Swimming Party

Submitted by David Gentry

A little tongue-in-cheek look at BHS football in the 50s from Robert Hamlin... 

THE BALLAD OF SLEWFOOT AND THE PUNT

--To be read at the dedication of the Slewfoot statue
                                    on Main Street in Baldwyn, Mississippi,
                                    during the 2012 Okeelala Festival

Muse of football jocks and fans,
Of epic contests, fierce and gory,
Give me words to sing in praise
Of Slewfoot’s claim to fame and glory.

Two great teams—Bearcats and Aggies—
Locked in scoreless, mortal fight;
To claim the prized Tombigbee crown
Would be the victor’s hard-earned right.

Homeric strife as gridiron foes
Up and down the field collide,
Passes caught and tackles made,
With no clear edge to either side.

Until, the Bearcats backed against their goal,
First and ten too far away,
But Bearcats’ fans need have no fear,
Slewfoot’s leg would save the day.

Slewfoot was the Bearcats’ punter,
An awesome, mighty leg had he,
And when he put his foot to ball
’Twas a marvelous sight for all to see.

Heflin‘s snap was straight and true,
Slewfoot’s catch was just as fair.
But when he stepped to kick the ball,
His foot found only . . . empty air.

Rise up, Outlaw, Reynolds, Christian,
And all the gallant Bearcat band,
You must now save your buddy Slew
From infamy with a goal-line stand.

And that they do.  They stop the Aggies,
Then Rutherford breaks a touchdown run.
The Bearcats win!  And Slewfoot’s gaffe
Proves no disgrace, but only fun.

More Tombigbee titles would be won,
But Slewfoot’s feat fans still recall:
Batters, even golfers, whiff, but only once
Has punter flat out missed the whole dang ball!

                                                                --Homer Hambone

Union Soldier Grave near Baldwyn

East of Baldwyn, near the Hopewell community, is a grave unknown or mostly forgotten by many Baldwynians. This grave is on the side of the road and was almost removed and relocated once due to being on a new right-of-way, but Charlie Murray Gordon who was supervisor at the time worked out a new route and left it intact.

For many years a mystery person decorated the grave, but was never identified. The grave is still kept cleaned and decorated by "concerned citizens" as depicted on the marker.

Thanks to Henry Outlaw for these photos, made on Okeelala Festival Day, 2011. Pictured are Henry and Doug Pruitt of Baldwyn. Sorry I failed to ID them previously.

Old Basketball Newspaper Item

I don't remember if I sent ya'll this article or not, but here it is anyway. Back in the day, Daddy was a "stringer" for one of the Memphis newspapers and occasionally sent in articles that they published.  I'm not sure, but I suspect the "Evening Appeal" was a predecessor to the "Commercial Appeal".  I found this interesting in that they actually played Ole Miss AND BEAT THEM!  This was a semi-pro team I believe that got together and played in the area.  I think that the Grisham mentioned was Forest Grisham.  The last name, Blackard, I think was Arnold Blackard, who later owned a restaurant/hamburger shop next to Daddy's pool room in Tupelo across from the courthouse next to where the "Stables" restaurant is now located.  The others I just don't know about.  Maybe some of your readers can answer some of these questions.
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From Robert H. Palmer. Thanks, Robert. Hope the image size is OK, I have to get the size right for this and mobile devices also, and sometime it is a guess only situation. -CH

Baldwyn Businesses - 1950s

From Robert Palmer:

I just found this. It's hard to see, but there is a sign sticking out from the front of the building that says "Shoe Shop" and you can see the rims of the chairs in the window where Robert Finger had a place for folks to sit while he worked on their shoes. If I recall correctly, the chairs had a chrome metal railing and the seats and backs and armrests were a maroon or burgundy color. That memory just hit me when I saw this picture. The building was originally Orr's Cafe.

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Mr. Finger's shoe shop at one time was located under the bank building (Farmers and Merchants Bank) and after he left there a Mr. Boggs had a shoe repair business in the same place (or do I have that backwards?)

