EAST FAREWELL NEWS
Thursday, October
1, 1953 Vol. C431
LOCAL
NEWS
SEAPLANE LANDS ON LAKE CHARLES
East Farewell – Sunday was a sunny early fall day, a little
warmer than normal so many folks were down by Lake Charles taking in the
beautiful day. There was a faint, low
buzz came from the north and became louder and louder. People started to look
toward the ever increasing sound when over the tree tops at the top of Lake
Charles a huge military seaplane appeared, smoking pouring from one engine. The
crippled plane headed toward the middle of the lake and touched down. By the
time it drifted to a stop the engine fire appeared to have been extinguished
and several small boats were making their way towards the airship. After the engine was inspected and verified
safe the people in the boats and rafts were able to help the crew deplane and
in a makeshift convoy, escorted the crew back to shore.
Once on shore
the men were taken to the police station to make contact with their superiors.
They also had a chance to tell their story to the locals. It seems the plane, the “Flying Seal”, was
making a long but routine reassignment flight from Cleveland on Lake Ontario to
Lakehurst Naval Base in New Jersey. The
plane developed engines problems and was not able to reach a government base to
land. The pilot, Capt. Fred Granger, was able to locate Lake Charles and
determine that it was lager enough to land. So with one engine on fire and the
fuel tanks half full Granger lined up the wounded Seal with the longest part of
the lake and put her down. Coming in low over the north end of the lake he touched
down right in the middle of the lake and cruised to a safe stop about 200 yards
from the end of the Fun Pier. The engine fire had extinguished itself by
Granger turning it off and the spray from the lake splashing up on it. Luckily
there were no sailboats or other people out on the lake in Granger’s path.
The Military
Authority came down by Sunday evening and the plane was being repaired. Granger
and his crew were hoping to continue their flight on Tuesday once repairs were
completed and everything was verified. The take-off on Tuesday was another
spectacular feature and many folks lined the Fun Pier Tuesday to watch. The
boys were able to visit in town and were treated as guests. They were able to
dine in the Lost Oasis and they
stayed at Mrs. Mallard’s boarding
house. The Sunday afternoon show and the Tuesday take-off were both
spectacular and an event that will be talked about for a long time.
Flying Seal lands on Lake Charles
SPORTS
TRAVELERS WIN BUT SO DOES CGW – HIGHJINKS
START EARLY FOR COUGARS
Bedford- The lights were bright for the Travelers last Saturday
night as they beat the Bedford Bears 6-3. The win was only good enough to keep
them even with Corning because CGW was able to win earlier in the day over the
Erie Eagles. It looks like the season is coming down to the last month in the
title chase. The Travelers have had an up and down season dropping back to
fourth place in the midseason but fighting back in the last few weeks to climb
within two games behind CGW. The Glass Works have led the league for the last
month and are playing very strong baseball now. Even though there are only two
games between them as long as Corning wins the only thing the Travelers can do
is win and watch.
The Travelers
made the most of their opportunity against Bedford. The lights, the crisp air
and the crack of two home runs made for almost a perfect evening for the
Travelers. Things started off slowly looking like another pitcher’s duel
between Billy Green and Eagles ace, Juan Felix. Both pitchers were perfect for
the first four innings. The Bears struck first in the bottom of the fifth,
wrecking Green’s perfection with a double by Rodgers and then a sacrifice fly
by Murphy to score Rodgers. The Travelers went into the sixth looking like they
may be shut out, but then Johnny Cloos stepped up to the plate. Felix
had already struck out Cloos once. The count went to 2-2 and Felix tried
to fire his blazing fastball past the crouched Cloos. Johnny saw it coming and
unloaded with a mighty swing that drove the ball over the left field fence.
That was the inspiration the Travelers needed. After Cloos crossed home the
Travelers went on the get four more hits and two more runs in that inning. The
Bears were able to put together another good inning in the seventh scoring two
more on three hits, a walk and an unusual hit batter. The hit batter was
Green’s first for the season. But the eighth and the ninth belonged to the
Travelers. They were able to score three in the eighth with lots of help coming
from the bottom of the order. Archibald and Sweet and even Green got in the
hitting mood and when Francis came to bat in the eighth he was looking at a
bases loaded, no out situation. Francis delivered with a base clearing double
to the centerfield fence. In the ninth Joey Brown drove in Tony Dimero with his
10th home run of the season. The Bears were able to get a man on in
the ninth but Green was able to snuff out the threat by striking out the last
two batters.
