• Home
  • Staff
  • Privacy Policy
  • News Tips/Press Releases
  • Advertising
Friday, March 5, 2021
No Result
View All Result
The Times-Delphic
  • News
    • All
    • Administrative News
    • Campus Events
    • Campus Health
    • Caucus Roundup
    • In Des Moines
    • Politics
    • Student Politics
    • Student Senate

    Black History Month at Drake

    New Strains of COVID-19 Threaten Vaccination Progress

    New Strains of COVID-19 Threaten Vaccination Progress

    February brings severe weather, negative temperatures

    February brings severe weather, negative temperatures

    Drake announces room and board fee increase for 2021-2022

    Drake announces room and board fee increase for 2021-2022

    Public Safety investigates stolen catalytic converters

    Public Safety investigates stolen catalytic converters

    • Administrative News
    • Campus Events
    • Campus Health
    • Caucus Roundup
    • In Des Moines
    • Politics
    • Student Politics
    • Student Senate
    • Senate Elections
  • Sports
    • All
    • Baseball
    • Basketball
    • Column
    • Cross-Country
    • E-Sports
    • Football
    • Golf
    • Rowing
    • Soccer
    • Softball
    • Tennis
    • Track and Field
    • Volleyball
    Students Go Sledding with Meal Trays to Uphold Drake Tradition

    Drake Women’s tennis VS Omaha

    Women’s Tennis Begins New Season

    Women’s Tennis Begins New Season

    Buying Tickets for a Chance to Catch a Game

    Buying Tickets for a Chance to Catch a Game

    Women’s Tennis Faces off Against Colorado State University

    Women’s Tennis Faces off Against Colorado State University

    Annual Pink Out game adapts to COVID precautions

    Annual Pink Out game adapts to COVID precautions

    • Basketball
    • Column
    • Cross-Country
    • E-Sports
    • Football
    • Golf
    • Rowing
    • Soccer
    • Softball
  • Commentary
    • All
    • Horoscope
    • Letter from the Editor
    • Letter to the Editor
    A Review of the New Hubbell

    A Review of the New Hubbell

    Welcome to Class: Savings 101

    Welcome to Class: Savings 101

    Car Accident Sends One Writer on Ride of Shame

    Car Accident Sends One Writer on Ride of Shame

    To all The Boys: Always and Forever: Movie Brings Jams, Tears and Existential Dread

    To all The Boys: Always and Forever: Movie Brings Jams, Tears and Existential Dread

    Big Time Ranked: The Top Ten Big Time Rush Songs

    Big Time Ranked: The Top Ten Big Time Rush Songs

    • Horoscope
    • Letter from the Editor
  • Features
    • All
    • Greek Life

    Students Go Sledding with Meal Trays to Uphold Drake Tradition

    Twitch Streamer Raises Money for LGBT Community

    Drake Alum Encourages Students to say “Yes”

    Drake alum shares career, life after graduation

    Drake alum shares career, life after graduation

    Annual Pink Out game adapts to COVID precautions

    Annual Pink Out game adapts to COVID precautions

    • Greek Life
  • Podcasts
    Drake Weekly Sports Podcast | December 3

    Drake Weekly Sports Podcast | December 3

    Drake Public Safety and the student body

    Drake Public Safety and the student body

    Humans of Drake Podcast

    Bulldog Blitz 1: December 7, 2010

    The Sports Report 2010 7: 11/09/2010

  • Relays Edition
    Rainbow Union Empowers the LGBTQ+ Community at Drake

    Rainbow Union Empowers the LGBTQ+ Community at Drake

    Avengers: Endgame Predictions

    Avengers: Endgame Predictions

    Drake professors define their teaching experiences

    Evening at the observatory: Is There an Anti-Me?

    Evening at the observatory: Is There an Anti-Me?

