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Wall of Fame to induct WBHS pitcher Shipley
by Gregory R. Norfleet · Sports · April 02, 2025
The Cedar County Wall of Fame selected West Branch graduate Cindy (Carney) Shipley among its 2025 inductees.
The 1977 West Branch High School graduate and record-setting softball pitcher called it “a wonderful honor.”
The Wall of Fame will host an induction ceremony at noon on July 13 on the Family Foods Stage at the Custom Builders Pavilion during the Cedar County Fair.
Shipley recorded 35 wins in a single season, 109 career wins, two 17-strikeout games, and 277 strikeouts in a season. She is also the 34th pitcher in the state with at least 100 wins, reaching that mark in 1977.
According to the Wall of Fame’s March 21 announcement, these pitching records still stand some 48 years later.
“It’s kind of amazing that we are 50 years into the future and those pitching records are still standing,” she said. “That’s amazing.”
She hopes WBHS will soon see a pitcher rise up and break her records.
“It’s a wonderful goal for the kids who are playing now,” Shipley said. “I would be thrilled if we could get somebody to break those records.”
The Wall of Fame committee noted that Shipley led the Bears to a conference co-championship before finishing in sixth place at the state tournament.
Shipley also played basketball and averaged 15 points per game.
Shipley said she started playing softball in fifth or sixth grade and her father served as coach.
She remembers that she and half a dozen other girls kept playing the sport as they grew up together, sometimes traveling to Des Moines for tournaments in their early teens.
WBHS formed its first softball team under Coach Jim Wheeler in 1974 as part of the Eastern Iowa Hawkeye Conference. Shipley would have been a freshman at the time.
In their inaugural year, the Bears played against teams like Solon, Mount Vernon, and returning state champions Clear Creek (now known as Clear Creek-Amana).
“Needless to say, we didn’t win,” Shipley laughed when recalling the Clear Creek game. “It was the only game we lost in five innings (under the 10-run rule).”
But the young team qualified for state during her senior year, a first for West Branch.
She said that season of strong pitching led to her and four other softball players earning spots in the Iowa High School Pitchers Hall of Fame in 1978.
Her pitching skills also earned her an athletic scholarship to play softball for the University of Iowa, where she lettered from 1978 through 1980.
Shipley remembers the Hawkeyes only started their softball team the year before under the 1972 creation of Title IX.
In 1979, she and the Hawkeyes played a celebrity softball game where she pitched against former Chicago Cub and National Baseball Hall of Fame inductee Ernie Banks.
“I was lucky enough to meet him and pitch to him, where he sent quite a few over the fence,” Shipley said.
Other Cedar County Wall of Fame inductees included 2000 graduate of Tipton High School Cody Kelley; 1974 graduate of Clarence-Lowden High School Al Deerberg; 1990 graduate of Clarence-Lowden High School Michelle (Kroemer) Heims; and Lester Stoefen, who was born between New Liberty and Bennett in 1911.
• Deerberg excelled in basketball and baseball at Clarence-Lowden High School.
A three-year letterman in both sports, he twice earned First Team All-Conference honors in basketball and led his team to a No. 1 state ranking at one point during the 1973-74 season when the Rebels were conference and sectional champions and finished with a 19-1 record.
He scored more than 900 points and grabbed 500 rebounds in high school.
In baseball, he was a First Team All-District selection and finished with a .340 career batting average.
Deerberg continued his basketball career at Kirkwood Community College before attending Mount Mercy College, where he was a two-year member of the basketball and baseball teams.
As a junior, he earned all-conference honors and was named team MVP after averaging 19 points and 12 rebounds per game.
He followed that with another dominant season, posting 21 points and 11.8 rebounds per game, once again earning all-conference and MVP honors.
On the baseball field, he was named team MVP as a senior and received honorable mention recognition as a first baseman. Deerberg is a member of the Cedar Rapids Softball Hall of Fame after playing more than 20 seasons of amateur softball.
• Kelley, a 2000 Tipton High School graduate, was a dominant two-way player in both high school and college.
In high school, he earned First Team All-Class 2A-6 honors as a running back, rushing for 1,033 yards and 17 touchdowns in his senior season while also excelling as a defensive back with six interceptions and two pick-sixes.
At Wartburg College, Kelley continued his two-way excellence, earning All-America honors as a defensive back.
