rounds of 81-82. Kole Bush also made the two day bracket and shot 86-94. Kimball hosted the Panhandle Junior Tour this week with play on Wednesday and today (Thursday).

Another reminder to get signed up for the upcoming Father’s Day three-man golf scramble at the Four Winds Golf Course. This two-day event will happen on June 18-19 with an 11 a.m. shotgun start on Saturday and a 9 a.m. shotgun start on Sunday. Cost is $90 per person which includes an evening dinner at the Wind Break Restaurant after play on Saturday.

Another golf tournament at the Four Winds you need to sign up for is the TeamMates Tournament set for June 25 at the Four Winds. I don’t have all the info on this one yet but I think it is a four person scramble. I know it is a great opportunity to support a great program for our young people. The TeamMates mentoring program is a program where together we transform lives. Get more info and to sign up, call the Four Winds Pro Shop at 235-4241.

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Mitch Brown, a member of the Kimball Baseball/Softball Board of Directors, informs me that they are about to start a drive to replace the score boards at the Kimball Ball Diamonds. The three current score boards are all non-functional and badly in need of being replaced. Anyone wishing to donate to this cause can contact Mitch, or any member of the Board, or anyone who is involved with the program.

Luke Dea, Kimball High teacher/coach, has been working hard to get the baseball going strong once again in Kimball and the Kimball Junior Legion Team have a full schedule this summer and has already played games with Ogallala, Bridgeport, Alliance and this past weekend was set to play in the Sidney Tournament where they were to face Sidney, Chappell, and Casper. Last night (June 8) they were to play at Imperial, this Sunday (June 12) they are at Ogallala, and Tuesday (June 14) they go to Gering. Wade Brashear, another Kimball High teacher/coach, is also involved with the coaching of the team. I will try to dig up some results of games played so far and pass it your way.

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While working with Greg Robinson this week to gather information on the Hole- in -One story in regards to the Four Winds Golf Course, he passed along some more interesting information concerning a name familiar to many Kimball people.

The Hobart Brown family has Kimball ties, and Nebraska ties, as two of their sons were outstanding kickers for the University of Nebraska Football Team. Kris set a scoring record while kicking for the Huskers and now younger brother Drew is trying to better that record. The youngest son, who is still a junior at Southlake Carroll High School in Texas is now making his own mark, not as a kicker or football player, but as a long distance runner. He is outstanding in cross country and also in track.

In his junior year he ran a 4:04 mile and an 8:50 two mile time! These times are right up with the nation’s best times and he has a senior year ahead of him. He is getting lots of calls and letters from prestigious universities who would like to have Reed Brown running for them.

The Brown family had plans of coming to Kimball to attend the wedding of Kathy Robinson this weekend, and also were thinking of coming back to play in the Father’s Day Golf Tournament they have played in before, but are not going to be able to make either due to running invites sent out to young Reed. Keep that name in mind. I think you will be reading, and hearing a lot about this young man.