New athletic complex and Modern Cardinal dedicated as LCC honors its first century
Labette Community College dedicated its Modern Cardinal statue and the new Zetmeir Family Athletic Complex on Tuesday, which was also the first day that classes were held at Parsons Junior College in 1923.
Ross Benavides created Modern Cardinal when he was a student at LCC and won the John and Bonnie Latzer award for it in 2014. Benavides attended the ceremony as did his grandparents, Linda and Pat McReynolds, who helped make possible the creation and placement of the life-size version of their grandson’s art.
“Their generosity has created a new focal point that will serve as a point of pride, an Instagram photo spot and a family legacy for generations,” said Lindi Forbes, the LCC foundation and alumni association executive director.
Pat McReynolds held in his hand the original version of Modern Cardinal while speaking at the dedication.
He said partners and partnerships are important and they make for successful projects, like the Modern Cardinal and the new athletic complex.
“And they are the key to the success of this institution. They were 100 years ago, they still are now,” Pat McReynolds said.
He said Bruce Rea at Parsons High School and his students worked out drawings to make the small Cardinal the larger one placed at the complex. Travis Brumback and his welding students fabricated the Cardinal.
Six hundred donors giving to the capital campaign made the new athletic complex possible.
The college staff, faculty and students committed resources to make the project a success as well. The students are a key to that.
“We would not be here except for them. We are here to support them, to support their future. And it was the students who were asked for their support in the capital campaign. And they stepped up,” he said by enduring a small increase in fees for a few years.
He said the complex will serve LCC student-athletes for years to come.
A ribbon was cut in front of the athletic complex after the statue dedication. Inside the renovated, expanded and air conditioned gymnasium, Mark Watkins, LCC president, spoke about Founders Day, the first day classes were conducted at Parsons Junior College.
The old gym was dedicated in 1987, he said.
Parsons Junior College was established as a vision of Rees Hughes, the superintendent of Parsons schools at the time. The school board oversaw the college, which met on the top floor of Parsons High School at 26th and Main. The college moved to the top floor of the new high school at 2719 Main in January 1926. The middle school now uses that building.
The college moved to its current home at 14th and Broadway in 1962. The building it moved into was the former East Junior High School.
Parsons Junior College had eight faculty members teaching 15 courses to 70 students in its first year. In its second year, the college had 103 freshmen and 35 sophomores. The college graduated 26 at its first commencement in May 1925.
Watkins said Parsons Sun stories from the 1920s showed a lot of community support for establishing a two-year college in Parsons. Many businessmen touted the benefit of extending a student’s education. Education was the only way to make the city and country better, one businessman said.
Voters approved the proposition to add the two-year college on April 4, 1923. The vote was nearly 4-1 for approval. By September, the college had a curriculum in place and received accreditation from the University of Kansas. All was done in time for the first day of classes on Sept. 12, 1923.
“I’m amazed at the quick turnaround,” Watkins said.
It’s appropriate to dedicate the new athletic complex on Founders Day, Watkins said.
“Athletics has been an important part of LCC and PJC from the very beginning,” he said.
In 1923, the PJC football team won a state championship. A story in the yearbook indicated that of the 22 male students attending the college, 11 agreed to play football. The 11 carried the burden and won the championship.
“That’s absolutely incredible,” Watkins said.
Football was discontinued at LCC years later, but the college continued to recruit student-athletes from the state, the Midwest, the nation and beyond.
“It’s an incredible occasion. … We are here to support LCC’s humble beginnings through the vision of Dr. Rees Hughes and the people who believed in a future for their students to provide students with access to a post-secondary education,” Watkins said.
Citizens from Parsons and across the country have benefited from LCC’s graduates and will continue to do so for years to come, he said.
“This beautiful facility did not come to us easily. This took hard work from many people,” Watkins said.
He thanked the college trustees, LCC employees, students and the donors who gave generously to the project. A steering committee helped as well.
Watkins said the goal was to raise $5.7 million. The campaign collected over $6 million. The pandemic impacted the project, slowed the supply chain and caused increases in prices for the materials needed. The project had to be scaled back a bit because of the inflated costs.
“But we persevered and now we have this beautiful facility.
“Our work is all about our students. And for many of us it’s a lifelong work,” Watkins said.
Aaron Keal, LCC’s athletic director, spoke next. He said he’s worked at the college since 1999 and has been a Parsonian for 50 years minus a couple of years for college and coaching jobs.
He said the architects and construction company worked well with the college and worked hard to make the building a reality.
Keal was thankful for donations from the Zetmeir and Wiener families and the many other donors to the athletic facility.
“It’s been a long, long time,” Keal said.
Wrestlers coached by Jody Thompson used to meet in the basement of the main building, where the college library used to be. It was dubbed the dungeon.
The college ended athletic programs at one point, focusing on academics, and Thompson is credited with getting athletics restarted at LCC starting with his hire in 1975.
Keal said the new athletic complex is a tribute to the college and the athletes of the past and future. It can accommodate more athletes. He said five of the six LCC sports could practice inside the facility. Before, the gym could accommodate one or two sports at a time.
“So thank you gentlemen and ladies that took part in the donations and the steering committee for all the hard work,” Keal said.
In the 1970s, he said LCC used the gyms at Parsons Recreation Commission and St. Patrick Catholic School for home competitions. The weight room for the college was at the former McKinley School.
Keal said his brother came to LCC to wrestle for Thompson in 1988 and he followed in 1991 to play baseball. After getting his bachelor’s and master’s degrees and coaching elsewhere, Aaron Keal started at LCC in 1999.
He said even with practices in the dungeon and in the gym before the renovation, former athletes have many fond memories of LCC and the hard work they put in.
“We all thought it was the toughest time of our lives. Coming to practice, getting up at 5:30 to go lift.”
He said he asked his teammates from those years if they would want to go back and do it again for a season.
“They said ‘anything it would take, coach.’”
“So there’s a lot of great memories. We won some national titles in this gymnasium over the years, and with due respect, we look forward to getting those memories back in here with the new facilities, and making new memories. That is your job,” he said to the students and student-athletes attending the celebration Tuesday.
“I want you to make the best memory that you possibly can while you’re here at LCC. Because you’re going to look back, (and say) ‘Man, those were great times.’”
He challenged the athletes to make memories of greatness and continue to “be a Cardinal all along.”
Kenly Dixon, a sophomore volleyball player, spoke about the positive atmosphere that the donors and college created in the new complex.
Sophia Zetmeir introduced two of her daughters attending Tuesday’s dedications. The third could not make it.
She said her husband, Sonny, has been gone for 10 years, but she knows he’s watching and is pleased that the Pathways to the Future campaign was completed and the athletic complex built. He chaired that campaign, she said.
“Now is the time for us to look to the future. Labette Community College, Labette Health and the industries in Parsons are the engines of opportunity for all of us,” Zetmeir said.
She urged students to embrace change, embrace technology and keep learning.
The Zetmeirs moved to Parsons in 1965 to start a business here, Grandview Products. Sonny told her they would stay here a year.
“He was here for 48 years and I was here for 53 years,” Zetmeir said. They raised their girls, created jobs, helped kitchens get updated across the country, donated to fireworks displays and scholarships.
Zetmeir said she and her family thank all the donors big and small to the project. To the athletes, staff, community and other visitors, she said: “Enjoy it.”
After Zetmeir and Janice Reece, LCC’s director of public relations spoke, visitors could tour the facilities. Commercial Bank cooked in front of the Cardinal Event Center for the free lunch that followed.
