The local boys were defeated by Gilbert 31-24 in a hard fought game at Nevada Friday evening. The boys' record for the season is 11 victories and 10 defeats.
A film of the life of Washington was shown to the Junior High and the grades on Washington's birthday
March 10, 1938 Flo Signs Second in County Spelling Contest Flo Signs, eighth grade student in the Collins schools, won the oral contest in the Story county spelling meet at Nevada, Saturday, but in the written contest was defeated by Virginia Sydnes of Huxley, who will represent Story county in the state contest to be held in Des Moines. It took 116 rounds of oral spelling and 18 rounds of written spelling to decide who should have the honor of representing the county. There were 25 schools entered in the contest.
Robert Mullen Resigns as Coach; Joseph Stone Takes Position. Robert Mullen has presented his resignation as coach at Collins High school, to take effect at the end of the present school week. Joseph Stone of Vail, Iowa, will take up his duties as coach the first of next week. Mr. Stone, who has a background of five years successful teaching experience, comes to the local school highly recommended. Mr. Mullen is leaving school work to take up his old trade of railroad telegrapher for the Milwaukee road at his home town of Madrid, Iowa. "Bob" was exceptionally successful as coach in the Collins school and made many friends here who hate to lose him from the community.
[Insert April 16, 2005: Coach Mullen and Addendum to Girls Basketball Robert Mullen (deceased in 2005 at age 92) is Iowa's winningest girls' basketball coach with 938 victories, also placing him sixth in the nation. He was the first inductee to the Iowa Girls' Hall of Fame, special honor. He lost 420 girls' games and also won 254 boys' basketball games. Mullen's first coaching job was at Collins in 1935 as boys' basketball and baseball coach. He entered girls' basketball coaching by accident. Two weeks before the girls' season began the school principal told him the girls' team needed a coach because of a late resignation. Decades of winning teams followed: Monticello - Sacred Heart (574 victories in 28 seasons), Monticello - Public School, Cedar Rapids Regis, Anamosa, West Delaware of Manchester, Central City and Maquoketa Valley of Delhi. Mullen took four teams to the State Tournament, Sacred Heart (1946) (1954), Regis (1979), Central City (1991) when he was 78 years old. He did not win a state title. His coaching span was 54 years, retiring at age 82 in 1995. He was also a telegraph operator with Milwaukee Railroad for 42 years during much of his coaching career. An ironic aspect is, Bob was at a young age when his parents moved to Maxwell. He attended and graduated from Maxwell School in 1930. Collins and Maxwell Schools merged into Collins-Maxwell (one school) in 1983. He graduated from Upper Iowa College in Fayette, Iowa in 1934. Gene Klinge, currently coaching at Waukon, is the second winningest girls' basketball coach with near 869 wins.]
March 17, 1938 The girls and boys' basketball teams were given a banquet by the members of the faculty on Wednesday evening in the home economics room. Entertainment consisted of speeches and group singing. The dinner was served by Ruby Coles, Ruth Atkinson, Jane Fish, Minnie Fish, Jeane Tipton and Dorothy Kracht. The boys and girls presented a pen and pencil set to Mr. Mullen in appreciation for his work as their coach the past three years. A game of basketball was played after the dinner.