John Nerem, Chick Steen Pay It Forward Event, August 5, 2026

I'm going to take some time. I'm visiting with John Nick came in to join us. He has a special Activity coming up. I'm going to call it John, but it's got to do with Someone who was influential in your life. That's correct and again recently passed away well passed away a little while ago, but one of the things He didn't want much. He didn't want much recognition Didn't want you to do things like memorials and stuff like that But he wanted you to do some things like pay it forward, especially when it comes to kids exactly This gentleman's name was Charles Dean he was father of a good friend of mine Terry and He helped me out when I had kind of a rough spot in fifth and sixth grade and just with you know, some mentoring and and that type of thing and He passed away in June at age 98 kind of the last of the fathers that were in that neighborhood and instead of Sending money in for a memorial that he was interested in Because he said he's got enough money and his kids have got enough money and blah blah blah That do something good for a youth and so Jerry and I were talking about and we thought well, it's too late to send somebody to church camp or

Sponsor somebody to a sporting camp and and plus that's only one or two or three different people and stuff So we came up with the idea that this Saturday from 12 to 6 any child who doesn't have Pass at the pool to get in we'll get in free and That's kind of we're calling it the Chipps Dean Memorial Which nobody in Boone knows this guy I grew up in Indianola and stuff They might know his grandson Adam Steen just ran for governor on and got third Which? That's neither here nor there. Yeah, but it was Adam again All of you guys like your neighborhood. He was a part of your neighborhood and all the fathers were that way Yep, exactly, you know and my dad had a heart attack when I was in fifth grade and back then they just Sent you home to a rest and that's what you could do, you know, and so he couldn't pick up a ball and throw it

Just he just didn't and it it basically took two years Before he could actually even go to work full-time, you know, and and we went through some hard times I I Looked back on that and and realized that we got help that I didn't know at that time So the chick is one of those that he just kind of stepped up behind you and helped you with some things. Yep. Yep. Definitely, you know, it

