Humbly yet confidently, she approached the podium. 

Frustration silenced her nerves as she glanced down at the speech she had prepared.

She had earned respect among the crowd at that Mason City school board meeting in May 2013, and she intended to use it. When she spoke, although she may not have realized it, people listened.

They listened because of the three consecutive state tournament appearances. They listened because she was one of a select few to commit to Division I athletics. They listened because she put Mason City basketball on the map.

They listened because her name was Jadda Buckley.

*** 

The beginning of a financially-tight period had begun for Mason City High School.

In an effort to raise additional funds, the school board proposed cutting up to 30 coaches from the athletic department. However, the board didn’t want to eliminate any sports entirely from the school, so the budget cuts targeted the “expendable” coaches within the system. Assistant coaches suddenly began to question their job security.

On the girl’s basketball side, the cuts targeted assistant coach Tom Kirby. To the Mohawk players, especially Buckley, Kirby was more than a coach. He was a friendly liaison between athletes and the head coach when issues arose. He was a member of the audience for many of his players’ AAU games, academic events and even choir concerts. He was a friend.

“It came down to it that Kirby had to fight for his job,” Buckley said. “People [didn’t] understand the amount of impact he had on the team. There’s so much work that the assistant coaches do that goes unnoticed.”

Although he also coached post players and coordinated out-of-bounds plays, Kirby viewed one of his main roles as a coach as being relational. As a young coach less than 10 years out of college at Winona State, players naturally related better with Kirby than with other coaches. 

They came to him not only with basketball concerns but also with off-the-court struggles and successes. His role, as he viewed it, went far beyond the gymnasium.

“The assistant [coach] is kind of the buffer between the head coach and the players,” Kirby said. “Sometimes the players are afraid of the head coaches. I deal with players on more of a personal basis.”

This relational role resonated especially with Buckley. She recognized his ability to connect with these high school girls, listening to and trying to understand their lives inside and outside of basketball.

“He was the coach I was closest with going through high school,” Buckley said. “He’s really good about connecting with each girl on the basis of their personality, both outside of basketball and on the court. I think he just understood what we were all going through — our ups and downs of the day.” 

Although the school board may have viewed Kirby as expendable, Buckley and her teammates saw things in a different light. In their minds, Kirby’s behind-the-scenes role was just as essential to the team’s overall success as any coach’s role, and removing him from the picture would have changed the whole dynamic of the team.

So, naturally, being a senior point guard and leader on the team, Buckley resorted to taking action on her coach’s behalf. Initially, she didn’t know exactly what to do or who to talk to, but she wouldn’t let Kirby’s job be taken without a fight.

“[I wanted] the board to see the people that [Kirby] impacted, so that they can [realize] that this isn’t just a guy begging to save his job,” Buckley said. “This a guy that needs his job because of the impact he had on us girls and on Mason City.”

Buckley’s efforts were eventually directed toward the upcoming school board meeting. Other coaches and individuals were to speak at the meeting, defending the coaching positions that were on the chopping block. So Buckley prepared a speech and marked May 6, the day of the meeting, on her calendar.

She was confident in the words she would say, but she feared her voice would be lost in a sea of adults. Would people really listen to an 18-year-old basketball player? 

*** 

There she stood in front of that Mason City crowd.

Only a podium prevented Buckley from yelling in the faces of the board members in frustration. To her, the board viewed Kirby as simply a figure  — an expendable financial liability that needed to be cut. She honed that frustration into motivation as she began her speech.

“I want to share with you what a man once said,” Buckley said to the listening crowd. “‘An athlete cannot run with money in his pockets. He must run with hope in his heart and dreams in his head.’ That’s what I’m doing tonight. I’m running with my emotions, running with my faith, running with my heart.”

Buckley continued to defend her coach’s job, reminding the school board and audience members of the impact that Kirby had on the basketball program. Without Kirby, she argued, the program would not have seen the success that it did. Kirby was one of the main attributes of the program’s recent success, Buckley said.

As she moved on to address Kirby’s personality and passion, the words didn’t escape as easily as before. Water rushed to Buckley’s eyes as she recalled Kirby’s care for her as an individual. This wasn’t something she had prepared for, but it was something that she couldn’t stop.

“She got choked up during the speech,” Kirby said. “You could just tell that she was passionate about what she was saying. It wasn’t just, ‘Oh, I’m going to do this because I think I need to.’ By the end, she was borderline [crying], trying to get through that speech. It just meant a lot.”

That passion projected through held-back tears represented not only the care that Kirby had showed her but also the care that she had for him. Her initial objective was simply to get her point across effectively, but that was quickly overshadowed as Buckley thought about the well-being of her friend.

“It takes a lot for me to tear up about something,” Buckley said. “But when it comes to somebody that’s close to me and somebody who gave a lot of work and compassion for me and somebody threatens their job, that’s serious to me.”

Buckley concluded her speech and joined her teammates in the back of the meeting room. She didn’t think her speech would have much of an impact, but she had to defend the coach who had her back for four years. 

Buckley didn’t consider her opinion would ever be taken into consideration, but other audience members in attendance that night saw things differently. Mason City head coach Curt Klaahsen, who also defended Kirby’s position that night, knew that although his star point guard may not have recognized it, Buckley’s speech held some weight. 

“I think it put a personal touch on it,” Klaahsen said. “It’s easy to look at numbers and make decisions just based on money and numbers. [It showed] the impact that coaches can have [on] young people in a positive way. It was a personal touch that showed how [these cuts] would hurt the programs going forward.”

*** 

Fast forward to present day.

Buckley is beginning her redshirt sophomore year as a Cyclone, leading head coach Bill Fennelly’s young ISU team each game. Kirby remains the assistant varsity coach for the Mason City high school girls’ basketball team.

It turns out that Buckley’s speech carried more weight than she thought. 

“I don’t think she was aware of how important that was to me and how important that was to the community that she stepped up and talked,” Kirby said. “With her level talent and [her commitment] to Iowa State at the time, she was kind of a local celebrity. For her to get up and speak, people listened.

“People see the name Jadda Buckley and they’re like, ‘Oh, what’s she talking about? Why does she want to save his job? He must mean a lot if she’s talking about it.’”

People listened because of who Buckley was to that community and ultimately, who she still is.  She remains, to this day, a celebrity in the Mason City community, Kirby said.

Being a middle school teacher in Mason City as well as a coach, Kirby has realized what Buckley did not. People remember Buckley because of the impact she had on that community. Little girls look up to her — their eyes lighting up every time her name is mentioned.

“I honestly don’t think she knew how many people looked up to her,” Kirby said. “I still don’t think she does. I don’t think she understands how many little kids in Mason City watch her on TV, come to the games and want to do something like her in the future.”

*** 

Buckley didn’t speak on Kirby’s behalf because she knew the potential impact of her speech. She didn’t step up to that podium out of unemotional obligation. 

Like the words she quoted to begin her speech, Buckley was simply running with hope in her heart and dreams in her head, unaware of the impact she could and would have on Kirby and Mason City as a whole. She was running with the care that she felt for Kirby and the need for her to defend her coach and friend.

She was running with blind compassion. 

“I really do think that she didn’t understand the importance of what she was doing when she did it,” Kirby said. “I [wouldn’t] have my job today as the assistant coach without her stepping up to the podium.”