Sunrise on April 1, 2015

The KOM Flash Report for week of April 5 is now here.

 

KOM Flash Report

for

Week of April 5-11, 2015

(Released 31 hours early due to voluminous material and Easter activities on the agenda)

 

One of the first comments received regarding the most recent Flash Report came from Barbara Eichhorst in St. Louis. She wrote “Unbelievable all the information you have and yet there is always more to find.”

 

Well, when that note was received I didn’t have a clue what would be in this report or if there would even be one. What appears as the last article in this report even surprised me. I prefaced it by saying that the largest majority of the readers were given permission not to read it and I haven’t changed my mind. However, there are some things in the article, and in most of the links, that are historical in nature and very interesting. If you aren’t a baseball fan go there now. If you are a baseball fan go to where that article starts and then delete the rest of the report.

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Another reader wants to stay in touch:

 

John, before I toss this thing out please keep sending your email. Dale Hendricks—Bremerton, WA-- Ponca City Dodgers 1947-48.

 

Ed note:

 

Dale Hendricks’ note is a nice segue into the determination of the fate of Robert E. Hughes. They were teammates at Ponca City, OK for a few days in 1947.

A death record for Robert Eugene Hughes in Ancestry.com was shared by Ed Washuta—baseball researcher.

 

search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=nvdeathindex&s...

 

For those of you without a computer, here is what the URL revealed

 

Robert Eugene Hughes

Birth Date:3 Jun 1928

Birth Place:California

Death Date:16 Jan 1991

Death Place:Reno, Washoe, Nevada, USA

 

Name:Robert E. Hughes

Birth Date:1928

Death Date:1991

Cemetery:Sierra Memorial Gardens Cemetery

Burial or Cremation Place:Reno, Washoe County, Nevada, USA

Has Bio?:N

URL:www.findagrave.com/cgi-...

 

Ed reply:

 

I think this has to be the guy due to the birth month and day. The year has always been a point of dispute. Thanks for your assistance.

 

He is buried in Sierra Memorial Gardens in Reno. Thanks again.

 

Washuta’s reply:

 

Glad to help. Attached is his page from the 1955 Pacific Coast League Sketch Book. It gives his birth year as 1928.

 

Ed comment:

 

The PCL sketch book went into detail about Hughes career which showed him starting in 1947 with Abilene in the West Texas-New Mexico league and then on to Ponca City. He had actually been signed in 1946 by the Dodgers and posted a win with Santa Barbara that year. The PCL sketch book showed that he had moved from Alhambra to Gardenia, California and in the off season his job was that of a policeman. Aside from that the basic information on Hughes’ career is found here: www.baseball-reference.com/minors/player.cgi?id=hughes004rob After a relatively extensive minor league career it was only justice that allowed him to play in the Pacific Coast league during part of his last season.

 

Ed reply and comment

 

That is absolutely the right guy. Thanks. I recall reading the accounts in the Ponca City News about how well Hughes was doing in Sheboygan of the Wisconsin State league. He wound up with a 12-1 record and what galled the sportswriter in Ponca City was that Hughes was a lefty and aside from Tony Brzezowski the Ponca City pitching staff was all right-handed.

 

“Walking” John A. Jackson spotted?

 

JOHN -- JOHN ARNOLD JACKSON JUST WALKED PAST MY HOUSE. I KNOW HE IS STILL WALKING. WALT Babcock—Cape Cod, MA

 

Ed note:

 

John Jackson was mentioned as pitching to three men in his first and last outing for the 1952 Blackwell, OK Broncos. In that span he walked every man he faced and walked off the field never to return to professional baseball.

 

If, as Babcock stated, Jackson is still walking and he was headed east, he should be somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean.

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From the All-time home run king of the KOM league.

 

Hey John: How are you and your family getting along?

 

Just caught your e-mail flash reports, thanks a lot. Seeing my name and other former K.O.M players in print again stirs up some great ole memories, you know, what you have accomplished throughout your travels through your K.O.M venture has brought together and given an enormous number of people a great amount of pleasure and has molded together great friendships between people from every state plus those who otherwise would have never known each other in the "K.O.M COMMUNITY" of good old time baseball when a good ole game of baseball was played in small communities and local diamonds was the backbone of their entertainment, nothing could ever compare with my baseball experiences and associations with the "K.O.M COMMUNITY."

 

I never could get Jim Owens on the phone.