The Travelers
move on to Ondita next week then come home to face Bear Creek and finish with
CGW at home.
Fort Lee – For the last four years Coaches Al Burkowitz and
Chuck King played each other in what has come to be known as the Gimmick Bowl.
Burkowitz and King played pro football together before they became high school
coaches, Burkowitz for Regional High and King for Fort Lee. Whenever the two
teams clash both coaches dig into their respective bag of tricks to see who can
come up with the most outrageous, outlandish and downright goofy plays to
outwit and confuse the other team. This is also a big hit with the fans that
come out to watch and cheer the shenanigans.
This year was no exception. The high jinks started early and continued
until the final whistle blew. Due to this year’s schedule placing this game
early in the season some thought the coaches would not partake in the rivalry
but they were wrong.
The Charlie Cox
kickoff was an onsides kick, of course, that bounced right at the forty and
died both teams piled on but the Captains came up with the ball. Their first
play from scrimmage was an elaborate double reverse, end around pass that went
for twenty yards. The tone was set. Both teams showed creativity, spirit and
desire but they both had a little trouble with execution. There were a total of
twenty incomplete passes, seven fumbles and eight offsides, illegal procedure
or illegal motion calls. These were not due to team ineptitude but due to the
challenge of the plays that were new to everyone.
The Cougars
were able to score first with a halfback pass to Walker who was open in the end
zone after the defense was drawn in on the handoff to halfback Jimmy O’Conner.
Charlie Cox played it straight which was unexpected here and kicked the extra
point. Things see-sawed, stumbled and faked through the first half and well
into the third quarter when Captains quarterback, Joey Regal, executed probably
the best fake handoff of the game, completely fooling the Cougar’s defense and
scrambled ten yards in for a score. It looked like the game was going into
overtime with less than one minute left in the fourth when Cougar quarterback
Sam Jones faded back, cocked his arm to pass and little Jimmy O’Conner came around
behind him grabbed the ball from Jones’ cocked arm, sprinted right and headed
toward the line of scrimmage. Just before the line he straightened up and threw
an almost perfect spiral to a wide open Walker waiting in the end zone. Cox put
the finishing touch with the extra point. The Cougars were able to win 14-7.
“This game is
so much fun, especially when we win,” laughed Coach Burkowitz after the game,
“Chuck and I put a lot of effort into this game trying to outdo each other with
special plays. I think I won this year, but it was great. Both teams were
great. And Chuck came up with some terrific plays but I love that Statue of
Liberty, it always works. What a great afternoon.”
Next week the Cougars visit the Riverview Wildcats. There
probably will not be any Statue of Liberty plays in that game.
NATIONAL
NEWS
WARREN BECOMES CHIEF JUSTICE – IKE USES
TAFT-HARTLEY ON UNIONS – WARNS OF ‘H-BOMB SUICIDE – 50TH WORLD
SERIES STARTS
Earl Warren becomes the nation’s highest judicial officer. Gov. Warren, newly named Chief Justice of the United States, promised in a farewell radio and television address to “give the best in me to interpret the Constitution fairly and defend it against any assault, regardless of the source.”
President Eisenhower invokes the Taft-Hartley law against a multimillion-dollar East Cast waterfront strike.
President Eisenhower warns a divided world to put the atom to constructive use or risk H-bomb suicide with ‘erasure of cities, with rows of unidentified dead.”
First game of the World Series - Baseball observes the 50th anniversary
of the World Series and brings on six players
and an umpire who participated in the 1903 series between the Boston Red Sox
and Pittsburgh Pirates. As guest of Commissioner Ford Frick
they are Cy Young, Bill Dinneen and Fred Parent of the Red Sox, Fred Clarke,
Tommy Leech and Art Krueger of the Pirates and umpire Tommy Connolly. Cy Young
tossed the first ball. Young was the first pitcher ever to
throw a ball in the World Series. Young (86), baseball’s
biggest winner with 511 major league victories, reared back in his box near the
Dodger dugout and pegged a perfect strike to Yankee catcher Yogi Berra.
Many, many
thanks to www.mrpopculture.com for
contributing to this section of the East Farewell News.
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