Basketball court, memorial bench in place

The first phase for a new park has been completed south of the Ipswich Athletic Complex.

A new basketball court has been completed. A memorial bench in honor of Julie (Heinz) Johnson has been placed beside the court recently.

Julie, a 1983 IHS graduate, passed away on June 13, 2019 after a long and hard-fought battle with cancer. She is the daughter of Cletus and Ella Heinz.

The Heinz family was discussing how to do a memorial for Julie here in their hometown. Of course, with her basketball career in both playing and coaching the sport, an outdoor court would be the perfect place to focus their donation.

When a grant opportunity surfaced, the City applied along with a letter of support written by the family stating the purpose and reason for applying.

After the grant was approved, the City was inspired to expand the project into phases that included a park with an ice rink, soccer field, playground area, and sidewalks going from the park to the Tiger Post and beyond to the school.

While in high school Julie played in several state basketball championship games. She went on to attend college at Dakota State University and excelled at basketball. After finishing her undergrad work, she attended South Dakota State University where she found her love for coaching. Her next stop was Ripon College in Wisconsin where for 29 years she would coach, teach, and in the latter years work as the Director of Athletics.

The words on the bench describe her aptly as a coach, mentor and friend. She loved coaching and mentoring student athletes and was very passionate about seeing them go on to do bigger and better things. The family and those making use of the court can know that she will be watching over those playing the sport she loved so much and probably wishing she could give some "heavenly advice" on how to play the game!