LUCKY BOUNCES KEEP BORCHERS CONNECTED TO FARMING

By Bob Fitch

The life of Barry Borchers, and the lives of his sons, Bryan and Tyler, were wrapped up in basketball for many years. They each were part of some great games, sometimes winning on a lucky bounce.

A series of lucky bounces eventually gave the father and two sons the opportunity to work as a team wrapped up in the game of farming. Barry Borchers grew up on his parent’s farm about 10 miles east of Akron. The farm was originally owned by his great-great grandparents on his dad’s side, who settled there in 1877. Barry worked in the fields and helped with the hogs and a cow-calf herd. After graduating from Akron High School, he chose Augustana over Iowa State because it was easier to come home to help farm. He played on the college’s baseball team and initially studied accounting and then computer science before deciding to become a math teacher and athletic coach.

He coached athletics all 36 years he was in education, including 30 years as a basketball coach.

His wife Vicki also has roots in a Plymouth County farm. Although they grew up only four miles apart and their fathers knew each other, he went to school in Akron and she was in Le Mars. They didn’t meet until after high school when they were introduced at a wedding. With nearly identical upbringings and personalities that clicked, they didn’t mess around and were married 10 months later. She was also on the path to become a teacher, needing to finish her degree at Buena Vista College. He got a job in Fonda, Iowa, in 1981. “I went there as a high school math teacher. I coached football and basketball, golf and softball. At a small school, just about everybody who coached had to coach everything,” he said.

Vicki also started teaching in Fonda. Then she took a position with Le Mars Public Schools where she stayed until retirement three years ago. She taught kindergarten for nearly all of her 36 years in education. About the time she started in Le Mars, Barry took a teaching position in South Sioux City where he also was an assistant football coach and assistant basketball coach. They lived in Hinton and then South Sioux before returning to Le Mars in 1989 when he joined the district as a guidance counselor. He worked his way up the coaching ranks from freshman boys basketball coach to junior varsity to varsity.

As their daughter, Jacci, was nearing high school, he moved over to coach the girls basketball team. “The girls program always seemed like it was kind of second fiddle. In 2002, we took that team to state. It was the first Le Mars team to make it to state,” he said. Later he took on the role of part-time athletic director and continued as a guidance counselor. He retired six years ago.

He said the best part of coaching was “the relationships you make and the kids that you got to coach. You get to know their families. I think the kids had memories they carried with them regardless of how successful the team was. Then you get to see them be successful in their adult life.”

Both Bryan and Tyler played basketball at Le Mars High School and then went to the collegiate ranks. Bryan went to Bemidji State for two years before transferring to Morningside where he studied business and played basketball from 2010 to 2012.

During his senior year in high school, Tyler’s basketball team finished second at state and he was named a captain of the all-tournament team. He played basketball at the University of South Dakota for one year, but then decided Morningside would be a better fit. Tyler told his dad, “I want to go to a school where I can make a huge difference and I know we're going to play for something along the way.” And he was able to do just that. He was third team All American his sophomore season, second team his junior year and was first team All American as a senior.

When Tyler was a senior, the Morningside men’s basketball team was ranked number one for much of the season. They soundly beat College of the Ozarks in the first round of the national tourney. But then Covid brought a screeching halt to their great run. The tournament was canceled because of the pandemic, which was a hard pill to swallow when Morningside was one of the top four seeds. It was one of life’s bad bounces. However, academically, Morningside proved to be a good fit for Tyler since the school was ratcheting up a new ag science and business program.

Especially after they moved to Le Mars, Barry found time to help Vicki’s uncles, Ed and Wayne Beitelspacher, with their cattle or by driving grain cart at harvest. Barry’s grandfather’s farm became available to rent and, a few years later, so did his parents’ farm. He and his brotherin-law, Scott Renken, worked the acres together.

“Farming is how I grew up,” Barry said. “I never ever dreamt I’d get to come back. But it worked out just because I got back in the area to teach. The longer I was back in it, the more I was hoping these guys (his sons) would get a chance to be a part of it, too.”

