I Remember When!
*****
How I Achieved a High per Carry Yardage Average
in High School Football
Glenn BarclayNot too many men get to go through life bragging about having a five yards per carry average in high school football, but I did, and I know it’s hard to believe, but before you start booing me read the rest of the story and I think those that were playing in that game will remember what happened. It’s funny how things like this stay in your memory, but I can remember this like it was only yesterday.
It was during the Fall of my senior year (1947) at SHS. We (SHS football team) were playing a team from the St Louis area and we luckily stopped them on about our 15 yard line. I had been playing at the linebacker position on defense and when we got the ball I was supposed to go out and someone like Bill White or Harry Murrell were supposed to come in the game as a fullback. For some unknown reason Roy Robberson, our coach, forgot to send in either of them to replace me. So I took their place in the backfield at the Fullback position. And for some reason unknown to me today, Bob Speake the Quarterback called a play that called for the fullback to go between the left guard and left tackle AND I WAS SUPPOSED TO CARRY THE BALL.
I don’t know who was the most surprised, me or the other team, as I was a string bean skinny guy that had never carried the ball in a real football game. I had only played defense before. Bob Heck was the left guard and I think Hal Dryden was the left tackle and I was supposed to go between them after Speake handed the ball to me. Bob Heck and Hal Dryden must have realized what had happened and they both blocked like they had never blocked before. When I went through that hole there was no one within five yards of me, nobody on the other team touched me until I, with my eyes closed, ran into one of them about five or six yards downfield. I of course fell quickly, but it had provided me with a pretty impressive five yards per carry.
I was reminded of this story when Bob Speake, Fred McQueary, Ed Smith and I had lunch together here in Springfield a few weeks ago. When I asked Bob if he remembered the play he said yes. And then when I asked why he called it, I believe he said he “thought it would catch the other team off guard. Catch THEM off guard! What an understatement. He also caught me off guard but I luckily didn’t fumble the ball, but made a rather nice gain, thanks to Heck and Dryden.Robberson never did say anything to me about the play when I came off the field as he was probably thinking about breaking Speake’s neck because if anyone else had been carrying that ball through a hole that the marching band could of marched through, they would of probably went 85 yards for a touchdown.
One carry-five yards! To me that’s a five yard per carry average. Can anyone beat it?
gb
*****
Ed Smith sent in the following
story recalling his younger days
while performing on the most
popular Radio Station in Springfield.
*****
KWTO is celebrating their 75th anniversary this year and they asked for anybody who had memories
of past times with the station to send them for their archives.
There will be an open house next Saturday with lots of memorabilia on display and I hope to go see it if possible.
Thought I'd share my fifteen minutes of "fame" with a few of my closer friends and family.
Bear with me here.Ed
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to: Meyer Communications (KWTO) Staff:I have many old memories of KWTO, mostly from the mid-30s and early 40s. Forgive me if some
of the dates and facts are a little fractured since, heck...I'm 78 now and sometimes can't remember
what I had for my last meal!In 1936, my Mother took me to the radio station on St. Louis Street for a talent show (Kiddy Club I
think it was called) and somebody must have heard something they liked because I was hired as
the kid (Little Eddie) of the Goodwill Family Show with Slim Wilson, Aunt Martha Haworth, Uncle
George Smith (no relation), Junior (later, Speedy) Haworth, announcer, John Pearson and an
occasional guest performer or two whose names I can't recall. With Speedy's passing earlier this
year, I surely must be the sole survivor of the Goodwill Family.
Being only 5 years old, I couldn't read very well so my Mother taught me many songs of the era...
some country/Western, some spiritual and some from the popular Hit Parade Show that was broadcast
on a national network. My pay was $10 dollars a week which, according to my Mother, was more than
my Dad was paid at the time.
This little gig lasted about three years when I had to "retire" for schooling. Mom said they held me
out of school for a year or so after I could have started because the pay was so good! And...needed!
It was depression time, you know. Performing was still in my blood so I took guitar lessons from who then
was considered the best at the station, Wee Willie Wells. After a few lessons, I was hired to replace
Howard Lee Arthur (who had replaced Speedy) on a Sunday morning program where George Earle
read the "funny papers" (ala New York's mayor, Fiorella LaGuardia), and we kid singers performed a
few tunes.
