-Messenger photo by Chris Johnson
Tammy Alstott (center), president of the Fort Dodge Pride, stands with a Pride 10U softball team at the Softball Connection. Alstott has been president for more than 10 years.
Editor’s note: This story first appeared in The Messenger’s annual Hometown Pride publication on June 24, 2022, featuring people and organizations from Fort Dodge and the surrounding area who are making a difference in their communities.
Tammy Alstott is just a phone call away if something is needed in the Fort Dodge athletic community.
In fact, Alstott’s phone is lit up with unseen calls and text messages, just so she can remember who she needs to get back to.
“I just go where I’m needed,” Alstott said. “I have helped on the coaching side and helped at practices. I just help wherever I can.”
Alstott has run an at-home daycare at her house for the past 26 years, all while carrying many other titles.
She has been president of Fort Dodge Pride for over 10 years, Alstott is also the president of the Fort Dodge Athletic Boosters Club (since 2010) and she has also run the Dodger Shack for more than 10 years.
“Everything is so rewarding and different in every aspect,” Alstott said. “With Pride, there are a lot of youngsters, so I would say the rewards are seeing so many little people get involved and find a love of something and sticking with it.
“It’s absolutely adorable to go somewhere and they know who I am and I’m not just someone behind it.”
The Fort Dodge Pride teams spend a lot of their time at the Softball Connection and Alstott has seen the young girls become varsity players.
“It’s crazy to see that the whole varsity team was involved in it, and I had my hand in it since they were little kids,” Alstott said. “It’s an amazing program and I’m fortunate that it was led by great people who taught me well. It was started by amazing people.”
When she puts on the hat as president of the athletic boosters, it’s a different group that Alstott gets to work with.
“This is an older group of children in the community and I do more things within the community,” Alstott said. “This is where I do my socializing outside of my day job; that is very rewarding.”
With the booster club, there is a lot of work that isn’t seen on the field or in the locker room.
“I help coaches with needs and also in the weight room,” Alstott said. “I spend a lot of time behind the scenes, making sure that coaches get the things they need and helping with organization and paperwork. We’ve had a great group of officers that have run through the booster club.”
In her tenure, Alstott has been through four different activities directors (previously Tom Kinseth, Matt Elsbecker, Kevin Astor) and currently Josh Porter.
“I’ve been through four different activities directors and they all have done a great job,” Alstott said. “That is absolutely the most rewarding part — to be able to find ways to supply teams.”
Alstott’s favorite part of the FDSH Booster Club is picking the annual scholarship winner. “It’s the most rewarding part to give back,” she said.
Alstott has played a huge part in clothing Dodger fans as well through the Dodger Shack.
When she started with the booster club, only a couple of people did clothing, and there was a couple of years where there was no clothing available, so she didn’t hesitate to be put in charge of Dodger clothing two years into her booster club stint.
“I found out the opportunity was there and jumped on it,” Alstott said. “My children were older and there wasn’t anything for little kids, so I started printing them and ironing them on and made something cute.
“It was my opportunity to order all shapes and sizes from newborn to 5x and design some shirts.”
One year Alstott started a pre-Homecoming sale and it really took off.
“It was a phenomenal day and people were really hungry for it the next year,” Alstott said. “A year later it was bad weather and I didn’t want to set up in the rain and I wanted to have it set up all week. So we set it up in my garage and we were very steadily busy. I was amazed. It took off and that was it.”
A temporary location of the Dodger Shack at the high school is open throughout the various seasons, and Alstott still sells clothes out of her garage.
“I hope to continue growing it and I am trying to get it online with our inventory,” Alstott said. “We have a few things to figure out a few of the details for the online store. We have added a few things and we are able to take Venmo and credit cards.”
Alstott has a lot of things on her plate, but she is always seemingly adding more. But for here, it brings its own rewards.
“I’m happy to be a part of each and every group,” Alstott said. “It’s very rewarding to me to help out.”
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