 

Hey John, it is great hearing from you, talk to you later.

Don Ervin—Springfield, MO

Great Base Ball

 

Ed comment:

 

Don Ervin set the record for the most home runs in the history of the KOM (24) that included some guys with great power and who went on in their careers to hit a “ton” of homers. Sometime get on a website and look at the guys who played in the KOM league who went on to pretty good careers. As a hint Mickey Mantle might be a good place to start. Compare Mantle’s number of homers in 1949 with Ervin’s in 1952. Ervin was a member of the 1952 Miami team that included future big league pitchers, Jim Owens and Seth Morehead. He replaced a guy by the name of Bert Convy on the roster when Convy was sent to Salina of the Western Association. Convy went from there to be a rock and roll singer, actor and long time TV game show host. Another teammate, Nick DeMaio made it big time in country music and is still at it. Chester DiEmidio made it as a coach for the Chicago White Sox organization after he retired from his “day” job.

 

It can be said that Ervin played with guys who made it “big” in just about every capacity known in the realm of human experience. One teammate made it all the way to the “Big House” in Georgia. He wound up in the Federal Reformatory in Atlanta for murder. In fact, Ervin called that facility a number of years ago and they verified his former teammate had been an inmate but had recently passed away, shortly after his release. That inmate and former teammate once called Jim Owens when he was still with the Philadelphia Phillies and asked him to visit when the team was in town to play the Braves. Owens told me he didn’t make the visit.

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Fred Durant Schneider III

 

Locating the obituary of Fred Schneider, in recent days, has opened an entirely new vista. After coming back from WW II he enrolled at the University of Oklahoma where he played varsity baseball. He was a teammate on that club with Dale Mitchell who played a long time for the Cleveland Indians before winding up with the Brooklyn Dodgers. He went down in history as being the last out in Don Larsen’s perfect game in the 1956 World Series.

 

When that last out was made I was sitting in a high school English class with my new Zenith seven transistor radio hidden in my notebook. When the called third strike was made to end that game I made some little outburst that caused my teacher to glance at me in an odd way. As far as I was concerned that pitch was right down the middle. However, when seeing that pitch, on the newsreel at the theater, a short time later, that last offering to Mitchell seemed to me to be high and outside. That was Babe Pinelli’s last game as an umpire and I always figured he wanted to go out with a memorable game. life.time.com/culture/don-larsen-perfect-game-october-8-1...

 

Back to Fred Schneider. There is a publication from the University of Oklahoma that spoke of the surprising season the Sooners were having in the spring of 1946. Schneider was pitching for them and as a pitcher was hitting at a.666 clip. Dale Mitchell was leading the regular position players with a .545 average. You can read the Sooners stats at this site: digital.libraries.ou.edu/sooner/articles/p22-24_1946v18n9...

 

On the aforementioned site was a two-sport athlete from Little Rock, Arkansas, Jack Venable. He was a star on the football gridiron as well as the baseball diamond. After a couple of more years at Oklahoma he broke into professional baseball being signed by the Boston Red Sox in 1948 and he was sent to Milford, Delaware in the Eastern Shore league. Most of Venable’s baseball career was spent in Texas towns such as Borger, Gainesville, Amarillo, Pampa and even Clovis, New Mexico in the West Texas-New Mexico league. He did manage to hook on with the Topeka, Kansas Hawks, in 1958, who were a Milwaukee Braves farm club.

 

While Venable played another two seasons at Oklahoma his pitching partner, Schneider, didn’t get to do so since he had made himself ineligible by playing in five games during the 1946 KOM season.

 

Since a number of baseball researchers read this publication I’ll answer the question before it is asked. John Justice “Jack” Venable was born February 7, 1926 in Little Rock. The family later moved to Sweet Home, Arkansas where they lived until 1936 and then moved back to Little Rock by 1940. He died May 9, 1981 in Salt Lake City, Utah (Social Security Death Index verifies that is where he received his final benefit check) and was brought back to Alexander, Arkansas for burial. Here is a link to his gravesite. search.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/sse.dll?db=FindAGraveUS&h...

 

There is a snapshot of Venable, in his later years, at this site. www.geni.com/people/Jack-Venable/6000000031682765201

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KOM task brought about a retirement

 

Last year I mentioned that the Kansas State Historical Society became the keepers of a bunch of old KOM league correspondence. That material would wear down anyone and this past week I received the following. “Dear John: I think I indicated I was retiring in an earlier e-mail. Well--it is official as of March 27. I know we hadn't finished working with you (my fault) but we would like to work with you to transfer the rest of the materials you are donating to the Historical Society. Darrell Garwood will be your contact now. You will be hearing from his soon.

