Tri State Miners-- KOM Flash Report for May 8--14, 2016

The report features Max Buzzard who passed away recently.

 

Back Row: Ray Mantle, Johnny Lafalier-Cardin/Picher, Oklahoma; Leroy Scoles--Miami, Okla.; Steve Green, -Picher, Okla.;- Don Boyd-Joplin, MO; Mash Spangler-Welch, Okla.: Jack McGoyne and Roy Mantle, Commerce, OKla.

 

Front Row: Gaylon Enos, Joplin, MO; Max Buzzard and J. E. Landon-Seneca, MO, Howard Scheurich, Joplin, MO; Max Mantle-Commerce, Travis Kunce and Bill Drake, Joplin, MO.. (Seven of the guys played pro ball. All the Mantles, Max Buzzard, Travis Kunce, Gaylon Enos and Bill Drake.

 

 

The

KOM Flash Report

For

Week of May 8—14, 2016

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Thanks go out to two entities, Jim Ellis of the Miami News Record who reported on the birthday of the KOM league in his last weekend edition and the many on the mailing list of this report who sent him complimentary messages on his feature sports story for the week.

 

Seventeen miles east of Miami, Okla. lies the town of Seneca, Missouri, Missouri. That town is the primary focus of this report due to the passing of Max Buzzard. Like most things in that area, they were interconnected. Every athlete in those small knew each other for they played on the same or opposing. For example, Buzzard was a friend of Joe Crowder who played Gabby Street and Cardinal Junior league baseball against Mickey Mantle. I could take up a lot of space talking about it here but IF you read this report you’ll get picture

 

The Max Buzzard obituary

 

Listed Apr. 27, 2016 at 1:31 PM

www.miamiok.com/obituaries/20160427/max-w-buzzard

 

Max W. Buzzard of Miami, Okla. passed away Monday, April 25, 2016 at Freeman Hospital in Joplin, Mo. He was 89.

 

Max was born June 10, 1926 in Seneca, Mo. to Johnnie Kirk and Nellie Pearl (Morgan) Buzzard. He graduated from Seneca High School in 1944 where he lettered in football and basketball. After graduation he went into the Naval Air Corp in July 1944 and was discharged in July 1946 with a rank of A.O.M. 3/c air crewman.

 

In 1947 Max signed with the New York Yankees farm system in Ind. KS, at which time he broke his wrist. Also in the Sooner State League, The KOM League, Tri State Miners Team, Ban Johnson League and this is where he first met Mickey Mantle. Attended NEO A&M College Miami, Okla. in 1947 and graduated in 1949 with an associate’s degree, also lettered in football, basketball and baseball. 1949 attended the University at Oklahoma City, Okla. with a bachelor degree. In 1960 he graduated from PSU in Pittsburg, Kan. with a Master degree.

 

His first year of teaching in the 51-52 term was at Alba, Mo., where he met and coached Cletis Boyer in baseball and basketball. (In the) 53-54 term he taught at Seneca, Mo. and coached basketball, baseball and was an assistant coach for football. (In his) 54-55 terms he taught at Udell, Iowa then in 55-56 he came back to Seneca, Mo. and coached all three sports.

 

His basketball teams at Alba and Seneca during the past 5 years compiled an overall record of 106 wins and 38 losses. In his three years as football mentor at Seneca, his teams won 26, lost 2 and tied 1. Seneca teams under Max won baseball and basketball championships all three years he coached there.

 

He left Seneca to coach at NEO A&M, Miami, Okla. as Head Basketball Coach and assistant football and baseball coach 1957 to 1964. While at NEO in 1960 his basketball team won the State Jr. College Championship, the football team went to the Jr. Rose Bowl in CA two times and was five times State Champions. (From) 64 to 65 he coached Miami Jr. High football and basketball. (In) 66-67 he coached football and track at Miami High School where he met Steve Owens and coached him his senior year. Max returned to Miami Jr. High and coached football and track until 1973. Max took the position as Wilson School Principal and retired in 1986. He was a member of Bethany Christian Church in Miami, Okla. Max loved fishing and hunting squirrels.

 

He married Shirley Dean Goodell and she passed away in October 1994. They had one son Max Todd Buzzard. He was also preceded in death by his parents, two sisters Lorene Cottrell and Ramona Atkins.

