Wood retains VHS copies of 20 years of PHS football games

This is part two of my memories of Pegasus covering PHS varsity football for 20 seasons.

I remember only missing three Perry Varsity football games since 1999. In 2000 I went to Romania. Dan Haymond recorded that game for Pegasus.

In 2008 I had surgery and was in the hospital in Des Moines. Dan Haymond again filled in for me for the last game of the year at Jefferson. The power went out during that game at Jefferson.

I remember hearing on the raw footage Shawn Kenney calling the board operator at KDLS to settle them down after he went off the air because of the loss of power. The board operator probably thought they were the cause of the loss of the feed and could not figure out what they had done. Shawn successfully calmed the board operator down and got everything running when the power came back on.

Keith had to edit the game from the week before because I was so sick. It took me four tries to get the game to download properly in the computer. By the time I got it to work, it was Sunday, and I was soon on my way to Des Moines in an ambulance. I was able to edit the Jefferson game from the last week.

I could not record the playoff game at Pella in 2011 because I would have had to pay the IHSAA $150, and I could not raise it. While my devotion to PHS football has no limit, $150 is a lot of money. But I was there for the game.

Now after several years of such fees, the IHSAA and IGHSAU finally relented again lets Pegasus record playoff games at no charge because we are a non-profit corporation. I prayed about this for several years, and it came to be true.

On Sept. 25, 2015, I went to the Charlie Daniels concert in Jefferson and so missed the game in Carroll. Dan would not record the game because he thought that he should go to the concert, too. It was the first time Pegasus had not recorded a football game since 1999, not including the 2011 playoff game.

If I count correctly, Pegasus has recorded 171 Bluejay football games since the 1997 season. Including the 2011 playoff game, I have attended 169 football games in which Perry has played since 1997. One game in 1999 did not turn out because of a clogged video head.

The equipment has greatly changed in 20 years. We used to record on Super VHS tapes in SP mode, which held two hours of video and audio. Around 2002 we started using mini dv cameras and tapes. On the longer mini dv tapes, you could record up to 83 minutes of video in SP mode and two hours of video in LP mode.

In approximately 2010, we started to use digital cameras with video chips. You can obtain chips in many different sizes, but most of the chips that we have can hold between 4 and 9.5 hours of video in SP mode.

The older that I get, the harder it is on me physically to cover away football seasons. As I age, the less enthusiasm that I have for driving at night, particularly in places that I am not familiar with.

I have driven to many games myself or had Duane Griffin or Dan Haymond direct me on the proper route. I think that Duane has radar. He must be part bat. He is supposed to be legally blind, but he always knows where and when to turn when we are riding along on a dark highway in total blackness.

Shawn Kenney has been very good about letting me tag along to football and basketball games with him during the years.

Jeff Webster also lets me ride along when needed. Last season, Aaron Kautzky took me with him to several games. Dan Haymond also will sometimes drive. I was thankful to Stephen Flattery for letting me ride along to the Webster City football game this season. I think I would still be out on those dark back roads trying to find my way back to Perry if I had not ridden with him.

Also the older that I get, the less that I like cold away games. Oftentimes on away games, you have to set up your camera in the visiting bleachers. At the end of September and into October, this can be cold, and the wind blows on you from the north.

In 2014 I about froze to death in Algona. There were some other cold away games. Games get cold by the end, and your hands are stiff from running the camera. I had to be in the bleachers for the last home game in 2014. I froze all during this game, too.

Rain can be an issue. If you are at away games in the visiting bleachers, you have to cover up your camera with a grocery or garbage bag in order to keep the camera from being ruined. I have recorded a few games in the rain.

I remember being at Adel recording with my covered camera in the rain. They had a lightning delay, and I had to stay high up in the metal bleachers to watch my equipment.

In Gilbert in 2014, my car was run into by pickup driven by a freshman football player from Gilbert. He waited for me, and I was not happy when I saw what had happened. His father came, and I got the insurance information that I needed. The car made it home but ended up being totaled. I still made out well.

When we ride to games, we oftentimes tell about amusing incidents during games or broadcasts. There are two amusing stories that stand out to me.

In 2002 Perry had a playoff game against the Pella Little Dutch in Pella. I rode along with Dan Haymond. When we got to the stadium, the Pella athletic director was excited because Jim Gibbons was at the game. He told us something to the affect that “NCAA champion wrestling coach Jim Gibbons was attending the game.” At the time, Jim was doing the color with Shawn on the KDLS broadcasts.

Dan and I headed up to the top of the bleachers near KDLS so that we could plug out of the audio box. We had to set up the camera near a colored flag on a pole that was blowing in front of the camera. There were several of these flags across the back bleacher rail, which were for decoration. I just took the flag bothering my camera and tied it off at the end to keep it from waving in front of the cameras. Two women from the Pella school came up to me and told me that I could not do that with the flag.

