Sunday, July 28, 2024
Local 1950s Little League Recalled
A recent Addison Times article covered the beginning of the Knothole youth baseball league in the 1960s. Before Knothole, there was Little League, including the Midget league, featuring games played on the South Meridian school grounds, with fields laid out in each corner of the area, in similar layout as it remains today. Then, however, the infield in one field was all-dirt; the others were all-grass. Chuck Thompson, a Shelbyville High School student and noted athlete in the 1950s, reported on the youth games for The Shelbyville News.
“An upset and a close game featured the thrill-packed Midget tourney game played Friday,” Thompson wrote in one dispatch. Cole Brothers had beat the “highly-favored” Shelby Motors team despite Motors’ pitcher Tom Graham striking out six. A trio of pitchers on Cole Brothers - Ronnie Cole, Charlie Nugent and Forrest “Bugs” Theobald - struck out seven in the 4-3 victory. Following the Midget League championship game, an annual watermelon feed would be held for all boys who participated in any league in the Eagles-City summer program, the paper said.
Theobald remained connected to the field past Little League days. Although his graduating class, of 1960, was the first from the new high school building on South Miller St., school athletics remained at the old facilities.
“As a high school student in the late 50s, one of my jobs was taking care of the ball fields, lining the first and third base lines and officiating the games,” Theobald wrote this week.
Dan Collins, SHS Class of 1963, also shared clippings from Thompson, dated 1955. Cole Bros. had made the semi-finals, but were defeated by the Eagles. Mike Hauk threw a three-hitter and Steve Coyle and Larry Guffin had two hits. “Ronnie Cole, ‘Bugs’ Theobald and Charlie Nugent tried to halt the Eagles’ attack but were not successful,” Thompson wrote.
In a Little League contest on the same day, Monfort-Olinger beat the Optimists, 18-13, with M-O’s 18 runs all coming in one inning. Mike Tragesser and Gerald Mohr had two hits each in that inning. “Danny” Collins and Steve Bansbach pitched for M-O, striking out seven.
In a separate article, Thompson reported on Monfort-Olinger defeating the Optimists again, this time 14-12, and the Boys Club defeating the Eagles-Cole team, 15-8. Brent Strawn pitched for the winning Boys Club team. Jimmy Coffin had three hits, and Jim Abel, Dicky Hauk and Pete McNamara all had big plays. For M-O, Steve Jones, Bansbach, Tragesser, Collins and Mike Thomasson had multiple hits. Richard Adams, in addition to hitting a triple, pulled an unassisted double play, and Keith Hobbs hit a double for Monfort-Olinger. Bob Sanders got half of the hits for the Optimists team.
Thompson’s reporting regularly included a “Little League Baseball” drawing, shown below.
NOTEBOOK:
NATIONAL NEWS: Fried chicken sandwiches appear on 47 percent of restaurant menus now; for perspective, burgers only appear on 41 percent of menus. For chicken sandwiches, that number jumped 10 percent from 2020 to 2021. While burgers may still be more popular overall than chicken sandwiches, the menus don’t lie, and an ancillary sandwich is now firmly center stage. (Bloomberg/Numlock)
The Addison Times publishes essential news and historical content to build our Shelby County community, and is free thanks to the generosity of supporters. Those who donate a minimum of $5 a month (or $45 one-time) receive the three remaining quarterly Addison Times magazines for 2024 as an appreciation gift.
Want the daily edition read to you? Struggling with your email provider filtering out your local news? The Addison Times Substack app will solve those challenges!
SHS Courier Archive Reviewed
Editor’s note: The Shelbyville High School Courier is going digital this year, with student-led coverage of student activities and athletics to be published on the newly created Instagram page when the academic year begins. We are in the midst of a series that dives into the Courier archives. Today’s featured edition is from May 1973.
Bill Ferrell and Laura Simich were named co-editors of The Courier for the 1973-74 school year. Bill would attend training at Indiana University. His fees were paid by The Shelbyville News. Laura, because of her plans to travel in Europe over the summer, would be trained at The News office in August. They would also write the high school column for The News.
Girls qualifying for the track regional were Laurie Baxter, Tessie Conrad, Pam Clayton, Charletta Reynolds, and Crystal Henry.
The bell system had been scrapped, giving teachers the opportunity to keep classes longer, typically as punishment, if necessary.
Mr. Arthur Barnett, Mr. Kuhn and Mel Davies were retiring. “Doc” Barnett had attended Shelbyville High School and taught for 45 years. He and his wife were planning a trip to Denmark. Mr. Kuhn and his wife planned to “gad about” the country, he said. Mr. Davies, head of the industrial arts department, had taught 31 years at SHS. He would become head of research and development of making 1840 pottery at Conner Prairie near Noblesville.
The boys track team had set records, although the paper didn’t specify which ones. Those in the photo were Matt Adams, Kurt Lockridge, Steve Frazee, Kevin Zerr, Greg Snyder, Greg Popplewell, Dave Kellams, Dave Ruschhaupt, Bob Weakley, Buck Pettis, Larry Clap and Kevin Childers.
Courier staff members were Lisa Hamilton and Laura Simich (editors), Michelle Jurras, Kim Metz, Nick Ciarletta, Bill Ferrell and Gary Plunkett.
This Day in Shelby County History
News around Shelbyville and the surrounding area as reported on or about this date in history. Selections are curated from the Shelby County Public Library Genealogy Department.