I still consider George Earle the consummate radio man who could have made a mark on
the national scene should he have been so inclined. At George's 90th birthday party in the Foster
Museum at the College of the Ozarks, the only three who were ever on the "funny paper" programs--
Speedy, Howard Lee and myself--all attended to honor him. I still have my original guitar and have
been asked to donate it to the Museum which I plan to do. I also linked up with George in Kiwanis
Minstrels (talk about bad P.C.!) and conventions in the 70s where he was M.C. and I was part of a
quartet who did the programs.
When I was president of the Ozark Empire Kiwanis Club, my retirement- from-office dinner entertainment
was put on by the Tall Timber Trio (Slim, Speedy and Bob White) that was arranged by a friend who was
aware of my past. Slim made me get up on a chair (I was 39!) like in the old days and sing along with them
on a couple of numbers. What a show! My Kiwanis buddies have never let me forget that special event.
When I was a sales rep. with NCR, I hired Speedy to deliver cash register supplies when he had a little
express truck line. At a later time, I was an Air Force Officer (now retired from the reserves) and Joe Slattery
was my Commanding Officer of the local squadron.Well, my fifteen minutes of fame is long gone and my performing is now relegated to the shower so that's
enough rambling from an old Codger. I could probably come up with some more wonderful memories if
the envelope was pushed but these are a few that stand out in my mind even after all of the years that have
passed. I've been listening to some of your remembrance programs this past week and they have jogged
these special memories that haven't been in the forefront of my thinking lately. Thanks for doing KWTO is
celebrating their 75th anniversary this year and they asked for anybody who had memories of past times
with the station to send them for their archives.There will be an open house next Saturday with lots of memorabilia on display and I hope to go see it if possible.
Ed
G.E. (Ed) Smith
1155 Beverly Hills Drive
Springfield, MO 65803
417.833.3466tworet@mchsi.com
Ed Smith
*****
James (Jim) Groves responded to the slide show
of "Old Memories" with the story that follows.
Surely others of you have old stories that all
of us would like to read about. Send them to me at:
gebarclay@sbcglobal.net
And
I will publish them here.
*****
Glenn,
I was born in
LaDue, MO, the first one and not the suburb of St. Louis. Mine had a
post office which pissed off
the upper middle class that lived in
Ladue. My folks moved to Clinton sometime
before I started school but my
dad's family still lived there.
LaDue and Clinton are 9 miles apart.
Every other weekend we went to LaDue. It was a very long trip. Roads
were dirt and mostly ruts. Sometimes I
got to steer because we went very slowly and the ruts actually did the
steering. We almost always had a flat
tire during the trip. More often than not my dad had to have the only local
mechanic fix some problem before we
could drive the car home. Sometimes it couldn't be fixed in time to get
home on Sunday night. When that happened
there was a passenger train that went in the direction from LaDue
to Clinton. It went through about 11:30
at night. It did not regularly stop in LaDue (population about a hundred
people but a lot of cows) so my granddad
would stand in the middle of the tracks with a lantern and swing it
back and forth.
What I didn't see in the pictures were
hobos. They came through regularly, were very polite and always ate on
the back porch. One time my dog,
Trigger, followed a hobo and I never saw it again. Does not speak well of my
efforts to make a dog happy. One has to
wonder if we will start seeing them again and if they will be as non-
threatening.
Jim
*****
Paul Shipman sent in the pictures of Gerald Matlock that are shown below.
Gerald attended Pipkin Junior High School and would of graduated with the Class
of 1948 had he continued with his education, but he quit SHS in 1946 to enlist
in the Navy. Paul told me in his letter to me that the last letter he received
from Gerald was dated August 19, 1947 shortly after the "Destroyer" ship (The
USS Rogers) that Gerald was stationed on, apparently had just finished a
training exercise by sinking a Japanese "Destroyer" off the coast of China.
Although Paul's brother, David was listed as a pallbearer, Paul who was not
expected to get back in time for the funeral, did in fact get back in time to
serve as a pallbearer. If you read the Obit you will notice that all the Pall
Bearers at Gerald's funeral were in our graduating class, except David Shipman
and Paul took David's place.
