♪♪ Coming up on this episode of Iowa Life -- meet three Iowa girls wrestling pioneers -- I love it, you know, it pushes me to be better.

It pushes me to be a better version of myself.

(doorbell rings) Visit the last Ben Franklin store in the state.

We're the type of store that sells things that are fun to buy, things that you do for fun rather than things that you're required to have.

♪♪ And see how this Davenport makeup artist channels his creativity.

That's what I do it for is just that constant challenge of being better than my former self, you know.

♪♪ It's all coming up next on Iowa Life.

♪♪ Funding for Iowa Life is provided by the Gilchrist Foundation, founded by Jocelyn Gilchrist, furthering the philanthropic interests of the Gilchrist family in wildlife and conservation, the arts and public broadcasting and disaster relief.

Mark and Kay De Cook Charitable Foundation, proud to support programs that highlight the stories about the people and places of Iowa.

The Strickler Family, in loving memory of Lois Strickler, to support programs that highlight the importance of Iowa's natural resources on Iowa PBS.

And by -- The Lainie Grimm Fund for Inclusive Programming at the Iowa PBS Foundation.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Wrestling has been an Iowa pastime for more than 100 years.

It's a sport that embodies the spirit of being tough, hardworking and gritty, something Iowans are known for.

Wrestling is a sport that is easy to fall in love with.

I think there's two types of people, there's people who love wrestling and people who don't understand wrestling.

(cheering) ♪♪ Historically, the sport has been dominated by men.

If girls wanted to wrestle in high school, they often had to compete against boys.

That changed in 2022.

♪♪ Thank you all for being here.

We have some championships to settle later on.

There is one thing I would like to say, and that is, we've sanctioned girls wrestling.

(applause & cheering) ♪♪ (chanting) After the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union voted to make girls wrestling an official sport in 2022, participation skyrocketed.

In the 2023-2024 season, more than 3,000 girls across 200 programs participated in the sport.

Erin Gerlich: Iowa is one of the greatest states in the nation for wrestling, historically has been.

Wrestling is familiar to a lot of people, so when it comes to girls wrestling, the concept wasn't so foreign.

I think just us putting our stamp on it gives, just gives it legitimacy across the state and more avenues for growth.

♪♪ Gene Adams: Now girls feel it's for real.

Girls wrestling isn't just necessarily on the back burner or something that some girls are doing off on the side.

Now it's real and it means something.

Now they have actual credibility that this is a real sport.

(coach cheering) Troy Greder: The state has really embraced it and I think people have because they see the difference in the sport.

It's way more aggressive, guys tend to be a little bit more defensive and are really waiting to take their shot, where a girl there could be four or five shots in that same 30 seconds that the boys maybe haven't even shot yet.

So, it's definitely fun to watch.

Some official said, I've never gotten a hug after a match.

But that happens and that's part of girls wrestling, that's what makes it kind of special.

♪♪ The story of girls wrestling in Iowa is just getting started.

The athletes competing now are pioneers in the sport paving the way for generations to come through passion, hard work and purpose.

♪♪ Ridgeview Senior Tatum Shepherd started wrestling in kindergarten after watching her brothers.

Tatum is a multi-sport athlete and served as a wrestling representative on the Student Athlete Advisory Committee for the girls union and is an ardent ambassador for the sport.

(wrestling practice) ♪♪ Tatum Shepherd: When I was younger, I wrestled with the guys and it definitely didn't feel the way that it should have.

Girls get to play basketball against other girls, girls get to play softball against other girls, but when I was younger, I wrestled the guys.

So, I tried to make it my goal to kind of create as many opportunities for girls as possible, and that means getting them on the mat.

I would just go around school and be like hey, you want to wrestle?

And the immediate reaction was no.

And I'm like, what if you could just try it?

I definitely want as much participation as possible because it's such a cool sport and it teaches you so much.

Tonight, we're going to go a six-minute drill match and then we're going live the whole time.

So, we're going to go hard.

Shake hands.

(whistle blows) Tatum Shepherd: Wrestling has taught me that I can do hard things.

After you wrestle, everything else in life is a lot easier.

We just finished the second period.

Time to pick the pace up.

Tatum Shepherd: There's just so much that goes into practice, a lot of technique, it's probably the most mental sport out there.

One, two, three -- ♪♪ Tatum Shepherd: I enjoy getting better.

I look forward to just making small improvements.

I'm not worried about losses.

I'm just worried about getting better and getting to spend time with my family.

