BVU Alum Pens Book on Iowa’s ‘Teammates for Life’
Marty Gallagher met with former Iowa Hawkeye basketball star Kenny Arnold as he struggled to communicate with nurses and loved ones in the wake of a series of strokes and setbacks that marked his long fight against brain cancer.
Marty Gallagher ’91 has written “Teammates for Life: The Inspiring, True Story of Kenny Arnold and the Hawkeye Basketball Family.” The 178-page volume is available through Amazon and Barnes & Noble.
Gallagher, the CEO/Co-Founder of Talk to Me Technologies, a company in Cedar Falls that manufactures and sells speech-generating devices to people who cannot otherwise speak, met with Arnold at a nursing home in Chicago in 2016 as the former Iowa Hawkeye basketball star struggled to communicate with nurses and loved ones in the wake of a series of strokes and setbacks that marked his long fight against brain cancer.
“I hope people find the book to be an uplifting look at lasting friendships and what we are willing to do for those we love.”
Marty Gallagher
Gallagher helped equip Arnold with a speech device at that time and donated it as a way of giving back to a basketball great whom Gallagher grew up idolizing.
“Kenny Arnold gave us more than we would ever provide him,” says Gallagher, who majored in communications at BVU. “Not only did he serve as an example for me–and tens of thousands of others–in the way he carried himself as a competitor on the basketball court, but the way in which he lived with grace and in lifting up others despite his health issues is something we can all emulate.”
Arnold, who died in April, led the Hawkeyes in points and assists during the team’s last Final Four season in 1980. His teammates, captained by Mike “Tree” Henry, remained at his side throughout his 34-year fight against cancer. Henry offered much of the background insight to Gallagher as he researched extensively for the book, his first such effort.
“I hope people find the book to be an uplifting look at lasting friendships and what we are willing to do for those we love,” says Gallagher, a resident of Storm Lake.
“The men who played basketball with Kenny Arnold at Iowa used the same dedication, spirit, enthusiasm, and selflessness to provide support for him as they did in becoming an elite basketball team three-and-a-half decades earlier. They were, without a doubt, ‘Teammates for Life.’”
The book complements an annual cancer-research fundraiser hosted by Gallagher and several members of the Hawkeyes men’s basketball team at Buena Vista University Golf Course at Lake Creek at Storm Lake. A portion of the proceeds of the book will be donated to charity as well.
“Teammates for Life” is available for purchase from Amazon or Barnes & Noble.