From the Alvin and Rosalie Sara Check studio.

PBS Kansas presents Harrisburg's people.

Some callings in life are so deep rooted they simply become the defining story of who we are.

Yeah.

They do.

On this edition of Hatteberg's People, a news story about one of the oldest lawmen in Kansas.

For Bill Mueller, law enforcement is not just a career, it is a lifelong calling.

Plus, we hit the land to see how one local college bowling coach quietly built a national dining esteem by putting together character before championships.

And we wander through a massive three acre farm, grown entirely by hand as a local master cultivates some of the most breathtaking flowers in the country.

These are the remarkable faces behind the everyday lives, showing us that true dedication always leaves a lasting legacy.

And we'll have those stories and more on this edition of Hatteberg's People.

These stories are like old friends.

Their lives radiate from the screen like prophets of the past.

They were teachers, but not in a classroom.

Instead, they taught about life to those around them who cared to listen.

And I was their student.

When a man knows who he is and what he wants in life.

Further direction is not needed.

And so it was for Winfield native Bill Mueller in the 1960s, influenced by his dad and the law.

Bill saw his calling.

It's not how many criminals he caught or disasters he prevented.

It is about time.

In his eight decade of life, his law enforcement career is still going and so is Bill.

That great segment, remember thinking, okay, if I were doing it over again, at least at the time frame when I did it, I wouldn't really would make any changes at the Corley County Courthouse in Winfield.

Bill Mueller has come full circle.

Yep.

Okay.

Working now as a sheriff's officer with the court system, his résumé would be hard to top.

Graduating from Winfield High School in 1961, his yearbook, the Landon, showed him involved in just about everything.

By all accounts, a stellar student.

His father, Harold Mueller, served two terms as Calloway County Sheriff from 1963 through 1966.

At that time, even times I could go out and ride with him at nights and things like that and just see what was going on and got me interested in it.

It did.

His interest bloomed during his college years, and he went for a law degree at Washburn University, hoping to connect with the FBI.

He had very early on started telling me if I really wanted to do that, what I to do look at doing with me on a federal level is that's where the money was.

That's where the prestige was more so than local.

Then tragedy struck.

His father died of a heart attack about the time Bill was graduating with his law degree.

For a short period of time.

Bill became a county county sheriff's deputy using his father's car and radio number.

Vietnam was raging.

Bill had been in ROTC during his Washburn Law School years, so he was able to join the Air Force and work in the Office of Special Investigations.

That's also where he met his wife, Belinda, the daughter of a retired FBI agent.

So she certainly knew what the business was all about.

I don't think she was terribly surprised.

And 53 years later, they are still married.

Bill seemed to have a charmed life after the experience of working investigations in the Air Force.

He got his dream job.

He became an FBI agent.

I never had a bad job.

I changed at a number of different ones, all in the same relative field.

But none of them were bad.

I enjoyed all of them.

For nearly five years, he worked with the FBI in Houston.

Then he heard they may move him to New York that he didn't want to do.

So I, bailed out before for it, actually.

I got the word, but, I knew it was coming.

After the FBI, he came back to Kansas and worked with the KBI, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation.

That was his job for the next nearly 25 years.

But he really wanted to come full circle.

I really kind of wanted in my career the way I started as a deputy sheriff, because that was one of the most fun positions I'd ever had.

Former Sheriff Bob O'Dell.

That's him right there.

Then hired him as an investigator.

That was an opportunity for me to to go back and spend a couple of years, working for Bob as an investigator.

I could say I finished my career kind of the way I started it.

After years of working as an investigator at 83 years old, Bill now works inside the Kelly County Courthouse for current Sheriff Dave Philosophy.

It's in these courtrooms that he provides security and assistance.

I did go a little longer than I really thought I probably was going to, but it's just these things.

There's things developed in this.

Things opened up a lot going.

And still am, I think.

Over the years, though, his stint with the KBI and the Kelly County Sheriff's Office.

He's also had a ranch south of Winfield.

And in many ways, it has been his escape.

