Upcoming Events This Summer and Fall

Wednesday, August 3rd, 2011 | Book Signing, Iowa History Journal, Speaking | No Comments

Mike has a busy summer lined up, with a variety of speeches and appearances. He and Bev will be at the Iowa State Fair for 11 straight days (August 11-21) in the Iowa History Journal booth at the Varied Industries Building, along with several columnists and writers for IHJ. The booth will have most of the back issues of IHJ for sale, as well as many of Mike’s 22 books – including his latest book, Triumph and Tragedy: The Inspiring Stories of Iowa Football Legends Fred Becker, Jack trice, Nile Kinnick and Johnny Bright, The book makes a perfect gift for anyone as Iowa colleges head into football season this fall.

Working at the booth at some point during the 11 days will be Arvid Huisman, longtime newspaper veteran and author of the book Country Roads; John McNeer, who writes the IHJ column “The Way We Were”, and feature writers Bill Sherman and Jessica Lowe. None of the dates are pinned down yet but we will post them as soon as they are.

Read on for detail of appearances…

Tags: Iowa State Fair, National Cattle Congress, Tama Historical Society, West Bend Historical Society

Iowa History Journal Volume 2, Issue 5 Now Available

Wednesday, September 1st, 2010 | Iowa History Journal | No Comments

With football season kicking off all across the state of Iowa and the nation, now is the perfect time to revisit the story of one of the greatest football players in the history of our state. Johnny Bright played his first game at Drake University in the fall of 1949 – and over the next three years blazed a trail that is simply amazing.

Bright led the entire nation in total offense as a sophomore, as a junior, and was leading the nation as a senior when he suffered one of the most reprehensible occurrences in the history of college sports. Bright and the Bulldogs took a 6-0 record into Stillwater, Oklahoma, on October 20, 1951, to meet the Oklahoma A&M Aggies. What happened that day has been a dark spot ever since.

Bright was badly injured and missed two of the next three games but still finished fifth in the Heisman Trophy balloting that year. He went on to a tremendous career in the Canadian Football League and eventually became a highly regarded educator in Edmonton, Canada.

This issue of Iowa History Journal offers the compelling story of Johnny Bright along with some fabulous pictures. You won’t want to miss it.

Read more to see what’s inside this issue…

Tags: Britt, John Wayne, Johnny Bright, National Cattle Congress, Underground Railroad

Come Visit Mike at State Fair & Cattle Congress

Wednesday, July 21st, 2010 | Iowa History Journal, Speaking | No Comments

Mike Chapman is a public speaker who has appeared at dozens of events the past several years, to talk about Iowa History Journal magazine in particular and Iowa history in general.

In the past year, he has given speeches in Des Moines, Marshalltown, Newton, Osage, Waterloo, Ankeny and Stanton, drawing rave reviews every where.

In the coming months, Mike will be appearing at the Iowa State Fair on August 12-22 and at the National Cattle Congress in Waterloo, September 16-19. You are invited to come meet Mike and his wife, Bev, and browse over the numerous books he has written (21 to date) and see the ten issues of Iowa History Journal that have been published so far. If you buy any of the books or magazines, Mike will be happy to sign them for you.

Both the books and the magazines make tremendous gifts for Iowans who live anywhere!

Click here to read dates and times…

Tags: Iowa State Fair, National Cattle Congress