Officially Knighted

By John Burbridge
sports@charlescitypress.com
CHARLES CITY — Todd Forsyth was Jack Molstead’s first high school basketball coach.

After Molstead led the Charles City Comets in scoring his freshman year, Forsyth — also the school’s activities director — relinquished his coaching duties and has since watched Comet games as a spectator.

“And I’ve seen him get better every year,” Forsyth said of Molstead, who went on to become a three-time all-state player for the Comets while becoming the school’s all-time leader in assists and scoring. “And that’s in all facets … ballhanding, passing, defense.”

This past season, Molstead passed Greg Brunner in the all-time scoring category. Brunner, who also played for Forsyth, went on to become a prominent star for the Iowa Hawkeyes.

Molstead will continue his career at Wartburg College.

Though Molstead announced his decision during his final high school basketball season, on Tuesday he was officially “Knighted” when he signed his letter of intent during a ceremony at the high school with family members, coaches, teachers and former teammates in attendance.

“I’m happy to finally get it done,” said Molstead, who was going to sign last week but had to reschedule it due to a rescheduled golf meet taking place in the early afternoon that day. In addition to being a three-time all-stater — a first-teamer his senior year — Molstead is a three-time All-Northeast Iowa Conference golfer.

What likely helped Molstead improve his game throughout the years was what he did over the summer playing with and against Division 1 Blue Chip talent while touring across the nation with an elite travel team.

Due to graduate this spring, Molstead won’t tour with the team this summer.

“But I’m going to play in a summer league with my Wartburg teammates,” Molstead said. “I’m looking forward to that.”

The Knights, an NCAA Division III team, were 17-9 overall and 11-5 in the American Rivers Conference last season.

“They play at a fast pace and create a lot of scoring opportunities,” Molstead said. “They also put an emphasis on defense.”