KOM League Flash Report for 9/7/2018

The KOM League

Flash Report

For

September 9, 2018

 

This report is posted on Flickr at: www.flickr.com/photos/60428361@N07/43803974704/ Hopefully, the character shown can draw a few readers into the web and intrigue of this report. He came and sat beside me during a pre-dawn cup of coffee on the back deck earlier in the week.

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An old Miami Eagles jersey

 

This report departs from the usual format of obituaries first and all else later.

 

During the week a note arrived from a gentleman in Tulsa, Oklahoma inquiring about a photo he had received from the daughter of a former KOM leaguer. It read “Hi John- I’m researching the Miami Owls/Eagles. Have you ever heard of Ken Gladhill? I spoke to his daughter recently. According to Baseball Reference he played for the Miami Owls in 1948. He would later go to be a professional wrestler. I’m curious if you have any information about him. His family also sent me a picture of his uniform. (It’s attached to this email.) What’s interesting about the uniform is that it has an eagle on the sleeve but Gladhill played for the Owls. It’s the same eagle patch shown in some of the pictures you sent me. I haven’t previously seen that eagle on the Owls jersey. Do you know anything about that? Have you seen that Eagle patch on an Owls jersey before? Any information you have would be great.” Dan B.

 

(At this juncture a number of e-mails went back and forth from Tulsa and Miami, Oklahoma and Columbia, Missouri.)

 

That former player, was Kenneth Eugene Glahill who pitched and played first base for the 1948 Miami Owls. At this site is a photo of a Miami Eagles uniform that was worn during the years 1950-52. Miami operated independently in 50-51 but was affiliated with the Philadelphia Phillies in 1952. www.miamihistory.net/2017/12/28/professional-baseball-in-...

 

There are a number of articles on the aforementioned link and a couple of things that might need a little clarification. One article mentions Siloam Springs, Arkansas would probably be a member of the KOM league in 1946. But, the articles were mostly factual, when they were written and since this is not a publication approving a Supreme Court justice, I shall not be picky.

 

A number of notes were passed among the gentleman from Tulsa, Jim Ellis-Editor of the Miami News-Record and Yours truly. The subject matter was about Kenneth Gladhill who reached his fame as Ken Hill. If you are curious click on this site: www.wrestlingdata.com/index.php?befehl= If you are patient enough there are items you can click on that site such as : Places, Matches, Years, Opponents & Partners. Yep, Ken Hill aka Kenneth Gladhill was a professional wrestler. He was a member of a group that was headed up by promoter named Leroy McGuirk who had a former Oklahoma A& M wrestler by the name of Danny Hodge. dannyhodgeok.com/ in his stable of grapplers.

 

Some good reading on Leroy McGuirk can be found here: search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?hspart=avast&hsimp=yhs-se...

 

There are a lot of things I’d like to share but at this time I’ll hold off. A number of years ago I spoke with Gladhill’s widow, Monta, who told me a lot of things regarding his life. As with any conversation a lot of things I should have asked went unaddressed. Within the past few hours I have been in touch with Gladhill’s daughter and was happy to learn her mother is still living. In recent research I now know that Gladhill wasn’t born in Wyoming but that in wild and wooly town of Kansas City at the start of the “Roarin’ 20s.” He even lived in the town of Noel, Missouri, the site of my first pastorate and the name of my first wife. Well, almost. She was Noel Wallace. Those of you who know my wife understand that she has endured a lot in 58 years of being with me. However, I always told people we stayed together all thses years since my second pastorate was Aurora and that I didn’t think anyone had that as a first name. Surprise, surprise. I once told that story to a former KOM league player and he said his wife was named Aurora and he was going to keep her. So, there you go.

 

One more thing. Kenneth’s daughter has posted notices, online, where she has asked for photos, film clips or anything else about her father’s wrestling career. Since this reading audience covers a wide range of folks with many interests, feel free to share anything you might know about the wrestler, Ken Hill.

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Charles Augustus Matzen, Jr.

www.legacy.com/obituaries/azcentral/obituary.aspx?pag

 

Anthem - 10/15/1933 - 08/16/2018

 

Charlie entered peacefully into eternal rest on August 16th, in Anthem, Arizona. He was born and raised in San Francisco, CA, where he graduated from Lincoln High School and San Francisco State University. He went on to play minor league baseball for the Pittsburgh Pirates organization and served proudly in the US Army. He had a distinguished career with the Borden Company (Chemical Division) and went on to become Vice President of Consumer Products. While at Borden, he lived in California, Ohio, and New Jersey.

