My View from 1958

Growing up during the 1960s/70’s, the weekends brought four events I could always count on: Saturday mornings in downtown Shenandoah spending my paper route earnings at Woolworth or Western Auto, going to church, going out to eat after church and Kansas City Chiefs Football. I will talk about my paper route in a future Blog.

Every Sunday, mom and dad would drag my brother, sister and I out of bed, make sure we were properly dressed, get us in the car and off to church. In those days, we wore suits to church. My brother and I each had one suit. I doubt they were stylish, but you tried to look presentable. No jeans or T-shirts and no tennis shoes.  I really hated getting “dressed up” and fought my mom all the way to the door. I am not sure how she tolerated that, but she did and got me to church every week. Below is a photo of us before church. Circa 1968?

Next in our routine, was to stop by Grandma Vermillion’s house to pick her up for church. Seems like she never missed a Sunday at church either. Although not a Chiefs fan (grin), she enjoyed an easy Sunday seeing friends and the gentle walk home after services.

We attended the United Methodist Church. Once we arrived, we would walk through a gauntlet of door greeters before getting to our seat. Of course, dad would have to talk to everyone as he knew most every soul in town, or they knew him. Mom was a bit shy so she would direct us to our seat while dad chatted. We always sat in the same pew; balcony, third row, southeast corner. We sat with mom since dad was an usher. Grandma always sat in her same pew as well, but she was much closer to the front as she did not have fidgety kids to contend with. Seems like every family had their spot or favorite pew to sit. It was easy for my parents and other adults to detect who they did not see at church any particular Sunday.  Great chatty item for the rest of the upcoming week. The picture below is the view from our seats in the balcony!

 The church was full of life in the 60’s and 70’s. It was very large with a 3-story annex for Sunday School. I don’t know the total membership at that time, but the church bulletin said there were usually around 250- 300 people attending weekly.  At one point they even hired an assistant pastor as there was so much growth. The church was so forward-thinking that they built a walking tunnel underneath the alley that separated the church from the Sunday School building. Now that was cool!!  I loved walking through the tunnel. For Shenandoah, it was a modern marvel! The church is pictured below.

Typically, all the pews were filled. There was a large adult choir, a youth choir and a bell choir. I recall the Adult Choir Director, Doctor Anderson. He was a Podiatrist. Hs wife played the organ at church. One Sunday the closing Hymn did not start on time. The choir members were all standing up ready to sing, but the Choir director was, well snoozing. Seems the sermon put him to sleep. Ha. The pastor even got a kick out of it. He finally woke up and get the choir cranking.

Mom always brought pencil and paper and a few little games to keep us kids entertained. I was always actively listening for that closing hymn: “Praise God from Whom all Blessing Flow”, as that was the queue to exit.

 After church, off to Sunday School, which wasn’t so bad as my buddies were there.  Rick Paulus, Bill Hiatt (RIP), Dave Valentine (RIP), Kevin Delehant were typically in attendance. We had workbooks with lessons for the week to be completed, but no matter how much mom pushed me, I could never seem to get them done.  There were also several girls in my Sunday School class whom I later graduated from High School with: Beth Jennings, Ardyth Boyer, Julie Gowing, Kathy Gowing, Elain Fisher.  I probably missed a few names. The adults had Sunday School as well.  I always thought it was cool that they had coffee, punch and cookies to eat. On occasion, when I was done with Sunday School before my parents, I would always scarf up a few leftover cookies and maybe a sip of coffee. By noon, when Sunday School was over my stomach was growling. I did not get out of bed in time to eat breakfast (I tried to sleep to the very last minute), so by lunch time this growing boy was starving.  

After church and Sunday School, we would head to one of two places for lunch; The A&W or Kendel’s Café. Both were excellent. I would rather have eaten there than any restaurant in Paris. At the A&W, I always got a Papa Burger, fries and a chocolate malt.

 We sat indoors on the diner stools that you could spin around on. I loved to spin, but I am sure my parents were not pleased.