 

Survivors include his wife Harolyn Buzzard, son Todd Buzzard and wife Janet of Clovis, N.M., step daughters Rebecca Wilson Henrickson and husband Jeff and Sandra Hill and husband Steve, grandchildren Evan Buzzard, Lauren Buzzard, Bailey Freeman, Bekkah Landoll, Meghan Hill and Hannah Hill, four great grandchildren Kourtnie Siler, Chase Freeman, Greyson Tanner and Laila Landoll.

 

Ed comment:

 

There was never a photo to be found of Max Buzzard when he played at Independence, KS in parts of 1947 and 1948 or when he was with the Miami Eagles for a short time in 1950. The 1953 Tri-State Miners photo includes him: www.flickr.com/photos/60428361@N07/26541716030/ When you get to that site you’ll see this report along with the names of those in the photo, which includes three members of the Mantle family.

 

My first contact with Max Buzzard was in 1994. That relationship continued over the years and when things would transpire that had a connection with his time in baseball or to those with whom he had dealt with in the past he would send me note or call on the telephone to share his memories.

 

In reading his obituary it would seem to indicate he attended Oklahoma City University and then finally received his Master’s Degree at Pittsburg, Kansas in 1960. He had attended Pittsburg State as an undergraduate student in the late 1940’s and early 1950’s as a story I carried on him in an old KOM League Remembered Newsletter from December of 1995 indicates. That will be quoted later.

 

Newton and McDonald counties, in Southwest Missouri, was the home of the Buzzard clan from Civil War days. There is evidence they moved into that area, from Ohio, some time prior to the war. Seneca, Hornet, Five Mile and other small towns and villages were home to many of Max’s kin. His father, Johnnie, mentioned in the obituary, was 27 when he was injured in WW 1. This is quoted from his Find-A- Grave site. “Served during WWI in Co. C 20th Machine Gun Battalion. Enlisted 10 May 1918. Wounded Paguy Rheimmecourt Front on 6 Nov 1918. Discharged 29 June 1919.” In researching that battle site I believe it was Paguy/Rheims Court. Whatever the spelling, Max was lucky that he ever entered this world for his father almost left it, eight years prior to his birth.

 

As previously mentioned, Buzzard would get in touch when I would write something in the KOM newsletter when it was a print edition, sent by mail. Volume 2 Issue 7-- December 1995 carried an article regarding some of Buzzard’s memories of Mickey Mantle and Cletis Boyer

 

The death of Mickey Mantle has caused the people who knew him best to recall the Commerce lad when he was in his mid-teens. Few people knew him and his wife better than Mr. & Mrs. Max Buzzard. Merlyn and Max’s wife, the former Shirley Goodell, were high school friends at Picher, Oklahoma, the small town between Commerce, OK and Baxter Springs, Kansas.

 

Buzzard was Mantle’s senior, by five years but they played with and against each other in various venues. Mantle was still in high school after Buzzard became a member of the 1947 Independence Yankees. Tom Greenwade, who signed Buzzard, approached him one day and wanted to know if he knew of any good ballplayers in the region. Buzzard said he thought Mickey Mantle “had potential.” Buzzard had formed that opinion one year while in college at Pittsburg, Kansas. Buzzard said that at that time Pittsburg State Teachers College wasn’t big into baseball, so in order to field a team the players had to hire their own coach. Buzzard became the coach.

 

Buzzard recalled that when they got the team together the next task was to schedule games with anyone willing to play them. Commerce High School volunteered to take on the Pittsburg Gorilla’s. And, to say the least it was no contest. Buzzard admitted “I was pitching and this 15 year-old-kid homers off me hitting right handed, then the next time he switched and hit left handed and homered again. Of course, the high school team routed the college boys in that contest.”

 

According to Buzzard he had many conversations with Mickey and his dad about what position he should go for in professional baseball. He said that he advised the young hopeful, and his father, that he would best be suited for the outfield.

 

Any hope of a long professional career, for Buzzard, got off to a bad start. He reported to the Yankee minor league training camp, at Lake Taneycomo, in 1947. He said that he was known for footspeed in those days and he was pitted against the fastest young men the Yankees had. He recalled that in one of those races he fell and injured his wrist which prevented him from swinging the bat with any authority. He was given another chance with the Yankee’s in 1948 and was back with Independence where he played a few games, in left field, before being sent to the McAlester Rockets but he didn’t play as many games there as he did at Independence. Buzzard’s last shot with professional baseball was 1950 in a brief stint with the KOM Miami Eagles.

