KOM League Flash Report for 9/20/2018 ____ First baseball item E. L.Dale

The KOM League

Flash Report

For

September 20, 2018

 

Plea:

 

Be understanding regarding this report for it isn’t much about the KOM league or baseball. I direct your attention to the last item in this report entitled “More of the Story.” It is one of the most amazing tales I have been able to share in all the years this publication has cluttered up the Internet.

 

This report is on Flicker at: www.flickr.com/photos/60428361@N07/29853875597 If you don’t like this report, all that much, keep looking at the photos I’ve recently posted.

 

The photo of the week:

 

Obviously, I had to “dig deep” to come up with something to share this time around. My writing efforts have taken a holiday, in recent days. Maybe I have run out of true stories to report and the ability to “create” fiction has eluded me.

 

A couple of decades ago a visit was paid to Colonel Robert Dale (Led the Missouri National Guard during the 1968 riots in Kansas City) was the son of the late E. L. Dale, who first brought baseball to Carthage, Missouri, in 1938, and then spearheaded the founding of the KOM some seven years later and it began operation a year after that, in 1946.

Kansas City race riots: www.google.com/search?q=Kansas+City+race+riots+1968&o...

 

 

Col. Dale had asked me to meet him at his home and after our conversation concluded he gave me many priceless items including, but not limited to, a baseball glove Gabby Street presented him following the 1930 World Series that the St. Louis Cardinals won over Connie Mack’s Philadelphia Athletics. Over the years I have shared some of that memorabilia at KOM league events and written about it in numerous missives.

 

However, one thing that I don’t ever recall mentioning was a drawing done in the early spring of 1938 when Carthage was preparing to join the Arkansas/Missouri league. The reader can look at the Flickr image and see that the cartoonist didn’t know how to spell Pittsburgh, Penn. but rather had the spelling of the town in nearby Kansas that left off the “H.” The drawing was depicting the young “Hopefuls” who were preparing to make their entry into organized baseball.

 

That drawing was recently pulled out of the frame and examined. It was found that Jack E. Murray did the artwork on that item. It was finally given by the Rotary Club to the Dale family as the “Award of the Month” for 1964-65 by the president of that service organization, Ted Evans. Yours truly knew Ted Evans but wasn’t familiar with the artist, Jack E. Murray, or so I thought.

 

Guess what? I now know about Mr. Murray and realize I was aware of him for most of my young life. He was born John Edward Murray on May 13, 1919 in Willard, Missouri. The young cartoonist was obviously a baseball fan and celebrated the entry of baseball into Carthage with his artistic ability. His depiction of E. L. Dale was a dead ringer for the Carthage Press editor. When he drew that image he was nearly 19 years of age. He attended the University of Missouri in 1940. Jack was busy drawing things, for fun and making a living as the owner of the John E. Murray-- Earth Mover Company located at 1102 South River Street.

 

Those “Hopefuls” who tried out for the Carthage club, in 1938, did well. They finished two games out of first place in the pennant race and then won the playoffs, four games to one over Neosho. Neosho was a rival in baseball during the Arkansas/Missouri league history that lasted 2.5 years. Over my time of being aware of the world, Neosho and Carthage were rivals in high school athletics. Then, in a twist of fate the Neosho Daily News began printing the Carthage Press in recent years and then shipped the 20 miles, or so north, for distribution. If anyone paid attention to a recent report, the Carthage Press that E. L. Dale and his son Robert worked so hard to keep Carthaginians informed, bit the dust, just like the Arkansas/Missouri league did in 1940 and the KOM league did after the 1952 season.

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Putting things together

 

This is a note from a lifelong friend, so far, who I’m going to do my best to link to the previous article. He wrote “Just looking at your book on sale at Amazon. Lots of people give it an excellent review. I think you should write another, this time on Eno Slaughter. I would write one but kinda short on necessary skills. My grand pappy always said, "when it comes to buying a book, always by the thickest one you can find, that was you always get your money's worth.” Anyway, you gave me one of your books and I really enjoy it. (If you recall it was over ten years ago at the class reunion.”) Gary Wayne Smith-Nixa, Missouri

 

As it turns out I do recall giving away some of my “Mickey Mantle Before the Glory” books to prove to some former classmates that I didn’t totally sleep through Mrs. Webster’s English classes. Shortly after receiving that note I headed off for a dental appointment and on the reading table was a copy of the Mantle book. I gave away some there as well. Upon returning home I went downstairs to my basement to see how many were still awaiting a good home and I’m back to the old saying “That book is a million seller, there are a million of them in my cellar.”