Well, we and my wife too, we really enjoy it.

The comforting feeling about it, the satisfaction it that we have something now that we work very hard.

It's one time to to save and to achieve.

And now we have it.

We can enjoy it.

Now, most stopped working around the age of 65.

But for people like Bill Mueller much of the time, he enjoyed his work too much to quit.

He'll hand in his badge at some point at some point, but not today.

I wondered how things might have been different, certain things.

But I'm very satisfied and happy with what we have and where we're at.

Life.

Okay, here's here's the deal.

Bill is still working, and so is Larry.

He just shot that story two weeks ago.

That was an old Hattiesburg.

It was in the last couple of years, a brand new.

Had a bird's people.

It was.

And Bill was, in the class ahead of me at Winfield High School.

That's right.

We didn't know each other back then because he was so much older.

He was one one nearly.

But it's wonderful to catch up with, people who I was aware of in high school.

And it's fun to see what they're doing now.

And he's had this wonderful, wonderful law enforcement career, and it's still going he's still working down there.

And more power to it.

More power to him.

And you're still working.

Oh, in short, more power.

Far more power to you to thank you.

Okay.

It is one thing to plant a small garden.

It is quite another to cultivate a national sensation.

Yeah.

In 1979, Floyd Dyer proved just how big a hobby he could grow.

He transformed three acres of Kansas soil into an iris garden as one of the top growers in the country.

Floyd devoted decades to perfecting his craft and sharing his love of the flowers, and he loved to share them with others.

Iris means color of the rainbow, and that's exactly what Floyd Dyer's backyard is.

Three acres of viruses that include over 1500 different varieties.

Dyer is a member of the Wichita Area Iris club and is a judge in the American Iris society.

He spends hours every day here in his backyard tending his thousands of flowers.

It's tedious work, work that would send most of us off to find simpler pursuits.

Well, they just do their work.

Don't you don't notice the work when you're looking at them.

It's just, you just forget about how tired you get, and you just.

You just keep on going.

Dyer has named and introduced 39 new varieties of irises.

He cross-breed so many flowers that it takes him all winter to catch up on his paperwork.

Nearly every flower he has is pedigree.

He knows the complete history of each strain and how they were crossed, so that he can repeat a variety that was especially appealing to him.

Get the pollen out of here.

And bring it over here and put it on this flower, this clip on this flower here.

And if colonized, that's what we call self patronizing.

Despite his three acres of irises, only a few ever make it to a show.

Just one out of 10,000 is about the average.

Edward.

You get about playing about 10,000 seed to get one.

Goodwin.

And what do you feel like when you get that one good one?

That's quite rewarding.

I'll tell you, because you get one, get done with it.

Everybody likes it when you're over 70 years old.

Like Floyd Dyer, most people think it's okay to slow down a little while, Dyer says.

That's fine for some, but with three acres of viruses to tend to, a man can't afford to let that garden get ahead of him.

This is Laurie Hedberg.

Floyd continued growing and developing new varieties of irises up until his death in the 1990s.

He is still fondly remembered by several members of the Wichita area Iris club, and I always love doing stories on people like that because, you know, they have a green thumb, they can grow anything.

But the irises were his love.

I can't grow any anything, I can't eat.

I I'm with you.

Yeah, it's horrible.

But the thing is, is he tended to them on a regular basis, so absolutely.

Maybe that's our problem.

We didn't we don't tend to our greenery.

We don't we don't we do not.

But congratulations to oh, Lord.

I didn't even know there was a Wichita Iris club.

So lots of new information too.

That's right, I like it.

And they're going strong too.

Okay, we're going to head to Dodge City.

And the bigger than life mayor who knew how to turn heads.

Yeah, his name was Dale northern.

And at first glance, he might have come across as a bit pretentious, but there is more to that story.

I'm just pretty happy being me, and I wouldn't want it any other way.

You're probably thinking with a red carpet and a chauffeur driven limousine, who wouldn't be happy?

The family and I are very, very proud of the car.

