“The success of last year’s competition, our very first ever, set the stage for what we believe will become a wave of interesting and innovative business development in the greater McCook region,” said project initiator and Hormel Family Foundation board member Ben Hormel Harris.

The Hormel Business Plan Competition is intended to encourage existing business in McCook, as well as to attract new businesses to the area. Start-ups and existing local business owners are equally welcome to submit their business ideas.

On June 6, a panel of judge’s comprised of business and community leaders will once again identify the most promising business plan tailored to the McCook region. The winning entrepreneur or team will receive a $25,000 cash investment, as well as consulting and advertising services valued at $10,000. In exchange for the $25,000 investment, the Hormel Family Foundation will take a minority stake in the business and will work closely with the winner to maximize the chances of success.

“Winning the $25,000 investment enabled us to quickly realize a dream that otherwise could have taken years to achieve,” said last year’s business plan competition winner Cody Dame ‘01, co-owner of McCook gaming store Game On ( www.gameongames.com ). “The Hormel Family Foundation has been a great partner,” commented Tanner Lytle ‘04, the second half of the Game On duo. “They’ve been supportive all the way, but at the end of the day, they trust that Cody and I will make the right decisions for our business.”

Spearheaded by the Hormel Family Foundation, the Hormel Business Plan Competition enjoys generous support from Community Hospital and McCook Community Development Co. (comprised of AmFirst Bank, McCook National Bank and Wells Fargo).

The Hormel Family Foundation is a non-profit organization committed to education and business development in McCook, Nebraska. Founded in 1999 by the late Ben F. Hormel, it provided the funding for the Ben F. Hormel Technology Center for Business and Industry on the McCook Community College campus.

The Hormel foundation is now accepting submissions, and encourages all those interested in entering the competition to visit www.hormelfamilyfoundation.com, or contact Susan Harris-Broomfield at (308) 340-0856.

Cody Dame ‘01 and Tanner Lytle ’04and Ciprian Galarneau ’04 managed to wow a judges’ panel of local business and community leaders with their proposal to create McCook’s first gaming store: GAME ON.

GAME ON will sell both used and new games, along with gaming consoles and other accessories. The idea is to create something more than a retail location, by offering an environment where gaming aficionados can meet, participate in tournaments, and try out new games before buying them. In hopes of reaching beyond state borders, GAME ON will also have an online presence www.gameongames.com

"We have created the store we always wanted to go to," commented Tanner Lytle.

As the winners of the competition, the GAME ON duo received a $25,000 investment in exchange for a minority stake of the business. In addition, the team continues to be the beneficiaries of USDA grant monies, advertising and business consulting services valued at over $10,000.

GAME ON is the first of what the Hormel Family Foundation hopes will become a series of portfolio companies, since the competition is intended to become an annual event.

 “We are firmly committed to economic development in McCook, and we can’t think of a better way to fulfill that promise than to tap into the talent and ambition that are already in McCook,” said Ben Harris, foundation representative and project initiator.

He added that the Foundation is in the process of firming up the date for next year’s competition, which like its predecessor will take place at the Hormel Center for Business and Industry on the McCook Community College campus.

As for this year’s competition, GAME ON was not the only idea that impressed the judges. At the award ceremony, Ben Harris decided to personally contribute $5,000 to the runner-up, Marissa Michaelsen, whose specialty candy store HEATHER’S SWEETS is already up and running at 316 Norris Avenue in McCook.

Spearheaded by the Hormel Family Foundation, the Hormel Business Plan Competition enjoys generous support from Community Hospital and McCook Community Development Company, comprised of AmFirst Bank, McCook National Bank and Wells Fargo Bank.

The Hormel Foundation also received a $25,500 Rural Business Enterprise Grant from the United States Department of Agriculture, portions of which were especially earmarked for the winner of the Hormel Business Plan Competition.

Additional sponsors of the business plan competition included the Nebraska Department of Economic Development, Blackwell Sanders, High Plains Radio, the McCook Daily Gazette and Remboldt Ludtke.

The Hormel Family Foundation is a non-profit organization committed to education and economic development in McCook, Nebraska. Founded in 1999 by the late Ben F. Hormel, a local entrepreneur, it provided the funding for the Ben F. Hormel Technology Center for Business and Industry on the McCook Community College campus.

For more details, please visit www.hormelfamilyfoundation.com, or contact Susan Harris-Broomfield ’83 at (308) 340-0856.

This June, Hormel Family Foundation is launching a business plan competition open to anyone interested in doing business in McCook. One talented entrepreneur (or team) will receive a $25,000 cash prize in exchange for a minority stake in the business. The will also benefit from consulting services valued at $10,000.

Because we are eager for the winner to succeed, the Hormel Family Foundation will stay integrally involved with the business. And because we are convinced that we’ll receive more than one good proposal, we intend for the competition to become an annual event.

The competition is open to entrepreneurs anywhere, but the proposed business must be located (or relocated) in or near McCook.

This initiative enjoys generous support from Community Hospital and McCook Community Development Company, comprised of AmFirst Bank, McCook National Bank and Wells Fargo Bank.

The Hormel Family Foundation is a non-profit organization supporting education and entrepreneurship in McCook. Founding in 1999 by the late Ben F. Hormel, it provided the funding for the Ben F. Hormel Technology Center for Business and Industry on the McCook Community College campus. Ben’s daughters, graduates Anabeth Hormel Frazier Cox ‘57 and MarySue Hormel Harris ‘59, serve on the board of directors.

For more details, please visit www.hormelfamilyfoundation.com or contact Susan Harris-Broomfield at (308) 344-8550.