 

If you go on the Internet you can search for owners of that book who are attempting to dump them and the price ranges from $5 - $44. www.amazon.com/Mickey-Mantle-John-G-Hall/dp/1585973173 If you want one that is still in my basement, signed, sealed and shipped, send a request for a quote. How is that for a shameless advertisement?

 

Oh, I’ll bet you thought I had strayed off topic and wasn’t going to mention how Gary Smith and Jack Murray were connected. If you paid close attention you know that Murray lived in the 1100 block of South River and Smith lived on the same block. I know the exact address of each of the aforementioned but have decided to leave some things for independent researchers to investigate.

 

Smith mentioned “Eno” Slaughter in his note. This was my response. “The Eno reference reminded me of a leather lung Cardinal fan. He sat in the left field bleachers at Sportsman’s Park. When Slaughter would come to bat he could be heard above Harry Caray's announcing yelling ‘Come on Eno’ and he'd hold the ‘o’ for what seemed like a minute, or so. Do you remember that?”

 

As it turned out Smith has the same memory of the “Eno” fan as I do. I wonder if anyone would know that old fan’s name?

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Now, more of the story

 

When we last met, in this forum, mention was made of Kenneth Eugene Gladhill who played in the KOM league and later made his living in professional wrestling. It was mentioned in that report a lot more was known about him and a lot of things not intuitively obvious even to the most casual observer, upon first glance, were available. I wish there was room to share all the details uncovered on the life of Ken Gladhill

 

After distributing the last Flash Report I had the following message from Ken Gladhill’s daughter. “I am glad to know who you are. Will email you this evening about some of my info. You wrote a nice article on him after he had died in 1985. You had spoken to my mother Monta Lee Gladhill to obtain some information. She is still living at age 98. She has poor recall, due to her age. Will get back in touch asap.”

 

It was nice knowing that Monta Gladhill is still living and that her daughter wished to communicate regarding the past. A whole lot of messages have gone back and forth and I’ll touch on just a few of them.

 

To say that Ken Gladhill lived an exciting life might be an understatement. As I suspected, in my last report, he wasn’t born in Lusk, Wyoming but rather Kansas City, Missouri He came into this world at the Willows, which was a home for unwed mothers. To get some idea of what the Willows was about read this link. bedgie.tripod.com/newspaper-articles.html

 

Kenneth, with no last name at the time, was placed on an orphan train and headed west out of Kansas City. His daughter is about 99% sure of all the facts of her father’s early life but believes he was adopted by John Gladhill who was a depot agent at one of the places where that particular train stopped. Shortly, thereafter the elder Gladhill married a woman ten years his senior and they eventually made their way to Noel, Missouri.

 

Most likely this story would have ended by this point. However, I mentioned to Gladhill’s daughter that I started a church in Noel, in 1959. She began asking questions of who I knew and threw out the names of Mayor Kile and a school superintendent by the name of Dean Scott. Well, that got my attention. The aforementioned was Amandus Dean Scott, a native of Kentucky, who attained the rank of Sergeant in World War II. He and his wife, Mattie, looked after the welfare of the children in that town just as they did a young preacher when I showed up in the summer of 1959. To gain some appreciation for the Scott’s I share this link, please read it.

stanfine.wordpress.com/2017/10/13/churning-butter-in-the-...

 

Gladhill’s daughter told of how Dean Scott encouraged her dad, when he was young, regarding developing his baseball skills. Mayor Charles Blaine Kile and his wife took the young boy under their wing and in Mayor Kile’s obituary, in 1960, it listed him as a foster son. There are some moving stories Gladhill’s daughter shared and it was evident the town of Noel, Missouri and its residents were great influences on youngsters. From my own experience I knew that Dean Scott was badly burned during his time in WW I and it disfigured his facial appearance. But, he didn’t allow it to affect how he would live the rest of his life. Mayor Kile also had lost an arm in a hunting accident so those things may have brought the two even closer together. They forged a friendship that surely wasn’t based on common religious tenants for Scott was a Nazarene and Kile a Christian Scientist.