I remember Mr. Finger had a Dodge pickup truck to commute in. He gave me a ride one cold morning and I noticed he had a kerosene heater sitting on the floorboard hump, and it really felt good! - Carl

Ritz Theater Schedule 1953

One of the weekly ads for movies published in the weekly newspaper. This from August, 1953.

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From Tom Shellnut. Thanks, Tom.

Scouting in Baldwyn in 1953

An excerpt from the Baldwyn Weekly News from 1953. Scouting was a way of bonding with fellows in those days, and we were taught many ideas that helped us later in life.

Scouting especially taught boys and girls to be self sufficient, and that hard work to achieve skills was important to make advancements.

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Submitted by Tom Shellnut. Thanks, Tom.

Old Street Markers

This is a photo of a bygone street marking system in downtown Baldwyn. I guess I never really noticed it back in my youth, but these had been there a very long time. This particular spot is in front of the old Farmers and Merchants bank, now the Baldwyn News building. The location is also in the lower right hand corner of the blog header photo.

Main street has been renovated to modern standards, including handicapped ramps at corners, unlike the rough piled-up concrete in the above photo. These sidewalks were laid in the 1930's, I believe.

Ah, progress...

More BHS tornado damage 1942

The upper photo of the devastation appears to be of the North part of the school, the auditorium, as we knew it. The men standing are in the entrance near the office.

Lawrence Blassingame is sitting on a chunk of brick in the lower photo.

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Thanks to Gloria and Milton Copeland for the photos.

New Website

http://soarwithbirds.com/

For you private avaiation enthusiasts, Gerald McKibben has begun a new website. Please check it out.

Tabernacle and Boy Scout Hut about 1943-44

The lower picture was made by someone standing in the intersection of 3rd and Main in Baldwyn. The buildings on the right are the downtown school lunchroom and the tabernacle. The burned out brick facade of the old downtown school still looms in the background.

The tabernacle was utilized for temporary classrooms after the fire. The building used for the lunchroom was brought in from another location. We think it came from a CCC camp or Camp Shelby, MS; was disassembled, brought by rail and put back together. This photo was probably taken about the first winter after the school building was destroyed. This (lunchroom) building was later used for a Boy Scout meeting area and also for tabernacle singers to assemble and practice before going to the stage.

The tabernacle was moved to a place further South later and I do not know its' fate. The Baldwyn post office is located on this property now.

The gentleman shoveling snow is Dr. R. B. Caldwell. A better view of the burned school wall is in the background.

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These photos are lifted from a VHS tape of home movies by Claude Gentry.

Something's bad on Twitchell Hill

After digesting a string of movies recently about the supernatural world of ghosts and apparitions one "sees" these days, I started thinking (again) of the scary stories and places we had to deal with in '50s Baldwyn.

There was the Sloan home, the old Caldwell home, and the 20-mile creek wash-hole where someone drowned that come to mind. I'm sure there were others associated with the Crossroads battlefield, but the one that I had to do a bit of research on was the tale of the "headless" Mr. Twitchell.

The hill South of town was named after that fellow. I have heard he was a landowner, farmer, and also a homeless vagrant. Anyhow, and somehow, the story got around (I barely remember it) that he was found decapitated and later roamed the hill around his neighborhood moaning and searching for his head. Many believed the tale, and would not stay in that area after dark. I asked some older folks about the story, and, according to them, it was a very well known tale.

Twitchell hill was a lure to boys in my age group because of the peach trees, pecan trees, and many other fruit trees that abounded on it. It was a good place to have tracking practice in the Boy Scout program and various other functions. Herb Spivey and I sent our first message using semaphore flags there once. I recall only one overnight trip with the scouts in that area, and if anyone had ever mentioned old man Twitchell coming around looking for his head, I swear we would have gone home post-haste.

