The woman who was the brainchild behind the popular Olympic-style Iowa Games has died.
Carol Droste was an administrative assistant to First Lady Chris Branstad in the 1980s when she noted the competitive games taking place in neighboring states, says the Chief Operating Officer for the Iowa Sports Foundation, Kevin Bourke.
“She was the one who had seen what was happening in the other states around Iowa – the Cornhusker State Games, the Prairie State Games in Illinois, the Show Me State Games in Missouri – and presented the idea to Governor Branstad,” Bourke says.
The first Iowa Games in August 1987 drew 7,000 participants to 16 sports. Bourke was the sports director for those first games and says Droste wanted to make sure everyone could compete.
“She really was so instrumental in making sure that it was a grass roots level event,” he says.
There are now Summer and Winter Iowa Games that last year drew 13,000 competitors.
Carol Droste left the state not long after the inaugural Iowa Games when her husband was transferred to Minnesota. She died there unexpectedly on Easter. She was 64 years old.