Coach Kimbrook Tennal shown coaching his vaulters at Centralia (Kan.) High.
The fictional town of Grain Valley, Kan., paints an authentic picture of Midwest farm towns and the people who live there; including down-to-earth, everyday-heroes like Kimbrook Tennal, assistant track coach at Centralia High School, in Centralia, Kan., (Pop. 512).
Coach Kimbrook Tennal
Located in extreme northeast Kansas, Centralia is best known for producing NFL star John Riggins, who was born in Seneca and attended Centralia High. Riggins went on to play for the New York Jets and Washington Redskins, and is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
In the new teen sports novel, Maggie Vaults Over the Moon, author Grant Overstake retells the story of another amazing small-town athlete, Maggie Steele, a gutsy farm girl who pours her broken heart into the daring sport of pole-vaulting. The story climaxes at the Kansas State High School Track and Field Championships, the largest track meet in the nation, held at Wichita State University‘s Cessna Stadium.
Coach Tennal wrote the author to say Maggie brought back his own golden moments at Cessna Stadium, because he and his wife, Kim, are the parents of three Kansas track and field champions!
“I loved the book and I wish I had written it,” he wrote. “I consider that about as high a compliment on the book as I can make.” Continue Reading →