He set school records for career interceptions (22), pick-sixes (four), and pass breakups (35) while ranking among single-season leaders in 10 categories.
He helped lead Wartburg to two Iowa Conference championships, played in the Aztec Bowl, and was inducted into the Wartburg Athletic Hall of Fame in 2015.
Kelley was also an All-Eastern Iowa Hawkeye Conference basketball player who, in 61 varsity basketball games, scored 460 points (7.5 ppg), with 400 assists (6.6 apg), 373 rebounds (6.1 rpg), and 130 steals (2.1 spg).
• Kroemer did it all for Clarence-Lowden from 1986-90. In softball, she was first team All-Mid-East Conference as a pitcher for three seasons, and the league’s Most Valuable Player in 1989 and ’90.
If having a career 1.65 earned run average wasn’t enough, she also batted .429 with seven home runs.
She went on to play at Mount Mercy, where she was named all-conference in softball and her 40 pitching wins are still seventh-most in school history.
She pitched 359 innings, ninth-most in Mount Mercy history.
As a basketball player for the Rebels, Kroemer was named MVP of the Mid-East Conference and scored 1,524 career points. She was twice named second team all-conference in volleyball and held school records in the shot put and discus in track and field.
• Stoefen, who was born in Cedar County in 1911, was a dominant tennis doubles player in the 1930s, winning three Grand Slam titles with partner George Lott, including the U.S. and Wimbledon Championships.
He reached the 1933 U.S. Championships singles semifinals and claimed multiple national titles.
Stoefen later turned professional, competing in high-profile tours. Known for his powerful serve and aggressive net play, he left a lasting impact on American tennis.
The Cedar County Sports Wall of Fame was formed in 2008 and is under the control of the Cedar County Historical Society.
To nominate for the Wall of Fame, contact committee members Randy Dernyk of Clarence, Pat Kedley of Lowden, Jeff Linder of Stanwood, Darren Miller of Tipton, Bruce Seehusen of Mechanicsville, Derek Sawvell of Durant, Kerri Timmerman of Bennett, or Mike Quinlan of West Branch.
Wall of Fame
Cedar County Sports Wall of Fame classes:
2009: Martin “Farmer” Burns, Marv Cook, Susan Koering, Ashley Miller, Butch Pedersen, Clement Wilson
2010: Frank “Kinney” Holbrook, Bill Huckstadt, Al Koch, Jim Wheeler, 1925 Stanwood baseball team
2011: E.W. Breneman, Dave Fetterman, Scott Jehle, Linda Lafrenz
2012: Sean McCarty, Shawn Stolte, 1992 West Branch football team
2013: Robert Hartig, Ryan Kedley, Arnold “Bud” Paulsen, Jon Roehlk
2014: Ann Cavey, Jamie Cavey, Matt Fields, Dave Vogelgesang, 1989 Tipton High School girls’ cross country team
2015: Norman “Doc” Paul, Carroll Rugland, Stacy Schlapkohl, Larry Stolte
2016: Les Hipple, Kathy (Siebel) Heedles, John Sissel, 1988-89 Durant girls’ basketball team
2017: Royce Alger, Linda Jennings, Todd Sturdy, Lauren “Bumps” Willert
2018: Lee Crawford, Shane Light, Marilee Oldorf, 1999-2000 North Cedar girls’ basketball team
2019: Betty McGregor, Ryan Morningstar, Stan Stolte, Sandy (Slach) Tuttle
2020: Suzanne Friday-Mathieu, Warren Pierce, Jake Soy, 1968 & 1969 Tipton football teams, 1989-92 West Branch boys’ golf teams
2021: Dave Rummells, Gary Stamp, Gary Bachus, Cheyanne (Boddicker) Kofmehl, Mearl Naber
2022: Kevin Braddock, Dave Paul, Chris Schaefer, 2003-06 Tipton girls’ cross country and 2004-07 Tipton girls’ track and field teams
2023: Darrell Burmeister, Jerry O’Rourke, Tom Penningroth, Chris Weih
2024: Amy (Koering) Jackson, Michaela Osborn, Lance Pedersen, 1999-2002 Bennett-Durant girls’ cross country teams
2025: Cindy (Carney) Shipley, Al Deerberg, Cody Kelley, Michelle (Kroemer) Heims, Lester Stoefen
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