 

I have really enjoyed working with you and I certainly admire your dedication to documenting the KOM league. It is truly a labor of love for you--as well as getting the players together and helping them communicate with each other.

 

Best wishes. Pat Michaelis

 

Ed comment:

 

While I sent along my congratulations to Pat, I will have to send my condolences to Darrell. Of course, he and I have communicated in the past and both of us are concerned that some of the mold on those old files doesn’t cause health problems. Beware of mold it is bad stuff.

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Bartlesville team photo from 1946 draws attention.

 

John: From that picture, only Ed Suvada and Ike Henderson (who got into one game as a relief pitcher) played for Keokuk. I have some interesting notes on Suvada. A few years ago I corresponded with a gentleman who was a kid when Suvada played with Keokuk and Suvada befriended him which was heady stuff for the young man. Unfortunately all my notes are back in Keokuk. Do you have a date of death for Suvada? I have the year and month November 1983 but not the date.

 

Steve Smith--Keokuk IA (Currently in Englewood FL)

 

Ed reply:

 

There is a pretty lengthy court case in Chicago where Stephen Suvada, Ed's brother, sued White Trucking Company and a brake manufacturer for selling them a defective vehicle for their milk delivery company. Suvada won that case.

Look on my Flickr site from yesterday. In the narrative below that photo is some material on Suvada along with a link that gives his grave site and the information on the tombstone is accurate. Most baseball records showed him being born in 1923 not 1921. I'm not at the site right now I can get to his day of death in 1983 but it was between the 10th and 12th of November.

 

A few moments later:

 

Like I said earlier, he died between the 10th and 12th. Well, it was November 16, 1983 and his grave marker is on the Find-A-Grave citation I linked to in the last report.

 

One of Suvada's problems was being signed by the White Sox prior to WW II and then missing four seasons in what should have been the learning years in his baseball career. Of course, that was the case of many of the post WW II players who came back, had to lie about their age in order to get a shot at playing. You can look at most of those guys and know that they were older than they claimed. Take a close look at the faces of some of those guys in the 1946 Bartlesville photo. Some of those guys were in their mid-thirties by that time. Wayne Grose was a classic example. He played all through the war for Industrial league teams in Wichita. He was even too old for WW II, or had a special hardship exemption.

 

Woody Fair, Goldie Howard, Wayne Grose, Winlow “Windy” Johnson, Alex Coleman, Dudley Carson and Rex Bain Hatfield were all WWII era fellows who played Industrial league baseball in Wichita and then moved on to the KOM league at the conclusion of the war and the formation of the new league.. All came in 1946 except Windy Johnson who didn’t show up until 1949. After their KOM careers concluded many former KOM leaguers played for various Wichita area teams. I won’t remember them all but here is what my “Three score ten and more age brain” comes up with: Loren Packard, Jim Morris, Dave Newkirk, Jim Upchurch, Al Kunigonis (aka Kuni), Rex Simpson, Mike Werbach, Clyde Girrens and Steve Kovach

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Keeping up with a former Ponca City Dodger—Robert Lee Henne.

 

In messing around on the Internet this past week I found where a former KOM leaguer had retired from a college position, last year, that he had held since 1964.

www.polk.edu/news/retirees-honored-at-fourth-annual-lunch... Pull up the foregoing URL and you will see a photo of Bob Henne. He played for the Ponca City Dodgers in 1950 and part of 1951. He attended the 1998 KOM league reunion. I never heard from him after that but the ex-basketball player, turned baseballer, is still alive and well in Winter Haven, Florida.

 

Henne was on the 1948-49 Kentucky Wildcat basketball team coached by the legendary, Adolph Rupp. That team later wound up in a huge scandal for messing with the bookies. The big names on the team were Alex Groza and Ralph Beard. The following site is for the basketball fans of the “Final Four.” It has all the pertinent data on the team as well as photos. Henne is listed as having attended high school in Bremen, Indiana. www.bigbluehistory.net/bb/statistics/roster1948-49.html Don’t rush past this site without looking closely at some of Henne’s peers. Joe B. Hall was on that Kentucky squad and he later coached at his alma mater.

