oshua Kagavi identifies with Jack Trice, a fellow underdog.
Kagavi has been deaf since birth. He’s said it’s a barrier he’s overcoming to start his own business at kagavi.com, which features his storytelling and vintage Iowa State University merchandise.
Just in time for the big game against Iowa at Jack Trice Stadium, Kagavi is paying tribute to ISU’s first African-American athlete, who died from injuries suffered in a game in 1923.
His website contains research he’s discovered about Trice. For example, Kagavi said ISU told him that Trice’s jersey number was lost to history. But in Simpson College’s archives, he found a 1923 program from a preseason game against Simpson showing that Trice wore No. 37.
“It took him months to find it,” said his
wife, Lori, who helps her husband communicate.
Kagavi’s given last name is Wagner. The 2006 ISU grad was raised in Ames and now lives in Seal Beach, Calif. He created the name from two native American words that essentially mean “Grandpa’s stories,” inspired by the tales his grandfather in Illinois told around the campfire.
This fall, Kagavi is introducing a stadium blanket that he designed and is being manufactured by the Pendleton woolen mill in Oregon. The blanket evokes the Iowa State College uniforms from the 1920s.
Kagavi left his job as an assistant manager at a $65 million retail store to go into business on his own, despite the barriers to communication. “I’ve not been taken seriously,” he said.
Globe trotting: Gov. Terry Branstad may be able to find some bargains on his trade mission to India starting today. The rupee has fallen 16 percent this year vs. the U.S. dollar.
On his sixth international trip since beginning his current term in January 2011, Branstad might find it more difficult to attract customers for Iowa products, given the decline in the Indian currency. But the state has said that Branstad plans to meet with business leaders who have expressed an interest in establishing an Iowa location.
Branstad will also be meeting with the U.S. ambassador to India, Nancy J. Powell, a native of Cedar Falls. Among those attending are officials from Rockwell Collins, Vermeer Corp. and Pioneer.
Branstad was in Japan on Monday with officials including economic development leader Debi Durham and agriculture secretary Bill Northey. The Iowanshave been meeting with business leaders that include Bridgestone, owner of the Firestone farm tire manufacturing plant in Des Moines, and NSK Global, with operations in Clarinda.
PR and poetry: Amelia Kay Hamilton-Morris, the chief communications officer for the city of Des Moines, has written a book of poetry and short prose called “Timeless Truth: For the Sisters Who Came Before Us and Those Who Will Follow After.”
The book features “little glimpses into the lives of women I have known in life,” she said. The book, a celebration of her Christian faith as well as love and life, includes poems titled “Holy Hymen,” “Top Ten Sins of the Evening News” and “The Mistress.”
Best brand: Blank Park Zoo has won the Des Moines ad firm Lessing-Flynn’s “Battle of the Brands,” dispatching Casey’s General Store in the championship round of online voting.
Blank Park received a $5,000 donation to the charity of its choice — which it kept, since it’s a nonprofit — and marketing support from Lessing-Flynn.
In the 64-brand tourney, the zoo also beat Des Moines Performing Arts, Aviva, Stine Seed, Hy-Vee and the Iowa State Fair. Voters were asked, “Which brand do you feel the most positive about?”
Blank Park joins past champions Simpson College, the Iowa Clinic and Principal Financial Group.
Crab and cake: Splash restaurant is celebrating its 15th birthday on Wednesday. All guests will receive free birthday cake this week, owner Bruce Gerleman promises.
Birthdays: KCCI anchorwoman Mollie Cooney is 60 today. Wednesday’s birthdays include Ron Keller, president & CEO of Iowa Network Services, who will be 61; and Gary S. Hammers, a landscape architect and a West Des Moines planning and zoning commissioner, who will be 60. Thursday is the 59th birthday of Doug Reichardt, the Iowa Sports Foundation chairman and retired Holmes Murphy CEO. Celebrating Friday the 13th: Retired WHO-TV anchor John Bachman, who will turn 65, and Pioneer Communications CEO Jim Slife, 63. On Saturday, Zach Mannheimer, executive director of the Des Moines Social Club, will be 36, and Jesse’s Embers restaurant co-owner Deena Edelstein will turn 60. Tom Nelson, owner of RainKing Lawn Sprinklers, will turn 61 on Monday.
