[ CLAY COUNTY INTHE REARVIEW MIRROR
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Our nostalgic song lyric is “A Sleepin’ Bee” composed by Harold Arlen with lyrics by Arlen and Truman Capote(!) for the musical “House of Flowers” in 1954, a flop, but the song did well.
When a bee lies sleepin’ In the palm of your hand You’re bewitched and deep in love’s Long looked after land Where you’ll see a sun up sky With the mornin’ dew And where the days go laughin’ by As love comes callin’ on you Sleep on bee, don’t ‘waken Can’t believe what just passed He’s mine for the taken I am happy at last Etc.
Barbra Streisand sang the song on her first TV appearance April 5, 1961, on the Jack Parr Show. Orson Bean was the guest host that night. He had seen Barbra in a Detroit nightclub and flew her to New York (her first plane ride) to be on the show. Phyllis Diller was also a guest. Barbra had opened for her in a New York nightclub. Appearances on Mike Wallace and Garry Moore shows followed, leading to Broadway shows. Johnny Carson had Barbra on The Tonight Show in his first weeks in late 1962. (Personal note: I just happened to be watching the Jack Parr show that night in April 1961 and was mesmerized by 18-year-old Barbra and that distinctive, pure voice. She was my favorite female vocalist by the first chorus, a position that has not been seriously challenged since.)
2000 – 25YEARS AGO Suzy Hassler received the Herman J. Valentine Award for Outstanding 4-H Leader of the Year at the 4-H Achievement Night in Clay Center.
Brett Nunnenkamp and Angela Majors were the county’s candidates for 4-H Tribland King and Queen. Kristin Poppe and Joseph Ochsner were named the Outstanding 4-H members.
The County Planning and Zoning Board met to hear an appeal from Curtis O. Griess and Sons for a special exemption to zoning regulations. The Griess proposal was for the construction, over time, of three state-of-the-art hog confinement facilities expanding their existing hog operation in sections 13, 23, and 24 in School Creek Township, northeast of Sutton.
An environmental engineering consultant spoke on behalf of the proposal. The board forwarded the application to the Board of Supervisors with recommendation for approval.
Newly elected 3rd District Congressman Tom Osborne announced a series of ag policy meetings across the district.
Congressman Osborne divided the district into eight divisions with meetings in each district to select two representatives to a board that would develop an agenda Osborne would present in Washington.
Featured business: Alvin P.
Alms and Eugene V. Ulmer, certified public accountants in Clay Center.
Death notices this week included: Richard “Dick” D.
Katen, Fairfield, and Elma M.
(Woods) Ellis, Fairfield.
An outbreak of EHD or blue tongue disease struck the Nebraska deer population this fall, the worst outbreak since 1976.
Taryn Ninemire signed a letter of intent to play basketball at UNK. She became the first female athlete from Sandy Creek to sign to a Division One or Two college basketball program. Her father, Russ Ninemire, was her coach at Sandy Creek.
Sutton placed six men on the Southern Nebraska Conference west division all-star team; Sandy Creek had two on the team. Running back Kelsey Kohtz, offensive lineman Casey Lief, and punter Mike Jones were Sutton’s members of the offensive team. Defensive linemen Jess Waddell and James Mowitz joined DB Bryce Becker on the defensive team. Receiver Tim Johnson and linebacker Brian Bush were Sandy Creek’s first-team selections.
Taryn Ninemire from Sandy Creek and Shalon Nuss of Sutton were first-team selections on the conference all-star volleyball team Nebraska started the 2000 college football season with the Number One ranking, holding it for seven of eight weeks until being beaten at Oklahoma 31-14 and dropping a one-point game in Manhattan two weeks later.
The Husker’ 10 and 2 record earned them a trip to the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio, to face Northwestern on Dec. 30.
The Florida Supreme Court granted Al Gore’s request on Nov. 21, to keep the presidential recounts going.
1975 – 50YEARS AGO Steven Gemar was one of four Nebraskans accepted into the Kansas State College of Veterinary Medicine. He was a 1972 graduate of Sutton High.
The last service for the Church of the Plains was held in Edgar before the old building was demolished, and work began on a new building. The church traced its origins to a Presbyterian church in 1975 and a Methodist church that began a few years later. The two congregations later merged.
Zion Lutheran Church of Clay Center celebrated its 85th year. The church was organized Nov. 11, 1890, in Lynn Township with nine members.
The church and parsonage were moved to Clay Center in 1942, preempted by the Navy Depot. The church was destroyed by fire Jan. 17, 1951, and the parsonage was damaged.
The new church was dedicated in October of that year.