 

By 1951 Buzzard was coaching basketball and baseball at Alba, Mo. High School. The obituary outlines his accomplishments at Alba, Seneca and Northeastern Oklahoma A & M. When speaking with Buzzard, on one occasion, he told of the running battle he had with Cletis Boyer. Cletis told Buzzard that he wanted to be a big league pitcher just like his older brother, Cloyd. Buzzard told him that he was going to be his third baseman and that was the end of the story. That didn’t leave a warm spot in the young third baseman’s heart for his coach. However, Buzzard said, that after Cletis was traded to the Yankee, by Kansas City, he received a package in the mail. It contained an autographed photo of Cletis and the inscription “Thank you for not allowing me to become a pitcher.” Buzzard said he placed the photo on top of his television set and considered it his most cherished piece of sports memorabilia.

 

When I initially contacted Buzzard he had gone through some tough times. He had just lost his wife in late 1994 and in early 1995 he underwent multiple heart bypass surgery. He was a recipient of the printed KOM league newsletters and after receiving one of those issues which featured a picture of the Independence, KS baseball stadium he called to tell how that photo stirred up great memories of the KOM league and he was also impressed with the edition released at the time of Mantle’s death. He spoke of Mantle and the KOM league with such fervor that he became overcome with emotion and at that point we both agreed to carry on those conversations at a later time.

 

Of all the stories I could share about Max Buzzard, I’d have to say his friendship with Joe Crowder takes center stage. Crowder was the former Seneca High School standout who was signed by the New York Yankees and was a designated relief pitcher from his first days with Independence, KS in 1949. Crowder had worked his way through the Yankee organization as a reliever and had finished the 1953 season with Birmingham, Alabama in the Southern Association.

 

By 1953 Buzzard was coaching the Seneca High School Indians and Crowder had returned home and was ready to go fishing. Crowder dropped by Seneca High School, the afternoon of October 2, and told Buzzard he was going fishing on Grand Lake of the Cherokees in nearby Wyandotte, Oklahoma. Crowder knew Buzzard had to coach the football game on Friday evening but he wanted him to join the fishing party on Saturday. However, the coach had promised his football team that if they won on Friday, against Jasper, he’d take them to Fayetteville, Arkansas the next day to see the Razorbacks play Texas Christian. Seneca won their game 26-0 thus Buzzard and his boys went to Fayetteville to see the Razorbacks win their game, as well, by a much closer score of 13-6.

 

Buzzard recalled that when he returned to Seneca there was sense of gloom and doom for Crowder had been reported missing after jumping into the lake to retrieve his cap, loaded down with fishing lures.

 

There are accounts of Crowder’s death in various newspapers and it went down in the records as accidental drowning. Over the years I have had stories told me by many people and I live with the belief that there is a whole lot more to the Crowder death than has ever been compiled in any one resource document. The stories to which I have been made privy came from people “close” to Crowder. If I were to sit around a campfire and tell the tales I’ve heard it would make the hair on the back of your neck stand up, assuming you have any there.

 

In my conversations with Buzzard we never got down to the question “Do you know the full details of Crowder’s death?” All I had to do was mention Crowder’s name and Buzzard would tear up. However, Buzzard did tell me, many times “If I had gone over to Grand Lake with Joe, on Saturday, he might not have died.” From the stories I’ve been told, by at least four people “close” to Crowder, I firmly believe had Seneca lost their Friday October 2, 1953 game that indeed Crowder would have lived to see more baseball seasons.

 

If I should ever write a novel about a promising star of baseball who met an untimely demise it would be based on a guy from Seneca, Missouri. Crowder played Gabby Street and Cardinal Jr. league baseball against Mickey Mantle, in their youth, and then played their first two years together in professional baseball.

 

This was a front page story in the Joplin Globe on October 4, 1953.

BASEBALL PITCHER DROWNS IN LAKE

Joe (Red) Crowder, Former Miner, Loses Life When He Jumps from Boat to Retrieve Hat.

 

Wyandotte, Okla., Oct. 3.--Joe (Red) Crowder, 25 years old. a professional baseball pitcher, was drowned around 5 o'clock this afternoon near Port Arthur on Grand Lake south of here, according to Jack Stewart, chief of the lake patrol. Stewart said Crowder and companion, Ray Coburn, had been fishing in the lake and were returning to shore in a boat when a sharp wind blew Crowder's hat off. He jumped into the water after it and disappeared. Coburn said he never came up. Seven Grand River Dam Authority patrolmen searched for the body, along with 25 or 30 other persons. Late last night the body had not been found. Crowder, who was born in Seneca and attended schools there, started playing professional baseball with the Independence team, in the KOM league in 1949. In 1950 he played for the Joplin Miners and had a 6-5 record while appear in in relief in 41 games. In 1951, he pitched with the Quincy, Ill., team in the Three-I League, and in 1952 with the Beaumont Roughriders in the Texas League. This summer he played for Birmingham, Ala., in the Southern Association. All of the teams are part of the New York Yankee organization. His known survivors are his widow and two small children of Seneca, and his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Omar Crowder of near Racine.

