Forest City Athletics Hall of Fame inducts its first three members with the 2024 class

Forest City High School Activities Director Chad Moore announced that the old idea and concept had now become a reality.

“We’re really excited about tonight,” Moore said. “It is an honor to celebrate the extraordinary achievements of these three exceptional individuals.”

He was referring to legendary boys basketball coach Bob Hilmer and athletes Nate Ludwig and Rob Kampman, who make up Forest City’s first class of 2024.

As head basketball coach at FCHS for 34 years, Hilmer won 534 games and lost only 187. His teams captured 13 conference championships and played in seven state tournaments. That included a state championship in 1976, a second-place finish in 1990, a consolation championship in 1975 and a fourth-place finish in 1977, despite injuries to key players that season.

Hilmer coached for a total of 57 years and also coached at Fredericksburg, WACO and North Linn, where he coached with his son Mike Hilmer as they combined to compile a 125-8 record and multiple state championships. He retired in 2020 as Iowa’s boys high school basketball career leader with a 917-347 record.

His son, Todd, said coaching runs in the family, along with his brother Mike, and his son also coaches. He cited Bob’s positive influence as a teacher and coach, saying his father taught him and countless others three things of primary importance: preparation, practice and precision. Todd noted that it was a recipe for success in virtually every aspect of life.

“It’s the number of people who stay in touch with him because he helped shape and change their lives,” Todd said.

Mike coached with him for five seasons and said they “didn’t always agree” on coaching decisions, but based on his father’s wealth of experience-based knowledge, “I would usually defer to it on his way to do it.’

“He was quite innovative throughout his career,” Mike continued. “It worked out pretty well for us when we were at North Linn.”

Of co-coaching with Mike, Bob said, “I don’t remember him listening to me as much as he said he would,” while insisting that “it worked.” He cited their 125 wins together and noted that Mike racked up another 125 wins after their co-coaching success.

“We are very excited about this opportunity,” said Bob. “I cannot thank the committee enough for inviting me to this opportunity… It is something I will cherish for the rest of my life.”

Bob said that after 57 years of coaching, he and his wife, Sharon, enjoy living in Cedar Rapids, near their four children, Todd, Mike, Susie and Wendy, and their families. He noted that he and Sharon celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary last August.

“She’s been under fire for a long time as a coach’s wife,” Bob said. He also noted the contributions to the Forest City program of Chuck Etzen, Dan Rosacker, Larry Holstad, the late Chuck Odens and others. Bob also mentioned the good work of David Damm who kept statistics on Forest City basketball for about four decades.

“He made a little book that I still have,” he said of Damm. “I’ve referred to that many times. He did a great job and that is a labor of love.”

Ludwig earned all-state honors in football, basketball, track and field and baseball at FCHS in the 1990s, quarterbacking the football team and helping the basketball team make a state tournament appearance. In track and field, he was a two-time state champion in the high hurdles, and in baseball, Ludwig became the school’s record holder for home runs.

“No one analyzed things more than Bob (Hilmer),” Ludwig said. “He was all business the whole time.”

Ludwig thanked all of his high school teammates and coaches for contributing to his success and said Forest City has always had some of the best athletes and athletic facilities. He gave special thanks to his Pee Wee baseball coach, Don Johnson.

Ludwig and his wife Jill live in Des Moines and have four children. Following in the footsteps of his father Gary Ludwig, Ludwig has served as an Iowa State Patrol officer and is currently the Executive Director in the Office of the Commissioner of the Iowa Department of Public Safety.

Kampman was another versatile four-sport athlete at FCHS, where he earned all-state honors in cross country, basketball and track and field. He finished his high school basketball career with two state tournament appearances and was the school record setter for most rebounds while ranking fourth on the scoring list.

Kampman was key to Forest City’s third-place finish in the 2000 state cross country championships. He was also a member of the school’s 4×800 track and field state championship team. Kampman was inducted into the Iowa High School Hall of Fame in 2017 and went on to play basketball at Wichita State, where he started 104 games in four seasons. He also played professional basketball in Australia for six years and another year in Portugal.

“It is an honor to be part of this first class with these two boys,” said Kampman.

He noted that he was grateful for all of his former teammates and coaches, and directed a special thank you to Coach Hilmer.

“Thank you for teaching me back then about the attention to detail that I still follow today,” Kampman said. “I appreciate it…I’ll never forget the whistle!”

Kampman currently lives in Wichita, Kansas, with his wife Kayla and their two children. He works full-time as a firefighter. He also owns and operates a trucking company.