Wrestling legend Dan Gable to speak Thursday at Waukon High School for Booster Club Membership Kick-Off, Sports Drink Scrimmage Change in date, Meet the Team introductions among other changes in this year’s event

A number of changes are taking place for this year’s Sports Drink Scrimmage and Allamakee Athletic Booster Club Membership Kick-Off that annually gets the athletic seasons underway at Waukon High School for the new school year. Although the traditional Booster Club membership meal and intrasquad scrimmages for the Waukon High School fall athletic teams will remain as staples of the annual event again this year, a featured speaker and “Meet the Team” introductions for each high school athletic team will be added to the evening’s events, which, will also all be held on a different night than usual this year - Thursday, August 18 instead of the traditional Friday evening due to a scheduling conflict.

Among the most prominent of this year’s changes to the annual event will be the addition of a featured speaker, with the inaugural attempt at that new feature setting a pretty high standard to follow. Former University of Iowa wrestling coach and Olympic wrestling champion Dan Gable will be the featured speaker at this year’s event, and he will address the attending crowd in the Waukon High School gymnasium, beginning at 5 p.m.

A series of “Meet the Team” introductions will follow Coach Gable’s presentation, beginning at 5:30 p.m. Members of the Waukon High School football, volleyball, cross country and cheerleading squads will be presented to the public in the Waukon High School gym as well.

The most important change to note for this year’s event will be its change of night. The annual event is being switched to this Thursday from its traditional Friday date due to a scheduling conflict with the annual Waukon Corn Days celebration in downtown Waukon so the two meals offered at each event don’t prey on one another.

The traditionally-held portions of the annual kick-off night, the Booster Club meal and the intrasquad scrimmages, will take place as usual. The membership meal offered for each paid membership to the Allamakee Athletic Booster Club is scheduled to begin at 4 p.m. in the Waukon High School cafeteria.

Each fall athletic team is also scheduled to hold intrasquad scrimmages to wrap up the evening. The Waukon volleyball team will start things off with a freshman scrimmage from 6-6:30 p.m., with the sophomore and junior varsity squad members taking to the court from 6:30-7 p.m. The varsity volleyball Indians will wrap up the court action from 7-7:30 p.m. Waukon football will begin its scrimmage evening with the freshman squad taking the field from 6:30-7:15 p.m., followed by the junior varsity/varsity squads squaring off from 7:30-8:15 p.m. The Waukon boys and girls cross country teams will also host a featured scrimmage run from 6:15-7 p.m. around the high school grounds.

See the advertisement on the print version of The Standard's Sports page for additional Booster Club membership and schedule details.