I've been very lucky and I'm very thankful for many, many good things that's happened to me.

Thank for the fence around Ford County and never letting me out except on vacation.

That'd be fine with me.

Now remember in Dodge City things aren't always what they seem.

Like the staged gunfight on Front Street, the mayor doesn't really use a chauffeur driven limousine to go to work.

Oh, it's his limo.

All right, but it's used to make others happy.

Most of all, it's just.

It's just a fun car.

That's all the fun is.

The way he uses it for free.

He takes teenagers to proms, hauls elementary aged children to the dairy Queen, takes Dodge City folks who are celebrating their anniversary out for a night on the town, all at no charge.

And when the car arrives, it turns heads on top of the world, just rolling along.

TV oh yeah, it's got the works.

TV, video tape deck, refrigerator, bar, telephone, it's all there.

And mayor Dale northern loves to share it with people.

I had one of the boys say that car is not cool.

It's cold out of your head.

Help yourself.

Live from the Dodge City civic body.

There are a couple of other things you should know about the man Dale northern Christmas telethon.

Yearly, he sponsors a telethon to raise money for the elderly of southwest Kansas.

Obviously, there's a lot happening in this man's life.

I'd say we're just coming, old cowboys, and we're going to do the best we can with the tools that we got to work with.

Dale and his wife Nelda, along with their friend Clayton Hall.

I'll take turns driving a limo.

It's three friends, really just acting out parts and having a good time, especially on the road.

You've been accused of being the governor of several states on her last trip.

I've been accused of being a damn rich wheat farmer between, Las Vegas and Salt Lake.

We got accused of being Willie Nelson.

Now, admit it, just once.

Wouldn't you like to pull up in front of the grocery store, have the chauffeur wait while you shop?

Yeah.

Just once.

Well, by letting others use the car, they'll.

Northern gives us all a taste of the good life.

We've had a lot of fun with it.

If it.

If was not repossessed, of course.

Take it away from me today.

I've already had more fun out of it, and most people have in a lifetime.

I'm sitting on top of the world.

Well.

Dale served as Dodge City mayor for a total of four terms from the early 1970s into the 90s.

He passed away in 1996, but he loved that job.

Oh, loved it.

And I love those old stories.

I mean, they they bring back a wonderful, simpler time.

And it's a great escape.

It is a great escape.

Yeah.

You're probably wondering what ever happened to the limousine while Dale was also a car salesman and had several limos through the years?

He did.

And there's no telling what happened to that old white one that was in the story.

His last limo was navy blue, and when Dale passed away, his son took it back to California with him after the funeral.

So the old limo still lives on.

I like that, okay, speaking of leadership, true leadership is rarely measured just by the final score.

It is found in the way you shape the people behind the game.

Now, back in 1984, one local coach was quietly laying the groundwork for a national dynasty.

Gordon Vatican built one of the great college bowling programs in America, and he did that at Wichita State.

His secret wasn't just about teaching the perfect hook or picking up spares.

It was a firm belief in coaching the entire person, not just the athlete.

All right, we'll talk to you later, then.

All right.

Bye bye.

Okay, let's get this laminated business.

Okay.

My primary function is to manage this operation that we have down here, which is no small task.

We have addition to a small bowling center, eight lanes.

We've got a 15 table billiard area and a large arcade area with 25 or 30 games.

Table tennis, we have an engraving service, so there's a lot of functions that work out of the rec center office.

Okay, College, you get your locker.

Yeah.

Okay.

I started bowling when I was very young.

I guess my brother was a big influence on me, and, I kind of eclipsed him in bowling ability at some point down the road.

And, he has since probably stopped bowling.

The shocker teams have been so successful, and we teach so strong, character building strengths with, the kids in our program, they learn what it's like to be successful, but more importantly, they learn that success is not a part time situation.

If you're successful, you're not just successful with bowling, you're successful in everything you do.

And we encourage them to be successful in everything.

And of course, first priority is their classroom work.

We redouble our efforts on that.

It seems like each year, because we feel the people that are successful and in, their classroom and academic pursuits are the ones that are the most successful for us.

