Early Racing At The Boone Dirt Race Track

 

(Des Moines Register. June 22, 1916)

This is the start of a history of early dirt track racing in Iowa. It’s rough, incomplete, but it gives some good information on the dirt track in Boone.

It contains the scoop on three races. One in 1910, and two in 1916. The purses in 1916 were huge for the time. As much as $35,000 in today’s dollars.

There were other tracks at the Des Moines fairgrounds and in Sioux City. I hope to have more on them later. If you have info to share, please leave it in the comments.

Dirt track racing in Boone goes back to at least 1910.

 

The place was North Side Driving Park, near what is now 22nd and Linn streets. It was a half-mile dirt oval connected to the Boone Driving Park and Fair Association. Horses and harness racers used the grounds before automobiles came along. Like a lot of fairground tracks in those days, it didn’t take long before somebody decided to see how fast a car could get around it.

 

By the summer of 1910, they were racing for real.

 

And people showed up.

 

The Evening Times-Republican reported on August 10, 1910, that around 10,000 spectators had watched automobile and motorcycle races in Boone the previous afternoon. Boone itself had only a little over 10,000 people.

Boone Iowa Race Track

(The Des Moines Register. July 2, 1916)

A scene at the Boone race track. A. Striergel is driving a Stafford car, with a Duesenberg close behind. 

Track manage, Joe Lowrey, said he had fourteen drivers signed up for the season, and was expecting several more to join in. Prizes were $1100 and $750 for one event alone.

The track has been in operation since 1910, and several dirt track records had been set there.
 

When They Lit Up Des Moines' Western League Ball Park

 

The Des Moines Register. May 2, 1930.

The Des Moines Register printed this picture showing readers what to expect at the first night time ballgame at the Western League Ball Park. The Des Moines Demons were playing the Wichita ball club in what the paper called a "night baseball experiment."

Pictured at the far right is L.E. Keyser, president. Club members shown (left to right) include: Cy Lingle, catcher; Bud Tinning, pitcher; Jim Oglesby, firstbase; Leo Norris, secondbase; Hughie Nielsen, shortstop; Breezie Windham, thirdbase; Fred berger, leftfield; and Francis Keyes, rightfield.

Fat Men's Baseball Club Waterloo Iowa 1909

 

Frank C. Kee of Waterloo, Iowa, traveled the United States in 1909 and 1910, putting together the fat men’s baseball club. When he finished, the team had a combined weight of 4,487 pounds (about twice the weight of a Clydesdale horse). 

Although the team members were big, the Des Moines Register told its readers, there was nothing funny about the way they played baseball. “Their lining up at the lunch counter when out on the road,” said the paper, “is the immediate signal for the proprietor to send out for additional supplies.” 

 “Baby” Bliss, the first baseman, weighed in at 650 pounds and was thought to be the heaviest man in the world. E. Holm, the pitcher, weighed 350 pounds. J. A. Brownwell, the second baseman, weighed 400 pounds; outfielder Harry Vorwold weighed 325 pounds; shortstop Ed J. Sheean weighed 390 pounds, and W. B. Hinds, the third baseman, tipped the scale at 400 pounds. And strange as it may seem, Oliver Kimball, the umpire, was a teensy guy who stood 4 feet tall and weighed 138 pounds. 

Nile Kinnick The Iowa Football Star Who Died Too Young

 

Iowa Hawkeyes fans were stunned in June 1943 when they learned that former halfback Nile Kinnick had died in action.

Kinnick’s parents told reporters they hadn’t heard from him since May 22. They thought he was assigned to an aircraft carrier somewhere in the Atlantic, but weren’t sure where. The Navy subsequently reported Kinnick’s Grumman F4F Wildcat suffered a catastrophic oil leak shortly after takeoff from the USS Lexington. He followed protocol and ditched his aircraft in the water about four miles from the carrier. Unfortunately, his body was never found.

When Kinnick enlisted in the Naval Air Corps in September 1941, he told reporters, “I would be lacking in appreciation for all America has done for me did I not offer what little I had to her.

“And I’m going in with both fists swinging.”

Elton (Sam) Langford Des Moines Demons Baseball

 

Des Moines Tribune. August 29, 1925

Elton (Sam) Langford, a center fielder for the Des Moines Demons, was scheduled to move up the ranks in the Western League at the start of the 1925 baseball season.

