BY JUSTIN ITES
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Through the creation of two new scholarships, students at Iowa Falls-Alden High School will benefit from the generosity of Scott and Kathy Howard.
With the help of the Hardin County Community Endowment Foundation, the couple have established the Bob White Scholarship and the Marianne Jones Scholarship. Scott Howard said it was important that those two individuals be honored, as they both made important impressions on he and Kathy when they were high school students.
White is a former boys basketball coach at Iowa Falls, and coached Scott Howard, while Jones – a nurse – was one of the most instrumental people that steered Kathy Howard toward a career in health care.
“One night, Kathy and I were talking about how blessed we were to have the quality of teachers and coaches at Iowa Falls when we were in high school. So we wanted to do something to honor them. It was really an easy call on our end,” Scott said. “Our education we had in the Iowa Falls school system was great. It really prepared us for the working world and both coach (Bob) White and Marianne (Jones) played a big role for us. For me, coach White’s influence got me into coaching.”
Scott Howard spent 17 years as a Division I basketball coach at six schools before moving on to the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is currently the director of player personnel for the Denver Nuggets, and has spent 21 years in the NBA working for multiple franchises.
Kathy Howard graduated from Iowa Falls High School in 1983, and Scott Howard in 1979.
Hardin County Community Endowment Foundation Program Director Tam Elerding said the Howards reached out to IFAHS with their idea. The scholarships were established in June, with the Howards adding to the funds in August.
Now, IFAHS students will have the chance to apply to receive $500 during the first semester, and $1,000 in the second semester.
“We are excited to help start these new scholarships,” Elerding said. “The easiest way to facilitate a scholarship is to use the HCCEF. It’s very easy for the school and us because with the Foundation, we can do an automatic withdrawal and it goes right to the school.
“The first one is for the spring,” she said of the scholarships. “The school will get a check from the Foundation and then they write the check to the student or the college. It’s a permanent endowment.”
Scott Howard said he’s going to encourage some of his friends to establish similar scholarships to honor others.
“The group of coaches we had in Iowa Falls when I was in school were great,” he said. “Chuck Corbin was a great football coach, Wimp Lindeman was a great baseball coach. Then you had coach White, Gerry Lenguadoro for track and Ron Jones was a high quality wrestling coach. There’s also a generation of teachers that are very worthy.
I’m going to challenge a couple of my buddies to do the same for another person.”