Life seems to be all about boxes these days. Delivery drivers of every sort drive our roads daily and appear in our neighborhoods with evermore frequency. Receiving a box at your doorstop is no longer something out of the ordinary or rare, it is expected. We let these packages come and go without notice as we scurry through the busyness of our lives. At times we even forget to pick them up to take them inside. However, there is one "box" in Pocatello, lovingly honed and packaged up for us by the Kalivas family, that will never be forgotten for so many.

The recently sold Pressbox has served as a gathering place for residents, travelers, newcomers, ISU athletes and alumni for nearly five decades. It has been so much more than a "sports bar." It has been a place to celebrate and mourn all the "wins and losses" that give our lives meaning. For many of us, it has been a true touchstone that one could count on to provide a "sense of home" when coming back into town after months, years or even decades. Like a kid arriving at your grandparents’ house to visit for Christmas, you knew you could step inside the doors of the Pressbox and all would essentially be the same. The surrounding warmth of the lighting, the people and consistent sustenance would nourish and welcome you back as if time had stood still.

In 2019, this Bengal alumna returned to Pocatello for the first time in nearly 40 years. I had recently retired from a multi-decade career in Cybersecurity, leading sales and distribution teams for some of the largest, most respected brands Silicon Valley could produce to protect our nation’s most guarded data. Having built my own personal "brand" in a male dominated field peppered with Stanford and MIT graduates, I had much to be proud of and thankful for. Yet with all the industry-wide recognition I’d received and wonderful, far-reaching places I’d traveled to for business and pleasure, all that this burnt-out Bengal wanted to do to refuel was to go "home" to Pocatello. I needed to abandon my hardened corporate persona, attack the chip on my shoulder a bit, and try to recapture the feeling and innocence of the open-hearted, college coed that I once was.

I didn’t know what to expect upon arriving back in Pocatello after so much time, but I knew there were a few absolutes my soul needed to do to begin finding its way back. First on the list was to walk the sidewalks of ISU’s gorgeous Quad to take in the surrounding beauty and to let my memories of a hard-earned education, young love, and forever friendships take hold. Second was to walk from the Quad to the Mountain View Cemetery to kneel in the snow before the grave of a friend lost along the way. The very next thing was to arrive unannounced at the Pressbox so that I could walk through its doors and once again be wrapped up with the warmth of feeling that only a lovingly-crafted, homegrown business can provide. I longed for connection, and as it had done for decades for so many wayfaring Bengals, the Kalivas family and their beloved Pressbox provided the touchstone I so badly needed.