(crowd cheering) Tatum Shepherd!

♪♪ Tatum Shepherd: For my legacy, I don't want to be -- I mean, I want to be known as the state champ, but I'd rather be known as the person that started wrestling in high school against the guys, worked their way up and now got to wrestle against girls.

♪♪ Tatum Shepherd: I want to be known as a person that people can talk to or set a good example for the younger girls, they see me and they want to continue wrestling and it gives them a little bit of hope.

Perhaps no one has a more inspiring reason for why they wrestle than Charles City native Lilly Luft.

In 2017, Lilly's older brother Logan was killed in an ATV accident at the age of 15.

To honor Logan's love of wrestling and his dreams of becoming a state champion for Charles City High School, Lilly decided to go out for the sport herself.

She went on to become a three-time state champion and is now part of the inaugural women's wrestling program at the University of Iowa.

♪♪ We're going to hit some live, let it out here, spill it out, leave it on the mats today.

♪♪ Lilly Luft: You know, Logan was such a determined and goal-oriented kid that it drove me to want to create those goals.

And one of his other goals was he's going to wrestle for the Iowa Hawkeyes.

And so, now I'm here, I'm on the women's team and I'm not necessarily walking in his footsteps, but I think that having that why and having him kind of push me along through that is something special.

Time!

Lilly Luft: It has taught me to become more resilient.

It has taught me to become patient, determined and persistent.

Other sports are definitely mentally and physically challenging, but not like wrestling.

And I think that when I walk into the practice room it's just all I can focus on.

Lilly Luft: One of our mantras for this year as a team is "for her".

For her means the girls that have paved the way in front of us and us now paving the way for the ones to come.

And there are so many young girls in the state of Iowa and just throughout the country that are looking to compete at the collegiate level and for us to be the first power five in college and to start that is just truly special and we're trying to set that example for them and show them that you can wrestle in college and you can achieve your goals.

And to be a part of that is amazing.

One, two, three -- ♪♪ Decorah High School powerhouse Naomi Simon is another familiar face to those in the Iowa wrestling community.

She ended her high school career with an undefeated record and made history as the first four-time girls state wrestling champion.

(whistle blows) ♪♪ Naomi Simon: I started wrestling when I was in seventh grade, just decided to go out.

I had done taekwondo, gymnastics, soccer, every youth sport really and I never really liked any of them.

♪♪ One, two, three -- (whistle blows) Naomi Simon: I've always had a really hard time connecting with my peers, making friends and wrestling just turned out to be a really great place where I could make friends and meet new people.

Everybody who steps foot into a wrestling room is automatically transported into a new world, like realm full of just hard work that is found nowhere else.

(whistle blows) 170 pounds -- Naomi Simon, Decorah -- Naomi Simon: I've had so many people come up to me and say, oh I watched you wrestle and it just made me want to go out.

And I'm like, oh, that's so sweet.

I never intended to be the person up front.

I've always looked at people like Adeline Gray, Dan Gable, Spencer Lee, all of the wrestling icons and I'm like, I want to be there.

Oh my God -- (laughter) Naomi Simon: Especially within the past few months I have just sort of realized that all these people are just here to help me and support me and I just want to give back to them.

(applause) ♪♪ (chanting) ♪♪ Naomi Simon: I love it.

It pushes me to be better.

It pushes me to be a better version of myself.

It allows me to help other people be better.

(cheering) Naomi Simon: The biggest thing I think it has taught me is how to respect everybody and still want to go out and battle them.

Every opponent I face I have the utmost respect for because they're there wanting to fight me essentially.

(cheering) ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Naomi Simon: It gave me a platform to show other people that no matter what they do there's always a place like wrestling, or if you do basketball, there's always somewhere where you can belong.

♪♪ Naomi Simon: I think that the hard work, the work ethic and everything that I have gained through wrestling is just keeps pushing me to come back.

♪♪ Naomi Simon: I have a wrestling addiction.

I just can't leave.

♪♪ ♪♪ If you grew up in a small town in the mid-to-late 1900s, chances are you probably bought candy or school supplies from a Ben Franklin store.

♪♪ With its signature red and white storefronts, the shops were once a staple of Main Street America.

The stores were famous for having a wide variety of merchandise.

Shoppers could purchase fabric, kitchen utensils, toys, stationary, and everything in between.

Named after Founding Father Benjamin Franklin, the company used his likeness in reference to his thrifty nature.

The first iteration of the chain was created in the late 1800s as a mail-order company called Butler Brothers.