On the late.

I've had more than once a person or two come to me and say, you know, Gordon, I didn't realize it at the time.

When I was involved in the program, but I had more fun and enjoyed that time of my life and learn more.

Not in a textbook, mind you, but learn more about what it was like to to be confident in myself, to manage my time, to communicate with people, to function in a team situation, whether that be a work team or a bowling team or whatever.

They learn more about some of these things that aren't textbook taught in this program.

And then they learned in a lot of other ways, and that's helped them in a lot of ways later on in their lives.

And of course, that's a very neat thing to learn and to kind of that's the kind of fuel that keeps me going, because those people that have that type of success and actually come back and give us some of that credit is, is a real thrill.

I didn't say that again.

Well, that focus on character certainly produced incredible results.

Gordon went on to become one of the most successful coaches in the history of the sports, leading the Shockers to 18 national championships and then, after more than 40 years at the helm, he officially retired in June of 2019.

By the time he stepped away, he had helped shape more than 200 academic All-Americans, proving that his biggest victories always happened off the lanes.

Congratulations to him.

Good God.

Okay, this next story is about a Kansas musician who played with some of the biggest stars as a young man.

He did, and those opportunities had come and gone by the time I interviewed Ivan Kelty back in 2004.

But he was just as happy playing in his local band before a hometown crowd.

Music is a part of that.

Me forever.

Wichita Ivan Kelty can't imagine doing anything else except being here, where the beat goes on.

For.

Kelty, his band called the Jazz Cats, practices at the Meridian Shrine Temple and is one of many you'll hear during the Festival of Bands next weekend.

They're playing way beyond where they thought they would ever be in their wildest dreams.

Lots of experience down here.

That's former mayor Don Enoch on the piano.

Kelty says finding a place to play is the difficult part.

Because this band gives us a place, a venue which doesn't exist anymore.

You know, when I was young, we had the blue moon, we had the Trig, we had the teepee, we had, a variety and a myriad of places for young musicians to go fail and then come back and try to get better.

And that doesn't exist for the young musician today.

For the old musician, in our case.

To be a musician almost means you have to have another job.

And Ivan does.

He is the owner of alternative programs.

His company works with those who've been sentenced to house arrest.

I've really thoroughly enjoyed doing that and helping people get on with their life.

But music is never far from his desk.

You know, I just all kinds of music doesn't make any difference.

What kind.

It's all good.

One more thing about local musicians never sell their talents short.

While incredibly modest, Ivan has played with some of the best Glenn Miller, Woody Herman, Les Brown, and others.

You know, as a kid, I was like 18 years old, so I couldn't appreciate it.

You know, I have the freedom to be me with my instrument, and I watch all these other people do those things, and their life just gets fuller because of it.

It's it's an incredible feeling.

And those that can feel it are really missing something.

What's a passion?

It's a passion.

Next to my wife and my children, music is the best thing I have in my life.

And it's as simple as that.

Ivan kept playing for several more years before passing away in 2012.

You know, people who are musicians, they'll just play with anyone because they enjoy it so much.

They're just having fun.

Absolutely.

They don't care if the person is famous, well known, if it's a great song, blah, blah, blah.

They'll, they'll they just want to play music and just want to create.

They are they do just just like many of us.

Exactly.

Yeah.

Okay.

Well we're done creating for this week.

That is a wrap.

We want to remind you that now that federal funding has been taken away, PBS Kansas needs your help to continue producing programs like Hattiesburg people.

Well, Susan and I volunteer our time, but producing television shows, you know, it is expensive.

If you would like to support the ongoing production of Hattiesburg people, you can go to kpt.org and make a $100 donation to help keep this show funded.

And as a thank you, your name will appear before and after future shows.

As a valued supporter, I know there's a ton of supporters out there.

I get stopped for grocery store all the time.

We love Hattiesburg people.

I appreciate it on and on.

So we want to thank you for watching.

I'm Susan Peters and I'm Larry Berg.

We hope to see you again soon.