A public dump was on top of the hill in my day, and we boys found many "treasures" there. Old radios, appliances, glass gallon jugs we could sell for a quarter apiece, and various other items would get hauled away to home on our bicycles.

So, I am told and will trust my sources that there really was a Mr. Twitchell and he lived on that particular hill. His social status I do not know. His death by decapitation or otherwise is also unknown. For the sake of humor, let's assume he did die violently and search for his head as reported - and probably still does. This is no worse of a ghost story than we see on the screen these days.

There was always someone's house on the old road on the hill, it seems, that got a lot of visitors continually. I remind you of that because if some folks couldn't get their thirst quenched by a milkshake or a cola of some sort, they drove down and got an adult beverage... Oh! and that is the person that bought the gallon jugs from us!

Football Career Opportunity 1944

A contract for a prospective player to the Packers in 1944. This was a great opportunity for a young man in that time period.

Young ball players around Baldwyn and the area often sought to be recognized for their playing skills in order to be picked up by Mississippi Colleges or even other adjacent states teams.

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Submitted by Don McKibben

Johnnie Lee Smith, Nurse and Midwife

Johnnie Lee Smith, midwife, cook, maid, nurse's aide, and wash-woman (as she has described her duties throughout a long association with the Caldwell Clinic and Memorial Hospital).

She retired in 1977, having assisted several doctors and nurses, LPNs, and other midwives. Her career began in 1938 helping Mrs. Henrietta Shambry, a midwife, and waiting for the day she would retire. She eventually did, and Johnnie Lee took over and delivered a total of 527 babies during the years. Her first delivery was a boy, John Macon, and the last was Bronson Channing Miller on August 9, 1977.

The first clinic that Dr. R.B. and others built was near the Baptist Church on West Main street in 1934 and had 8 beds. It eventually got to 20 beds. According to Johnnie Lee, the first baby born at this hospital was Robert Heflin.

The move across the street to the new hospital in 1950 gave the patients 30 beds and eventually 35. The first baby born there was a Wesson.

Johnnie Lee also wrote that the wash-woman duty was that she would wash and clean the surgical packs after each use and get them ready for the next use. They only had 3 packs at first. The work was hard and tedious, but if she had made a patient comfortable for just a little while, she didn't mind the work.

Thanks for your devotion to duty and your passion for helping folks, Mrs. Smith.
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I was born at home in 1939 and had Dr. R. B. and Vina Bradley there at my arrival. They ran my daddy off and he went back to work getting the newspaper out that day in May. I have been told that it got so cold the next day they sent for a ton of coal and got the fireplaces going again.

The Famous "Hatchery Speech"

Congressman "Private" John Allen Speech before the U.S. House of Representatives February 20, 1901

Many of you gentleman have never been to Tupelo. I hope none of you entertain any idea of dying without going there. I should hate to have it said of any Member of this Congress - for all of whom I have such kindly feeling - that they did not aspire to visit Tupelo before they died. I extend to you all an invitation to come and promise you a royal welcome. Come and go with me on College Hill one evening and see one of our Tupelo sunsets.

Come and see one of our southern, silvery, Tupelo moons! I think it is the only place in the South where we have the same beautiful moons we had before the war. I have often been asked about the size of Tupelo. I confess I have not been able to get the exact figures from the last census. The tabulating machines do not seem to have been able to work it out yet; but I can say, Mr. Chairman, that by sufficiently extending the corporate limits of our town we can accommodate a population larger than the City of London. The truth is that our lands about Tupelo have been so valuable for agriculture purposes that we have not yielded them up for building a city as rapidly as we should have done.

I can say, Mr. Chairman, that while there are larger places than Tupelo, I do not think there is any other place just exactly like it. Tupelo is very near, if not exactly, in the center of the world. The horizon seems about the same distance in every direction. The sun, when going down on regular schedule, comes right over the town, and sometimes gives us a hot time in the old town. It is a great place for the investment of capital, where it will be welcomed and protected. Come early, gentlemen and avoid the rush!

