Forest “Ike” Lovan—Part 2

Last spring in an article, “Chasing Legends: A Trip to Steelville,” I profiled Willow Springs High School alum Ike Lovan of the class of 1953. The article featured his contributions to the famous SCA championship football teams that won two consecutive Ozark Bowls. Because there is more to his story, I promised a second part.

 

As I prepared for my interview with Ike for Part 2, several words came to mind that I jotted down. Athlete. Teacher. Businessman. Civic Leader. Conservationist. Musician. Husband. Father. When our hour-long conversation ended, I realized those descriptors formed a perfect outline for the man who grew up north of Willow Springs on Highway 137. 

 

Curious about his handle “Ike,” I asked if it was his middle name. It is not. A friend hung the nickname on Ike’s father, Elvin Lovan. Soon, Forrest picked up the moniker “Little Ike.” As he grew older “Little” got dropped, but “Ike” stuck. Some readers may recall his dad’s actual nickname was “Skeet.” 

 

Ike’s athletic ability extended beyond football. At WSHS, he also lettered in basketball, baseball, and track, but in researching old volumes of the Willamizzou, I found scarce information about track and baseball. As an old Willamizzou staffer, I found that peculiar. In my high school days, although baseball had been discontinued when I was in the eighth grade (1960-’61), several pages were dedicated to track. 

 

Two random (and unrelated) thoughts came to mind. First, as to the discontinuation of baseball, I wondered whether the school had enough athletes to field both sports. Certainly, it potentially would have separated better athletes from either sport. For instance, Truman Grogan, our best baseball pitcher, was also our best track athlete. I can almost hear school administrators saying, “The kids can play baseball in the summer town leagues.” 

 

I did, however, find a couple staged photos of the 7-member track team wearing sweatsuits and street shoes in the 1951 Willamizzou, with the headline “We Await the Track Season.” In the 1952 yearbook, I found a single photo of the 6-member track team, including Ike, with the headline: “Coming Up! Track, Baseball, and Golf.” 

 

Concerning the lack of yearbook coverage, I suspect it related to a printing deadline. Walsworth Publishing in Marceline, Missouri, the primary company for printing high school yearbooks for southern Missouri, probably printed the Willamizzou. Walsworth had a spring deadline to allow for the typesetting and binding methods of the day. By the time I served on the yearbook staff, printing methods had transitioned to offset printing, likely improving the coverage of baseball and track in the 1960 Willamizzou.

 

As a backdrop to Ike’s basketball career, sometime ago I received an email from Wendell Bailey concerning WSHS basketball in the late 1950s: “Willow had not had a winning team since the Lee Godsy, Neil Hanks, Sonny Stringer, Arch Chaney, and Ike Lovan era.” In the preceding years, teams coached by legendary football coach Speedo Harmon just had average seasons. After winning only three games in the 1949-’50 season, Willow hired Chester Elmore.

 

As a junior, Ike earned a varsity spot on Coach Elmore’s initial team, which won eight games against eighteen losses. Interestingly, opponents only outscored the Bears by 48 points for the season. The Willamizzou reported “The Bruins Drop Too Many Close Ones.”

 

The following year, the team elected Ike captain, and the Bears topped off a second-place finish in the SCA by winning the Cabool Regional Tournament, beating West Plains 65-63 in an overtime thriller. Ike scored the last two points and the winning bucket just before the buzzer. Ike says, “The rebound came to me, and I made the final shot.” 

 

From the regional tournament, the Bears headed to the state tournament at the University of Missouri in Columbia. This fact amazed me. Until researching this article, I did not know Willow had qualified for the state tournament.

 

Unfortunately, the Bears lost in the first round to the Marshall Owls 65-54. Well, hoot! The headline in the March 5, 1953, edition of the Willow Springs News declared “Stage Fright Fatal to Bears in Columbia.” Coach Elmore, in a telephone call to the newspaper, confirmed the loss “as mostly a case of stage fright.” I can only imagine the excitement those boys felt competing in Mizzou’s Brewer Fieldhouse.

In the state tournament game, Ike was the high-point man for the Bears scoring 16 points, followed by Hunsaker with 11, Godsey 5, Chaney 8, Hanks 7, and Stringer 5. Sonny “Buck” Stringer, perhaps, their best athlete, fouled out. The Willow Springs News observed it was not clear when “the Bears lost the services of Stringer . . . it was reported he had four fouls in the second quarter.” Ike’s standout performances in the postseason likely contributed to his All-state Honorable Mention selection.

 

After Ike’s senior year in 1953, Chester Elmore left Willow Springs to coach basketball at Southwest Baptist College, a 2 year junior college in Bolivar, Missouri. Ike followed him there on a scholarship and earned a letter in basketball.

 

Meanwhile, back in Willow Springs, his WSHS teammate Lee Godsey finished his senior year and secured a scholarship to play basketball at Hannibal-LaGrange, a two year junior college in Hannibal, which also had Baptist ties. Godsey contacted Ike and convinced him to join him to play basketball at Hannibal Lagrange.

