Friends and Neighbors: Southards have lived the sporting life following Longhorns

Tom and Karen Southard have been an integral part of the Kimball High School sports scene for quite some time, so much so that these record keepers are an institution.

Born in a small home north of Dix in 1936, Tom grew up to play football in high school. Though he never intended on going to college, a scholarship changed his mind. He attended Chadron State on a football and track scholarship, though he only played through the first football season before volunteering for the draft and joining the Navy.

"I came home and did all kinds of stuff," he said. "I was reading the Observer and I didn't think there was enough information as to how many yards this kid had and such."

Tom began keeping statistics for himself and eventually local sportswriter Eddy Sykes asked him to share the stats. It wasn't long before Tom was asked to write a little bit, too, and the "Jock Talk" column began at that time.

"Joel Wiens and Norton Warner came to me and asked why I didn't go to work for them covering sports, so then I went to work for KIMB radio station for 20 years and I managed the station some," Tom said. "At one time I was doing the radio station and writing for the Observer both for quite awhile."

"When our children were very small he would hop on the big red bus, but as soon as they were old enough to go we didn't miss much of anything," Karen added.

Karen was raised on a farm in nearby Egbert, Wyo., until she came to Kimball her freshman year of high school.

"Karen was the first Farmer's Day queen ever," Tom said.

They met at one of the many dances held around that time.

"Back in the old days there were dances every Saturday night somewhere, in Pine (Bluffs) north of the tracks or in Lost Park, past the Harrisburg junction," Tom said. "They had a beautiful dance hall there. They had dances in the log building that is now the E-Free Church. That is what we did back in the days, everybody would go to those dances. I met her at one in Pine Bluffs on Trail Days and I just thought she was the prettiest girl I had ever seen, and I still think she is."

Though Karen went to nurses training for some time, she knew it wasn't for her.

"I fell in love and married Tom that fall," Karen said. "I worked at banks and then after we had children, I decided that I wanted to have a business at home and be with our children."

The couple has operated a grooming business for many years, and have bred Labradors and Pekinese puppies. They later opened a pet shop complete with birds, gerbils and fish.

"I raised labs because I always really liked to hunt," Tom said. "Karen liked these little Pekinese dogs so we started selling those too."

Karen started out grooming her own dogs, then friends asked her to do their dogs as well.

"Finally that business just kind of took over," Karen said. "1970 is when we really started big in that business. Then we built boarding kennels."

Sports was not only Tom's profession, but was also the family's recreation. In the 1960s the Southards participated in town team baseball with the Merchants and the Independents, and also started a fast-pitch softball league.

"I was very active in organizing and setting up teams for fast pitch softball," Tom said. "Then they went to slow pitch softball, which we were also very active in. We spent a lot of nights out at the baseball and softball fields."

At the time there were about 10,000 people in Kimball with Boeing and the oil industry, and every town in the area had a town team for baseball, according to Tom.

Many towns had a team for the older guys and one for the younger ones, he added, and they played against each other on Sundays.

In addition to baseball and softball teams, towns also had basketball teams. Kimball had several teams and held the gold medal tournament in the old high school gymnasium.

"Teams came in from all over and we played in the gymnasium, which was very small. Players came from universities in the area and I helped organize those (tournaments) through the Jaycees," Tom said. "That was great recreation that just doesn't happen anymore."

As time marched on Tom and Karen continued keeping stats for their beloved hometown athletes, and they still attend as many high school events as they can.

Karen's favorite sport is basketball, and she helps keep the stats. Tom's favorite is track and field. Tom also golfs nearly every day, and Karen golfs occasionally when the weather is nice.

"We are not nearly as active as when we were in our younger – I was in the Jaycees and held offices in there and then in the chamber of commerce. I was on the school board for eight years and high school board of education for eight years," Tom said. "We have tried to be active and do our part, but not so much anymore. Now we pretty much devote our spare time to following the high school kids. It's just an involvement we can share together."