My Personal Sports/College World - 1946 - 1950

This blog is a continuation of my own psychological, historical, experiential life with the World of Sports. This period of my life now adds the beginning of television to radio, newspaper, movie newsreels, and my own experiences.

My College Career

Last week I spent most of my time telling you about my sports career. This week I have to match that up with what was happening in my learning career. To do this I will be going back to incidents and people; especially people; who have been significant in my educational life.  

One day toward the end of my bootcamp training at Great Lakes N.T.C., I was told to report to one of the offices. I met with an officer who informed me that I was getting a “billet”, an opportunity to receive special training. He told me that I would be learning how to repair and maintain the electrical system on the Grumman F6F Hellcat, our carrier pursuit airplane. 

A significant incident in my life.

Toward the end of my training at Jacksonville Naval Air Base, I was having a meal with two older members of our class; one was a graduate of the University of Illinois and the other had been an executive at an aircraft production company. Recall that I was 18 years old and just out of high school.  A short form of the conversation:

Friend #1 - “Well, Peter, what are you going to do when the war is over and you   get back home?”

Me - “I don’t know. I haven’t thought about it.”

Friend  #2 -  “You have to go on to college - you’re one of the best learners in this group.”

Significant people and a significant incident in my life.

When I returned home, I decided to attend Illinois Valley Community College and check things out. No major - No prospective vocation - No vision -  Played some basketball - Took some P.E,/Coaching classes.

I rely enjoyed my psychology and history required courses. So, in my sophomore year, I signed up for a World History class that was taught by Miss Katherine Reinhard. She made history alive. Toward the end of the course, I wrote and gave an  oral presentation on the Dreyfus Affair - Alfred Dreyfus, a Jewish officer in the French army was falsely accused and convicted of being a spy.

Miss Reinhard stopped me on my way out of the room and said something like; “Peter, you are an excellent student and you must continue on with your college career.”

A very significant person and one of the most significant incidents in my life.

So, I enrolled at Northern Illinois University where I met several significant people; especially Mr. Donald Roos in Social Psychology. I also found myself to be a scholar there. 

I hope that I have been a significant person in the lives of some of the many

students I have had from the Fourth Grade through the Doctor Degree Level.

Jack Roosevelt “Jackie” Robinson (January 31, 1919 – October 24, 1972) 

Jackie Robinson became the first African American to play in the modern era of Major League Baseball. He started at first base for the Brooklyn Dodgers on April 15, 1947 ending racial segregation in professional baseball since the 1880s. He later usually played second base. 

Robinson was raised in Pasadena, California. He was a four-sport student athlete at the University of California, Los Angeles with the UCLA Bruins football team. Robinson served in the US Army during World War II. He was court-martialed when he refused to sit at the back of a segregated Army bus. 

After he was honorably discharged from the Army, he joined the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro leagues. Branch Rickey, general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, general manager of the Brooklyn Dodgers, who had been looking for the right black player to break the Major League Baseball color line, found him and hired him. 

Robinson was Rookie of the Year in 1947, made the National League All-Star team 1949 through 1954, won the Most Valuable Player Award in 1949, played in six World Series and helped win the 1955 World Series for the Dodgers’.  Major League Baseball retired his uniform No. 42 across all major league teams; the first professional athlete in any sport to be honored this way. Since April 15, 2004, "Jackie Robinson Day" has been celebrated and every player on every team wears No. 42. 

In his personal life Robinson contributed significantly to the civil rights movement. After his death in 1972, Robinson was posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal and Presidential Medal of Freedom in recognition of his achievements on and off the field,  

Jackie Robinson was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1962.

Leroy Robert "Satchel" Paige (July 7, 1906 – June 8, 1982) 

Satchel Paige was an American right-handed pitcher who played in Negro league baseball most of his playing life. In 1948 he was hired by the Cleveland Indians in Major League Baseball. He played major league baseball for about 50 years. Many of us have wondered how many of those years would have been in the MLB if he had been white. 

He began his professional baseball career in 1926 with the Chatanooga Black Lookouts of the Negro Southern League and became one of the most famous and successful players from the Negro leagues. On town tours across the United States, Paige would sometimes have his infielders sit down behind him and then strike out the side. His fast ball was clocked at 103 mph. He had great control and very rarely walked a batter,  And his “Hesitation” (which was not a balk), frustrated many batters. 

Negro League teams often played exhibition games in an excellent, well-lighted park in our neighbor city, Peru, Illinois. I don’t recall seeing Paige’s name in their ads. 

At age 42 in 1948, Paige made his debut for the Cleveland Indians - this makes him the oldest rookie in MLB history. I recall that some of the players bought him a rocking chair to sit in and watch practice.  Paige was 59 years old when he played his last major league game, a record that stands to this day. Paige was the seventh black player to play in Major League Baseball. In 1948, he became the first player from the Negro leagues to pitch in the World Series; the Indians won the Series. He played with the St. Louis Browns from 1951 to 1953, representing the team in the All-Star Game in 1952 and 1953. He played his last professional game on June 21, 1966, just two weeks before his 60th birthday.

In 1971, Paige became the first electee of the Negro League Commitee to be inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

A Review of My TV Viewing – 1947 to 1950         

Viewing television during the late 1940s was difficult for most people. Sets were small, transmission was iffy, and the picture was often shaky in black and white. In order to receive any transmission, you had to have a tower with “rabbit ears.” The best TVs could be found in taverns, church youth meeting rooms, and homes of people with enough money to afford purchase and maintenance. But, it was a Start!         

Let me define “taverns”. In my little town and other towns and cities, Family Taverns were popular. The Family could enjoy fried chicken and fries on Wednesdays and fried fish and fries on Friday. Drinking was moderate and good behavior was expected and enforced. Any disorder would be dealt with firmly and finally.

The earliest sports events were being played in relatively small spaces, such as boxing, bowling, wrestling, and Roller Derby. The cameras needed strong lighting. There were no replays, slow motion, or color.         

My favorite professional football team was the Chicago Cardinals. That is correct, the Chicago Cardinals - with the running backfield of Charlie Trippi, Pat Harder, Elmer Angsman, and quarterback Paul Christman. The players played both offense and defense at that time.         

Other sports people and teams I followed; Illinois University’s football team, Joe Louis (WWII veteran) heavyweight champion boxer, Minnesota Lakers Professional basketball team (with George Mikan), Chicago White Sox baseball team (with Luke Appling), and professional and trick bowler Andy Varipapa.