 

This is the Find-A-Grave site for Joe Crowder: www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=sh&GRid=23566477 Not much narrative in this but there are a couple of photos. His nickname was “The Fireman” and that is what one of the two photos depict.

During this past week I struggled with whether or not to share some of the stories I have accumulated over the years, not solicited by me, regarding Joe Crowder’s death. The most compelling stories were from his youngest brother and his only daughter. There were a couple of other Crowder family members who I’ve met over the past 20 years and they were very kind and appreciative of the fact that I didn’t let the memory of their loved one end, in 1953. If you read the Find-A-Grave citation that I shared at the beginning of this paragraph you will see the reference to the book I wrote about Mantle which includes a number of stories about Crowder.

Maybe, someday, I’ll get around to telling the untold story of Joe Dean “Red” Crowder. That sure leaves open the possibility it will expire when I do.

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Another connection to the Northeast Okla., Southeast Kansas and Southwest Missouri sports scene.

 

In the era Mickey Mantle and Joe Crowder were playing Gabby Street and Cardinal Junior league baseball one of the opposing teams was Sunny Jim’s. That team would represent different towns in different years. The towns were basically Joplin and Carl Junction. Sunny Jim was Jim Walters who was a candy maker in Joplin. When writing my book, about Mickey Mantle, I wondered if Mr. Walter’s was still living and learned that he had left Joplin many years earlier for Colorado It didn’t take long for me to locate his widow, Edna. She had a great memory of her time around those teams her husband sponsored. Most likely, I spoke with her about 25 years ago. This week I found this in the Joplin Globe:

obituaries.joplinglobe.com/story/Edna-Walters-1914-2016-7...

 

Those of you with “broken URLs” here is the text of the obituary.

 

Edna Walters, age 102, of Loveland, Colo., went to be with her Lord on May 2, 2016. Edna was born on March 15, 1914, in Audrain County, Mo., to Reuben and Sarah (Davis) Mayes. In 1932, she graduated from Syracuse High School (Kan.). She returned with her family to Missouri in 1933.

 

Edna met the love of her life, James "Sunny Jim" Walters, while working as a chocolate dipper at a candy factory. A few years later, the couple were married in Joplin.

 

During the height of the "Great Depression", Edna and her husband opened Sunny Jim's Candy Shop at 513 Main Street. Later, the couple moved their business to Route 66, on the Missouri/Kansas line and renamed the shop, "Sunny Jim's Ozark Candy Farm".

 

While living in Joplin, the couple were also active in little league baseball. Edna scored the games, while her husband coached the kids. A park in Joplin, is named in honor of her husband, "Sunny Jim Park". In 1964, Edna and Jim relocated their business to Loveland, and the shop was renamed "Sunny Jim's Candy Ranch". Her nephews and nieces, were frequently invited to pull taffy in the back room of the shop.

 

After selling the business in 1974, Edna kept busy with her many hobbies, sewing, knitting, painting, traveling, and writing. She penned a candy cookbook in the late 70s titled "Famous Candies from the Kitchen of Mrs. Sunny Jim Walters". Edna was a long-time member of the First Christian Church of Loveland.

 

Edna is survived by her sister, (Anna) Jean (Mayes) Wheat, of Laramie, Wyo.; nieces and nephews, Gale (Roger) Lundberg, Jim (Debbie) Wheat, Ned (Donna) Mayes, and Bobbie (Chuck) Gambrill; several great-nieces and nephews, and great-great nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents; husband, Jim; and two brothers, Ordelle and Robert Mayes. Her extended family consisted of church members and close neighbors.

A Celebration of Life will be held at a later date.

 

If you have a sweet tooth and have an urge to read more about the candy making Walters family here are a slew of Internet options.

www.google.com/search?q=Sunny+Jim+Walters&oq=Sunny+Ji...

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Once again, the KOM Flash Report comes to a merciful conclusion.

 

 

 

Done