 

He was the consummate gentleman. He loved and cherished his family, was fun loving, welcoming, and kind to all. Throughout his life Charlie was an avid golfer, and his favorite course was Roxiticus in Mendham, NJ, where he was a member for fifteen years. In retirement he enjoyed golf, gardening, fishing, and spring training baseball games. One of his greatest pleasures was preparing the Five Star breakfast for family and friends.

 

Charlie is survived by his devoted wife of 61 years, Suzanne (Ludlow), loving sons, Michael (Julie) Moraga, CA, Mark (Peggy) Basking Ridge, NJ, and Matthew, Las Vegas, NV. He was especially proud of his seven grandchildren, Kellie, Kristin, Ryan, Brett, Katie of New York City, Scott of Nashville, TN, and Mallory of Boulder, CO. He was preceded in death by his parents, Charles, Sr. and Helen Matzen of Burlingame, CA, and Joan Wentworth of San Mateo, CA. A Memorial Mass and celebration of his life will be held later on.

 

Donations in Charlie's memory may be made to Arizona Carcinoid and Neuroendocrine Foundation and (), both of Phoenix, Arizona.

Published in the Arizona Republic on Sept. 8, 2018

 

Ed comment:

 

As the obituary indicates, Charlie was a great gentleman. When I finally caught up with him in Anthem, Arizona on one of my “stab in the dark” telephone calls, I found him to be a pleasant and interesting gentleman. He recalled joining the Bartlesville Pirates in 1952 and then winding up with that team at Pittsburg, Kansas after the 4th of July. Owner Dick Nash and his father-in-law, Hershel Martin, moved the team to Kansas for financial reasons and wound up leaving Pittsburg, a month later, with the team bus loaded with the uniforms, bats, balls and anything else of value. I reminded Charlie that had it not been for the 1951 Carthage Cubs uniforms being housed at the Carthage YMCA the Pittsburg Pirate players would have had to wear street clothes for the remaining games, in 1952.

 

Matzen was a right-handed pitcher and won nine games while losing 13 for a team that was in flux for most of the season. He went on to play for Billings, Mont. in the Pioneer league in 1953 and then closed out his playing career with Salinas of the California league in 1954 as well as at Bisbee-Douglas in the Arizona Texas league.

 

There would probably be a photo of the 1952 Bartlesville-Pittsburg team in this report if there was a good one. However, the only team photo was taken at Bartlesville and the team didn’t know how to pose for a photo or else the photographer wasn’t skilled in that line of work. Both Matzen and I agreed that particular team photo wasn’t even up to Class D standards.

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The passing of a pitcher for Chanute and Iola

 

Lawrence Thomas Jaros

www.irwinchapel.com/obituary/Lawrence-T.-Jaros/Granite-Ci...

 

Lawrence T. “Baldy” Jaros, 89, of Granite City, Illinois passed away at 11:57 a.m. on Monday, July 23, 2018 at Granite Nursing and Rehabilitation in Granite City.

 

He was born August 7, 1928 in Glen Carbon, a son of the late Anton and Mary (Nekola) Jaros.

 

He married Dolores (Jacobson) on March 17, 1951 at the former St. Elizabeth Catholic Church in Mitchell and she survives.

 

He retired in 1984 from Consolidated Aluminum after over 31 years of dedicated service as a plant worker with Dow Chemical.

 

The United States Army veteran proudly served his country during the Korean War. He was a member of St. Elizabeth Catholic Church in Granite City, a member of the Knights of Columbus Tri-cities Council, the AMVETS Post #204 and the American Legion Post #199. He enjoyed his days of playing golf, fishing and hunting and will be remembered for the love and special times shared with his family and friends.

 

In addition to his beloved wife, he is survived by a daughter and son-in-law, Karen and Michael Ahrens of Granite City; two granddaughters, Kassy Ahrens of St. Louis and Katy Ahrens of Collierville, Tennessee; two sisters, Emily Porter of Virginia and Katie Konsky of Maryville; other extended family and friends.

 

In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by a son, Michael Jaros and several brothers and sisters.