    Bulldogs football completes 9th winning season in 10 years

    You can be the force to finally change Drake’s culture

    Student press is essential for letting students’ voices be heard

    Rolle breaks Drake triple jump record

    Rolle breaks Drake triple jump record

    First-year uses photo talent to market Drake’s campus

    Spanish class spotlights important Latinas

    Blitz Day festivities include revealing Relays concert, theme

    Blitz Day festivities include revealing Relays concert, theme

    • Commentary
    • Coronavirus
    • Elections
    • Features
    • In Des Moines
    • News
    • This week in photos
    • Top News
    • Top Stories
    • Uncategorized
    • Video
    • Sports
    • Security Reports
    • Relays Edition
    • Poll
    • Podcasts
    • Online Exclusives
    • Opinion
  • News
    • All
    • Administrative News
    • Campus Events
    • Campus Health
    • Caucus Roundup
    • In Des Moines
    • Politics
    • Student Politics
    • Student Senate

    Black History Month at Drake

    New Strains of COVID-19 Threaten Vaccination Progress

    New Strains of COVID-19 Threaten Vaccination Progress

    February brings severe weather, negative temperatures

    February brings severe weather, negative temperatures

    Drake announces room and board fee increase for 2021-2022

    Drake announces room and board fee increase for 2021-2022

    Public Safety investigates stolen catalytic converters

    Public Safety investigates stolen catalytic converters

    • Administrative News
    • Campus Events
    • Campus Health
    • Caucus Roundup
    • In Des Moines
    • Politics
    • Student Politics
    • Student Senate
    • Senate Elections
  • Sports
    • All
    • Baseball
    • Basketball
    • Column
    • Cross-Country
    • E-Sports
    • Football
    • Golf
    • Rowing
    • Soccer
    • Softball
    • Tennis
    • Track and Field
    • Volleyball
    Students Go Sledding with Meal Trays to Uphold Drake Tradition

    Drake Women’s tennis VS Omaha

    Women’s Tennis Begins New Season

    Women’s Tennis Begins New Season

    Buying Tickets for a Chance to Catch a Game

    Buying Tickets for a Chance to Catch a Game

    Women’s Tennis Faces off Against Colorado State University

    Women’s Tennis Faces off Against Colorado State University

    Annual Pink Out game adapts to COVID precautions

    Annual Pink Out game adapts to COVID precautions

    • Basketball
    • Column
    • Cross-Country
    • E-Sports
    • Football
    • Golf
    • Rowing
    • Soccer
    • Softball
  • Commentary
    • All
    • Horoscope
    • Letter from the Editor
    • Letter to the Editor
    A Review of the New Hubbell

    A Review of the New Hubbell

    Welcome to Class: Savings 101

    Welcome to Class: Savings 101

    Car Accident Sends One Writer on Ride of Shame

    Car Accident Sends One Writer on Ride of Shame

    To all The Boys: Always and Forever: Movie Brings Jams, Tears and Existential Dread

    To all The Boys: Always and Forever: Movie Brings Jams, Tears and Existential Dread

    Big Time Ranked: The Top Ten Big Time Rush Songs

    Big Time Ranked: The Top Ten Big Time Rush Songs

    • Horoscope
    • Letter from the Editor
  • Features
    • All
    • Greek Life

    Students Go Sledding with Meal Trays to Uphold Drake Tradition

    Twitch Streamer Raises Money for LGBT Community

    Drake Alum Encourages Students to say “Yes”

    Drake alum shares career, life after graduation

    Drake alum shares career, life after graduation

    Annual Pink Out game adapts to COVID precautions

    Annual Pink Out game adapts to COVID precautions

    • Greek Life
  • Podcasts
    Drake Weekly Sports Podcast | December 3

    Drake Weekly Sports Podcast | December 3

    Drake Public Safety and the student body

    Drake Public Safety and the student body

    Humans of Drake Podcast

    Bulldog Blitz 1: December 7, 2010

    The Sports Report 2010 7: 11/09/2010

  • Relays Edition
    Rainbow Union Empowers the LGBTQ+ Community at Drake

    Rainbow Union Empowers the LGBTQ+ Community at Drake

    Avengers: Endgame Predictions

    Avengers: Endgame Predictions

    Drake professors define their teaching experiences

    Evening at the observatory: Is There an Anti-Me?

    Evening at the observatory: Is There an Anti-Me?