Just playing football in the backyard that type of thing and

The the thing that really helped which really made a big difference in my life was that when I was Going into seventh grade. We had Babe Ruth and it was 13 14 and 15 year olds all together on the same team and there were 60 spots There were 61 people that tried out. I was a 61st person. I didn't get on a team and I was just devastated. I knew I wasn't a great baseball player I mean, you know, and I knew I had some limitations, but not to make a team. I was terrible. So Especially when all your friends. Yeah, I mean all my friends made it, you know, and and so chick called around there was six teams, I think and Ask if hey, can this kid just come and practice? That's all I wanted to do was practice and it took four teams and finally Jack Patterson blue socks where we're all socks gold socks blue socks green socks Yellow socks, whatever gold socks, I guess and he was a blue socks manager and he said, yeah, we'll work with him and stuff He's good kid. He hadn't caused any problems Good for you. Yeah, so and again, but this is one of those things where you don't realize all this is going on Oh, yeah, yeah, I didn't know that all I mean like I'm school I was the guy as a sixth grader the memographed sure all the teachers and I thought well, you know What I must be the best mammograph guy there was a matter of fact my partner was Terry steen and our Thing that we got was half price for lunch Well, my lunch was fully paid for because Terry steen's dad said we can pay for his and so I I mean So I had hot lunch before the programs were there because somebody stepped up and helped And it saved I think my folks 35 cents a day or something like that and stuff and and I delivered newspapers and and Chick got the whole neighborhood where he's clearly about four blocks away to take the register Yeah, you know, it wasn't like it wasn't like give away But he kind of helped me get set up so I could get and I won a couple of awards because Chick would tell people hey, you really need the register goes, you know And so he'd send me over there. Hey, I heard so and so and you know Vanderlinden wanted so I'd get them and stuff And that you built my little route up and I was making $20 a month, which was a lot of money back then Yeah, especially at that age. Yeah, I was 12, you know, so it worked out pretty good So all this time and again, you really didn't know a lot of this was happening and so I didn't put put it together Yeah, I knew that chick had called coaches. I didn't know it took four teams to Get on so I mean he really he really worked hard to at least get me a chance to play and stuff But the thing about it was now you got to remember I was a 64th player out of 60 two years later I'm an all-star and it's because I got that opportunity Because had I not played as a 13 year old, I wouldn't have gone out as a 14 year old because I couldn't take the embarrassment and So that that led to being an all-star We won the state that year and and we played Up at Minnesota and I got a chance to play against Harmon Kilbrewson, which meant I got a chance to meet Harmon Kilbrew I mean, I would never had that opportunity. I also got an opportunity Later in life to coach at the high school level I coached ninth grade baseball for five years and they're four six years and then four more as Helping with the varsity basically doing JV work and stuff like that So none of this would have happened and never had gone out with that and and the thing with with chick Was it wasn't just like he was taking care of the near and boy He just kind of overlooked everybody and just made sure everybody was headed in the right direction Exactly exactly and and he had this as a young person He was drafted or I don't know if he's drafted or he signed up right after but like 1946 but most of the year my father went in and Did two years and then they kind of basically cut those guys loose because World War two was loose was gone He went to Iowa Westland joined a fraternity and I think he was the vice president of the fraternity and There was a guy Who was Japanese-American named Jim Morena and he joined the fraternity and Everything was going great until the people that run the fraternity Found out that a Japanese-American oriental person was in this fraternity and you can't have him and This guy had already fit in he was doing great playing football Was just there's absolutely no reason why he couldn't be on there. So Chick kind of took this the lead and he followed up saying the chain and command saying hey Well, they get clear to the very top and said no, it's just whites only now. This is 1950 Mm-hmm, and he was so upset that he and the whole controlling group just resigned just deactivated well this got picked up by the AP and The University of Minnesota, which had a fraternity on it Illinois and Missouri found out about it and they all got together the president's got together and sent a letter to this Fraternity saying you have three days to change this. You're not going to allow Just whites only on our campus. You got to let everybody who wants to join Join and you can't discriminate because of race creator natural origin and this is the this is a time when that Still very very controversial. Well, they had just they had just Integrated the army. Yeah, I mean this was this was well ahead of the curve, you know and but he saw something wrong and so the University of Minnesota's president contacted the president of the Fraternity, you know, I don't know what they call him and said you got three days to clean this up or you're off our campus and The next paragraph is if you do not leave the the campus in three days I will send the National Guard and we will do it for you and so the they kind of struggle around a little bit and They said well, we can't make a decision that fast and it was later that day and the president says well You got two and a half days to make that decision. Well, they came around and and changed it and and it was all because of check And is for other guys. I mean, that's just type of guy. He was So so he did those kinds of things. That's what he thought was right. Yeah, and and Then eventually living in Indian Ola, yeah, and again, you're yeah one of those kids growing up in that neighborhood Yeah, we had a Another buddy of ours that was really really interested in firefight and end up being a teacher of firefighting in head of the firefighter Education for South Carolina Greg Mundy who lost his