English teacher Heideman was world champion log roller

Sammy Matson
Staff Writer

Mira Costa’s faculty not only enjoys molding the minds of students, but they have many other interests outside the classroom. Longtime English teacher John Heideman was a world champion log roller for close to 20 years.
“I started when I was 7 years of age,” Heideman said. “My father taught me how because we used to travel from California to Wisconsin every summer from the age of 7 to 26. He was trained when he was a young kid in Wisconsin.”
There are two different types of log rolling: exhibition and competition. In competition log rolling there are two people at each end of the log. They each try to knock the other off, not by touching each other, but by maneuvering the log side to side, or even up and down. Heideman, his brother, and his father took part in the exhibition form of log rolling. This is where the competitors perform a show and entertain the audience, all while still log rolling.
“We created a show where my dad was Mrs. Toothpick, and my brother and I, were his students,” said Heideman. “He dressed up in a woman’s dress with a wig on and he would send us out to do tricks on the log. We played leap frog on the log, I’d jump over my brother, then I would juggle on the log, and I would lay down on the log and we would take a chair out on the log and Mrs. Toothpick would sit on it and instruct us.”
These Heideman hooligans placed first at the Lumberjack World Championships in Hayward, Wisconsin in 1960s.
“[My favorite part] was just entertaining people, and letting them see something that’s a part of American history because it follows the lumberjacks,” Heideman said. “I felt like I was carrying on a tradition that goes back hundreds of years and its still in existence today, with a lot of competition; it’s fun to be a part of history.”
Heideman not only took part in competitions, but also performed at many different conventions and amusement parks, such as the recreation vehicle show at the Anaheim Convention Center and even Knotts Berry Farm. He also taught children the joys of log rolling at camps in Big Bear and Wisconsin. Although it’s been almost 20 years since his last log roll, according to Heideman, log rolling has always been part of his life that was fun.
“I mean, I’m probably the only person that can walk up to someone and say ‘hi, I’m a world champion log roller’,” Heideman said.