South Spink School No. 34

Looking out the door of South Spink No. 34 this morning reminds me of a story my mom told me about growing up on the then adjacent "Solem Place." Having been a premmie, she was very small, until she was in about the 6th grade, Her father would clear a path to the school from the farm, her following along in his footsteps. Sometimes the snow was so high, she couldn't see over it on either side.

Baseball memories from Spink, anyone?

This is Rube Waddell, an American baseball player (from the early 1900s) whose life story bewilders me to no end.

In the middle of a game, Waddell would disappear to chase fire trucks. He was easily distracted, so opposing fans would bring puppies to the game which would have Waddell running over to play with them.

American sportswriter and baseball historian Lee Allen wrote that in 1903, Waddell was "sleeping in a firehouse at Camden, New Jersey, and ended it tending bar in a saloon in Wheeling, West Virginia. In between those events, he won 22 games for the Philadelphia Athletics, [...] toured the nation in a melodrama called The Stain of Guilt, courted, married, and became separated from May Wynne Skinner of Lynn, Massachusetts, saved a woman from drowning, accidentally shot a friend through the hand, and was bitten by a lion."

It should be noted that Waddell was incapable of memorizing his lines for his part in The Stain of Guilt, so he was allowed to improvise his lines in every show. The play went on to critical acclaim.

In 1905, Waddell shared a room with baseball catcher Ossee Schreckengost who refused to continue sharing the room unless there was a clause in Waddell’s contract that forbade him from eating crackers in bed. It should be noted that it was common for players to share the same bed in hotel rooms while on the road. That same year, he missed the World Series after injuring his shoulder while trying to destroy a straw hat.

He did however, went on to win a Triple Crown in pitching. If the Cy Young award had existed during this time, Waddell would have won it over Cy Young himself.

He died of tuberculosis at the age of 37 on April Fool’s Day, 1914.

Dave Franzen posted this in the South Dakota History of Cities, Towns, people and places group. He wrote: Sometimes old photos come with just enough information, but leave a lot of questions. The teacher in this photo is identified as Lillie Gardner Goodroad. The school is apparently somewhere in the vicinity of Spink in Union County, South Dakota. She was a teacher at the school from 1896-1905.

I think it resembles the school building used as a grain bin of the Englund place just west of Spink. Junior Otten alerted me to the schools existence. Thought?

Kevin, Jeannie, and Tom Kavanaugh and family visited the schoolhouse this afternoon. We love when former students come by to visit and tell stories. It makes our home alive with friendly (sometimes naughty) little ghosts.

South Spink kiddos of the 1950s, captain Kid was actually Canyon Kid. One of your contemporaries from Meckling remembered.

Jim Henry, the 'Canyon Kid' and Siouxland TV pioneer has died Jim Henry, a Siouxland television pioneer and icon, died Thursday, surrounded by family members at an assisting living facility in Midland, Mich. He was 90.