Ronald E. Crosby was the new administrator at Harvard Rest Haven. Crosby was most recently the administrator at a home in Neligh. He was raised in Spaulding and began in the field at a home there.
Hilmer Nuss of Sutton was a few years into his experiments with organic gardening, with noticeable results this year in his pumpkins, one growing to 114 pounds and a half a dozen more than 75 pounds.
Featured business: Center State Products, Inc. Sutton, dealer in Zimmatic center pivot systems.
Death notices this week included: Carl J. Johnson, Alliance (Sutton); Henry H.
(Shorty) Scheierman, Longmont, CO (Sutton); Stella (Miller) Litterel, Edgar; and Nancy Kay Lemkau, 19, Clay Center.
Sandy Creek’s volleyball team, with a 21-2 record, was seeded fourth in the Class C tournament in Scottsbluff.
They met fifth-seeded North Platte St. Patrick in the opening round, winning 12-15, 15-11, 1614. Sue Micek and Tami Wolfe were the leading scorers. The Lady Cougars met undefeated Dodge in the semi-finals and led them 12-6 in the first set before Dodge took over, taking that set 15-12 and the second set 15-13.
Dodge lost to Ansley in the finals.
Sutton volleyball teams ended their seasons on the short end. The freshman team won one of six matches. The reserves were 2-8 and the varsity ended 2-10. Julie Gangwish led the freshman team, and Cecilia Leininger was the reserves’ scoring leader. Lennie Kastens was named to the All-Conference First Team and the team’s outstanding varsity player. Debbie Kastens was the outstanding reserve player.
Annette Plettner and Peggy Gangwish received conference honorable mention, with Gangwish named the team’s outstanding offensive player.
The Sutton volleyball coach was Mary McNeill.
Sutton’s boxing team scored three victories in four bouts at Pershing Auditorium in Lincoln. Nick Hansen of Sutton won in a split decision. Todd Rath had a second-round knockout, and Garth Bauer won in a unanimous decision.
The fourth boxer, a first-time boxer, was matched with an experienced opponent. Coach Joe Perrella attempted to delay the bout while he could determine the experience level of the opponent. The bout went on with John Drapal of Fairfield knocked out in the first round.
Coach Perrella considered Drapal to be a promising boxer just needing experience closer to his level.
The No. 2 Huskers traveled to Norman, Oklahoma to face the No. 7 Sooners. Nebraska led 10-7 when Oklahoma scored with 1:14 to go in the third quarter. The Sooners extended their lead to 21-10 five minutes into the fourth following a muffed punt. An interception and a lost fumble in the last 2:44 of the game led to two more OU touchdowns for their 35-10 win and a trip to the Orange Bowl.
Oklahoma had said it would go to the Fiesta Bowl to face unbeaten Arizona State if they lost to the Huskers. Nebraska had said “no” to that idea. Fiesta Bowl officials were expected to ask Nebraska to reconsider (they did, and they did).
(Personal note: I attended this game. My class at Keesler AFB in Biloxi, MI ended the day before. I captured a ticket, drove through Norman, enjoyed most of three quarters, and endured the disastrous fourth.)
Juan Carlos I was proclaimed King of Spain after the death of General Francisco Franco.
Franco led Nationalist forces to overthrow the Second Spanish Republic ruling from 1939 until his death.
“Dr. Zhivago” appeared on TV for the first time. NBC paid $4 million for the broadcast rights.
The movie “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” opened in theaters.
1950 - 75YEARS AGO James Stych purchased the Standard Oil Station corner south of the Center Theater in Clay Center. The station had not been open for several years.
Mr. Stych “felt” that someone would need the location for a modern business block, someday.
Fifty men, 18 cornpickers, combines, trucks, tractors, and trailers picked 95 acres of corn on the farms of Walter Yost and Walter H. Yost near Harvard.
Both men were hospitalized with illness and from an accident.
Mr. and Mrs. Richard Wilson opened their bowling alley in the building formerly occupied by the Lohmeier Café in Sutton. Nebraska’s January draft call was for 351 men. Max Gemar of Sutton and Burdette Aspegren of Saronville reported for active duty this week.
A break-in at the Co-Operative Hardware Store in Fairfield netted burglars $370 in cash.
Featured business: Yost Motor Co. in Sutton with the 1951 Fords on the lot starting this week.
TSgt. Gerald M. Hay visited his aunt Alice (Mrs. Henry Vauck) and other Nebraska family members. Sgt. Hay was a crewmember on one of three B-52s that flew around the world. One of the planes crashed in India killing all but one crewmember. Sgt. Hay had switched from the ill-fated plane just before the trip started. (My second cousin. I did not know this story. How about other area relatives?)
