Upcoming Events – May and June 2024

Monday, April 15th, 2024 | Speaking, Wrestling | No Comments

May 9 – Ben Peterson, two-time Olympic wrestling medalist (gold in 1972 and silver in 1976) and also a two-time NCAA champion for Iowa State, will be the featured speaker at the “Voices of Inspiration” program sponsored by the United Way of Jasper County. Ben is a terrific speaker with a powerful message about his Christian faith and lifestyle, and the value of sports in general. He will have his book “Road to Gold” on sale. Mike wrote the introduction for the book and will introduce Ben. The event will take place at the DMACC Auditorium in Newton, beginning at 6:30 p.m. Admission is free, and donations are welcome.

May 16 – Mike will be a speaker at the same event a week later and at the same place and time. He will talk about his book-writing career and offer stories about the many fascinating people he has met during his 40-year journalism career – including Ronald Reagan, Muhammad Ali, Robert Redford and many other stars of film and sports. Mike has appeared in nine documentaries, over 100 radio talk shows, and has been featured on ESPN, Fox Sports, the A&E Network, Iowa Public Television and the popular morning show, Fox and Friends. He has written 32 books and will have some of them for sale. Admission is free.

June 12 – The Jasper County Musuem in Newton holds a “Brown Bag Lunch” monthly to attract people to the beautiful facility and Mike will be the guest speaker there on June 12, beginning at 11:30 am. He will talk about his many experiences in journalism and have a few of his 32 books for sale. The event is open to the public and free of charge.

June 22 – Martin “Farmer” Burns is one of the most influential figures in the history of Iowa sports and on this date a memorial plaque in his honor will be unveiled in the tiny berg of Big Rock, Iowa, where he was born and raised, and Mike will be a featured speaker at the event. Farmer Burns was a world champion in professional wrestling in the early 1900s, and had over 6,000 matches, losing just six. He helped coach the first-ever high school state championship team in 1921, and also trained Humboldt’s Frank Gotch, the greatest wrestler in history. Mike has written extensively about Farmer Burns and was asked by Wes Fox, a longtime Burns fan, to help with the project. It will take place at 4 p.m. in Big Rock, about 50 miles east of Cedar Rapids, and is free to the public. Several Farmer Burns historic items will be on display.

Tags: Ben Petersen, Big Rock, Farmer Burns, Frank Gotch, Jasper County Museum

Upcoming Events this Summer and Fall 2017

Saturday, June 10th, 2017 | Speaking, Wrestling | No Comments

June 10 – Friends of Wayne Baughman are honoring the legendary wrestler, coach and Air Force officer with a celebration on Saturday, June 10, and Mike will be one of the featured speakers. Wayne won 16 national titles during his amazing career and was a member of three Olympic and eight World teams. Wayne is featured in two of Mike’s book – “Toughest Men in Sports” and “Legends of the Mat”. The event is being held on the Air Force Academy grounds and is closed to the public.

June 15 – Mike will be at a book signing in the popular restaurant bar named Illegal Pete’s from 5 to 7 p.m., in Fort Collins, Colorado. The resultant, located at 320 Walnut Street, is managed by Jacquie Chapman, daughter of Mike and Bev. Mike will be signing copies of his latest book “A Journey: Reflections on 50 Years of Writing, Wrestling, Weightlifting and Heroes”. Mike was sports editor of The Coloradoan newspaper in the 1970s and the book has many stories about his time in Fort Collins. Appearing with Mike will be two men featured in the book – Kim Jones and Bill Larson, who both played football at Colorado State University and then went on to long careers in the NFL. The event is open to the public.

July 15 – For the second straight year, Humboldt, Iowa, will be the site of the Frank Gotch World Catch Tournament, to be held at Humboldt High School. The event, sanctioned and put on by the Catch Wrestling Alliance of Los Angeles, begins at 10 am at the high school, 1500 Wildcat Road. Mike will be there at 9 am with a table of Frank Gotch items on display, and for sale. Mike was a co-founder of the tournament last year, and this year’s sponsors are the Humboldt & Dakota City chamber, Ultima Replenisher Electrolyte Drink and Spout Living.

July 30 – Legendary wrestler Farmer Burns will be the main subject of conversation at the meeting of the Cedar County Historical Society, where Mike and Wesley Fox will give speeches.  Martin “Farmer” Burns was born in Cedar County near Big Rock in 1861 and became one of the most respected athletic figures of the early 20th century. He was recognized as a world wrestling champion for several years and then became a top coach and trainer, as well. Mike and Wesley have done extensive research on the career of Farmer Burns. The event will be held at the Cedar County Museum, located at 1094 Hwy. 38 in Tipton. It starts at 1:30 p.m. and the public is invited.