By the 1920s, Butler Brothers had rebranded into Ben Franklin.

♪♪ The company operated under a franchise system where stores were independently owned.

At one point in the 1970s, there were an estimated 2,500 stores nationwide and more than 100 in Iowa.

♪♪ As larger craft stores and big box chains began to dominate America's retail landscape, many Ben Franklin stores found it difficult to compete and closed.

♪♪ The Ben Franklin Company eventually went bankrupt in 1996.

But a handful of stores managed to stay open for many years by operating independently from the parent company.

Yet, one by one, the remaining Ben Franklin's across the country continued to shut their doors, often times due to the owners retiring.

By 2023, there was only one Ben Franklin store left standing in Iowa.

♪♪ (doorbell rings) We're starting to get in our summer items, so our seeds and everything are coming in, and some of the decor items.

♪♪ Northwest Iowa natives Lori and Phil Warnke have owned the Ben Franklin in Sheldon since 1991.

The Warnke's are from Northwest Iowa and moved to the central part of the state for various jobs before coming back to Sheldon to take over the store they grew up going to.

Lori Warnke: I used to come here every Saturday with my mom and siblings and do our Saturday shopping and candy and school clothes and notebooks and pencils.

Yep, we grew up here.

Phil Warnke: We had four boys in our family so we didn't do a lot of shopping, it just wasn't worth the torment for our mother to put her through it.

But we came here and bought candy whenever we could.

We bought all our school supplies.

This part of the stores is the domestics and towels and blankets, sheets, those types of things.

The fabric department is the entire back corner.

And then the craft department runs all along here with beads, cross-stitch.

♪♪ We are not the type of store like a pharmacy or a grocery store where you have to buy food or you have to pick up medicines.

We're the type of store that sells things that are fun to buy, that they are hobbies or games or activities or things that you do for fun rather than things that you're required to have.

So, when you come in a store like ours there's a lot of surprises, where when you go into a chain store it's pretty predictable what you're going to get.

Games are all here, models kind of come through here.

♪♪ The competitive advantage of Ben Franklin stores is the ability to tailor merchandise to what the community wants.

And now, more than ever before, the store stocks a heavy dose of nostalgia.

♪♪ Lori Warnke: We might be something vintage, they see the Ben Franklin, they remember their childhood, they stop in, they visit with us, we've gotten letters, we've gotten old memorabilia from people.

♪♪ Lori Warnke: This was a buying guide for new store owners.

It's kind of a fun little book someone found when they were cleaning out.

Some other little cars that someone brought to us.

They were cleaning out grandpa's house and they thought that we would enjoy them.

♪♪ Hi there.

Hi there.

Are you finding everything?

I need a shower curtain, or a shower cap.

Do we have such things anymore?

Right over here.

All right!

You're going to be in style.

All right, not a Gigi shower cap -- Phil Warnke: It's really fun to watch especially the older people.

They get out of their cars and their faces light up and they're excited to come in and a lot of them take out their phones and take pictures and coming in our store reminds them of the store that they grew up with, that they got their first piece of candy with their allowances, they got their school supplies, all of those kind of things.

The younger people drive up and say, what's this?

What's a Ben Franklin?

But the people that are in their 40s or older, they grew up with Ben Franklins as a part of their community.

♪♪ It's worth mentioning that many five and dime stores that were once Ben Franklins continue to thrive, just not under the original name.

So, why do the Warnke's keep the Ben Franklin branding?

Phil Warnke: It's familiar to customers and it's been here for almost 100 years now.

It's pretty hard for us to change it.

And even if we did change it, it still would remain the old Ben Franklin store.

So, it's just a little bit of nostalgia for us too to keep that name as long as we can.

Cathy, please call the front.

Cathy, call the front.

♪♪ Phil Warnke: We wake up every morning and we're anxious to come to work and this has been a way of life for us for 33 years and we still find excitement in coming to work and meeting our customers and being a part of the store.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ There's no such thing as real zombies.

All of the things that you might see in this are fake blood, fake gore, prosthetic makeups or just makeup, none of it is actually real.

♪♪ I have to emphasize that I don't know how to make anyone look pretty at all.

♪♪ I can make you look horrible or I can age you or I can make you look scary, but I can't put lipstick on you, I don't know how to do that.

♪♪ Corey Ruby: I grew up drawing, since I can remember I would draw cartoons, I would draw things at a young age.

And I've been told throughout the years that I was exposed to horror movies at probably an unhealthy age.

