by “Skip” Wood Authors note: Awhile back I received an email from an old friend stating he had started a website and wanted me to take a look at it. I did and thought “Wow”! Randy has hit a home run! He is capturing it all in one place for the local people. I also thought that I don’t think anyone else could do this as well as he can and will. When he wants to do something…he will do it well and he will be successful. Just like he was when I asked him to coach a Senior Babe Ruth team 25 years ago and to everyone’s amazement he took them to a second place finish in Northern California. He was totally dedicated to the team and the cause as I am sure he will be to WddNews.com. I do know one thing… It is impossible to outwork Randy Novotny. To lend credibility, he asked me to write a Bio about him. Why anyone would ever question his credibility is beyond me, but in case you are the one….Read on…. Few, if anyone has such a diverse background as Randy Novotny; making him uniquely qualified to run WddNews.com. He has spent over 30 years in various positions in the media. He truly has done it all. Novotny grew up in NE Iowa in what he likes to call “The Big Beautiful City of Protivin”. He got his first job in the media when he was about 8 years old…delivering the Waterloo Daily Courier. He not only delivered it, but loved to read it, especially the sports. “I read the paper every day starting at a young age. We also got the Des Moines Register on Sundays and I would grab the peach page as soon as I got up.” The peach was the color of the Des Moines paper’s sports page at that time. “I would also read on a weekly basis the papers from Cresco, Decorah, and New Hampton. We got ‘em all…I still do.” Novotny also loved listening to the ball games on the radio; mainly the Minnesota Twins and the Iowa Hawkeyes. He got his first opportunity to test his announcing skills when he was 12. The Protivin fast-pitch softball team was known as one of the top teams in the Upper Midwest. “I remember when they asked me to do the PA for the District Tournament; it was a great thrill”, Novotny remembered. “I also was introduced to my first critic. Some guy hollered up to the press box…’Quit sounding so young’…I couldn’t help it, I was.” He attended Turkey Valley High School and read every Sports Illustrated, Time, and Newsweek magazine they had; both current and past issues. “I should have been working on my studies during study hall, but I spent most of my time reading magazines…up until I graduated, I think I read every Sports Illustrated ever published.” Upon graduation it was off to Brown College in Minneapolis to study broadcasting. “I wanted to be a play-by-play announcer and wanted to do the Twins and the Hawkeyes.” After Brown College it was off to Mt. Pleasant, Iowa and KILJ Radio. “I look back now and I was really bad…and I kind of knew it, but Paul Dennison there was very patient with me and gave me a great opportunity to grow.” And grow he did…During his initial five years in Mt. Pleasant he was able to be part of the announcing team with John Kuhens of every boys and girls basketball game played at the state tournament. “We were both young and we had a lot of fun. It also gave me the opportunity to work on my play-by-play skills and I got a lot better in a hurry. We were also able to meet and talk to a lot of interesting people.” Also, while in Mt. Pleasant, Novotny was able to realize one of his dreams by announcing several Iowa basketball games. “I really couldn’t believe I was doing it. I was 21-22 years old and sitting in the press box next to the guys I had listened to on the radio just a couple of years earlier. Frosty Mitchell owned the station I worked for and had the Iowa Sports network. He loved doing Iowa football, but liked to spend his time in Florida in the winter playing golf, so I and some others got a chance to do some Iowa basketball.” “It was also after doing an Iowa game that I figured out there was more to life than doing play-by- play. As I was walking out after a Minnesota-Iowa game, I decided I was going to try something different.” That something different was going back to school. This time he attended Upper Iowa University and did a variety of media related things while in school. He did the PA for the football games and was Sports Editor of the school paper and wrote several articles for the alumni paper and also served a year as the school’s Sports Information Director. He was also an assistant for Coach Bill Prochaska and the basketball team. “The experience I had at Upper Iowa was invaluable. I owe a lot to Coach Prochaska.” Novotny not only served as assistant for the varsity, but coached the jayvee. He coached the jayvee to a victory over Division-I UNI. “That was a big win,” Novotny recalled. “I put in a seldom used player down the stretch when we were in the four corners. He was a good free throw shooter and hit four free shots in the final minute to ice the win….We were very excited.” After, Upper Iowa it was off to California, where he served as Sports Director for three radio stations. “I always wanted to experience California and I did for five years.” Novotny developed a huge following, especially during play-by-play of college basketball games. “I was able to land a job with