Gerald Matlock
(Click on picture to
enlarge)
*****
Remember the Korean War? That was "our" war. Freeman McCullah came up with
the following obituary about one of the first in our class to die in that war. If you can
think of any others in our class who perished in the Korean war, please let me know
the particulars. Send them to: gebarclay@mchsi.comThomas McMaster Justice
Private First Class, U.S. Marine Corps
Service number 1098516
Killed in action
Died September 16, 1951 in KoreaPrivate First Class Justice was a member of Company F, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marine Division.He was
Killed in Action while fighting the enemy in Korea on September 16,1951. Private First Class Justice was
awarded the Purple Heart, the Combat action ribbon, the Korean Service Medal, the United Nations
Service Medal, the National Defense Service Medal and the Korean War Service Medal.
*****
Matt Henry's photos of Hobo Days at SHS
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Send
me the names of the people in the above pictures
and I'll put them on the page. gebarclay@sbcglobal.net
*****
Troy Compton & Ed Smith "Remember When"
I remember all
of these but still use the word "supper". I use the word "supper" because I am a
native Missourian.
When I was a kid we had breakfast, dinner and supper. When we lived in
New England and Michigan and even earlier,
California, we learned to use "diner" for the evening meal and "lunch"
for the noon break. We did this because no
one else understood that taking a dinner break meant it was time for
"lunch" let along know about "being invited to
supper" or know what I meant when I would remark "It's time to go home
for supper!" at the end of a workday. It was
good to move back to Missouri 20 years ago this coming August and
relearn to use "supper". However, "dinner" became
"lunch" in our absence and still is, except on Sunday when its "Sunday
Dinner" and we often skip "supper" on Sunday in
favor of "early church" and have pizza after church.
Troy Compton
*****
The big
Mid-America Street Rods show is at the Fairgrounds this weekend and the NW
corner of town is full of owners,
traders and lookers. The write-up below is pretty appropriate to the
event. The other day I picked up a copy of his essay
collection, "Tom Dodge
Talks About Texas." Well, one of those little pieces sent me off on a reverie
almost immediately.
It was about Big Jim Tidwell of Whitney, "The Fender Skirt King of
Texas" And I thought, "Fender skirts!" What a great
blast from the past! I hadn't thought about fender skirts in years. When
I was a kid, I considered it such a funny term. Made
me think of a car in a dress.
Thinking about fender skirts
started me thinking about other words that have quietly disappeared from our
language with
hardly a notice. Words like "curb feelers" and "steering knobs." Since
I'd been thinking of cars, my mind naturally went that
direction first. You kids will probably have to find some elderly person
over 50 to explain some of these terms to you.
Remember "Continental kits?" They were rear bumper extenders and spare
tire covers that were supposed to make any car
as cool as a Lincoln Continental.When did we quit calling them
"emergency brakes?" At some point "parking brake" became
the proper term. But I miss the hint of drama that went with "emergency
brake." I'm sad, too, that almost all the old folks
are gone who would call the accelerator the "foot feed."
Here's a phrase I heard all the time in my youth but never anymore
-"store-bought." Of course, just about everything is store-
bought these days. But once it was bragging material to have a
store-bought dress or a store-bought bag of candy."Coast to
coast" is a phrase that once held all sorts of excitement and now means
almost nothing. Now we take the term "worldwide"
for granted. This floors me.
On a smaller scale, "wall-to-wall" was once a magical term in our
homes. In the '50s, everyone covered their hardwood floors
with, wow, wall-to-wall carpeting! Today, everyone replaces their
wall-to-wall carpeting with hardwood floors. Go figure.
When's the last time you heard the quaint phrase "in a family way?" It's
hard to imagine that the word "pregnant" was once
considered a little too graphic, a little too clinical for use in polite
company. So we had all that talk about stork visits and
"being in a family way" or simply "expecting."
Apparently "brassiere" is a word no longer in usage. I said it the other
day and my daughter cackled. I guess it's just "bra" now
"Unmentionables" probably wouldn't be understood at all. It's hard to
recall that the word "divorce" was once said in a whisper.
And no one is called a "divorcee" anymore. And...God forbid... not a
"gay divorcee." Come to think of it, "confirmed bachelors"
and "career girls" are pretty much long gone, too.