 

Joe B. Hall, like Bob Henne, both landed in the Midwest. This is a quote about Hall who coached about 90 miles from where this report is being written. “Joe Beasman Hall, better known as Joe B. Hall, (born November 30, 1928) is the former head basketball coach at the University of Kentucky from 1972 to 1985. He previously coached at Central Missouri State University (Warrensburg, MO) and Regis University (Denver, CO) before returning to UK in 1965 to serve as an assistant coach under Adolph Rupp.”

 

Central Missouri State was the proving ground for future great coaches. Henry Iba coached there as well before going on to an illustrious career at Oklahoma A & M. Last year a coach by the name of Kim Anderson led Central Missouri State to a national NCAA level II championship. The University of Missouri hired him this year. Well, it only goes to show that not every thing turns out as expected. Don’t check Missouri’s record for the 2014-15 season. A case could be made that they were the worst team at the major college level in the nation. The bad news for Missouri is that most of the core of that team has two more years of eligibility. Missouri is the classic example of fans hoping that the nucleus of their team graduates prior to the next season. Now that I have infuriated Missouri alumni I’ll close this section.

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A reminder received on April 1.

 

And today is the 83rd birthday of one of your OLD KOMers. Kathy

 

Ed reply:

 

That note came in response to a pretty fair photo of a sunrise take at 5:45 on April 1st that was shared with the photo recipients. The birthday boy was Leonard Elmer Van de Hey.

He was born April 1, 1932 in Hillsboro, Wisconsin. Here is how I responded to Kathy. “Elmer was 19 when I first saw him. Long and lean. In fact, I saw him first in 1950,

even leaner.”

 

Ed comment:

 

One morning, in 1951, Van de Hey and Don Biebel showed up at the Carthage baseball facility while I was cleaning the mud from the spikes from the previous night’s game. They wanted to do some infield practice. Van de Hey wanted to be at shortstop and Biebel, with his catchers mitt was on first. I was told to play second base. I had played a lot of baseball up to that time but not with guys the size of Van de Hey. He wanted to turn a double play and he pounded a ball into his glove and threw to me at second. I could not have been more than 30 feet from him when he fired a bullet that I barely saw coming and it ripped the glove off my hand. I don’t know where the ball went but my glove was halfway to first base. I didn’t want to back down and admit I couldn’t catch balls thrown that hard from that distance but Biebel saved the day by telling Van de Hey to dial it back a bit. At that time in life Van de Hey was probably 16 inches taller and 130 pounds heavier than me. He was also 7.5 years older than the guy whose glove he ripped off with that hard throw. Van de Hey is still 7.5 years older but neither of us could begin to replicate that double play combination of sixty four summers past.

 

Since I mentioned Van de Hey’s birthday I guess it would be appropriate to list the April birth dates of the rest of the surviving KOM leaguers. They all have something in common, they are all over 80. Here are the names of the players and the day in April on which they were born. If you care to know the teams for whom they played you can check that at: komleaguebaseball.blogspot.com/2008/01/names.html

 

Mike Santoro (1), Bill Ashcraft (2), James Karrigan (3), Jim Belotti (Bello) (3), Raymond Moore (3), Lynne Stemme (3), Jerry Whalen (4), Sam Kitterman (5), Richard Nolte (6), George Beck (6), Charles Jones (8), Udo Jansen (9), Robert Kapinus (10), Alex Muirhead (11), Frank Urban (11), John Roth (12), Pete Swain (12), Kendall Wherry (13), Charles Kohs (14), Hubert Brooks (14), Bob Dewdney (14), Don Tisnaret (14), Hank Paskiewicz (15), Joe Elble (16), Sam Dixon (17), Steve Kraly (18), John Mudd (22), Lloyd Price (22), Anthony LaCroix (23), Gerald Wiley (23), Darrell Wayne Caves (23), James Cobb (25), Gerald Mayers (26), Robert Henne (28), Ronald and Donald Saatzer (29), Edward Soldo (29), William Eckensberger (29), Victor Damon (30) and Howard “Mace” Pool (30).

 

A coincidence?

 

Just moments after finishing the segment on birthdays I had a call from a former KOM leaguer who asked if I was still putting out the KOM league news. He said he hadn’t heard from me in about five years. I told the caller the newsletter was now being sent electronically. He said he didn’t have a computer. I asked him if he knew someone who did and he did. The person with the computer is his son Mickey who he named after a teammate from 1949. Read on and you’ll find out who that was. So, he’ll be receiving these Flash Reports in the near future.

