Metro Sports Report

Alex Hillyer (28) stiff arms a Hempstead defender last Friday night at Kingston Stadium. Hillyer had 227 yards and four touchdowns. He is 175 yards shy of breaking the Kennedy single-season rushing record. (Photo by Margaret O'Banion)

Hillyer carries big load for Kennedy

Wed - 17 Oct Written by Jim Ecker

Cedar Rapids Kennedy tailback Alex Hillyer gets a little tired sometimes. Not often, but once in a while, perhaps after a long run.

Otherwise he's fresh as a daisy, despite carrying the ball 25 times a game, playing defense and returning kickoffs.

"Honestly, I'm a little bit surprised," he said. "I haven't been tired. I'll be in the huddle and a lot of people are breathing kind of hard."

Not him.

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A broadcasting giant is retiring

Tue - 16 Oct Written by Jim Ecker

John Campbell will leave KCRG-Channel 9 on his own terms, retiring gracefully in two months at the end of his contract as the TV station's sports director, but it's not like there wasn't a hiccup along the way.

Most people have probably forgotten by now, but Campbell was demoted once by KCRG in favor of a younger guy with a better hairstyle, somebody with a better "look" for the television audience, even though the guy couldn't carry John's microphone.

This was back in the 1990's, if memory serves correctly. Campbell had been at KCRG since 1979 and had established himself as one of the top sportscasters in the state, but somebody in the company thought it was time for a change, perhaps in search of better demographics.

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(Photo courtesy 2012 Jefferson media guide)

That championship season

Mon - 15 Oct Written by Mark Dukes

They came together in the fall of 1972 with the same expectations they had in previous years, mainly to be in position to win the Mississippi Valley Conference football championship.

What followed in the next 11 games not only was somewhat surprising for the Cedar Rapids Jefferson football team, but a story for the ages.

The Iowa High School Athletic Association initiated the state playoff system in the fall of ’72, but at that time only four teams in each class qualified. Jefferson had won two mythical (polls) state titles previously in 1964 and ’65 and was in the midst of a 21-year run of winning records.

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Hahn is big star for Cyclones at 5-foot-6

Tue - 16 Oct Written by Jim Ecker

Kristen Hahn dreamed about playing softball at Iowa State University when she was a young girl growing up in northeast Cedar Rapids.

Right college, wrong sport.

Hahn, 20, has developed into an outstanding volleyball player for the Cyclones, a 5-foot-6 libero in a game normally dominated by players a half-foot taller.

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