WAY, WAY BACK

     A few days back in the Korner, a group of former Boone boys recalled their earliest days here, when as teenagers, they secured their first employment and the compensation received.

     As we close the door on that story, one final addition. John Kueck, BHS-61, added, "Here's my story as a laborer at Quinn Wire and Iron Works. Growing up with a Lionel train set, I am familiar with rail cars that did side dumps of their contents and cranes with magnets for unloading iron. Those types of rail cars were missing at Quinn's. Instead, they had a boxcar of coke I emptied, a shovel and a wheelbarrow at a time. Then came the gondola car filled with 50-pound ingots of pig iron. I would throw each ingot over the side and then later, stack each to make room for more. At the end of three summers of this type of work, I weighed 128 pounds compared to 148 pounds in eighth grade, BUT, I had more muscle."

     John added, "I made $1.25 an hour but worked 48 hours a week so made good money at time and a half after 40 hours."

K-----K

     Today's story from that earlier group we exposed is all about sports cards. The interest was fueled by the news that Caitlin Clark's first professional trading card recently sold for $10,000. There were other Clark cards sold as well.....a base card for just $9.99 to a non-autographed variant of the Blue Viper 1/1 card which quickly sold for $3,000.

     Anyway, our Boone guys reported on their sports cards.

     John Hinz, BHS-64, wrote, "when I started playing for the West Boone Dodgers in Little League I started collecting baseball cards pretty aggressively. When we had those neighborhood grocery stores all over town, I peddled around buying cards from different stores, in hopes I would get a broader variety of cards. I think there were 11 stores that I visited and their might have been more, but at age 77, who knows."

     John added, "I kept all of my cards from about 1954-60 but I did give one 1956 Mickey Mantle to each of my nephews, but have kept the rest...somewhere around 3,000 cards. They remain sorted by team in the order of my favorite players on each team to the least favorite. I'm not sure what I'll do with them, but do have a son who was an outstanding player and a 3-year old grandson who already loves hitting wiffle balls."

     Dick Musser, BHS-64, said, "I had Larry Biittner and Junior Gilliam cards."

     Mike Nyman, BHS-64, added, "I don't have baseball cards anymore but I think I have a Don Nelson basketball card around the house somewhere."

     John Hendricks, BHS-64, wrote, "you probably saw that a Mickey Mantle rookie card recently went for over a million. But my wonderful, wonderful Mom threw out a packed shoe box of cards from my closet when I was in school at the University of Iowa. I think I had seven Mickey Mantle's, including a rookie card, plus most of the Yankees, and also Ted, Stan and other notables. I even had a Joe Amalfitano."

K-----K

     The Kornerman was taken completely by surprise recently when I received an email from Michael Moran, the son of Francis Dayle "Hap" Moran, BHS-21, of Toreador athletic fame. "Hap" Moran, in  1920, led a Toreador basketball team, not only to a state championship but also a trip to Chicago to participate in a National High School tournament. "Hap" was named the most outstanding player in the Iowa tourney and gained equal individual fame in the national event, named there as an All-American.

     In addition to all that, Moran was one of the stars in the early days of what has become the National Football League (NFL). After playing college football at Carnegie Tech and both football and basketball at Grinnell College, he played for four teams in the NFL from 1926-33, including the '26 Frankfort Yellow Jackets championship team. He retired in 1933 still holding a pair of New York Giants records.......a 91-yard scoring run in 1930 and 114 receiving yards in 1933. THAT 91-YARD RUN REMAINED A GIANTS RECORD FOR OVER 75 YEARS. It was finally broken in 2005.

     Because of his illustrious pedigree, I, the Kornerman, am inclined to think he is probably the best ever  Toreador athlete in the school's long history.

     Michael Moran wrote, "we made regular trips to Boone until my grandmother died in 1961. Her name was Jesse (Hendershot Moran) Sutton. I remember the Ledges and town swimming pool and learned a lot about the families."

     Unfortunately, I was unable to add to the information Michael was still seeking about his father. 

     Michael wrote that his father was working in Boone as a train dispatcher during his NFL "off season." But in early 1927, "Hap" was living in Chariton and playing for a basketball team called the "Roamers." The "Roamers" were a barnstorming team that the legendary Jim Thorpe had told "Hap" about.

     I, the Kornerman, had never heard that part of the "Hap" Moran story and his son, Michael, was very unaware also. He was contacting me with the hope that I may have additional information to provide about his time in Chariton and the "Roamers" basketball team. Sorry, I don't.  

K-----K

     Worldwide Korner headquarters are located at 928 South Jackson, Boone, Iowa 50036-4932. Phone number is 515-432-1530. Leave a message. To email your stories/memories/comments/death notices......https://kelleyskorner1@blogspot.com.