LE MARS, Iowa | The offensive coordinator for the Seattle Seahawks, winners of Super Bowl XLVIII in February, started his coaching career 18 years ago in "The Ice Cream Capital of the World."
Darrell Bevell, a former Wisconsin Badgers quarterback, coached quarterbacks in 1996 at Westmar University, his first coaching gig.
Bevell was hired that year by Coach Jeff Menage, who died in December 2013, a little more than a month before his former staff member earned a Super Bowl ring while directing quarterback Russell Wilson and the Seahawks in their dominant 43-8 triumph over Peyton Manning and his Denver Broncos in the Super Bowl.
It's the second of three Super Bowl rings that have a late 1990s connection to Westmar. The university's last president was Sioux Cityan John Harty, who earned a pair of Super Bowl ring with the San Francisco 49ers in 1980s.
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The gridiron connection shows that while the Westmar Eagles haven't soared since the university closed in 1997, the institution is far from forgotten. Scanning the Sioux City Journal obituaries each day, for example, one finds branches on the Westmar family tree.
John Rodeen, for example, was a 1960 Westmar College graduate. Rodeen died in June. He is credited with starting public relations for IBP, inc.
Alice File, a 1967 Westmar alum, died in April. She developed the first programming for the learning disabled of the Remsen Union Community School District.
There are others; a man who helped establish a charter bus line in Le Mars, and a Sioux Cityan who coached little league teams for decades. All maintained their Westmar ties.
The school itself isn't forgotten, either, thanks to a website (www.westmarcollege.org)Â and a timeless display, the Westmar Memory Room in the Plymouth County Historical Society. In that room, you can scan the accomplishments of Hall of Fame members, examine photos of the college's presidents and get a close-up look at the old Eagles' mascot.
Westmar College T-shirts, sweatshirts, mugs and a history of the college are offered for sale in the facility's gift shop.
A dozen or so blocks south and east, the old Westmar corner of Le Mars bustles with activity. People lift weights, take classes and play pick-up basketball almost daily at the Le Mars Family YMCA, which moved from a building behind City Hall into Westmar's former Lifesports Center.
Westmar's old cafeteria became the Le Mars Convention Center, which hosts events like wedding receptions, reunions, bridal showers and conventions, year-round.
The City of Le Mars purchased 22 buildings on the former Westmar campus not long after the Westmar board of trustees voted to close the school. In 1996, the city borrowed $1.6 million to help the school stay afloat. The bond was paid off in 2006.
Later in 1996, voters approved borrowing to buy the assets of the campus for $4.25 million.
Closing the 110-year-old college, a decision that came around homecoming in 1997, brought about shock, anger and frustration. Those feelings, in time, softened, replaced with the reality that change is the only constant, and that Le Mars and its people move on.
The old quarterbacks coach who started here obviously adapted, progressed and moved on. Darrell Bevell eventually landed in Seattle and will soon sport one of the most prized pieces in the U.S. sports world, a Super Bowl ring.
