Out in Greene County, Iowa

Neil Hackman is a special “Turkey of the Year” in a special year at Turkey Valley High School

By CHUCK OFFENBURGER
November 26, 2009
JACKSON JUNCTION, IOWA

In this Thanksgiving season of 2009, it is a special year at Turkey Valley High School here in northeast Iowa.

It was 50 years ago right now when the communities of Fort Atkinson, Protivin, Lawler, Waucoma, St. Lucas, Little Turkey and Jackson Junction were forming a new school district. With all those communities involved, the new school couldn’t possibly have one of those hyphenated names, like many other consolidated schools were using. No acronym was possible, either. One thing all the towns and rural areas around here had in common – they were all located around the branches of the Turkey River. And, thus, “Turkey Valley Community School District.”

Twenty-one years later, in 1980, along came a young newspaper columnist from Des Moines who, like most Iowans, had become familiar with the name of the school. He had always wondered if Turkey Valley folks did anything special at Thanksgiving time. Well, he learned, they all eat turkey. They also catch a lot of kidding from fans of rival schools’ sports teams, who often “gobble” when the Turkey Valley Trojans take the court or field. And Jackson Junction, where the school is located, often is turned into “Gobblers’ Gulch.”

Neil Hackman, 2009 ''Turkey of the Year'' from Turkey Valley High School in northeast Iowa.

So, joining the fun, I proposed that the senior classes at Turkey Valley start picking one classmate – a fun-loving good kid who doesn’t have to be a top scholar or top anything – as “Turkey of the Year.” I’d come up in the Thanksgiving season, interview the “Good Gobbler,” buy his or her family an actual turkey and then tell the rest of Iowa about it.

We started that in 1980 – six U.S. presidents and four Iowa governors ago – and have now been continuing the tradition for 30 “Turkeys.” It’s been wonderful seeing how well they’ve all done in life.

By the way, we’ll gather as many of the 30 as possible at Homecoming next fall, for a special banquet during Turkey Valley’s 50th anniversary celebration. You can guess what our entrée will be then.

It is fitting that in this special year at Turkey Valley, the seniors and I have selected a special “Turkey of the Year” – Neil Hackman. In 30 years, I doubt we’ve ever had a “Turkey” who was more genuinely thankful than the 17-year-old Hackman is.

It’s not the honor he’s so grateful for, he’s just glad to be alive and healthy.

He is 6 ft. 5 in. tall and a “3-ball shooter” for the Trojan basketball team, now running the floor with as much joy as abandon.

“I appreciate just being able to play,” he said. “It looked for a while like I’d never get to play sports again, and that if any hard pass had hit me in the chest, I might have died.”

The scare came in the summer before his sophomore year, when he was taking a physical examination before football practice was going to start. Local docs were concerned that there might be some heart issue. In “a rough few weeks,” Hackman said he went on to be examined by other physicians who shocked the family with a diagnosis that there was “a 95 percent chance” he had Marfan Syndrome. That’s a disorder in the connective tissue in the body, and it can include defects in the heart valves and aorta.

“It was like two months that we thought Neil had Marfan Syndrome, and it was really hard – a big scare,” said Donna Hackman, his mother. “It can be inherited, so we all had our hearts checked – my husband Rick and I, and both the older kids.” That’s Jill, 26, who lives in Des Moines and works in information technology for an insurance company, and Luke, 23, a recent college graduate in computer networking who is helping on the family farm.

“Neil was really down then – we all were,” Donna continued. “When we were driving between doctors’ appointments then, I was trying everything to keep some hope alive. I’d say, ‘You know, let’s not forget we’ve got a five percent chance that you don’t have it.’ ”

It all was heavy stuff for a 15-year-old athlete to be weighing. And for his family. And, actually, for the whole tight-knit Turkey Valley community.

Donna said she’ll “never forget how good Neil’s basketball coach Mike Kuennen was for us right then, and all Neil’s friends, too. They all stuck right with him.” There was, she said, a very special phone call from Coach Kuennen.

“Just thinking back now to when we were all going through that, makes my hair stand on end,” said Kuennen, a 1986 Turkey Valley grad. “It was a situation where we were very, very fortunate as a community. As soon as I heard about it, I called Rick and Donna. I told them that regardless of whether Neil ever made another shot for us in basketball, we were first of all concerned for him, his health and his family.

“I told them – and then told Neil later when he came to see me – that if it turned out that he couldn’t play, he’d still be a part of our basketball team. We all knew how much he loved basketball, and how important it is to him. I told them that he could be the student manager, or the statistician, and that if he thought he might be interested in becoming a coach some day, well, we could get him a Polo shirt like our coaches wear, and he could become another assistant coach, be right there on the bench with us. There were a lot of ways he could be a real part of the team even if he wasn’t playing.”

But after two months of worry, and additional medical exams back in 2007, including extensive ultra-sound checks at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., there was great news. Marfan Syndrome was ruled out, and Neil Hackman was given clearance to resume normal physical activity.

“When the doctors told me that, it was amazing,” Neil said. “The best feeling ever.”