A new book by Dana Yost has been released about the SMSU women’s tennis team when it was coached by Hugh Curtler. Yost is an award-winning newspaper sports writer/editor and now lives in Forest City, Iowa. Originally form Cottonwood, Minnesota, he was the editor for the Marshall Independent for years.
Entitled, “A Higher Level: Southwest State Women’s Tennis 1979-1992,” the book talks about the success of the women’s tennis program under Hugh Curtler during his tenure as head coach.
“But it goes further,” said Yost, a 2008 alumnus with degrees in literature and creative writing.
According to Yost, he started the book in January of 2011 and continued to work on it for twenty months before finally turning it over to the publisher for editing. “A Higher Level: Southwest State Women’s Tennis 1979-1992” is published by Ellis Press, which is owned by SMSU English Professor David Pichaske.
Yost’s book is two hundred and thirty-one pages long and has twelve chapters. Included in the book: an introduction to the university, the humble beginnings of the program, Curtler himself, facilities, the international players, the program’s leap to new levels, gender pioneers, and money (which Curtler feels is the root of all college athletics evil). The book has plenty of statistics presented separately at the end of the book.
Also included are chapters for golden trio of the program’s history: Carolina Gomez, Leslie Jacobsen, and Sharon DeRemer.
“The team had a tremendous winning record, but Hugh also emphasized academics,” explained Yost. “As I wrote and researched the book, I thought it might need to be a bit more expansive of a story than a book on tennis teams. It expanded to other issues that are relevant to the rural experience.”
There will be two book signings on December 15 for Yost’s new book. The first one is from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. and will be held at the Marshall Area Fine Arts Council in downtown Marshall. The second one will be from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. at the R/A Facility on campus during the SMSU basketball doubleheader against Concordia-St.Paul.
Dana Yost Book Signing
December 12, 2012
About the Contributor
Amber Casperson, News Editor
Amber is a Graphic Design major at SMSU with a writing minor. She has worked as the Arts and Entertainment (A&E) Editor for the Spur since January of 2013, and currently works as the paper’s News Editor. She still writes for the A&E section, along with health articles in the Variety section. Amber also designs ad commissions, and likes to write her own creative pieces in her spare time.
