Long-time Allamakee Community School District teacher, coach Deb (Kaune) Tweedy to be inducted into IGHSAU Basketball Hall of Fame this Saturday
Deb Tweedy is pictured above late in her teaching career in the Allamakee Community School District, prior to her passing May 12, 2018.
Inducted into IGHSAU Hall of Fame for her career at West Central ... Deb (Kaune) Tweedy, a teacher in the Allamakee Community School District for a tenure of 41 years that began in the fall of 1977, will be inducted into the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union Basketball Hall of Fame this Saturday, March 7 for the accolades and results she accumulated during her high school basketball career at West Central High School in Maynard. Pictured above making a move to the basket during her senior year at the 1972 State Tournament, the former Deb Kaune was named to the All-Tournament Team (pictured third from right in the photo immediately above this photo caption as a member of that All-Tournament Team) after she not only led her West Central team to a third-place finish after losing to eventual State Champion Roland-Story by a single point, 91-90, in the tournament semifinals, but also led the entire State Tournament field in scoring that year with her 189 points in four games. Submitted photos.
Multiple Waukon connections in this State Tournament team photo ... Deb (Kaune) Tweedy, a teacher in the Allamakee Community School District for more than four decades prior to her passing in 2018, will be inducted into the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union Basketball Hall of Fame this Saturday, March 7 for the accolades and results she accumulated during her high school basketball career at West Central High School in Maynard. The former Deb Kaune is pictured above wearing her #41 uniform in the center of the West Central team photo from the 1972 IGHSAU State Tournament program, and basketball fans may also recognize another Waukon connection in the above photo, as the West Central teams that (Kaune) Tweedy played on were coached by former Waukon High School basketball coach Gene Klinge, who is pictured standing in the back on the far right. Also pictured standing in the back at the far left is Tony DiCecco, who went on to be the head coach of the University of Northern Iowa (UNI) women’s basketball team. Submitted photo.
A long-awaited honor will be bestowed upon a long-time teacher and coach from the Allamakee Community School District this Saturday, March 7, but that honoring will be for the work she did on the basketball court long before Waukon became her home.
Deb (Kaune) Tweedy, a teacher of 41 years at Waukon High School and more recently East and West Elementary Schools before her passing May 12, 2018, will be inducted into the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union (IGHSAU) Basketball Hall of Fame as part of its Class of 2026 in a ceremony scheduled for halftime of the Class 2A State Tournament Championship game, which is scheduled to begin at 4:45 p.m. this Saturday and will be televised as part of Iowa PBS coverage of this year’s State Tournament, as well as livestreamed on iowapbs.org and the Iowa PBS YouTube channel.
The accolades that have culminated in Tweedy’s honoring came from a high school career that spanned a freshman year played at Starmont High School followed by three seasons at West Central High School in Maynard, the first of which was just a partial season due to transfer rules. The latter two seasons of her career are the focus of her honoring, as she was a two-time All-State selection, being a Third Team pick following her junior season in 1970-1971 and then a aunanimous First Team choice her senior season, as she helped her team to back-to-back State Tournament appearances in each campaign during a time in six-player girls basketball where there were no class breakdowns between schools and all teams competed in the same State Tournament of 16 qualifiers.
Standing at 5’11” and playing in the forward court in that six-on-six style of play, (Kaune) Tweedy averaged 38.3 points per game during her junior season when the Lady Blue Devils finished the year with a 25-1 overall record and had that lone loss come in the first round of the State Tournament, 74-69, to Allison-Bristow, a team that went on to finish fourth in that 16-team field. As a junior forward, (Kaune) Tweedy scored 43 of West Central’s points in that loss, making 17 of her 25 shot attempts.
As a senior leader on the 1971-1972 West Central team, (Kaune) Tweedy averaged 45.5 points per game that season, scoring 1,412 points on the year that rank 20th all-time in the history of Iowa girls high school basketball. Capping off her senior season, (Kaune) Tweedy led her team to a 29-2 season record that included a third-place finish at the 1972 State Tournament, where she ended up leading all players in the tournament that year with 189 points in four games, a total that ranks 13th all-time for the State Tournament in Iowa. She shot 54.8% from the field throughout the tournament and was named to the All-Tournament Team.
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