Langford, age 22, had a batting average of .350 and was the leading scorer in the league. The Des Moines Tribune said he was a long-distance hitter and averaged a home run in every games as well as several doubles and triples.

Dick Bros. All-Star Bowling Team Des Moines

 

Des Moines Register. September 15, 1912.

P. W. Hedlund was the manager of the Dick Bros All-Star Bowling team named after the company that financed them. 

Team members: 

Upper row: (left to right) M. J. Locker, William Coffin, and H. G. Stiles.

Bottom row: (left to right) Walter Balkema, P. W. Hedlund, and O. J. Bartos.

Clement T. Wilson Member of American Olympic Track Team 1912

Des Moines Register. July 7, 1912.

Clement T. Wilson, head of the Coe College track team qualified for the 1912 Olympics held in Stockholm, Sweden. He won a place on the American Olympic Team by equaling the world's record in the 100-yard dash in the tryouts held at the Northwestern University field in Evanston, Illinois.

He was eliminated in the semi-finals of the 100-meter competition, and the Americanrelay  team was disqualified because of a fault while passing the first baton.

Martin "Farmer" Burns Iowa Wrestler

 

Des Moines Register. June 3, 1906.

Martin "Farmer" Burns was born in Cedar County, Iowa, in 1861, and grew into one of the toughest wrestlers of his time. He studied the sport, figuring out holds and techniques that gave him an edge. By the late 1800s, he’d worked his way up to the American Heavyweight Championship.

Burns helped turn Frank Gotch into a world champion. His workouts were brutal—neck bridges, long runs, endless drills—but they worked. He turned wrestling into something smarter, tougher, and a lot more dangerous.

Iowa Wrestler Frank Gotch Demonstrating Toe Hold

Des Moines Register. July 16, 1905.

The Des Moines Register printed this photo of Iowa wrestling champion Frank Gotch applying his famous toe hold. The pain was such that opponents surrendered within seconds of his applying it.
 

Davenport Baseball Team of 1889

 

The Davenport Democrat and Leader printed this picture of the 1889 Davenport baseball team on August 20, 1912.

Upper row: (left to right) Con Strothers; Whitaker; Routcliffe; and Henry Schuhknecht.

Middle row: (left to right) Joe Kappel; Sammy Nichols; Bob Allen, captain; Charles Gessinger; and Henry Kappel.

Bottom row: (left to right) jerry Harrington; Billy Rhines; Jack Fanning; Jack and Jacj Lauler.

Plans For The New Hyperion Club Des Moines 1909

 

(Picture from Des Moines Register. January 17, 1909)

In January 1909, the Des Moines Register published plans for the Hyperion Club, offering a glimpse of what was shaping up to be one of Des Moines’s more ambitious country clubs.

The Hyperion started out in 1904 as a dancing club, organized by about 19 members. Before long, the group shifted gears, reorganized as a country club, and grew to around 100 members.

By 1909, it was still growing. Membership had reached 225, and the club was clearly thinking bigger. Its grounds, near Waveland Park, covered 225 acres and included an 18-hole golf course laid out at full championship length.

The plan printed in the paper showed a sketch of a new clubhouse with plenty of extras. The building was to include family quarters, bachelor quarters, lockers, a bathhouse, and a billiard parlor. There was also to be a separate building called Bachelor’s Hall.

The club sat along the Perry Interurban Line, about a 35-minute ride from downtown Des Moines. That made it close enough for city members to get there with little trouble, while still feeling like a trip out of town.

Cy Slapnick Didn't Make It In The Majors But He Knew How To Pick Them

 

Cyril Charles Slapnicka was born in Cedar Rapids in 1886. Farm country. Immigrant parents. Baseball was the quickest way out of town and the surest way back in.

He pitched forever in the minors. Iowa. Illinois. Anywhere they’d pay him. In 1911 he won 26 games in Rockford and forced the Chicago Cubs to notice. September call-up. Big league clubhouse. A few appearances. Then, back on the train.

He resurfaced with Pittsburgh in 1918. Ten major league games total. Record: 1–6. He wasn’t a star. Not even close.

A lot of men would’ve faded right there.

Slapnicka didn’t.

In 1921, he signed on with Cleveland as a scout. That’s where the story actually starts. He had an eye, and knew what a big-league arm looked like before it knew itself. He drove Iowa’s back roads. Watched high school kids throw in half-empty parks. Talked to parents. Took notes. Made bets with other scouts and usually won.

