LONGTIME SUPPORTER, BASEBALL STAR NAMED TO HALL OF FAME

COUNCIL BLUFFS, IOWA – The Iowa Western Community College Athletic Department has named its 2021 inductees into the Reiver Hall of Fame. Brent Siegrist, a former Iowa Western trustee who currently serves in the Iowa House of Representatives, joins baseball standout Joe Bisenius in this year's coveted Hall of Fame. The two will be honored at a ceremony on Oct. 1 on the campus in Council Bluffs.

BRENT SIEGRIST

Siegrist is a lifelong resident of the Council Bluffs area.  After college graduation, he embarked on an 18-year career teaching and coaching at the high school level. His expertise was wrestling, but he was also involved with cross country, football, and track.

Siegrist was elected to the Iowa House of Representatives in 1984 and served for 18 years representing Council Bluffs.  He served as an Assistant Minority Leader, House Majority Leader and then as Speaker of the House. He retired from the Legislature in 2002 to return home to his two young children and his wife Valerie, a University of Northern Iowa graduate. After a career in the private business sector, Valerie returned to school and graduated from the IWCC nursing program in 2009.  She is currently a nurse at Jennie Edmundson Hospital in Council Bluffs.

After leaving the Legislature, Siegrist returned to his passion for education and became the Executive Director for Iowa's nine Area Education Agencies.  He retired from that position in 2018.  In 2003, Siegrist was appointed to fill a vacant position on the Iowa Western Board of Trustees and was subsequently elected to the position for the next 17 years.

Siegrist was elected President of the Board for the last two years of his service and was instrumental in ushering in several important athletic programs, including wrestling, bowling, trapshooting and cheer. He was a charter member of the Reiver Wrestling Founder's Club and is active today with supporting that sport and many others at the college.

In 2020 he once again ran for the Iowa House of Representatives for House District 16 to represent Council Bluffs.  Eighteen years after his last service in the Iowa House, he again was elected and is currently serving in the Iowa House and was selected by his colleagues to serve as an Assistant Majority Leader. The biggest downside to winning the election, he said, was that he was forced to resign from the Iowa Western Board of Trustees in order to serve.  After leaving the Board of Trustees, he was appointed to the Iowa Western Foundation Board where he maintains an active presence and continues to be so proud of the outstanding institution that is Iowa Western.

JOE BISENIUS

Bisenius was one of the first standout performers for NJCAA Hall of Fame Coach Marc Rardin, who began his coaching tenure in 2003. Bisenius was a star player for Bishop Heelan in Sioux City, where he was named Pitcher of the Year in high school, and provided Coach Rardin with his first key cog in a series of successful baseball programs.

While at IWCC, Bisenius was an All-Region performer with 9 wins and 54 strikeouts in 52 innings pitched as the Reivers finished 37-13 that season and No. 14 in the final NJCAA national poll. He was drafted that June in the Major League Baseball Draft by the Montreal Expos, but he turned down the offer and enrolled at Oklahoma State. Bisenius later transferred to NAIA perennial power Oklahoma City and had a stellar season there capped off with a 13-0 record and a 2.81 ERA.

Bisenius was drafted again, this time by Philadelphia Phillies in the 12th round, and began his professional career as a starter at short-season A-level Batavia, going 0–1 with a 1.43 earned run average (ERA) in 11 starts.

He earned his "Big League" debut on April 5, 2007, for the Philadelphia Phillies, just over four years after finishing at Iowa Western. He continued his professional career for nine years, ultimately pitching for the Washington Nationals. Bisenius ended his professional career in 2014 with the Lincoln, Nebraska, Saltdogs.

In 2018, the Minnesota Twins hired Bisenius as its Midwest scout, a job he has enjoyed and that keeps him close to the sport he loves. He and his wife, Katy, have a 1-year-old daughter, Eloise.