This, Mr. Chairman, is a proposition to establish there a fish hatchery. We have the ideal place for a fish hatchery. Why, sir, fish will travel over land for miles to get into the water we have at Tupelo. Thousands and millions of unborn fish are clamoring to this Congress today for an opportunity to be hatched at the Tupelo hatchery.

Now, Mr. Chairman, I only wish to say in conclusion that if there is a member here who wishes to have his name connected by future generations with that of Judas Iscariot and Benedict Arnold, if he wishes to have himself and his posterity pointed at with scorn, if he desires to be despised by men and shunned by women, let him vote against this amendment and he will secure all this infamous notoriety."

The Hatchery.
Shortly after Congressman Allen gave his plea to Congress, they voted in favor of it, the President signed the bill into law and, in 1904, the hatchery began operations. Almost 100 years later, it is still a productive fish hatchery.

An old Baldwyn Baptist Church Artifact

Kellie Conwill found the stained glass mural that was in the Baldwyn First Baptist Church many years ago. It is now in a church in Bay St. Louis, MS.

If you recall, it was in the baptistery and many of us, including myself, were baptized next to it. It was given back to the Shellnut family when the church was torn down, and then was given to the church it is in now.

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Kelly Conwill is the daughter of Ed and Lane Sue (McVey) Kesler of Baldwyn.
From Facebook.

Baldwyn Bearcats 1938

Your parent or other relative might be on this team.

Submitted by Milton Copeland.

Hagy's Catfish Hotel in Shiloh, TN (Stantonville)

Many of you still enjoy a somewhat long drive to get the catfish and atmosphere at the Catfish Hotel. I have been a guest of theirs for many years, also, and since it is close by now, take an ocassional trip there.



The restaurant in the 30s or 40s. Lady pictured is not known.

On this spot in 1825, Henry Hagy and his wife Polly docked their flat boat, laid claim to several acres of bottom land, and began to build a farm and family. Later their son John built a rough log shack next to the river to store items that were to be shipped by steamboats. The shack was occupied by Union soldiers during the Battle of Shiloh.

The shack earned the name "Catfish Hotel" during the early thirties when Norvin Hagy entertained friends at cookouts. He became well known for the delicious catfish, hushpuppies, and hospitality he served up. Guests who had arrived by river were often forced to spend the night after becoming engrossed in yarns spun and darkness made it unsafe to travel the river, thus the nickname Catfish Hotel.

Yum, yum. Ya'll come!

The river view is from the parking lot looking North at Diamond Island.

Okeelala Festival 2010

Well, it's about that time again! The Baldwyn Okeelala Festival will be held on 2 October (Saturday) and you are invited to attend and meet and greet old friends again. We have been having a good attendance of old Bearcats the last few years, and it seems more are able to come each time.

There are at least two get acquainted events to plan for this year. The 1940-60 (or so) BHS alumni will meet at Agnew's Restaurant at Pratts at 9AM for breakfast, coffee and greetings. Afterward, a former student, Dr. Robert Hamblin will give a reading from his new book Crossroads: Poems of a Mississippi Childhood, published recently. Robert lived across the road from Brice's Crossroads battlefield site and heard many tales from the local loafers that sat around the porch of his family's general store. He has written from those accounts.

Another breakfast for 1960s and up BHS grads will be held the same morning at The Country Inn in Baldwyn. Info for that event will be forthcoming from Phil Cooper and Don McKibben. I will post it to this when complete arrangements are sent to me.

Please try to be there if you can!!!

First TVA City

Remember this old sign as you came into Tupelo from the North on old US45? It greeted us for many years, and I think it may still be there in the area of Main Street and Gloster.

Tupelo was the first city to become a T.V.A. power purchaser. In those days you were required to join as a member to get a reduced rate on your power bill.

The structure in the background is over the railroad tracks and held the traffic lights for the Crosstown intersection as well as for the trains' signals.