 

In celebration of his life, memorial visitation will be at St. Elizabeth Catholic Church in Granite City on Friday, July 27, 2018 from 10:00 a.m. until time of a Funeral Mass at 11:00 a.m. with Father Zachary Edgar as celebrant.

 

Burial will follow at Sunset Hill Memorial Estates in Glen Carbon.

 

Memorials may be made to St. Elizabeth Church or to masses.

To send flowers or a remembrance gift to the family of Lawrence Jaros, please visit our Tribute Store.

 

Ed comment:

 

Larry Jaros had three seasons in the KOM league spending time with both Chanute and Iola. His won-loss records went from one extreme to another and had more to do with the level of talent on the teams for whom he pitched during those seasons.

 

Jaros was initially signed, in 1948, by the New York Giants as a pitcher. However, he made just 11 appearances during the season and didn’t post any record. He made it to the plate 11 times in 11 games and managed to go hitless but drove in one run while striking out four times.

 

In 1949 Jaros was back with Chanute where he posted a 16-7 record and was one of the top hurlers in the league. He came back in 1950 when Chanute and Iola combined to post the worst winning percentage in organized baseball. When a player was cut by Iola he’d head to Chanute and vice-versa. That year Jaros pitched in seven games for Chanute, was cut, and signed on with Iola. He pitched in 30 games for them and posted a combined record of 7-20 for 1950.

 

It was a bad year for the Allen and Neosho County, Kansas teams at Iola and Chanute, respectively. Iola eked out a 7th place finish by going 35-84. Chanute played five more games than Iola and went 35-89. Somehow that seems unfair. Iola should have had to play those five other games to find out which team really deserved the designation as the “cellar dweller.” Even with a 7-20 combined record in 1950 Jaros still won 10% of the total games those two clubs won. On the other hand he lost 11 % of the games where those two teams wound up on the short end. Thus, he was truly a “7-11” guy long before that convenience market became popular.

 

Never could I get Jaros to comment on his KOM league experiences. But, I did assure him that he was a very good pitcher for what he accomplished in 1949 against the best competition the KOM league ever had. That year alone saw the likes of future big leaguers; Lou Skizas, Harry Bright, Bob Speake, Bill Upton, Bob Wiesler, Steve Kraly and Mickey Mantle all perform and another future big leaguer, Jake Thies was a teammate, at Chanute, with Jaros.

 

A team photo with Larry Jaros in it was the feature graphic in the Flash Report of two weeks ago. You can look at it again at: www.flickr.com/photos/60428361@N07/42418276610/

Jaros is 5th from the left in the back row. And, by the way, he wasn't called “Baldy” when he played in the KOM league.

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Remembering Frank “Goldie” Howard

 

With regard to recent mentions of Chanute in this forum this note came from the Kansas City area. “Read it all and of course I pay close attention to the Chanute team since daddy was there. Robert and our son Jay Groves and 2 grandsons Joel Palecek and Robert Carter Groves went to the baseball hall of fame induction the end of July. Picked up some stuff on daddy but you have it all. Hope you are well. Sally Groves

 

Ed comment:

 

Goldie Howard was one interesting man. He played in the St. Louis Cardinal chain in the 1930’s, playing in the Industrial leagues in Wichita, Kansas during the war years and played on some championship teams while there. He managed the Chanute Owls in 1946 and then was “stolen” by Tom Greenwade to manage the Independence Yankees in 1947. He came back in 1948 and when the team got good Burleigh Grimes had him fired and brought in Malone Battle “Bones” Sanders to replace him. Goldie’s line about that was taken from Tom Greenwade, “Whatever Burleigh Wants, Burleigh Gets.”

 

After his KOM days, Goldie worked at the Art Gaines baseball camp and returned to Kansas to manage the Liberal B-jays and led them to a National Baseball Congress title just to prove he was still “the man.” It was my joy to spend a lot of time conversing with him over the telephone and in person during his latter years. If you ever felt down in the dumps it didn’t last long in his presence. In December he will have been gone 16 years but I still miss hearing from him.

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The end

 

Weather “experts” are predicting that the remnants of a tropical storm are going to dump buckets of water on my yard today. Take that for what its worth. However, if they happen to be correct, for a change, then I will not be able to go out and play. Thus, if you make it through this report and wish to drop me a line to inform me you made it through yet another boring missive, I’ll have something to read. Bye!!!

 

Done