In 1936, he found Bob Feller, an Iowa farm kid throwing gas past grown men. Slapnicka signed him. That changed Cleveland for a decade. Later came Bob Lemon and a pipeline of players who filled out rosters that could actually win.

For a stretch in the mid-1930s, he ran the club. General manager. Contracts, salaries, egos. No draft system back then. You wanted a player; you found him first and signed him fast. Slapnicka operated like a man who understood scarcity. Talent was gold. Hesitation was death.

He stayed with Cleveland over forty years, scouting into his seventies because he trusted his judgment more than anyone else’s reports.

He died in 1979 at 93, back in Cedar Rapids.

Here’s the clean version: He had a short, forgettable pitching career and a long, consequential second act.

He didn’t conquer the mound. He built the roster. And in baseball, that can matter more.

Capitol Park High School Baseball Team 1903

The Des Moines Register printed this picture of the Capitol Park High School baseball team on May 3, 1903. They didn't identifty the players in the picture, but they did list the team members and positions. 

Robert Gates, catcher; Andrew Chalmers, pitcher and team captain; Martin Peterson, first base; Fred Gates, second base; Walter Sargent, third base; Ray Prather, shortstop; Burt Sargent, left field; Ray Hampton, center field; John Dwight, right field; and Benjamin Franklin and Charlie Holmes, substitutes.

Capitol Park High School Football Team 1903

The Des Moines Register printed this picture of the Capitol Park High School football team in a special section on area schools in th May 3, 1903 issue.Unfortunately they didn't name the individual players.

Waveland Park Golf Club Des Moines

 

Waveland Park Clubhouse in 1913

Waveland Park Golf Club had nearly 250 members in 1913. Not bad for a club that started in 1907.

The present building went up in 1911 on ground leased from the city. It was three stories and built to be used.

The main floor held dining rooms, reception rooms, and a kitchen. Upstairs was a card room and a ladies’ locker room. The basement had another locker room and bath equipment. You could play 18 holes, eat, smoke, wash up, and sit down for cards without leaving the building.

The club met every week. There were smokers, card parties, and dances. The smokers meant cigars, speeches, and stories that improved with each telling. The card parties meant competition that lasted longer than daylight. The dances brought in the rest of the membership and made the place feel less like a sports club and more like a social one.

Fan Riding Hot Air Balloon Over Football Field 1913

This 1913 cartoon from the Des Moines Register (September 7, 1913) shows that football was as big a part of Iowa life then as it is today.

All Eyes Were On Babe Ruth In The 1916 World Series

 

In October 1916, every eye in Iowa was focused on the World Series and Babe Ruth. Farmers leaned on fence posts. Barbers argued over box scores.

Telegraph wires hummed like angry bees. Out there in Boston, a thick-armed kid with a mean fastball was turning October into his own private carnival.

Ruth wasn’t the Sultan of Swat yet. He was just a left-handed wrecking crew in wool flannel, chewing up the Brooklyn Robins. In Game 2, he worked fast, jaw set, eyes flat. Brooklyn hitters swung like men chopping at ghosts. Boston won. No fuss.

Game 5 was where things got strange. Fourteen innings. No lights. No mercy. The crowd sagged and swayed. Pitch after pitch, Ruth kept firing, as if he’d tapped into some private reservoir of stubborn American madness. When it ended—scoreless for Brooklyn—he’d stacked up nearly 30 straight World Series innings without allowing a run.

Iowans read the numbers in the morning papers and shook their heads. They didn’t know they were witnessing the early rumble of a coming storm that would blow the fences down and change the sport forever.

Babe Ruth would be an unstoppable force in the game.

Pitcher Ray Fisher Des Moines Federal League

Ray Fisher, 18, was the leading picture for the Des Moines Federal League in 1916. When he pitched for the MsCurmin Drug team, he won twelve straight games, averaged twelve strikeouts, and five hits per game.

He got his start in the West Des Moines Sunday School League, where he played for the South Des Moines Methodist team. In 1916, he was given a trial with the local Western League Club.

 

(Picture from the Des Moines Register. February 20, 1916)

Dick Nesbitt Drake University Football 1928

 

Dick Nesbitt, Drake University football player, Des Moines, Iowa. (watercolor drawing of black and white image published in the Des Moines Register. November 29, 1928)