 

In our conversation the caller asked about a number of former teammates and opponents. He asked if I ever hear from Jim Belotti (Bello) and I told him how coincidental that he asked about him since this is his birthday. The caller said he would call his former teammate and wish him a happy birthday. We talked about Belotti and the caller remembered him as a New Yorker wearing Panama hats, smoking big cigars and wooing all the young ladies in Independence. Those were the days.

 

So much for suspense. The call came from Keith Speck who pitched for the Independence Yankees in the first game Mickey Mantle ever played in professional baseball. Things haven’t gone well for Speck in recent times. He broke his hip and now resides in a residential care facility at Ft. Collins, Colo. If any of you guys want to get in touch with him let me know. One other fellow Speck asked about was a guy who was on an opposing team in 1949, Dick Getter, at Iola. I told him that I would pass his regards to Getter. So, Dick, Speck says “Hello”

 

The verbose conclusion:

 

Now, 99.9% of you are advised NOT to read any further—If you do so you can’t complain or criticize this totally non-KOM league story.

 

I didn’t invent Hogshooter, Oklahoma

 

In the Flickr version of the previous Flash Report a short synopsis of the members of the 1946 Bartlesville Oilers was presented. In that section it was mentioned that Bob Horsman lived at Ramona, Oklahoma which was not far from one of my favorite places, Hogshooter, OK. A number of readers probably thought I made that one up. So here is a Flash Report Extra.

 

“Hogshooter History.” (former names were Truskett and Jordan)

There are actually three different town sites in this area dating to 1900, 1917, and 1920. The residents moved with the various petroleum operations in the surrounding Hogshooter gas field, reportedly named after a Cherokee family and/or local Indians who once shot wild hogs along Hogshooter Creek. The Hogshooter gas field opened in 1907 and was the first significant discovery of "dry" gas in Oklahoma. Dry gas is that which is not produced in association with crude oil, while "wet" gas generally is found with oil.

 

Jim Truskett was here in 1894 and built a school which operated in various buildings until it was merged with the one in Oglesby in 1958. Jordan's grocery store was here by 1917. Nearby were several natural gasoline plants.

 

The Hogshooter field is still in production today. “The preceding stolen from Granger Meador’s Web Site.

Education in early day Oklahoma and Indian territories was limited to the availability of subscription, mission, and tribal schools. Generally, American Indian children had accessibility to all three, while blacks and whites could attend subscription and mission schools. Occasionally, tuition-paying white students attended tribal schools. Subscription schools were funded by a monthly tuition fee paid by the parents to the teachers. In turn, the teachers were responsible for securing a place of study and for paying the rent from their earnings. It was not uncommon for classes to be conducted in a tent, dugout, home, or church. Because of the low pay, many teachers were women, and they typically received one dollar per pupil per month. Attendance usually lasted a few months, because children were needed to help with harvesting and other farm chores.

 

In the early 1890s Charles B. Rhodes (later a U.S. marshal) taught a subscription school in Indian Territory known as Hogshooter, near Hogshooter Creek in present Washington County. Among his diverse group were Indian women and young men who were fugitives from the law. White as well as Cherokee, Delaware, and Quapaw pupils also attended the school. Rhodes accepted cash as well as produce, which he bartered for other items that he needed. Students sat on pine planks, and pine boards painted with lampblack served as a blackboard. With plentiful wildlife in the area, mischievous boys hung dead opossums on the school walls, much to Rhodes’s annoyance.”

 

Now the story is goes far out in leftfield

 

My earliest entertainment was from a big floor model Philco radio. I can still recall the call letters of the stations I heard around 1941 or 1942. Most of the call letters of those stations have long disappeared as well as the voices of the entertainers and announcers.

 

When I sat on my daddy’s knee in the early morning I heard the Washington Post March herald the beginning of the early morning news on KWTO in Springfield, MO. The broadcasts were consumed with WW II stories and daddy listened intently as I spilled my traditional morning cup of hot chocolate on his lap.

 

At noon he’d come home for lunch and as he prepared to go back to work he would take one stick of gum from his pocket, break it into four pieces for each of my three sisters and myself. As I recall it was Wrigley’s spearmint. As he handed us the sliver of gum each day he’d say “When the war is over you all get a whole stick.” Daddy lived to see the end of the war but not by much. When the war ended he had to go to the store for a pack and when he returned he had purchased Dentyne and that was so disappointing for I had long yearned for a whole stick of Wrigley’s spearmint.