But Amberette did not know about “that railroad thingamabobbie” … “that round thing” … “yeah, the roundhouse,” and the influence of the railroad on McCook’s development until she helped restore the badly-damaged, wall-sized aerial photograph of McCook that her social studies teacher Tom Lentz pulled out of storage.

Lentz said he discovered the large photograph, mounted on canvas on a wooden frame, in storage under Weiland Field’s north bleachers shortly after he started teaching in McCook and keeping stats for the high school football team seven years ago. He said he told himself for several years, “There has to be something we can do with it.”

Representatives of McCook National Bank, MJH Teacher Tom Lentz and social studies students stand in front of the aerial photograph of McCook that Lentzs students restored. The restoration project was financed in part with a $200 Americas Promisegrant administered by McCook National Bank, represented by (on the left, clockwise from the top) Craig Merrihew, Kim Baumbach, Sherri Stang and Kim Bauer. On the right are (clockwise from the top) teacher Tom Lentz and students Chris Conroy, Brandon Yost, Morgan Schaeffer and Amberette Burkey. (Photo – Connie Jo Discoe 73/ Daily Gazette)

The photograph originally hung between the auditorium doors at the north end of the main hallway at McCook Senior High. MHS graduate and retired teacher Al Cuellar ‘56 remembers that the aerial photograph, murals and photo collages in the north hall and at the southeast entrance were in the school when it was built in 1955. Cuellar’s was the first graduating class -1956 – in the new building. He also remembers taking pictures of the aerial photograph before it was removed, probably in the early 1990’s – and tucked under the Weiland Field bleachers.

Last year, Lentz pulled the photograph out of storage – just in time, too, he said, because not too much later water flooded the area under the bleachers.

Lentz and his sixth grade social studies students (his seventh graders now) applied for a $200 “America’s Promise” grant through McCook National Bank and used the grant award to pay for supplies to restore the picture. The grant was supplemented with some funds from the school.

Amberette said they had to mix paints to match the tinting applied on the original black-and-white photograph. High school artist Whitney Fagot, a junior last year, helped the students with the more difficult restoration areas – where, over the years at the high school, students gouged and scratched their initials deep into the canvas. That’s why, Cuellar thinks, school officials removed the photo. “It was so beaten up,” Cuellar remembers.

Lentz said he is guessing that the picture was taken in 1950 or 1951, as McCook historian John Hubert ‘45 said he helped dig the foundation for the new east water tower – clearly visible in the photograph – in 1949. Lentz said many of his students learned about the history of their community as they repaired the aerial photograph. “It’s been a good project for the kids,” Lentz said, “because they can see what’s here and that some things have changed.”

Lentz said the map project generated discussions at home, as well as in the classroom. “They talked to Mom and Dad and to Grandpa and Grandma. It connected them with the community,” Lentz said.

The restored photograph hangs now on the wall at the doors to the gym in the junior high, inside an oak frame built by the MJHS “Exploring Technology” class, taught by Chad Lyons. The photograph is protected by a sheet of clear acrylic – to keep any more students from carving their names into a piece of McCook history.

Lentz invites anyone interested in looking at the map and examining the students’ restoration project to stop by the junior high during school hours. Check in first at the office. “America’s Promise” grants are available to McCook teachers through McCook National Bank.

McCook Daily Gazette
by Connie Jo Discoe 73

Missy Krizek Nelson ‘85, Roxanne Doyle Owens ‘79, Sharon Burrows, and many others helped raise the money for the Share-A-Seat Campaign. They credited the generosity of the community, their church prayer team and God for the project’s completion. The seats were installed in the balcony area and were bolted in place just hours before over 1000 women began filing in for the Women’s Winter Conference sponsored by McCook Evangelical Free Church. It is a great improvement to the building for use by many.

Do you remember going to basketball games, dances, concerts, or even the circus at the auditorium? Jeanne Boyle Oldweiler ‘55 h-joldweiler@worldnet.att.net has written a delightful story about her memories of the auditorium. You can find the story on our website at www.mccookalumni.com. Look for it under “Memories”. There is also another story written by Walt Sehnert entitled Memorial Auditorium owes existence to boosters.

If McCook schools had purchased the bleacher set-up, it would have cost about $35,000. The only cost the school actually incurred was for some of the concrete. Donors were Starship Enterprises, AmFirst Bank, McCook Optimists, Bison Booster Club, and W-Design and Engineering.

A new weight room was added to McCook High School and opened up this summer for athletes who wanted to train. The old weight room in the loft over the gym was too small and too hot to use in the summer. Using money donated by the Bison Boosters and other donors, the old agriculture wing on the southwest end of the school was transformed into the new weight room.

More than 42 machines and pieces of equipment were purchased, closely following the Husker Power workout program. A new cardiovascular division of the weight room has elliptical and life cycle machines along with treadmills. All athletes, students, and teachers are welcomed and encouraged to use the weight room for their benefit.

The latest addition to our facilities is the new locker room, restroom, and concession area on the northeast corner of Weiland Field. Over 75% of the cost of the metal structure was given by Bison supporters including many gifts in memory of the late, beloved Coach Ron Coleman. Several area businesses cut their labor prices to the bone and supplied many of the fixtures and materials at cost.

The new 2,700 square foot facility has a visitors locker room on the north side and the concession area in the middle. Restrooms for men and women are on the south side. The current mens facilities, under the north stadium, will be converted into space for private use by game officials.

Special thanks go to Rick Haney for finding the donors and spearheading these projects and to all the volunteers who generously gave so that the projects might be completed. They certainly enhance our schools athletic activities and will be much enjoyed by the athletes and fans alike.