Recalling 1950 summer pastimes in McCook

Chautaugua is heading our way this month and it is going to be all about the 1950’s! Poodle skirts, white T shirts, belted jeans, bobby socks and garter belts for your nylon stockings!

The changes that took place in the 1950 era were actually quite astonishing as the first round of baby boomers hit the classrooms and schools that were adequately sized suddenly were bursting out at the seams with students! I thought we would look back at the beginning of the 50’s this column starting with the summer of 1950. The first few came from the McCook Gazette with the last one from the Red Willow County Reporter, an Indianola paper.

“FIREWORKS: Complete Guaranteed New Stock. Family Assortments. Firecrackers, Sparklers, Rockets, Buzz Bombs, Guns and Caps, Cones and Fountains, Atomic Wings, Aerial Bombs, Roman Candles and Many Others. ‘The Spirit of 76 in Every Bang’. Bob Thomas, Indianola. Located One Block West of Main Street on the Highway.” June 30, 1950

“By The Way, By Ben F. Hormel. We were going to give a pep talk on the idea of July 4th…but we’ve decided against it. There will be enough oratorical fireworks without our help. Anyway, everybody knows this is the finest country in the world and that we live in one of the finest communities. We’re lucky our folks had gumption enough to leave wherever they left to come here and develop the U.S.A. We know the country has flaws. We suspect there will always be a few crooks and double dealers this side of heaven. But we’ve a lot to be thankful for. Shucks, we went and said it, anyway.” July 1, 1950.

“NEW and OLD TIME DANCE, Tuesday Night, July 4TH, Starts 8:30 PM, Red Willow County Fair Grounds.” July 3, 1950

“!FRIES! Get your Fries for the Fourth of July at the Hiway Poultry Farm. On foot or dressed. Will rough the feathers off for 10 cents. Call your order Phone 1650.” June 30, 1950.

Now from the Red Willow County Reporter (Indianola) June 15, 1950: “Horace Garner Can Knock-em For a Homer. Knock it out of the park! Is the cry echoed by ball fans when big Horace Garner steps up to the plate for the McCook Cats.

To date, the 24-year-old Negro centerfielder is leading the Cats in the home run department with his three ‘homers’. He is a favorite of the fans. Christened Horace Turner Garner, he was reared in St. Louis, MO with three brothers and two sisters. He began his baseball career with a sandlot team, the St. Louis Giants, shortly after the war ended. In 1944 he joined the Brooklyn Brown Dodgers, a U.S. League team, and was on the road with this group until its disbandment two years later. He either worked the mound for the Brooklynites or occupied an outfield berth. With ‘baseball in his blood’ he then joined the Norfolk Royals in Norfolk, VA, and saw three seasons as an outfielder with this team. In March 1949, Horace was put on the Indianapolis Clowns’ roster and in June of that year was sent to play with the Kansas City Stars and remained with the Stars until he joined the Cats last August. Just after the season got underway this year, word got around that Horace couldn’t hit an inside curve. Consequently every time he gets up to bat thepitchers start tossing their inside curves and in every game to date he’s been hit by a ball ate is very confident that the Cats will win the NIL crown this year. During his baseball career Horace has traveled all over the U.S. and has toured portions of Canada. When he’s not playing ball you can find Horace working at the Equity Exchange gas station on East B Street here in McCook.”

For those of you that don’t remember this ‘Cats’ team it was one of the semi-pro farm teams that played in McCook. At first, they played on the McCook ‘East Field’, now known as Felling Field moving to the Cibola field when it was built, now known as the Legion Field in NW McCook.

SWNGS July meeting will be held on Saturday July 9, 2022, due to the holiday weekend. We will begin at 1 PM. Everyone is welcome to attend at our new library located at 322 Norris Ave., in the Temple Building, STE 2-7.