 

In Hannibal, both Ike and Lee lettered in basketball, but also received letters for track. In the 1954-’55 season, they represented Hannibal-Lagrange at the Missouri State Junior College Indoor Track Meet in Columbia. The two boys won three gold medals apiece, which was enough to win the championship for Hannibal-Lagrange. 

 

From Hannibal-Lagrange, Ike continued his education at Central Missouri State College in Warrensburg, where he pitched and played outfield on the baseball team. He won three games as a pitcher and received, yet, another athletic letter. Ike and I discussed that he might be the only WSHS athlete to win collegiate letters in three different sports. Incidentally, Lee Godsey transferred to Arizona State College to play basketball. 

 

In 1958, after graduating from Central Missouri State, Ike began postgraduate studies at Mizzou, which included courses in the Education Department. With an undergraduate degree in biology, he also worked part-time for the Missouri Conservation Department. 

 

While in Columbia, Ike met the love of his life, June Ludwick, who worked at Stephens College. While they dated, Ike received a draft notice from the Selective Service. Ike posed a question to June. “What are we going to do, now?” The answer came shortly. June became Mrs. Lovan, and Ike headed to Fort Hood, Texas, for Army basic training. 

 

Perhaps, the most interesting thing in Basic Training was Elvis. The Elvis. Ike’s company was adjacent to Elvis Presley’s company. Ike says he had several photos taken with Elvis that have disappeared over the years.

 

During advanced training at Ft. Hood, Ike arranged for June to come to Texas. Their time together was short-lived. Ike (and Elvis) received orders to go to Germany. He and June would be separated for the next eighteen months. 

 

In the 1950s, the U.S. Army in Europe fielded American football teams that practiced like college programs and played regular schedules in organized leagues. The quality of the teams, which included college and professional athletes, was comparable to that of good small colleges. Ike played for the Third Armored Division team that was runner-up in the All-European playoffs.

 

While Ike was overseas, June, originally from West Plains, lived there with her mother. When Ike returned, they resided in West Plains for a time. Their son Jimmy was born there. Eventually, through a chain of events that almost seemed a matter of destiny, they moved to Steelville, and but for a year when Ike managed a game preserve in Florida, it has been their lifetime home. 

 

Ike taught at the high school in Steelville and took summer courses at Southeast Missouri State College, earning a master’s degree in secondary school administration, and later became the junior high principal. 

 

After twelve years as an educator, Ike became an entrepreneur. He and June bought a local jewelry and sporting goods store. [The incongruity reminds me of sign I once saw: “keys made and umbrellas repaired.”] But the combination worked for them. June ran the jewelry side, and Ike handled the sporting goods. After several years, Ike sold the sporting goods business, but June continued and expanded her side of the business for forty-three years.

 

As a conservationist, Ike has been a prominent leader in the Conservation Federation of Missouri for many years, holding various leadership roles, including president. He received the Federation’s Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his fifty-years’ service. 

 

When the Corps of Engineers proposed damming the Meramec River near Sullivan to create a lake in the 1960s and ‘70s, conservationists argued it would adversely affect tributaries such as the Huzzah and Courtois. Ike stepped forward in opposition. The Corps formally abandoned the project in 1981.

 

In 1982, at the urging of Willow’s favorite son, Wendell Bailey, Ike ran for the Missouri Senate. His candidacy was not successful, but he had a nifty campaign slogan, reminiscent of the 1952 Eisenhower presidential campaign: "I Like Ike.”

 

To cover all of Ike’s civic activities, I would need to use bullet points, but his relationship with Boys Town of Missouri, which now includes girls, is noteworthy. Ike served on the board of directors for a decade. 

Ike was president of the Steelville Chamber of Commerce when a local dentist, who owned the Meramec Music Theater, announced he would no longer be able to keep the theater open. Fearful of losing the popular tourist attraction, Ike and other civic leaders formed a corporation to acquire the theater in 1995 to continue operating it. 

 

The theater operated at the original venue for another three years before the corporation built a new building on West Highway 8. For many years, Ike took the stage as emcee and stage manager. Well-known bluegrass musicians, including Ricky Scaggs, Rhonda Vincent, and Marty Stuart, and poplar gospel groups have performed there. The Meramec Music Theater annually brings thousands of visitors to Steelville.

 

Speaking of musicians, when Ike was seventy-years-old, he taught himself to play the mandolin. He formed a band and still plays twice a week at senior centers. His group has played at a Bailey Chevrolet event. Maybe we septuagenarians should take note; I may have to blow the dust off my banjo.

 

In the previous article, I mentioned getting sidetracked by my car’s GPS on the way to Steelville, but meeting Ike and June Lovan far outweighed that minor inconvenience. Had I not visited their home and strolled across the backyard to the overlook deck high above the Meramec River, I would have missed the nuance, breadth, and success of his well lived life.