Duane Schroeder

Duane Schroeder

Duane Schroeder would have celebrated his 60th Wartburg class reunion in 2018. Though Schroeder, the college’s longtime news and sports information director, died in 2004, his Wartburg legacy continues and will be honored with the naming of the Schroeder Press Box at Walston-Hoover Stadium.

In addition to the press box naming, an endowment fund in memory of Schroeder, originally of Loyal, Wis., and his wife, Mary Ellen, also has been established through a lead gift from Harold and Grace Kurtz.

“Duane was the first person I met at Wartburg. We weren’t inseparable, but because of our interest in journalism and common friends, we were often together,” Harold Kurtz said. “We were in each other’s wedding parties. When we came back for Homecoming we would often stay with them, but even if we didn’t, we would always get together. We were friends right up until his passing.”

Earnings from the fund will enhance the college’s ability to tell its story. Duane’s fellow alumni, colleagues and friends can donate to the Schroeders’ endowment fund by contacting the college at 319-352-8495.

Duane’s four years as a student-worker, providing news and sports information for the college, paid off professionally. The day after he graduated in 1958 he began full-time work as the college’s news and sports information director. He also served as the first director of information for the Iowa Conference from 1966-92 and the conference’s secretary/treasurer from 1981-2001.

“Duane Schroeder served as a mentor for dozens of student employees, helping young people discover and claim their callings for more than a generation,” said Scott Leisinger, Wartburg’s vice president for institutional advancement “Knowing that this endowment fund established in his and Mary Ellen’s memories will help the college tell its story to new audiences is very fitting, given that was something Duane devoted much of his life to doing.”

A founding member of CoSIDA, he received the organization’s Warren Berg Award in 1998, its Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999 and was inducted into the organization’s Hall of Fame in 2017.

“He was a real pro,” Harold Kurtz said. “He was the person who kept Wartburg’s name in the forefront of the public for many years.”

Duane and Mary Ellen had one son, Randall, a 1982 Wartburg graduate now serving as the library director at the Williamsburg Public Library.

The college will formally dedicate the press box on Sept. 15, prior to the football game against Buena Vista University.