father in a car accident and he kind of got brought into the group and and chick made sure he was right and helped him get into the right schools and stuff so that he could get into firefighting and and I knew that he was going to succeed in firefighting because when we were freshmen in high school We built with chicks idea and a couple teachers. We built an ice skating rink in Indian Ola and We got the thing set up and stuff and we had to take water from fire hydrant and hold it and I was quite a bit larger than Greg But by God Greg never gave it up. He held that thing and sprayed the whole the whole thing was done by Greg You know it's not let you know and and it went and he got to do what he wanted to do. Yeah, it was just phenomenal I mean just the way the things worked out and stuff. So Anyway, that's what we decided is how we're going to honor him and I know nobody in town except for my family knows who he is but Because it's that it's that model. Yeah, it just grows, you know, and a lot of people could think back to you know When you were growing up. Well, I think we're talking back into the 50s 60s 60s and and really Those were that we had those kind of neighborhoods. Yeah. Yeah, I mean we were talking about this earlier but you get up in the morning on Saturday and you make sure you had tennis shoes on and if you had Red ball jets or you had pf flyers. You're gonna be faster than the other guys Most of mine were JC pennies because they were cheaper. Yeah, but but anyway, and you'd ride around looking for a game Yeah, and we played tons of baseball. We played tons of wiffle ball homerun derby. We had a homerun derby championship in our backyard because our neighbor built this fence and For us so that we could play wiffle ball homerun went 67 innings before we put somebody won It was amazing So this is again, then he's now it as you were getting older Then did you start to realize how much of an impact he had had? I did once I got up here to bone You know just start looking back. Yeah, cuz he called me a couple times. How's it going? Especially? especially still checking in yeah, just you know and and You know, I tell them things, you know like in the early 80s. It was terrible because when I got up here in 78 We sold a lot of real estate It was like put a sign in and man we sold it real estate and so we were hugely sexful save $20,000 and And I put it back into the company and I probably should have paid off debt. That's beside the point but anyway In like 82 and 84 when things are really tough because Insurance rates got cut and commissions got cut and I started having kids and stuff and he and I was telling him That you know two other offices closed and and all this other things and and he said well, that's good I said, well, why is that good? He goes less competition and he says, you know, you're absolutely right You know and he goes it's a numbers game. Just go out and call on people now. You just got to go and do it And yeah, you know So again, you're looking in the you know, one of the things is yeah, how do we pay it back? Or how do we pay it forward? Right the things he did for you, which it sounds like that's what he would prefer You know, that's definitely that's what that's said on the on the memorial and I'm not the only one doing it There's a bunch of guys that are doing things in Indianola and Don Des Moines and a couple of the Twin cities where Terry's from Doing other they're sponsoring different things are sponsoring one guy sponsoring like a hockey team and and Little kids the ones getting started that type of thing and and just Jerry and I decide well This is how we can reach the most kids and we just hope the pool gets full. It's supposed to be what 87 I think on Saturday and Anybody under 12 gets in free and now I want you to be respectful to the lifeguards because I have a lifeguard, you know so he knows it Again Saturday 12 to 6 Moon Municipal Swimming Pool. What did Darcy see because obviously you come in and say Darcy here's what we're thinking about. Yeah She was gone. She was on vacation last week. So she called me yesterday, which is Monday I guess we're recording this on Tuesday and and said God this was wonderful. This would be great Du Bois D Mac does like first 50 kids to get in yeah type thing But this is everybody who's in everybody all day long all day long if they want they can come and swim for whatever and stuff like that and You know, I I called Nate Nick and Neil and said we're spending part of your inheritance here They're all for it. They didn't that was good But when you start and again, you know because you're telling us stories about when you were growing up and things like that You think and now when you think back about it. You think That was he was a great guy. Yeah, he was well, I always thought he was a great guy But yeah, I mean he just he just was forward thinking and he just kind of knew and and and he didn't just invest in me he invested in all ten guys that were around there and stuff and and You got the neighborhood in the neighborhood. Yeah, you know, and it was just amazing how successful and how Off the board another guy Jim Vaughn came up with an idea how to get sutures to the hospitals in in Kansas City and Because they were always running out because the big companies were requiring them to buy too much and they couldn't afford it So he went to Johnson and Johnson said I'm gonna warehousing for you and we'll give you the money up front And and they said great and then he says, okay, and I'll pay you 30 days after you deliver it, which You had the money already then you know, but he did well and it was just Those opportunities just things to keep everybody moving for yeah being successful. Well, we appreciate you Stepping up to Again pay it forward at the Moon Municipal Swimming Pool Saturday 12 till 6 Any child show up. Yep, you can swim for free So I'm for free and and we really appreciate KBG, you know, it's difficult with not having a real newspaper anymore and everybody's as well social media but Not social media and if you're a grandparent out there and you listen to this and hear this call your grandkids up He goes, hey, you want to go swimming? I don't care. You can even take a sense Take and say you're the one that did it. That's fine. Let the kid go out and swim have a good time cool off Might meet somebody. I appreciate you taking time to come in and tell us the story. Thank you, Jim And thanks for stepping up and paying it forward. Well, thank you again