Stewball Publishing is named after the late David Ackley who hiked the Appalachian Trail twice under the trail name “Stewball.”

Hailing from Iowa, Stewball was the nicest person on the planet. He would give the shirt off his back to anyone. He stood six-foot-and-some-inches tall and was well-read and well-spoken. He was his high school’s class valedictorian and never missed a day of school from kindergarten through his senior year. He loved hitchhiking around the country and often picked up hitchhikers, finding camaraderie that he felt was sometimes missing in the “real world.” He and his former partner once picked up a couple in North Carolina and drove them to Florida because “that’s where they needed to go." He could eat an entire package of Double Stuf Oreos, Twizzlers, and Oatmeal Cream Pies in one sitting.