How did four Monmouth College alumni – Scott Beeler ’98, Angie Peterson Bigham ’03, Ashley Owens Horberg ’12 and Chris Lemon ’80 – wind up on the leadership team at Blackhawk Bank & Trust, which has 17 locations in the Greater Quad Cities area?
The answer – in addition to the solid business foundations they forged at Monmouth – goes all the way back to the late 1950s in Keokuk, Iowa, where future Fighting Scots Hall of Fame coach Terry Glasgow and future Blackhawk Bank president Gerry Huiskamp were friends and teammates.
Two mentors from Keokuk
A baseball player that both men coached was Lemon, a standout at Alleman High School in Rock Island, Illinois. Lemon pitched American Legion ball for Huiskamp and was recruited by Glasgow in 1976 to join a Fighting Scots program that had just missed out on a College World Series berth that spring.
Lemon picked up the story.
“Jim and Coach Glasgow grew up together in Keokuk, and Jim spoke very highly of TG,” said Lemon, who went on to lead Alleman to the 2012 state championship game in his side job as a baseball coach. “I went to Monmouth College because of Coach Glasgow, and he kept the promises he made to me. He said I would play, and I wound up being a starting varsity pitcher for four seasons. But it’s more about the life lessons I learned from that man. Truly, he was my baseball coach, but so much more. He was such a mentor to me, and such a good role model. If you worked hard for him, he’d return the favor. He helped get me where I’m at today.”
Another mentor was Huiskamp. On the Monday morning following Lemon’s graduation from Monmouth, he looked up his former coach, who offered him a job on the spot. Lemon gained experience as a teller, assistant branch manager and loan officer, keeping his nose to the grindstone and rising through the ranks, mirroring the growth of the bank.
Today, Lemon is the bank’s president, and Huiskamp is chairman of Blackhawk’s board.
“When I started, we had two banks and $40 million in assets,” said Lemon, “and that’s grown 45 times over to $1.8 billion, with 17 locations.”
In addition to his great memories of Fighting Scots baseball, which included a Midwest Conference title, All-MWC honors his senior year and lifelong friendships – including with batterymate Doug Devine ’80 – Lemon recalled the “wonderful professors” he had at Monmouth. That included economics professor Rod Lemon, who, despite his roots in Aledo, is no relation.
“He was on a different level,” said Lemon of the Monmouth professor, who took a one-year sabbatical during Lemon’s time as a student to help President Jimmy Carter’s administration better understand the economics of natural gas regulation.
“I also appreciated the small class sizes at Monmouth and my time with TKE. My four years at Monmouth were extremely formative years for me. It was a pivotal part of my life,” said Lemon, who is fond of referring to his alma mater as “the Harvard of the Midwest.”
Family matters and gaining confidence
It’s not chronological, but another alum at the bank is Horberg, who is Lemon’s niece. That family tie put Monmouth on her radar, but still, she had to see for herself if the school 40 minutes from her home in Andover, Illinois, was a fit.
“I went on other visits, too,” she said. “Nothing ever compared to Monmouth.”
Horberg liked art, but she didn’t believe she had the talent to fully commit to it, choosing to minor in the subject while majoring in business. Along the way, she figured out how to marry the two.
“One of my favorite professors was Tom Prince,” she said. “I loved his teaching style, and I loved his advertising class. That’s when I realized I wanted to do creative marketing. I wanted to design what went out in marketing.”
Classes with art professors Stephanie Baugh and Brian Baugh were also important. She learned graphic design from Stephanie, and Brian made a key contribution, as well.
“I had a photography class with him, and I remember him telling me that I had a good eye for the creative aspect,” she said. “In my work, I second-guess myself sometimes, but then I remember what he said, and the confidence that gave me.”
Today, Horberg serves as director of marketing for the bank, which she joined five years ago.
All signs point to Monmouth
While Horberg is connected to Lemon by blood, Beeler, who serves as a senior vice president, is connected by sport. In 1993, Glasgow coached his final Monmouth baseball game, handing over the reins to his long-time assistant, Roger Sander. The first full recruiting group with Sander in charge was the Class of 1998, and Beeler was part of it, coming to campus from Warsaw, Illinois, which is just across the Mississippi River from Keokuk.
“My dad was an acquaintance of Coach Glasgow’s,” he said.
That was just one of many signs pointing to Monmouth.
“Marybeth Dues (Johnson ’93) was an admission rep at the time, and she was from (nearby) Dallas City,” said Beeler. “So she hit our area pretty hard. There were only 45 kids in my class, and five of them wound up going to Monmouth. I was on the golf team, too, and we had sectionals in Monmouth, so I was familiar with it from that aspect, and it was a small school. That was all part of the equation.”
Once he was on campus, Beeler studied business with a minor in economics, hoping to work his love of sports into the discipline. He did just that during his involvement with the business honors program, helping to formulate a new business model for the Monmouth Country Club.
“We did things like analyzing their membership structure,” said Beeler, who was also an active member of Sigma Phi Epsilon. “That was work with real-world consequences.”
Beeler began his post-Monmouth career in central Illinois, but he and his girlfriend, Tara Olson, married just a few days after her 2000 graduation from Monmouth. Tara is from the Quad Cities, and the newlyweds wanted to settle there. Beeler has been with “The Chief” ever since.
Several of Beeler’s career highlights have involved working closely with Blackhawk’s acquisitions through the years, helping the bank realize “significant growth,” just as his rank and responsibilities have also grown.
Beeler recently completed the program at the Graduate School of Banking at the University of Wisconsin, which he said offers “a jump start on senior management” in the banking industry.
The 24-year banking veteran is proud that his alma mater has had such an impact on his organization.
“We’ve had so much success with Monmouth grads,” he said. “In addition to the four of us, there’ve been at least another six who have attained some level of management over the years.”
Serving her hometown
As a student at Aledo High School, Bigham believed that Black Hawk was in her future. That wasn’t the bank, though. It was Black Hawk College, a two-year school in nearby Moline.
“I could’ve gone there for free, but my parents told me I had to take a college visit,” she said. “And I know it sounds cliche, but when I got to campus, Monmouth felt like home.”
Helping to seal the deal was another admission rep from that era, Julie Crisco Ricketts ’95, who assured Bigham she’d have a position waiting for her in her office – a position she held for all four years, helping with campus tours and making phone calls to prospective students.
“I was in school for 9/11, and I remember having an econ class with Dick Johnston, who had brothers working on the force in New York City,” said Bigham, who majored in business and public relations with a minor in Spanish. “That was very impactful. So were any classes I had with him. His worldview was pretty impressive.”
Bigham, whose husband is Brent Bigham ’02, was also an active member of Pi Beta Phi and enjoyed participating in intramurals, particularly the annual Scots Day softball tournament.
She began a banking role in Aledo in 2008 and today serves as vice president of commercial lending.
“During the pandemic, I led the charge for our PPP (Payback Protection Program) loan program for small businesses,” she said of one of her career highlights to date. “It’s challenging and rewarding work, and I really enjoy the opportunity to give back and serve my hometown community.”
***Courtesy of Barry McNamara, Monmouth College***