August 3-5 – Mike will be one of the special guests at the 2017 Dum Dum held at the Quality Inn and Suites in Coldwater, Michigan. The annual event is the largest gathering of fans in the world to celebrate the works of Edgar Rice Burroughs, the author who created Tarzan of the Apes and other characters such as John Carter of Mars.  Other special guests are Jim Sullos, president of ERB., Inc.; Martin Powell, writer for ERB., Inc.; Bo Hampton, artist for Dark Horse Comics; Bob Zueschner, author of “Edgar Rice Burroughs: The Biography,” and Cathy and Tyler Wilbanks, of Team ERB. The host for the event is Michael Hatt, author of the book “Tarzan Slept Here”, which details the times Burroughs stayed in Coldwater.
   
Mike has written two books about actors who played Tarzan in the movies and his latest memoirs has a lot of Tarzan stories in it. He will have all three books for sale, along with other Tarzan memorabilia.
   
The dum dum is a gathering of apes that Tarzan called by beating on jungle drums. Mike hosted Dum Dum events in 1997 (Newton, Iowa), 2004 (Fort Collins,Colorado) and 2008 (Waterloo, Iowa) and is a recipient of the Golden Lion Award, given out by the Burroughs Bibliophiles to persons who have to perpetuate the memory of ERB and his works.

August 29 – Mike will be the featured guest speaker at the Winterset Public Library, speaking about the many great Iowans he has written abut, both in books and in magazines. The event starts at 6:30 p.m.and is open to the public. Mike will have copies of his many books for display and for sale.

September 10 – The Johnston Public Library is hosting Mike for a speech about famous Iowans, based on his many books and years of research.  The event starts at 3 p.m. and is open to the public. The library is located at 6700 Merle Hay Road in Johnston.

September 16 – Mike will be a guest at the Author’s Fair at the Waverly Public Library, from 1:30 to 4 p.m. There will be a number of authors present and the public is invited to attend, at no charge.

October 5 – Wrestling will be the topic of his speech when Mike is a guest at the Monticello Public Library in Monticello, Iowa, beginning at 6 pm. He will talk about the grand history of the sport, going back 5000 years to ancient Sumer (now called Iraq) and will also discuss Iowa’s tremendous heritage in the sport. Mike will have copies of his many books for display and for sale. The public is invited to attend.

October 17 – Mike will give a speech at the Clear Lake Library about famous Iowa football players discussed in his popular book, “Triumph and Tragedy”. The four legendary players are Fred Becker, the University of Iowa’s first All-American who died in 1918 while fighting in France during World War I; Jack Trice, whose very limited play at Iowa State in 1923 inspired the school to name its football stadium for him; Nile Kinnick, who in 1939 won the Heisman Trophy as a Hawkeye then lost his life in a plane crash during World War II, and Drake’s Johnny Bright, who was the nation’s top player in the early 1950s. The event starts at 6:30 p.m. and is open to the public.

October 28 – The Kothe Memorial Library in Parkersburg will host Mike for a speech on the grand historic past and legacy of wrestling, beginning at 11 a.m. Mike will have several unique wrestling items on display as well as many of his books on wrestling and famous Iowans. The event is open to the public.

Tags: 2017 Dum Dum, Farmer Burns, Frank Gotch World Catch Tournament, Fred Becker, JackTrice, Johnny Bright, Nile Kinnick, Tarzan, Wayne Baughman

Iowa History Journal Volume 6, Issue 1, Now Available

Saturday, March 1st, 2014 | Iowa History Journal | No Comments

Bonnie and Clyde stormed out of Texas in the 1930s to blaze a trail of terror until their gang ran into big problems in a park area outside of Dexter, Iowa. Read about how this small Iowa town will forever go down in history as the place that marked the beginning of the end for these notorious bank robbers and killers.

Contents

• Publisher’s Perspective: Five years behind us… ready for the grand future by Mike Chapman
• JFK Assassination: Tragic moment in history has Iowa connections by Bill Sherman
• Adventures of Harriet: Des Moines girl becomes TV legend by John Busbee
• Country Roads: This great rumble fizzled at the end by Arvid Huisman
• No Hawkeye star ever stood taller than Chuck Darling by Buck Turnbull
• Shooting down Bonnie & Clyde legend in Dexter by Mark Yontz
• The Way We Were: Dress hats were once common attire in Iowa by John McNeer
• What’s In A Name: Little Brown Church put Nashua on map by John Skipper
• Dairy business in Des Moines now an Iowa tradition by Jeff Stein
• Book Review: New book on Lincoln has strong Iowa angle by Mike Chapman
• Farmer Burns: The Founding Father of Iowa Wrestling
• Iowa History Quiz
• Letters to the Editor

Tags: Bonnie and Clyde, Chuck Darling, Farmer Burns, Little Brown Church