    Bulldogs football completes 9th winning season in 10 years

    You can be the force to finally change Drake’s culture

    Student press is essential for letting students’ voices be heard

    Rolle breaks Drake triple jump record

    Rolle breaks Drake triple jump record

    First-year uses photo talent to market Drake’s campus

    Spanish class spotlights important Latinas

    Blitz Day festivities include revealing Relays concert, theme

    Blitz Day festivities include revealing Relays concert, theme

    • Commentary
    • Coronavirus
    • Elections
    • Features
    • In Des Moines
    • News
    • This week in photos
    • Top News
    • Top Stories
    • Uncategorized
    • Video
    • Sports
    • Security Reports
    • Relays Edition
    • Poll
    • Podcasts
    • Online Exclusives
    • Opinion
No Result
View All Result
The Times-Delphic
No Result
View All Result
Home Features

Humans of Drake: Tom Heger

byHALLIE O'NEILL
May 3, 2018
in Features, Humans of Drake, Top Stories
0 0
1
Humans of Drake: Tom Heger

BY HALLIE O’NEILL

As a young high school student, Tom Heger roamed Drake’s campus, completing odd plumbing jobs under the guise of his family-owned plumbing shop. Now, after contributing to the university’s infrastructure for roughly 50 years, Heger prepares to say goodbye to Drake’s plumbing systems.

The plumbing shop—Advanced Plumbing, formerly located at 2309 University Avenue—was created in 1900 by Heger’s grandfather, and when he passed away in 1952, Heger’s father took charge of the business. Heger then began working for his father while he attended high school. From 1900 to the late 80s, Drake frequently hired one of the three Heger men to complete plumbing jobs on the campus. The collaboration between the Heger family and Drake was well-established by the time Heger himself began contributing.

After graduating from high school in 1969, Heger filled his career with more plumbing and other handyman odd jobs. He continued to work for his father, and in 1982, he took on his first big project at the university—eight new bathrooms at Drake Stadium.

Sitting in a McDonald’s one day in the year 2000, Heger began contemplating the course of his career. He ran into a Drake staff member there who told Heger the university was looking for two supervisors for the new Sodexo food program. Heger figured he’d give the positions a shot, but when he approached the hiring committee, the roles had already been filled.

That’s when Heger was asked if he wanted to be Drake’s official plumber.

“It was a good deal for me, and it was a good deal for them, too, because they needed a guy to come in here and do what I did,” Heger said. “There was nobody else who was going to do it.”

The work Heger’s completed at Drake has been extensive but subliminally so, and much of it has flown under the radar.

“I had a real passion for rebuilding the place,” Heger said. “It needed a lot of attention. It really did. It had been neglected for so long. And I had the ability to change it.”

He decided to reset all 150 of the toilets in the quad buildings, a process that took two summers and required the help of his son. He also updated the “ancient” bathrooms in Harvey Ingham.

Most of the work he completed here was commissioned by Heger himself—he identified infrastructural needs and took it upon himself to make the changes.

“I’ve been the only plumber for all these years. I keep the place going,” Heger said. “Nobody else knows that much about plumbing, I sort of run my own show. It’s like being self-employed: no one’s telling me what to do or how to do it.”

But his work extends far into the Des Moines community, too. He said he can trace a line down University Avenue from Keo Way all the way to 73rd Street in West Des Moines and find at least a dozen places he’s helped upgrade. There are eight bathrooms in the Des Moines Airport with Heger’s mark on them, residential homes and dental clinics, local churches and hidden boiler rooms … the list goes on and on.

Not everyone recognizes or even notices the importance of work like Heger’s, but it’s truly crucial—people like him create the very foundations people and businesses grow from.

“People that are working with their hands are becoming fewer and far between, and the whole country’s going to pay for it,” Heger said. “We’re the people that build the structures and put in the plumbing and electric and all that stuff, and there’s a huge demand for that kind of person now. All of us guys are dying out.”

His legacy at Drake is long-lasting, though. He’s been the one behind the scenes for 17 official years, not including the estimated 30 he spent working under his father and grandfather.

Even though his practice doesn’t allow for a lot of social interaction, there are a few memories from Drake that will always stick with him.

He specifically remembers a morning when he was replacing the water line in the football locker room. While he worked, a Drake athlete walked into the room and struck up a conversation with Heger. Heger took this chance, of course, to explain his work to the football player.

