McPherson Optimist Club
HISTORY

The McPherson Optimist Club was chartered on February 27th, 1973 with 38 members. The Hutchinson Optimist Club was the sponsoring club.

From the beginning, the club has fulfilled the Optimist motto "Friend of Youth" by its support of local programs. The earliest youth programs were the midget football leagues, Oratorical Contests, lawn mower clinics, Easter egg hunts, Toys for Tots, and the Junior Olympic track meets. The McPherson Optimist Club participated in the Wall Park development committee, the organization of Big Brothers - Big Sisters program and the Striker soccer leagues.

The club has historically strong fundraising projects to support these youth programs. The first fund raising projects were light bulb sales, dunk tanks, and stadium cushion sales. Christmas tree sales became the largest fund raiser for the club in the 1980s and 1990's.

A list of previous club presidents in the order of their presidency is as follows:

1973-74 Larry Thompson
1974-75 Jim Kramer
1975-76 Larry Swensen
1976-77 Galen Ferguson
1977-78 Sid Johnson
1978-79 Leroy Schmidt
1979-80 John Holthus

1980-81 LaVon Ediger
1981-82 Rick Wilborn
1982-83 Fred Bohnenblust
1983-84 Larry Shotts
1984-85 Joe Johnston
1985-86 Irv Greer
1986-87 David Chartier
1987-88 Don Norton
1988-89 Gary Klaassen
1989-90 John Klenda

1990-91 Brad Hollingsworth
1991-92 Alan Balsick
1992-93 Ken Hagen
1993-94 Bob Baldwin
1994-95 John Watkins
1995-96 Bonnie Hoffman
1996-97 Steve Hilgers
1997-98 Jim Cooprider
1998-99 Evan Stout
1999-00 Steve Lies

2000-01 Steve Bahr
2001-02 Chad Clark
2002-03 Jerry Meng
2003-04 Jack Rader
2004-05 Chad Alexander
2005-06 Rick Stein
2006-07 Brady Wilborn
2007-08 Bill Parker
2008-09 Pete Brubaker
2009-10 Doug Curtright

2010-11 Jerry Fithian
2011-12 Monty Koehn