 

After the summer of 1959 I went back to college and a year later returned there to spend my honeymoon at the nearby Ginger Blue resort and went into Noel to eat my meals. I never saw the Scott’s after that time but they had a distinct influence on my wife, Noel’s, life a couple of years later. Upon graduation from college I was approached by a church official and he asked me to pastor the denomination’s church at Davenport, Oklahoma. I went, not knowing how people in Davenport would have any idea who I was. It turned out that Mrs. Scott had family members in that town and that is why I ended up there.

 

Time marched forward and a decade after I left there, the hard work and sacrifice that those folks in Noel put forth in starting a small church was gone in an instant. A mighty explosion hit that town and blew much of it into oblivion. Here is one account of the disaster.

pa-rocks-ramble.blogspot.com/2008/07/great-train-blast.html The aforementioned link apprised me of something I didn’t know , in 1959. The little cabin where I lived was one of a cluster of a half-dozen or less. When a Jesse James movie was filmed there, in 1939, it was home for the actors Henry Fonda and Tyrone Power. That place wasn’t much in 1959, I trust it was better two decades earlier when the “big names” stayed there.

 

Over the 59 years that have transpired since setting foot in Noel and the places that led to, I haven’t forgotten much. Davenport was an interesting place that I never appreciated until I started reminiscing regarding the people I met. I met people in Davenport who at the time I didn’t know were connected to the Mickey Mantle family or a fellow called “Lightning” who was actually Doss K. Herd, who was one of the forces in making the Mickey Owen Baseball School such a success. He lived in Davenport but during the summer he spent most of it in Miller, Mo at the Owen facility. At the time I pastored at Davenport I was on the ministerial alliance and the minister’s in that group had the last names of; Sinn, Divine, Angel and Heavin. I told them if I would change the vowel in my last name from “a” to “e” I’d be a “real’ member of the group. Some forty plus years after leaving Davenport I learned that Rev. Heavin was really Rex Heavin who pitched for the Baxter Springs Whiz Kids when Mickey Mantle was the shortstop.

 

So, it turns out to be a small world. Fifty eight years ago there wasn’t much ancestry work being done on the scale as we now know it. One Sunday morning two elderly gentlemen showed up in Davenport for a church service. After a while only one of the gentleman appeared but I felt a real kinship to him. I told wife that he reminded me of my grandfather on the maternal side. When my wife started looking up things on ancestry it was discovered that the old gentleman who reminded me of my grandfather, John Bailey Harrison, was a cousin of my grandfather. They probably never knew each other.

 

So, it’s time to bring this shaggy dog report to a conclusion. As I was trolling the Internet this week I pulled up the town of Davenport, Oklahoma. It listed the names of recent deaths that have occurred there. The first name on that list was Mary Faye Tucker. I had no idea she would still be alive on this date in history. She passed away at age 98, just two months ago, and was the sister-in-law of “Lightning” Herd who was mentioned earlier as the “Mickey Owen” guy.

 

BREAKING NEWS

 

Just as I was finishing this report I had the following message from the daughter of Kenneth Gladhill.

 

“After 2 years of search from the courts I have finally found out who is the biological mother of my father. I received a call from the courthouse in Kansas City to confirm this to be true. This has been a long journey. I had a 99.9% suspicion, but to hear it that I was right makes my journey well worth it. The lady died in 1988. Therefore, she was alive when he died. Often wondered if she had felt as though she had a missing link in her life. It was her only son. I finally have closure. Just wanted you to know.”

 

Upon reading that note I shared what I had written with Gladhill’s daughter and asked if what I had already written would meet with her approval. This is what I received in return. “Your article is awesome. For editing purposes mom is 88 instead of 98. You are accurate on all the data I had sent. You sure are an excellent writer. Feel free to use the info you wrote about my dad. It makes me proud that my dad overcome the odds he had against him growing up. I sent a text to my brother and sister about the call from the courthouse in Kansas City. They were thankful for my perseverance to find out about dad's mom. I ended my text to them with this comnent. ‘I am hoping dad is looking down from heaven laughing. He knew that I was stubborn and would never quit if I was challenged to do something.' I had to laugh with my thoughts about him…I am hoping you are well. ..You sound like an awesome person that I wish I had known before now. You have touched so many lives I am certain. I have been a Registered Nurse for 35 years. I am hoping I have touched someone's life in my career somehow. Put it to press! Thanks again for your wisdom and friendship.”

 

Parting shot. I’m not sure writing about the KOM league has had much of an impact, over the years. However, I’m sure that in a 35-year nursing career Sharon, yes, that’s her name, has been a comfort and blessing for many people needing those things in their hour of need.

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Done