a tape of an Iowa-Illinois game I had done. My experience of all the games at the state tournament in Iowa and the fact I now had experience in coaching basketball gave me a lot of skills for basketball play-by-play.” While in California, he also coached a Senior Babe Ruth baseball team (16-18 year-olds) to a second place finish in Northern California. After five years in California he came back to Iowa. “I missed Iowa, and wanted to get back and Paul Dennison took me back at KILJ.” Novotny returned to Mt. Pleasant for another five years. Among other things he tried an ill-fated sports talk show. “It didn’t work out, but I always remember that my first call in came from Tom Vilsack, who was then mayor of Mt. Pleasant. I was dying my first night and Tom felt sorry for me and bailed me out with a call.” Vilsack is currently United States Secretary of Agriculture and is a former Governor of Iowa Novotny also served as sports information director at Iowa Wesleyan College during this time. “What is most noteworthy about this was I replaced Mike Leach in the position.” Leach is now considered one of the top college football coaches in the country at Texas Tech. “I was there when Leach and Coach Hal Mumme developed the offense they use at Texas Tech. It is the same one they used at Oklahoma when Leach was offensive coordinator and they won a national championship. Many of the plays they run I recognize from the Iowa Wesleyan days and remember the players who first ran them. I actually was in the office when it was developed working with the team, but I helped break down film for the defense, which wasn’t very good.” It was now time for Novotny to settle down and get married. He met his wife Pamela in Mt. Pleasant and they decided to move to Florida where Novotny worked for awhile with another radio station. He would soon leave radio, but stayed in the media with NewsBank. The author of Megatrends John Naisbitt started the company while at the University of Chicago. It featured selected newspaper articles and was a product widely used in libraries everywhere, including private libraries such as those at the FBI, CNN, The Pentagon, and others. “I was in charge of Washington DC and both the FBI and Pentagon were my responsibility,” Novotny noted. “I really learned the value of newspaper information at NewsBank. I think my experience there helps me a great deal with WddNews.com.” During his time at NewsBank, Novotny’s family grew to three children with Melissa and Meagan being joined by Michael. “The most important job any of us has…is that of being a parent.” Novotny became very dedicated to his children and their activities. They would all play basketball and softball (for the girls) or baseball (Michael). Novotny helped coach their teams. “I never wanted to coach my kids, but the one year they (league officials) asked me to and I was hooked” He was very successful as a coach. In 2001, he served as manager (head coach) of the team his daughter Meagan played on and they were Florida State Champions and placed third in the World Series. “It is a special feeling when you walk off the field knowing you are the best in your state for that year.” In 2003, Novotny got the call from above to go home. “I was made aware that the house I grew up in was for sale and I wanted to buy it. I told Pamela I think we can get it cheap and it would be great to have as a summer home, especially when we reached retirement age. She agreed.” “It amazed me when a few days later she said to me that she wanted to move there and I was amazed even more when both of the girls wanted to go. I really didn’t want to go back to winter, but I was out voted. So, we came back and I am glad we did.” While back in Iowa, Novotny served as an assistant coach at Turkey Valley for the schools softball teams that qualified for the state tournament twice and was head coach in 2008 when Turkey Valley qualified for the state tournament. In 2008, under Novotny’s guidance the team compiled the best record in school history (39-4). The team was ranked as high as second in the state and beat the number one ranked team to qualify for state. The team was known for having some of the best pitching in the state, had the fourth best fielding percentage in its class in the state and improved its batting average by over 30 points from the prior year. He was elected district “Coach of the Year” and had two-players obtain First Team All-State honors and another player was Third Team. “I wanted to continue and build Turkey Valley into one of the best programs in the state, but I could tell for whatever reasons the administration didn’t want me around and instead of fighting it decided to resign and move on to other things.” And that brings us to the present and WddNews.com. “It really is a way to combine all the skills and knowledge I have developed through the years and put it to use serving the people I care about the most.” “I hope everyone enjoys WddNews.com and will tell everyone you know and keep coming back.” About the author
California at various media outlets. He has known Randy since the early 80s. He is now retired and considers Randy one of the most dedicated and qualified members of the media he knew in over 40 years of service. |
 |  |  |  |  |
| | | | |