LONE TREE

The heat of a late June day had produced a perfect summery scene.

Dust rose from the softball fields located south of Lone Tree High School.

Kids ran to the concession stand for ice cream and then to a field for a game or onto the school’s football field to throw a ball around.

Spectators, dressed in shorts and wearing sunglasses, plopped down in chairs at their favorite spots at the high school softball field and also at the youth fields nearby.

The voice of longtime athletic director and basketball coach Tom Squiers broke through the chatter of the crowd with the announcement of the Lions starting lineup through the public-address system.

Wearing a Wake Forest T-shirt, which in itself was more than a coincidence, the 63-year-old Squiers proudly stood in the press box as a recording of the national anthem was played.

In a year where so much is changing at Lone Tree Community Schools, including the retirement of Squiers and the arrival of Mid-Prairie activities director Tyler Hotz as Superintendent of Schools, so much remains comfortably the same.

Squiers arrived in this small town as a basketball coach and social studies teacher in 1988 with a five-year plan and deep hopes for the school’s basketball program.

“Thirty-five years later,” he said with a smile, “I’m still here.”

Squiers announced his retirement after the 2022-23 school year ended and, yes, he is certainly still here. His adopted son, Jovonte, is Lone Tree’s head softball coach and an assistant track coach when he’s not working as a department manager at Hy-Vee in Iowa City. Tom’s wife, Susan, has kept the boys basketball scorebook during those years. He retires after leading the Lions to three state tournament appearances and coaching several All-State players, including Jovonte, a two-time All-Stater.

A graduate of Belle Plaine High School and Loras College in Dubuque, Squiers retires at age 63 and one of the best known people not only around the Lone Tree campus but also around the Southeast Iowa Super Conference. His retirement leads Hillcrest Academy principal and boys basketball coach Dwight Gingerich, a 700-game winner, as the dean of the conference’s basketball coaches.

Gingerich was among the many coaches reaching out to Squiers after learning of the news.

“When I think of Lone Tree, I think of Tom Squiers,” said Chad Shield, a resident of Lone Tree who is the Lions girls track coach and a former football coach. “Every track meet we go to, someone asks me to please tell Tom hello from them. Even at the state track meet this year, I was asked if Tom was still teaching and coaching at Lone Tree. His impact is felt throughout the state.”

The connection stretches to North Carolina, which explains the Wake Forest shirt. Steve Forbes, a Lone Tree grad, is head coach of the men’s basketball team at Wake Forest University. Even though Forbes graduated in 1983, five years before Squiers arrived in Lone Tree, the two have developed a bond.

“He and I have a pretty good relationship,” Squiers said.

When Lone Tree needed a new scoreboard in the gym this year, Forbes came through and donated one. And years ago, when Forbes was coach at Southwestern Community College in Creston and was looking for a practice venue prior to a game against a local college here, Squiers opened up the gym for Forbes and his team.

But not all of the days in Lone Tree were smooth. After Lone Tree had won its only state championship in boys basketball in 1985 and those players graduated, Squiers was left to build the program back up as the new guy in town.

A home win streak of over 35 games ended.

A 20-2 team turned into 3-18 three years later in Squiers’ first season.

“Unfortunately, my first year, they graduated a lot of kids and the conference was really good. I came in, and were 3 and 18 after my first season,” he said. “At Christmas, I was probably not the most popular person in Lone Tree.”

The three words he kept hearing: Stick it out.

“I got a lot of advice from a lot of good people in Lone Tree to just stick with it, that there were players coming,” Squiers said. “I did that.”

By 1996, the Lions were back in the state tournament. In 2007, they made it to the 1A semifinals. And in 2013, they made it to the state tournament again.

In 1998, Squiers said he almost moved to another high school job. He was glad he didn’t. Lone Tree’s 1998-99 team won 23 of 27 games and would have gone to the state tournament except for a substate loss to Pella Christian.

“There was a lot of talent on that team,” he said.

In the midst of this, Tom and Susan adopted Jovonte at age 1 and his older sister, Shaundria, then 3.

Always, there was a sense of family, at home and at school.

“He did things the right way,” Shields said. “He is a man full of character and integrity. There is also a family feel to it, as well. Sue is always by his side and at the scorers table. His children, Jovonte and Shaundria, grew up in gyms and were front and center at basketball games.”

“In 35 years, she’s probably missed five games maybe,” Tom said of Sue.

Jovonte would play for his dad’s teams, winning All-State selections in 2016 and 2017, and then coached with him. Jovonte Squiers is known as one of the best basketball players in Lone Tree history, but his first game still has an interesting story because Tom’s assistant and wife Sue wanted Tom to start his son. But he didn’t.

“He was good enough to start as a freshman,” Tom said of Jovonte. “I just said, ‘Let this process work a little bit.’ He probably played 28 minutes out of 32 his first varsity game, but he did not start.

“My wife wasn’t real happy about it, either.”

Jovonte scored 16 points in his freshman debut, a 70-61 Lions win over Pekin.

Soon, they would be on the bench together.

“We had a great relationship when we coached,” Tom Squiers said. “I never brought anything home. When the game was over, the game was over. We didn’t talk about it at home.”

“Been around him coaching for a long, long time,” Jovonte said. “He’s learning every year that he was coaching and I feel like I’m learning the same way that he was learning. Inspire the kids. Have fun. I think that’s the biggest thing. You don’t want to lose the fun in the game, but you still want to go out and compete.”

The summer now consists of softball, but the summers were packed with basketball.

“Tom as a basketball coach provided so many opportunities for kids to grow as basketball players,” Shields said. “It starts with the Lone Tree youth basketball league and then there is a high school league, alumni league, morning workouts and a team camp to conclude the summer. The student-athletes he has coached absolutely love playing for him and respect him so much. He cares so much about his players. I can speak from experience, having a son (Cade) go through the program.”

In fact, it was those kids that kept Tom Squiers in Lone Tree and kept that five-year plan from actually happening.

What kept him going for 35 years?

Tom paused, thought and responded: “The players.”

“One of the things about having a K-12 building, that you kind of see those younger kids. You could see, I don’t know how I’m going to leave that team,” he said.

“That’s how it kind of ends up being 35 years. Kind of like, I really don’t want to leave this team, I don’t think I want to leave these guys.”

And that’s why the 2023-24 school year, only six weeks away, will seem a bit strange in the hallways inside Lone Tree’s school buildings. He is convinced now was the right time to step away. But …

“Come November (the start of basketball season), I may regret the decision,” he said. “I may still be on the sidelines. Who knows?”