Rumor has it I went to see Cujo when I was six months old, then Nightmare on Elm Street when I was three.

People frowned on seeing a child draw these horrific things with crayon or colored pencil.

But I loved cartoons, I loved comic books and that is where everything started for me is I wanted to draw.

Fast forward, a friend of mine he's like, hey, do you want to help me do this makeup on myself for Halloween?

And I was like, well, I have no idea what I'm doing, like I've never done anything like that before.

And he goes, well, I've been doing all this research online and I just need your help putting it on if that's okay.

And I was like, sure.

♪♪ Corey Ruby: And I ended up having so much fun, I started researching it more and realizing it was something that I could pursue actively and make a career from it.

♪♪ Corey Ruby: My research told me start in haunted houses.

And I did that for a long time.

♪♪ Corey Ruby: And I had a lot of fun doing that.

I got to create some amazing makeups.

Eyes closed for me.

Corey Ruby: But ultimately, I always wanted to do prosthetic makeup.

♪♪ Corey Ruby: I have worked in music videos and commercials, movies, obviously haunted attractions, Dreamland has Margot Robbie in it.

All the bullet holes in that movie are my designs.

One, two, three -- (screaming) Corey Ruby: But my first major putting me on the map kind of thing is called the Zombie Pride Parade.

The guy who was creating it, he took this younger photo of himself and he gave that version of himself a persona and gave him a false name and created him as a missing person.

He had stacks of missing persons flyers like this and we would go all over.

That scared the whole Quad Cities and the Quad Cities believed it was a legitimate thing to be afraid of.

It noticeably got made into a big deal because so many people ended up getting involved.

And the police were involved and it was like this whole endeavor.

Once he said zombie the first time everyone was like, oh, ha-ha, we get it now, you had us fooled.

They needed a makeup artist to come in and help bring these creations to life.

So many people ended up getting involved.

I think it was like 150 people done up as zombies into the Halloween parade unannounced.

That was kind of where the career kicked off bigtime, that was the moment.

I'm going to get really close up.

We're going to do some shading.

Keep your eyes closed for me.

Kim Anderson: He is very good at what he does.

Tilt your head up for me.

Kim Anderson: Of course, he has his movies and everything, but on our side, people love having Corey do body paint or prosthetics.

And then a lot of times it gets published.

Corey Ruby: So, Photography by Focal Points is Kim and Whitney.

Stop about there.

Yeah!

Corey Ruby: We had talked about collaborating for a while.

We could do different themes and stuff and offer it as different packages.

They built their own sets in a lot of cases, like all of that.

Kim Anderson: We do tiki, obviously, we do space, we do western, Halloween is our huge one.

We have a set that we built in the Garden of Good and Evil, which is based off of the cemeteries in Savannah.

We build all these by hand so no one else has this, so this is ours.

Whitney Pope: I mean, there's only so much you can do in Photoshop.

A lot of that, what he does, just can't be replicated in post.

And the detail, it really comes through in the photos.

♪♪ Whitney Pope: Photography goes pretty quick.

It's usually the prep that takes a lot of time.

Mouth open.

Corey Ruby: With Conner, when we did his zombie makeup, it was like three and a half hours that I worked on Conner.

♪♪ Corey Ruby: I'm a cinephile, I love movies, I grew up on the Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock and I had like an effects career bucket list and one of those was I want to work on a slasher movie, I want to be able to say I got to work on a slasher movie.

And that's Haunt Season.

It was a blast.

Like everybody on that crew was great.

It was a challenging project for me.

I wanted it to be something that I felt like could potentially become a cult classic.

I really truly believe that's going to be the one.

(horror music) Corey Ruby: Every single time I go to do a new makeup there's always the anxiety of starting to work with someone that I've never worked with before.

But there's usually a point about two-thirds of the way through the makeup where now they don't look like themselves anymore.

That's what I do it for is just that constant challenge of being better than my former self, you know, pushing those elements.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Funding for Iowa Life is provided by the Gilchrist Foundation, founded by Jocelyn Gilchrist, furthering the philanthropic interests of the Gilchrist family in wildlife and conservation, the arts and public broadcasting and disaster relief.

Mark and Kay De Cook Charitable Foundation, proud to support programs that highlight the stories about the people and places of Iowa.

The Strickler Family, in loving memory of Lois Strickler, to support programs that highlight the importance of Iowa's natural resources on Iowa PBS.

And by -- the Lainie Grimm Fund for Inclusive Programming at the Iowa PBS Foundation.