 

So the radio was my way of keeping up with the war I hoped would end soon so that I would get my first whole stick of gum. While listening to KWTO after daddy went to work I found something else appealing. It was the country music of Slim Pickens Wilson, the Carl Haden Family and many others. I’d sing along with all of those songs after I had heard them a couple of times. I was so enthralled by the music I proclaimed to mother one morning, long before I had started grade school, (no kindergarten in that era) that when I grew up I was going to join the Haden family. See looked at me and inquired “Why don’t you do it now?” I didn’t have a clue where Springfield was except for it being at 550 on the radio dial and I never said another word to mother about my career goals for fear she’d find a way for the Haden family to make me one of their own.

 

Shortly after finding the Haden family I got good at turning the dial on the old Philco and I located KOAM in Pittsburg, Kansas at 850 on the AM dial. There I heard A. J. Cripe and his Town Talk Boys. Unbeknownst to me at the time one future KOM leaguer was Cripe’s chauffeur—Jim Morris-- and many of the visiting teams staying in the Besse Hotel in Pittsburg watched the live performance of Cripe’s 10:30 a. m. broadcast. And, by the way they thought he was the “corniest” of all country music performers.

 

In time my radio interest gained momentum and I found Harry Caray and Gabby Street talking about baseball something of which was totally foreign. But, I kept listening and from 1948 through the next decade I did everything in my power to listen to every Cardinal broadcast which sometimes even landed me in “hot water.”

 

Are you Hogshooter enthusiasts still with me?

 

During my junior college year at Joplin, MO and then on to where I attended a four year college at Bethany, Oklahoma, I had been exposed to a country music disc jockey on KRMG in Tulsa. His name was Marvin McCullough and like most guys with that first name was called “Marvelous Marv.” He was on before and after the noon news that was read by a legendary voice on that station -- Glenn Condon. McCullough was a bit risqué by the standards of that era but not even close to being so now. He was obsessed by names of small towns and a popular female singer of the era, Wanda Jackson. He was always fantasizing that she was his girl friend. Okay, I think you get the drift that McCullough was a character.

 

Being from Missouri you never believe anything until it is proven to you. McCullough had a small country band. He’d name towns in the area where he’d be performing and invariably he mentioned Hogshooter every time. I figured that was a fantasy place just like Wanda Jackson was his fantasy girl friend. But, after finishing college and pastoring a year at Davenport, Oklahoma I moved to Tulsa and McCullough was still on the air. After hearing Hogshooter mentioned a few more times (like a thousand) I determined to find it. All I ever found was a cemetery and a creek by that name just south of Bartlesville. (Hey, Bartlesville was a KOM league city so I’m still on topic.)

 

Tulsa was the first big town in which I had ever lived up to the time I was “Three times seven.” www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjSUhbOizhA Upon my arrival Pepper Martin, the old Gashouse Gang member of the St. Louis Cardinals, was teamed with Hugh Finnerty doing Tulsa Oiler broadcasts, Jim Hartz was with KOTV on his way to a long tenure with NBC in New York and David Ingels was running the show at KFMJ. KFMJ was the former radio station Fred M. Jones who was the Ford dealer in Tulsa. When he got into the radio business his initials became the call letters. When he sold the station it was purchased by Oral Roberts and the reason Ingels was hired as station manager.

 

After having been in Tulsa for a short time I had a call from Ingels who was promoting his four part gospel harmony quartet. He had sung for a well known quartet in Florida that went by the name of “The Rebels.” As pastor of a small church he wanted to bring his group to where I was preaching and the fee would be one of those “free will” offerings. We worked out the details and his “Evangelaires” sang for my congregation a number of times. As a result of that I had an invitation from Ingels to do some devotions at sign on and sign off. KFMJ was a dawn to dusk station so I did that for a while. During my time there I thought it would be great to be a radio announcer, disc jockey or something in the radio business. But, that was a crowded field and the competition was fierce in that day and especially in that town. I sure couldn’t compete with McCullough for he had the market cornered on Hogshooter and Wanda Jackson.