Death notices this week included: Fred D. Rabbe, Glenvil.
The Sutton Lyric was showing “Smoky Mountain Melody” with Roy Acuff. The Center Theater had “The Asphalt Jungle” starring James Whitmore and Sam Jaffe. The Fair had Randolph Scott in “Fighting Man of the Plains.”
Clay Center upset once-beaten St. Cecilia 33-6. Lovercheck forced a fumble on the first play of the game and Nall scored five plays later to set the tone.
Clay Center outrushed the Blue Hawks 338-65.
A record Big Seven crowd of 54,000 in Norman saw the No. 1 Sooners score twice in the first five minutes of the second half to take over the game beating Bill Glassford’s sophomore-heavy Nebraska team 49-35. Bobby Reynolds scored three touchdowns and five extra points, boosting his season scoring total to 157, a major college scoring record for a season. The Huskers’ season record was 6-2-1 and ranked 17th in the AP poll. The INS All-American team was announced this week, with backs from Kentucky, Wyoming, SMU, and Michigan State named to the offensive team. In an apparent accommodation move, Nebraska’s high-scoring running back was named to the All-American team as a defensive back. More remarkable for modern folk, the average weight of All-American linemen, guards, tackles, and ends in 1950 was 211 pounds. The backfield averaged 185.
The lowest-scoring NBA game was played with the Fort Wayne (later Detroit) Pistons defeating the Minneapolis (later Los Angeles) Lakers 19-18.
The so-called “storm of the century” hit the eastern part of the U.S., killing hundreds and causing millions in damages.
The storm formed over North Carolina and headed north into West Virginia, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. Pittsburgh received 30 inches of snow with intense cold and high winds. Temperatures reached 26 below zero in North Carolina. The windstorm was widespread, including 94-mph gusts in New York City and a 140-mph gust recorded north of the city.
1925 – 100YEARS AGO Corn that had been declared lost in August was yielding 20 to 35 bushels per acre in November with a few reports to 45. The Clay Center post office was established in its new home in the Holcomb building after ten years in the Dickson building.
County Sheriff Harr was the lead officer, assisted by Sheriff Gettle of Cheyenne County, Kansas in the effort that broke up a car theft gang that had stolen 13 vehicles.
The Fairfield American Legion put on a “Snappy Little Minstrel Show.”
A report in the Clay Center paper claimed the Gould Brothers of Geneva had purchased the Palace Market from Johnnie Yunko – likely Fake News.
(More next week...)
Featured business: The Hardware Store in Fairfield, Wm.
Ashby, Proprietor.
The Lincoln Chamber of Commerce and the Lincoln Standard Aircraft Corp. set off on the first airplane trade junket in the U.S. Officials from the aircraft company, the Chamber of Commerce, and Lincoln papers took off in two five-passenger planes loaded with advertising material flying to the Gulf Coast, Texas, and Kansas cities, to San Diego, LA, and San Francisco and returning to Nebraska.
Nelson beat Fairfield 26-6, the first time Nelson had beaten Fairfield.
Ong kicked off the basketball season with a 22-13 win over Shickley, led by 10 points from Andrew Olson.
Coach Ernest E. Bearg’s Nebraska Cornhuskers ended the season with a 17-0 win over Notre Dame and a 4-2-2 record.
The Huskers had five shutouts, giving up nine points in a Missouri loss, six points in a tie with Washington, and twelve points in a loss to Drake. Bearg coached four years, 1925-28, compiling a 23-7-3 record and winning NU’s first Big Six title in 1928. He coached the basketball team in 1926.
1900 – 125YEARS AGO Southern parts of the county saw their first snowfall.
J.V. Hazlett installed a phone in his Harvard meat market and planned to buy a delivery wagon to begin delivering callin orders.
Coal supplies were low in some county towns.
Six Eldorado area farmers reported losing 22 head of cattle to stalk disease. Three more lost one horse each.
Several Glenvil men were husking corn in the eastern parts of the state.
Featured business: Weil & Rosenbaum, Dry goods store in Harvard.
Hastings College beat Harvard High 10-0 (5-point TDs) on a snow-covered frozen field.
The first car produced under the Mercedes name was taken on its inaugural test drive at Cannstatt, Germany.
1850 – 175YEARS AGO The first life insurance policy for a woman was issued to Carolyn Ingraham, 36 years old, in Madison, New Jersey.
Texas sold about one-third of its land to the U.S. government. The U.S. took over all of Texas’s public debt and paid Texas $10 million in bonds. The land became parts of Colorado, Kansas, Oklahoma, New Mexico, and Wyoming.