Jim came by a short time later and said that we needed to do something about the flag. I told him what the ladies had said. Jim said that he would talk with the AD. I told Jim that the AD was excited about his being here, but he was not excited about my being there.

Jim went down to talk with the AD. Two minutes later, the AD came sprinting up the bleachers at full speed with a roll of duct tape in his hand. He wound the flag around the pole and then wrapped duct tape all the way around the flag and ran back down the bleachers. My problem was solved.

This incident must have occurred during the 2005 season. Perry played their final game against the Waukee Warriors before Waukee moved up a class. This game was played at Waukee. Shawn Kenney had ACL surgery on his knee.

Around the same time, retired KDLS salesman Whitey Schleismann had surgery on his neck. Shawn was on crutches and could not drive. Whitey could not turn his head and was wearing some type of neck brace. Whitey also was using a walker.

I saw Whitey in the restroom at Waukee and was surprised. I asked him whom he rode with.

Whitey said, “I brought Shawn”.

I replied with surprise, “You brought Shawn? Which one of you is in worse shape?” Jon Jamison happened to be there and laughed deeply.

Whitey then came up to me and said, “Which one is in worse shape? You got that right.”

He explained that Shawn sat in the back seat with his leg extended to the front. Whitey could not turn his head so Shawn gave Whitey directions on backing up. Somehow they made it to and from Waukee.

When we switched from editing with the linear editor and started using computers to do this, we had several edit options. I started putting in slow motion plays after every snap. This allows viewers to review the play but adds extra time in editing.

You must watch the game in real time and then stop the video to add the slow motion play.

For away games, you have to leave Perry around 5 p.m. You get home around midnight that evening. Years ago when we played at Glenwood or Council Bluffs, you would get home around 2 a.m. For home games, you need to leave at 6:30 p.m., and you get back to the studio around 10:30 p.m.

It takes 11 minutes to download a football game off of a chip. That is a lot faster than the three hours of real time that it used to take from tapes. It takes four hours to edit a football game, including adding the slow motion play after each snap.

It is still a lot better than the five hours it used to take with the older computer and editing system. I put in a lot of late Sunday nights in order to finish editing games.

Football games are broadcast on Pegasus three times and then never seen again. A lot of work for only three times.

I do not know how much longer I will continue to cover Perry Football games. Maybe the 20th season will be my last. Nearly everyone has satellite television, and I do not know if anyone watches the games. no longer hear any comments about the football games.

I do not like to travel at night to places out of the way. So far I have been able to ride with others. I can handle Adel, Boone, Winterset and Jefferson. I do not look forward to traveling to Iowa Falls next season.

Bad weather is not my favorite, and I ever more dislike facing cold wind and having my hands and feet get stiff from the cold during games.

Although I have complained a lot about doing football games, I still really do enjoy parts of it. Volunteering with Pegasus gives me a purpose and a reason to be involved in the community. I do like editing, just not for four hours. But there is a feeling of great satisfaction when the game is fully edited.

Basketball is coming up soon. This will be the 22nd year of Pegasus covering this sport. There have been hundreds more basketball games covered than football. Basketball can take a lot of time, too. Usually, at least two games are played each Tuesday and Friday. Sometimes there are also Saturday games. Basketball is still a lot faster and easier to edit than football.

For me Pegasus has given me great experiences and the opportunity to meet many people whom I would not have met otherwise. As the following words from my fellow sports media friends show, Perry High School athletics is a strong bond in the community.

“I am so happy,” said KDLS Sports Director Shawn Kenney, “that KDLS can partner with Pegasus and give the community a chance to relieve the excitement of so many games. I don’t think that people realize how unique Perry is to have the volunteer power of Pegasus bringing video entertainment to a city our size on a regular basis. Doug has put in countless hours of volunteering his time to help add to the Perry Pride that we all believe in.”

Kenney’s fellow believer in Perry Pride is Jeff Webster, sports editor for ThePerryNews.com.

“It is easy to take things for granted,” Webster said, “and the people of Perry would do well to appreciate the value of having a volunteer organization like PEGASUS. Doug Wood and so many others selflessly give of their time to record Perry varsity sports and air them on PEGASUS public access channel. There are many, many cities 10 times the size of Perry who do not have such a service. We are truly blessed even if we rarely take the time to recognize it.”

Webster continued, “I have firsthand experience of the hard work and devotion of the PEGASUS crew and of Doug in particular, and have often wished all the Bluejay and Jayette fans had to spend just one week in his shoes to see for themselves how much is being done on behalf of our youth and our community. Congratulations, Doug and all the PEGASUS crew, on two decades of quiet devotion to Perry sports and our community!”

PHS football is one part of many enriching experiences that I have had working with Pegasus. Much could also be said of high school basketball, softball, baseball, fine arts, city council meetings, school board meetings and several other events.