 

While taping some “sermonettes” one morning at KFMJ I was introduced to their afternoon country music disc jockey, Billy Parker. He was a country music entertainer in small venues like Hogshooter but he was playing second fiddle in the Tulsa radio market to McCullough. KFMJ had a radiating power of 1,000 watts and KRMG was a 50,000 watt station. So, you might say that Parker and Yours truly were two small fish at a small radio station. He was getting paid for spinning country records and I was spreading the gospel—gratis.

 

One thing that Parker could do that I could even dream of doing was write music. He came to work one day and had a song that he had written and recorded. When you are the disc jockey you can play about what you want if the management doesn’t object. The song that Parker had written didn’t impress me and I had been a country music fan all my life. Then, a legendary country music entertainer, Ernest Tubb, heard it and wanted to record it. My thought at the time was “How could a guy who made ‘I’m Walking the Floor Over You,’ and ‘Waltz Across Texas’ ever want to record Parker’s little ditty?

 

My radio days ended in Tulsa once I agreed to move to El Dorado Springs, Missouri to pastor another congregation. I did a radio program on a rotating basis on KESM in that town but when I turned on Tulsa’s KVOO, another 50,000 watt blow horn, the voice I heard on the prime air-time was Billy Parker. Parker never made any money with that little ditty he sang around KFMJ but when Ernest Tubb got hold of it Parker started making big bucks in royalties. Oh, the name of the song is found here. www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjzcNAYyQog

 

My aspirations regarding bigger and better things in going to Tulsa never panned out. In fact, it was another rather forgettable place where I stopped along the pathway to the great hereafter. I never met McCullough but met Parker who turned out to be much more successful but I still owe McCullough for introducing me to Hogshooter. And, I know that least there were three people who knew of it. McCullough, a former KOM pitcher-Horsman and a batboy--me.

 

If you listened to the You Tube song by Ernest Tubb I would like to say in closing “Thanks A Lot.” That covers reading past as well as the current Flash Report.

 

I did mention Pepper Martin, right? During my time in Tulsa I did meet him. In addition to doing the color commentary for the Tulsa Oilers he spent some time messing with the ball team. One noon hour I went home for lunch which was just across the street from the old Oiler ballpark. I heard the sound of a ball hitting a bat and drove over there on my way back to work. Clad in a very hot suit, on a summer afternoon, I saw an old guy (he was 59 at the time) hitting balls to the outfielders who were Gary Kolb, Jim Beauchamp, Joe Patterson, Felix DeLeon, Elmer Lindsey and a couple of others. The old guy was also fielding the throws returned from the outfielders. I made my way down to the field and stood about 30 feet from him. After a little bit he told me I could shag some of the balls for him if I wished. Of course, I did and that was my only brush with Pepper Martin in my life. As far as his radio commentary went…well, his strong suit was playing the game.

 

****************************************************************

For extra credit.

 

Here are some reading links to this article. These links describe some of the information I don’t have room in this report to share. On top of that these sites have photos and video and it is remarkable material from many points of interest.

diministries.org/

sghistory.com/index.php?n=R.Rebels

shs.umsystem.edu/rolla/manuscripts/r1095.pdf

www.allmusic.com/artist/billy-parker-mn0000090488/biography

tulsatvmemories.com/hartz.html

www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&am...

www.hillbilly-music.com/artists/story/index.php?id=13171

If you love old baseball film and Roy Acuff singing “The Wabash Cannonball” pull up this URL about Pepper Martin www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9cvGAXpiDc

Pulling up the link for Hugh Finnerty provides some great photos of many of the guys who played in Tulsa and some who didn’t such as Mickey Mantle. Go here: You might spend a long time at this site. books.google.com/books?id=KBA6L4Bl1aQC&pg=PA42&lp...

 

If you looked up KFMJ on the Internet today you would find that it is now the call letters for a station in Ketchikan, Alaska. So, to see if the foregoing account of my memory is correct you will have to go to this link: tulsatvmemories.com/kfmj.html I didn’t use a single reference in this entire story. It is all attributable to a faulty memory. I added the links after this article was written.

 

Should you decide you could only look at one link listed in this report I would suggest you read this one on Glenn Condon. He was probably had the most interesting career of them all. www.tulsagal.net/2010/11/tulsa-pioneers-glenn-condon.html

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It’s over!!!

 

Now, I have mercifully come to the conclusion of another rambling report. My Easter wish is that you found something you liked, something you didn’t know or found something you knew and forgot and enjoyed being reminded of it again.

 

 

 

Done