Chasin' down Case...

When Team Kopsa came in the door that day... I knew all of them but one.

And that became painfully obvious rather quickly.

Papa Kelly and I went all the way back to 1984 or 1985 when the owner of Stewart Photography was nothing but a stat junkie who wanted to be where the action was so he volunteered to be the SEMCO High School varsity baseball manager as a 7th grader.

No doubt one of my favorite summers of my life as I was hanging with the guys and getting quite the education on the bench and on the bus.  Use your imagination.   One of the guys I hung out with the most that summer was none other than Kelly Kopsa.   Kel never got to play as much as he'd probably like on Coach Nitz's squad... and as a result... he was in the dugout with yours truly much of the time.

So it was no surprise to me when I got a call recently and it started with this:  

"Got your SEMCO rally cap ready??"

I knew who it was on the other end of the line.

This was actually the second go around with this group of Kopsa's (there's seemingly a million of 'em around... is there not?)   I photographed the OTHER well known visitor on this day a few years back in 2009 as sister Samantha was a member of West Marshall's Class of 2010.

So Kelly and Sammy were back in the saddle.  There was just ONE person in this trademarked Kopsa red-headed party.

That would be Case.

Call it unfamiliarity... or sleep deprivation... or just plain stupidity...  I proceeded to look right at all of his paperwork and data in the computer and then confidently and ignorantly called him Chase.

Not just once... but a handful of times.

Finally, my old friend Kelly, stopped me and got his old SEMCO Cougar friend straightened away.

"I've gotta stop ya... It's CASE."

Waaaaa... waaaa... waaaa... WAAAAAAAAAAH!

Talk about getting off on the wrong foot.

#facepalm

So, I had some making up to do over the next several hours, and making up we did.

Right out of the gate I noted that Case had a letter jacket that looked strikingly similar to the one that I wore 25 years ago.   And come to find out... I wasn't imagining that.

Proud Papa Kel pointed out that while the letters, patches and awards had changed on the jacket... the old Black-n-Gold that represented the SEMCO Class of 1986 was now being recycled.   This time for his son... and the Black-n-Gold of West Marshall, some thirty years later.

Can't say I ever remember THAT happening in over 3500 seniors that we've shot in the last 22+ years.   Pretty cool!

It didn't take us but a few shots in to start paying homage to Case's passion for the Trojan marching band.   We busted out the tenor sax and bass clarinet for our red-headed showman.

Case told me he has plans to attend either Wartburg College in Waverly or perhaps the University of Northern Iowa in Cedar Falls next year.   Sounds like he's leaning towards being a history teacher some day.   In either case (pun intended), it was pointed out by proud sister Sammy that either school will be gaining royalty.

As in a Homecoming King.

Clearly the student body in State Center thinks very highly of Mr. Kopsa and no doubt made his fall one to remember as he was crowned a few weeks back as part of the festivities there.  

Must be a thing around here as we've photographed the king at West Marshall, South Tama, GMG and East Marshall (stay tuned.. EM's Sam Welton is just a couple seniors down the pile of work here).

I can see why Trojan Nation honored Case, he's an extremely likable character who's overcame a lot, and I'm glad he chose Stewart Photography to document his senior campaign... despite my inadvertent addition of an H in his name.