As we waited for our food, we could watch it being cooked. We were typically seated right in front of the grill. Now this was real 100% beef being cooked. None of this lean stuff, and oh man did it smell devine. Being a creature of habit, at Kendel’s it was roast beef with lots of brown gravy, mashed potatoes and a large glass of milk. They also brought a side salad but that was a waste, it was never touched.  I needed meat and potatoes. No time for veggies either. Maybe some bread for slopping up that gravy!

After lunch it was off for home and out of that suit! Man, it felt so good to put on some old jeans and a T- shirt. Next came Chiefs football. Typically, 1:00 Sunday afternoon on Channel 3 (NBC, the AFC!!!). Out family loved the Chiefs (well, I think mom and my sister could have cared less) but us men loved it. And I had my heroes: Lenny Dawson, Ed Podolak, Juan Stenerud (that guy could kick, one of the first soccer style kickers) Bobby Bell, Jim Lynch, Willie Lanier, Buck Buchanan (tough as nails), Emmitt Thomas, Curley Culp, Otis Taylor, Marv Upshaw. These were household names.

Don’t forget Hall of Fame coach Hank Stram, who always seemed to walk around with a rolled-up magazine. He would pace the sidelines and pound this rolled up game plan into his hand.

 Oh sure, like any kid growing up then I likedBart Starr, Joe Namath and Dick Butkis, but there was nothing like the Chiefs. And let me tell you what, when the Chiefs played the Raiders, it was mayhem in our house. That had to be one of the classic rivalries of all times. Those teams just hated each other. What a matchup.  Unusual for that era, but I remember the players actually fighting. My villains were Daryle Lamonica, George Blanda and Ken Stabler, Fred Biletnikoff, Art Shell, Jim Otto (that guy was an animal). I mean this was vintage football!!! We all screamed at the TV after a bad Chief’s play. Seemed like every time they played, that Ken Stabler just had enough magic to pull a win out of the hat.

After the game we grabbed the football and some of the neighborhood kids for a game of tackle football in the front yard. I was the youngest by far with my brother 2 years older, Bill Elder, Randy Skalberg (RIP), Kevin Hoskins and Greg Gentry all probably 3 to 4 years older. They all would take turns pounding me into the ground, but I didn’t care. For a few short hours on Sunday afternoon, I was Lenny Dawson or Ed Podolak. At first, I wore a vintage football helmet that looked just like below, but it was dark red.

One year for Christmas, I got one of those plastic helmets with the KC Chiefs emblem. How I managed to avoid brain damage I will never figure out. Some of you might argue that I did not avoid it!!!

Neighbor football games were always an on-going event. As my circle of friends expended, I played with kids more my own age. It was always tackle football. We didn’t give it another thought. We typically played in our front yard. After a few games the grass was worn down to dirt. It was a sorry looking yard. After a snow or rain, it looked even more pitiful after we clawed it up. One year my dad made a sign for fun and placed it in the front yard: “Yard of the Month.” That was an actual contest in Shenandoah and dad made a little fun of it knowing we had the worst yard in the city!

One year the city organized a flag football league, but when you were small (and unskilled) like me, you didn’t see much glory. I was the ball hiker and blocker. It was my job to block older kids who probably outweighed me by 50 pounds. You know how that went. No matter, I loved to play and kept playing.  I even tried out for Ford’s Punt, Pass and Kick a couple of times. I always went to the contest full of hope and excitement, but nothing ever materialized into a win or one of those coveted trophies. I often fanaticized about winning the trophy but it was not to be. I was a late bloomer and not destine for much glory for a few more years. I did manage to get a patch though!

The pickup games and games during school recess continued up until 7^th grade when we had an opportunity to play organized Jr. High Football for the Shenandoah Ponies. Uniforms, playing other towns, bus rides, coaches and cheer leaders!!!!!!!!!!!!  Now that was more like Chief’s football and I was pumped up. I played over and over in my mind about what position I would play, who was better than me, and worrying about getting a starting position.  I would soon find out what glory Junior High Football would or would not bring.