Most of these words go back to the '50s, but here's a pure-'60s word I
came across the other day,,, "rat fink." Ooh, what a nasty
put-down that was! Here's a word I miss - "percolator." That was just a
fun word to say. And what was it replaced with?
"Coffeemaker." How dull. Mr. Coffee, I blame you for this.
I miss those made-up marketing words that were meant to sound so modern
and now sound so retro.Words like "DynaFlow"
and "ElectroLuxe." Introducing the 1963 Admiral TV, now with "SpectraVision!"
Food for thought - Was there a telethon that
wiped out lumbago? Nobody complains of that anymore. Maybe that's what
castor oil cured, because I never hear mothers
threatening their kids with castor oil anymore.
Some words aren't gone, but are definitely on the endangered list. The
one that grieves me most -"supper." Save a great word.
Invite someone to supper. Discuss fender skirts.
Ed Smith
*****
Former classmate Sister Mary
Arthur Ellis, RSM (nee Loretta Ellis), after seeing the picture of the "new" SHS
building
sent in the following letter. I thought you might enjoy this bit of
information.
Thank you for the photo! It surely brings back good memories. The original building of Springfield SHS was built by my Grandfather and Great-Uncle's Construction Company. How many graduates returned for the Reunion, Glen? Regards, Sr. Mary
Then today I received this e-mail from her.
Greetings,
I
surely hope that the New Year has begun well for you.
You
surely may pass on the information concerning my Grand-
father and Great Uncle.
The fact
that together they built many buildings in Springfield and other cities did not
mean muc
to us until we were older.
They then
took us to see some of their buildings, including a Hotel in Eureka Springs, AR.
My father was a Construction Engineer and “ran jobs” , as he said, in the
Northern States, such as Hospitals, Churches,
Schools,
Libraries
and 7 buildings at Notre Dame University, including the Fine Arts building.
We were
very proud of him.
As we get older, I believe we appreciate our parents and ancestors more,
including my Mother’s (and ours) Native American
Heritage.
Thank you
for letting me reminisce.
That’s
one of our prerogatives as we become Elders, too, isn’t it?
Sorry
that
it has taken me so long to reply to your original request.
Thank
you, also, for keeping the Web Site going for our Class.
Regards, Sister Mary Arthur Ellis, RSM
*****
"Reflections" by Ramona McQueary
The class of 1948 was formed in the Great Depression. Few families had autos.
Walking was the favored mode of transportation. Some of us
were glad to have the indoor plumbing that others did not have. We
all remember the ice delivery trucks because electric refrigerators were
rare. Insurance men came around each week for their 25 cent
premium.
Elementary school was a different world for us. We were
introduced to cafeteria food. Many still brought their lunches or walked home.
Our
last year in elementary school brought war to all of us.
By the time we were in junior high school, Doolittle had raided
Japan. The Philippines were lost. We were collecting foil from gum wrappers,
scrap metal, bacon renderings, and war stamps. Gasoline was
rationed, as was sugar and all kinds of fat for consumption. Chocolate was a
rare
find. Peanuts disappeared and Kresge’s nut machine sold roasted
soybeans. Meat was rationed. We survived a curfew imposed on us.
During our freshman year (our last year in Junior High), we lost
a president, watched the fall of Germany, and then as we watched the mushroom
clouds of the atomic bombs, Japan surrendered. We thought we might
have an automobile soon as production in the automobile plants had resumed
for private use. “We” referred to the family, not individuals.
Owning your own car was not even considered.
During our three years in high school, we grieved over the loss
of classmates to accidents. We dreaded to be called to the offices of Miss
Calhoun or Mr. Kesterson.
We learned to cheer for the Bulldogs, football, basketball and
baseball. We even went to Joplin for competition with our archrivals. The
bands
played and the Kilties marched.
We could hardly wait to be seniors to participate in Hobo Day. Graduation
activities included a Senior prom, Baccalaureate sermon, and Grad-
uation. We had drawn close only to be thrown apart.
Our class members have been all over the world with the military
and travels. We have had all kinds of jobs and fulfilled many dreams. Senior
High School formed us and it is for that reason we meet again. We
are the survivors. We have returned Home.
Reflections—Ramona Frazier McQueary