“And when the conversation ended, he shook my hand and said, ‘Thank you for what you’re doing,’” Heger said. “And I was just so impressed by this young man.”

These interactions, along with smiles and greetings from students in the residence halls, are some of the things he’ll miss the most. He’ll also miss the feeling of the campus in the spring and the soft-serve ice cream machine in Hubbell dining hall.

Although he parted ways with Drake on Friday, April 27, he has plenty of things to keep him busy in his retirement. He’s still going to work about three days a week for a friend’s plumbing shop, and he wants to travel around the U.S. to visit his widespread siblings.

He also races dirt bikes, a hobby he’s maintained since the ‘70s. And he’s still kicking—Heger and a friend usually take an annual trip to the Colorado Rocky Mountains to race at a higher level.

Heger said he “wasn’t cut out to go to college,” but he’s been employed by one for the better part of 50 years. He made it, after all, and Drake’s campus is a much better place because of him.

“I’ve always felt that I was destined to work here,” Heger said. “Because my dad worked on this campus, my grandfather did, I worked on this campus … and always in the back of my mind, I thought, well, if I have a problem, if I can’t find a job for whatever reason, I always thought I could go to Drake University and get a job. I really felt that way. And lo and behold …”

HALLIE O'NEILL

Next Post
“A Quiet Place” gives viewer chills

"A Quiet Place" gives viewer chills

Comments 1

  1. Ann van den Heuvel says:
    3 years ago

    Great story Hallie! He is the last of a dying breed – men who do honest, hard work with their hands. So much has become automated, but a trade like this will endure. His family had quite a legacy at Drake. I’m sure he’ll enjoy retirement.

Twitter Feeds

The Times-Delphic
The Times-Delphic @timesdelphic

Want to have a say in the Times-Delphic’s Relays Edition? Have burning questions on the origins of the mascot and more?
Attend the Relays meeting on Sunday, March 7 @ 11 am.

Contact rachel.james @drake.edu for zoom link and more information! https://t.co/ieLfPWz4Nv
View on Twitter
timesdelphic photo
0
0
The Times-Delphic
The Times-Delphic @timesdelphic

hot cocoa in the superior cup tonight https://t.co/zxbBJvfh94
View on Twitter
timesdelphic photo
3
56

Recommended

Townpoints bring new addition to local Groupon-like competition

10 years ago

‘Nearly naked’ students to run around campus

9 years ago

Popular News

  • Snapchat Streaks: fostering friendships or forcing communication?

    Snapchat Streaks: fostering friendships or forcing communication?

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Gladwell’s “Outliers” reveals the many factors of success

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Several students test positive for COVID-19 in Goodwin-Kirk Residence Hall

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Drake ranks among Ivy Leagues on Economist list

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Drake Declines to Share Covid Data

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • The rise and fall of Motown Records

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Student Perspectives on BLM Protests

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Don’t eat the rich: Argument against Occupy Wall Street ideas

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • Student press is essential for letting students’ voices be heard

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0
  • “His personality could fill a room”

    0 shares
    Share 0 Tweet 0

Connect with us

  • About
  • Home
  • Podcasts
  • Privacy Policy
  • Virtual Edition
  • Advertising

Copyright 2015 Fuel Themes. All RIGHTS RESERVED.

No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Administrative News
    • Campus Events
    • Campus Health
    • Caucus Roundup
    • In Des Moines
    • Politics
    • Student Politics
    • Student Senate
    • Senate Elections
  • Sports
    • Basketball
    • Column
    • Cross-Country
    • E-Sports
    • Football
    • Golf
    • Rowing
    • Soccer
    • Softball
  • Commentary
    • Horoscope
    • Letter from the Editor
  • Features
    • Greek Life
  • Podcasts
  • Relays Edition
    • Commentary
    • Coronavirus
    • Elections
    • Features
    • In Des Moines
    • News
    • This week in photos
    • Top News
    • Top Stories
    • Uncategorized
    • Video
    • Sports
    • Security Reports
    • Relays Edition
    • Poll
    • Podcasts
    • Online Exclusives
    • Opinion

Copyright 2015 Fuel Themes. All RIGHTS RESERVED.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Create New Account!

Fill the forms bellow to register

All fields are required. Log In

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In

Add New Playlist