2014: A Shelbyville man was arrested and charged in connection with the disappearance of his former girlfriend. The woman had last been seen in April. Police had cordoned off the 1200 block of Elm Street and moved the man’s shed to begin digging, looking for evidence of human remains. Police Detective Capt. Bill Dwenger was in charge of the case.
2004: The Indy Bulldogs 13s were runners-up in the 2004 Sandlott World Championship. The team had local connections. Craig Martin and Tom Zobel, both of Shelbyville, were coaches. Jordan Martin and Craig Kitchin of Shelbyville were also on the team.
1994: Local postal officials announced that mail would no longer be delivered to people who had not changed their address to the 911 grid system. “Some Shelby County residents haven’t gotten the message, even though it’s been posted on their mail with an orange sticker for three weeks,” The Shelbyville News said. Residents had been given one year to update their address.
1984: Shelby County’s population topped 40,000 for the first time, but both the cities of Shelbyville and Rushville had lost some residents while cities in other neighboring counties had recorded gains.
1974: A suit seeking to determine ownership of real estate where Major Hospital was located, and to interpret part of the 1915 will of the donor of land for the hospital, was filed in Circuit Court. The suit was a precursor to paving the way for possible construction of a new hospital. The lengthy civil complaint, prepared and long-researched by Ralph Adams, veteran attorney for the hospital until his recent retirement from that position, sought a judgment and decree to construe the Major will as well as deed and statutes. William S. Major had left the property to the City of Shelbyville for the expressed purpose of constructing a hospital on the property after the death of his wife. A reverter clause in the will was causing legal problems. It stated that should the city fail to construct, maintain or operate a hospital on the property, the property would revert to Major’s brother and sister, Alfred Major and Elizabeth Reed, both since deceased. The court was asked to determine if Major’s distant survivors could lay claim to the land if the hospital moved elsewhere.
1964: The Shelbyville plant of General Electric hired 15 extra production workers for the summer to fill extra business orders. Local employment at the plant stood at 570. During the plant’s upcoming annual vacation shutdown, 60 would remain on the job.
1954: Local Midget League All-stars were awarded with large hunks of watermelon after defeating an Indianapolis team. Among those on the team were Philip Phares, Philip Lackey, Tommy Bartlett (winning pitcher), Rex Beckley, Harold Stewart and Tim Fuller. League Manager Arthur “Doc” Barnett said about 350 boys had played in local leagues over the summer.
1944: With the rural fire truck out of service for repairs for a few days, local officials urged farmers to take extra precautionary measures against fires.
1934: A burglar stole a Hoover electric sweeper from the Christian Science church building at the northeast corner of Jackson and Tompkins Streets. The doors of the church had been left wide open after the Sunday service.
1924: Herman Atwood, east of Bengal, found a still and 15 gallons of “white mule” while mowing. He brought the liquor and still to police, who opened an investigation.
1914: The entire police force was part of a raid on a club room on East Jackson St. Officers had received a tip that the club was stocking up on whiskey in preparation for the colored Knights of Pythias meeting. The club owner said the goods were only refreshments owned by the club in preparation for numerous events.
OBITUARIES
After a lengthy illness, Larry Frank Mullins, 81, passed away Friday morning, July 26, 2024 in the comfort of his home in Celina, TN. A visitation for friends and family will be held on Sunday, July 28 from 5 p.m. (CT) to 7 p.m. (CT) at the Hall Funeral Home in Livingston, Tennessee. A graveside service and burial will be held Tuesday, July 30 at 11 a.m. (ET) at the Boggstown Cemetery in Boggstown, Indiana.
Larry Frank Mullins was born on January 20, 1943 at home on the farm in Independence Community in Overton County, Tennessee. He was the son of the late Thomas Lafayette and Jewell Autumn (Kendall) Mullins. He attended Livingston Academy. He married Diana Gaye (Gardner) Mullins on July 1, 1996.
As a young man, Larry left his home in Tennessee and found work in Indianapolis, IN. He started his 30 year career with Ford Motor Company on December, 7 1967, retiring on January 1, 1998. Upon retirement he moved back to his home county in Tennessee, where he and his wife, Gaye were blessed with many years of fun and adventures before his health declined. They filled a wish on their “bucket list” of riding in all of the 48 contiguous states on their Goldwing. They enjoyed boating on Dale Hollow Lake, 4-wheeling, hunting dry land fish and wintering in the RV in Daytona Beach, Florida.
Survivors include his wife, Gaye Mullins, son, Rick (Trina) Mullins and daughter Robyn (Laura) Mullins and step-son Donnie (Alicia) Garver, brother, Archie (Frances) Mullins and sister-in-law Doris Mullins. Larry is also survived by grandson, Jess (Megan) Mullins and granddaughter, Katelyn (Nicholas) Wichman, great-grandson Maxumus Alexander Wichman, and several step-grandchildren, step-great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews and Anna Sue (Ogletree) Densmore, the mother of his children. In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by brothers, Thomas Landon Mullins and James R. “Jim” Mullins and his wife Doris Mae Mullins, and step-father Dennis Martin.
In lieu of flowers, the family has requested memorial be made to the Boggstown Cemetery, Boggstown Presbyterian Church, the Shiloh Independent Missionary Baptist Church or the charity of your choice.
Visitation arrangements will be handled by the Hall Funeral Home, 2106 Cookeville Highway, Livingston, TN. Graveside rites and burial in the Boggstown Cemetery will be handled by The Freeman Family Funeral Home and Crematory, Shelbyville, IN. Online condolences may be shared with the family at www.freemanfamilyfuneralhomes.com.