He and Vicki live on an acreage east of Le Mars where they had horses and a few head of cows and calves. Growing up, when farm work presented itself, both Bryan and Tyler took advantage. Bryan said, “As a kid, I always helped Ed and Wayne whenever they needed me and I liked messing around out at Grandpa's."

Tyler enjoyed helping out on the Scott and Jill Renken farm. “Tyler and his cousin, Mitch Renken, were just six months apart and grew up together. He spent a ton of time at their farm. So he got to grow up in that kind of atmosphere. Scott and Jill were like his second dad and mom,” Barry said.

In addition, whenever Borchers’ neighbors across the road – David and Judy Renken – were away, Tyler would care for their hogs. According to Barry, “When Dave and Judy moved to Des Moines to be closer to their children, they wanted Tyler to be able to have that house in the worst way. He was still in college, but they sold it to us on a contract so we could keep it going until Tyler was ready. I farmed it for two years until he got out of college.” Tyler moved there in 2020 and farms the 140 acres adjacent to the home.

“We wouldn’t be able to do anything without Ed, Wayne and Luke Beitelspacher and Scott and Mitch Renken. Our equipment inventory is pretty limited. It wouldn’t work without the ties to these guys,” Barry said. “We try to give back by running the grain cart, working cattle and covering the silage pile. It’s a great partnership.”

Another time the ball bounced their way was when Barry and Vicki were able to purchase the home and surrounding 40 acres of the original 1877 farm. They refurbished the house and added an attached garage. In subsequent years, a cattle building and a new machine shed were added. Barry is excited that Bryan and his wife, Ally, chose to raise their family on this heritage homestead.

Barry and Tyler lean toward working the crop end of things while Bryan takes charge of the small, but growing cow-calf herd. Bryan is lucky that his “city girl” wife has come to love the cows.

“Ally usually knows what's going on more than any of the rest of us,” Barry said. Bryan agreed, “Ally loves the calves. She grew up in Spencer and never had much concern about a farm. Now here she is living on a farm and loving it. I don't think she would go back to town.” He’s the first one to leave for work in the morning and, when it’s calving season, “She’ll call one of us and say, ‘Number 27 looks like she’s going to calve.’ First thing when she gets home, she’s back checking the cows.” Borchers’ calves are typically sold when they’re at the 700-800 pound range.

as a nurse in cardiac care at Mercy Hospital in Des Moines. She graduated from Allen College in Waterloo. Her dad said, “She’s married to her job.”

Their middle son, Scott, lives in Melbourne, Florida, with his wife, Amy. Both are graduates of South Dakota State University. Scott is an aeronautical engineer for Northrop Grumman and worked on the recently-introduced B21 Raider for the U.S. Air Force. Amy was an exercise trainer at Baylor Hospital when the couple lived in Texas; and has become a health coach since moving to Florida. Barry and Vicki make frequent trips to Florida, while Scott and Amy reciprocate with trips north to Iowa and her family’s home in Brookings.

Bryan balances his farm life with his full-time job as the logistics manager at Heyl Truck Lines of Akron. He referees high school boys and girls basketball games and men’s college games in the Great Plains Athletic Conference. Ally works at Primebank in Le Mars. They met at Morningside where she, too, played basketball. Ally and Bryan have three children: Parker is 10; Carter is 7; and Cole will be 1 in September.

Tyler plays the same balancing act as a farmer and in his position as an ag and business loan officer at Primebank in Le Mars. His fiancé, Grace, is a native of Bennington, Nebraska; played volleyball at Morningside; and graduated in May with a B.S. degree in nursing. She recently began working at Unity Point Hospital in Sioux City. Tyler and Grace will wed in July 2024.

Barry does a little part-time work for Brock Auction, posting bills and helping on larger equipment sales. In addition to substitute teaching, Vicki also works for Brock Auction, helping with the online sales and anywhere else she’s needed.