The Eagle Grove Eagle is pleased to announce the addition of Les Houser to our staff.  He may be new to our office, but he is most certainly not new to our paper.

Houser’s name may ring a bell to many of you who are regular readers of the Eagle’s supervisors stories.  On occasion, as an 11-year reporter for the Wright County Monitor (now under the same parent company as the Eagle Grove Eagle), he has also submitted a feature story to the Eagle from time-to-time. {{more}}

As of Wednesday, Aug. 14, Houser’s role with the Eagle has expanded.  He will now be providing complete area sports coverage throughout the school year for the Eagles as well as the Clarion Cowboys and Cowgirls. 

Having covered sports for the Monitor since 2003, Houser brings with him a wealth of knowledge where high school sports are concerned.  He is looking forward to his new responsibilities and is excited to now be located out of the Eagle Grove Eagle office.  

“I’ve had a love for writing ever since high school and my creative writing class,” Houser said.

His writing career actually began by taking photographs as a hobby out at a local race track.  That led to a paid position as the track photographer.  When the gal who wrote the racing news for Fayette County Raceway was going on vacation, she asked  if Houser would be interested in covering for her.  He accepted.

Jerry Blue, who owned the Fayette County Union Newspaper, read Houser’s story, liked it, and asked him to write stories for them from the Independence Motor Speedway.  Houser was there every Saturday night covering the race for nearly 10 years.  During that time he also started writing about racing for The Union, as well as writing an occasional column for two national racing papers in Iowa.  In 2002, Houser made the move to rural Eagle Grove, and by the following year, had a job with the Wright County Monitor as their sports editor.

“Barb (Mussman) gave me a chance, and the rest is history,” Houser said.

His school of experience has now led him to the Eagle Grove Eagle, where, in addition to area sports coverage, Houser will be writing other news stories for both the Eagle and the Monitor as well.

“Our goal as a company is always to put people in positions of strength. For Les, while he does an excellent job covering the news, he shows an exceptional skill at writing sports,” said Ryan Harvey, president and CEO of Mid-America Publishing. “It’s his first love. By making this transition, we know the sports coverage will be in good hands for years to come. I think you’ll come to expect strong coverage of all sports, neat feature stories about kids and coaches, and taking the next step in our sports coverage. Not just for the Eagle, but for the Monitor as well.” 

Houser is originally from Ossian, Iowa and is a 1975 graduate of South Winneshiek of Calmar High School.