Iowa State’s most famous music teacher, baritone Simon Estes, has lived a real rags-to-riches life.Despite growing up in poverty, Estes has become one of the best opera singers in the world.He suffered discrimination as a black youngster, but has sung for kings and queens all over the world, as well as four U.S. Presidents. He also started a private school for underprivileged children in South Africa.Through it all, he managed to remain humble about his accomplishments.However, when it comes to basketball, it is no-holds-barred for 62-year-old Estes.He will drop just about anything to get a pickup game going. He boasts that he can still outplay and outscore most youngsters — as long as it’s only a half-court game.Otherwise, the 6-3 Estes refuses to consider himself a star.”Only God makes stars,” he explained, “and they are all in the sky.”Instead, Estes told a journalism reporting class, he was “blessed by God” with a strong voice.Estes, who has sung in every famous opera house in the world, has agreed to teach in the ISU Music Department for 10 weeks a year over the next 3 years for $80,000 a year.Head of the music department, Sue Haug, said Estes would make much more than that in performance, but he wanted to “return something” to the state of Iowa.He chose Iowa State over his alma mater (Iowa) primarily because of former President Martin Jischke. Estes was also drawn to Ames because he could “make a difference” and he liked the collegiality of the music faculty.Estes was born and raised in Centerville, Iowa. He was the only black person in his high school, and he still has vivid memories of segregation. But he is quick to add that he had a lot of supportive white friends and was never put down as a youngster.Estes said he continually heard positive comments about singing ability. He said that people recognized his singing ability quite early on, even though he sang first soprano in the choir “with all the pretty girls.”Then, one day during the summer before his senior year in high school, Estes suddenly became a bass-baritone. Incidentally, Estes believes that his mother could have been a great opera singer had she not grown up in even more segregated times. He also thinks that one of his sisters had the same quality voice, but he is the only one who has made it to the top. Estes wanting to continue his education received enough financial support to enroll at the University of Iowa in pre-medicine. He says that he changed majors two or three times before discovering that his home was in music, where he began to learn how to sing opera.Usually, an opera singer’s voice starts to go before the age of 60 — even if they take care of their vocal cords by only performing twice a week. Estes said he has been blessed by vocal cords that just keep on going. Doctors have told him, “Simon, you could sing until you die.”In response, the baritone says another 10 to 12 years would suffice.So far, Estes has sung roles in about 100 operas. Like most opera singers, he memorizes the words in a variety of languages including German, Italian, French, Spanish, Russian and English.In any given year, Estes usually sings about 10 different roles.Estes’ love is not only opera. He also loves children — especially underprivileged children.About five years ago, Estes visited South Africa to sing at the inauguration of President Nelson Mandela. At the airport, he was met by an 85-student choir which sang in their native language, “Simon Estes We Love You, Welcome Home.” Estes said that their greeting made him feel his African roots for the first time.He then visited the students at their school, in a suburb of Cape Town, where an estimated 400,000 residents had no electricity or running water. The school was just as primitive, with 4,000 youngsters crammed into one building “in miserable conditions.”That was when he decided to establish a school for 80 youngsters — which has now expanded to about 300 children, all with some kind of musical ability.Estes has managed to bring several of these students to the United States for visits, and several are enrolled in colleges here.There may be other accomplishments that Estes values more highly, but it would be hard to find one. He said he feels blessed that because of his God-given singing ability, he has been able to help students in South Africa and in other parts of the world. Of all Estes’ accomplishments and talents, he only brags about one thing.”I’ll only brag about basketball,” he said. He’s been playing since he was a youngster in Centerville, where he never started. “In those days,” he explained, “no matter how good a black [man] was, he was going to start the game on the bench.”Further, he mused over how he’d recently played several games against high school students where he was conducting singing clinics. His team only lost one game, and that was when the high school students insisted that they play full court.Estes added, even then, he scored 60 percent of his team’s points.After a 75-minute interview, during which he refused to sing (though he demonstrated some vocal techniques), it seems pretty clear that success has not spoiled Simon Estes.”I still feel like the same guy from Centerville, Iowa,” he said.