Members of the Cedar Rapids Sizzlers Granny National Champions Basketball Team are (left to right) Diana Marker, Sue Cahalan, Lola Reisner, Cathy Snow, Linda Jennings, Michelle Kraft, Virginia McFadden, Margaret Beuter and Sue Hartley . Members Jen Neubauer and Trish Spear are not pictured. (photo sent)
Not all events are major events. Not all championships bring riches or rings.
But that doesn’t mean these events and titles are any less important to those involved. Quite the contrary. We all do things, accomplish things that are just as important to us as winning a green Masters jacket or a Super Bowl ring to others.
As we’re firmly entrenched in the scorching days of summer — you know, the in-between before high school and college sports pick up steam — let’s take a look at some things happening right now in Cedar Rapids.
- The Golden State Warriors may have won the NBA championship, but they have nothing on the Cedar Rapids Sizzlers.
This Granny Basketball team defeated defending champion Harpers Ferry Fireflies, 43-38, in the league’s National Tournament last weekend in Kansas City.
There were a record 20 teams representing six states — Missouri, Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Louisiana and, of course, Iowa — in the 6-on-6 tournament for women 50 and older.
The Sizzlers actually avenged a loss to the Fireflies in last year’s title tilt. The Sizzlers also won national titles in 2019 and 2015.
The Fireflies are something of a dynasty with four domestic titles – 2021, 2018, 2017 and 2016. These two teams have met in the championship game in three consecutive tournaments.
“I am so happy, so proud and so honored to be part of such a creative, committed, flexible, intelligent and talented team of people, who have all led to our championship,” said player Diana Marker . said in a statement.
The 2023 national tournament will be held in Iowa, July 14-16, at Luther College in Decorah.
- The Pro Football Hall of Fame is a big deal, taking place Saturday in Canton, Ohio, with the likes of Dick Vermeil, Cliff Branch and Sam Mills among the honorees.
On Friday, Hawkeye Downs Speedway in Cedar Rapids will honor its former stars with its annual “Wall of Fame.”
This year’s winners are Steve Carlson, Rick Hall, Bob Harris, Billy Moyer and Coonrod Wrecker and Crane.
Carlson, of West Salem, Wisconsin, has won the Miller 100 a record five times – 1996, ’97, ’01, ’07 and ’08. He also won the Late Model Points Championship in 2008.
Hall, who died in a racing accident in 1981 aged 22, won a Hawkeye Downs track championship on the “quarter midget track”, located off Sixth Street in the northeast corner of the course.
Harris was a racer and frame builder involved in racing for over 40 years. Harris’ “modified chassis have won over 10,000 cross-country races… multiple track championships in IMCA, NASCAR, UMP, USMTS, and WISSOTA and won regional, national, and super-national championship titles,” according to its HOF bio. .
Moyer has 847 wins since he started racing in 1977, including the Spring Fever 50 at Hawkeye Downs in 1981 and back-to-back Miller 100s in 1987 and 1988.
Coonrod provided the tow truck service at Hawkeye Downs for their weekly races and specials and also sponsored some of the Janey Racing team race cars.
- And, finally, Cedar Rapids has hosted its share of national championships over the year, from NCAA wrestling to NAIA cross country and just about everything in between.
Starting Friday at the Alliant Energy PowerHouse are the US National Boccia Championships.
There was a clinic on Thursday, but the team and pairs competition is Friday, followed by individual bouts on Saturday and Sunday.
Boccia is a “precision ball sport, similar to pétanque…(it) is played locally, nationally and internationally by athletes with severe physical disabilities. It was originally designed to be played by people with cerebral palsy, but now includes athletes with other severe disabilities affecting motor skills.
It became a Paralympic sport in 1984.
Comments: (319) 398-8461; jr.ogden@thegazette.com