Chicago Bears Quiz (1920-2003): 1) Name two of the three 1st
round draft picks in 1965. 2) Passing yards, career? 3) Name
one of the two to have 13 TD receptions in a single season.
[Hint: 1947, 1970] 4) Interceptions, career? 5) Passing yards,
game, with 468? 6) Who did Mike Ditka replace as coach? [The
fellow went 30-34 from 1978-81.] Answers below.
Gettysburg
Your editor has been traveling throughout Pennsylvania this
week and it has been a trip of contrasts thus far. Monday
afternoon I arrived in Gettysburg, my first time here in 14 years.
So the first thing to do was to check out the historic Dobbin
House Tavern. Actually, I forget why it’s historic, but it is old
and so I plopped myself down at the bar deep in the bowels of
the place. ‘My, this is a sturdy bar,’ I mused. And then I noticed
a plaque on the counter, “built before 1818 by George Dick.”
“Is this whole place that old, or just the bar itself?” I asked the
barmaid while quaffing a Yuengling Lager. “Just the bar,” she
replied. Yes, back in the 1800s patrons must have barked, “This
is a sturdy bar, that’s for sure.” “Why it’s a Dick! What did you
expect?”
After a few Yuenglings it was upstairs for dinner, where all the
retired couples stared at me. Actually, while they were staring at
me for eating alone at this nice establishment, I was jotting down
notes on how married folk can sit at dinner together and not say a
word to each other for 30 minutes. Finally, six men from
Midland, Michigan sat down next to my table and we had a great
discussion, covering all manner of topics that are better left for
“Week in Review.”
So after dinner I sauntered (better word than ‘stumbled’) back to
my hotel, but now it was time for Monday Night Football! Off
to a pub to catch the action. Mark R. later sent a note concerning
a topic I picked up on after just two minutes of the telecast. The
Philadelphia Eaglet cheerleaders are a tremendous addition to the
squad. Goodness gracious.
On Tuesday morning I hit the tourist sites and started out at
Dwight and Mamie Eisenhower’s farm, the only home they ever
really owned, as Mamie was fond of saying. Dwight had spent
time in Gettysburg during his West Point years, studying the
battlefield, and he fell in love with the place so in 1950 the two
purchased a large spread, over 180 acres, for $44,000…a huge
sum for those times, especially in this particular county. They
then proceeded to spend another $240,000 on a new structure,
having had to gut the existing house.
So you may be thinking, how could he afford it? Well, he took a
lump sum of $600,000 on his memoirs of World War II instead
of chancing the royalty angle.
The house itself is certainly a bit dated, but the property is
gorgeous and worth a visit just to walk around. [His putting
green does need a ton of work, however.] And I made note of a
guest book that Mamie had everyone sign when they arrived. It
was opened to a page from 1967. Barry Goldwater’s signature
followed by Richard Nixon’s. I almost drooled all over it; kind
of like Homer Simpson thinking of doughnuts.
On to the battlefield. It’s easy to criticize Gettysburg because
sprawl has overtaken so much of the place, let alone the
monuments that every division on both sides felt compelled to
put up following the conflict. Some of the monstrosities detract
from the atmosphere.
But having said that, so much of Gettysburg is still amazingly
well-preserved and you can see they are trying to restore certain
sections to the original look from those tumultuous days of July
1-3, 1863. I give to the Friends of Gettysburg and at least I feel
my money is going to the right place. [You should too.]
Well, I won’t bore you with all the details, but I need to say
something so just picture that over 150,000 soldiers on both sides
were involved in the battle, and by most modern estimates some
51,000 were either killed, wounded or missing. By the end of
day three, over 7,700 were officially killed with at least 26,500
wounded, but over the following weeks and months, at least 15%
of those wounded died as well (by comparison, in Vietnam the
total was 1%).
Of course one of the main attractions on the battlefield itself is
Little Round Top, where on Day Two some of the most heroic
fighting of the entire war took place. Two officers deserve
special praise, the Union’s Col. Strong Vincent and Col. Patrick
O’Rorke (sic). Vincent, an attorney before the war, was mortally
wounded defending LRT (for those looking for a ‘kill the
attorney’ angle), while O’Rorke met his end as he rushed his
forces to the front, in the nick of time, to repel the Confederate
advance. O’Rorke then had an eatery in town named after him;
one which serves dishes for under $7.95.
But as I was winding my way around the battlefield, I came upon
a story that warrants attention. It seems we have a “Bar Chat
Dirtball of the War” award nominee, one Brig. Gen. Judson
Kirkpatrick.
During Day Three, as Confederate General George Pickett et al
were being slaughtered, back near Little Round Top the
Confederates were still putting up a fierce resistance.
[Longstreet’s forces, for you Civil War buffs.] Under
Kirkpatrick was a man who had been general only four days,
Brig. Gen. Elon J. Farnsworth. Farnsworth didn’t go to West
Point, but had risen up through the ranks solely on his ability.
Kirkpatrick asked Farnsworth to take his 300 cavalrymen and
attack the entrenched Confederates. You have to picture this was
a heavily wooded area, totally overgrown, and to throw the
cavalry into the fight was pure idiocy. So Farnsworth, when
ordered to make the charge, asked, “General, do you mean it?
…these men are too good to kill.” Alas, Farnsworth died, along
with 64 others, in what was one of the dumber moves of the war.
Speaking of dumb, of course you have Pickett’s charge. First
off, of the 12,000 thrown into the fire only 5,900 were actually
Pickett’s troops. The others were primarily under the leadership
of Generals Pettigrew and Trimble. [All three being under the
command of Longstreet, via Robert E. Lee, at least I think I have
that straight.]
Of the 12,000 Confederate forces, about half were killed,
wounded or captured. It proved to be the “high water mark of
the Confederacy” and Lee never recovered.
But who was the only Confederate general to penetrate the Union
lines during Pickett’s Charge? Gen. Lewis Armistead. So we
quaff an ale to a brave soldier. [I was looking for an excuse to
do so during this long narrative.]
And it’s time to say a few words concerning the aftermath of
Gettysburg. Picture the place was a hell-hole. Tens of thousands
of wounded and dying, taken care of by the locals and with
anything they could muster. Burying the dead was also quite a
chore. After three months, though, a place was set aside for the
Union soldiers and on November 19, 1863, the National
Cemetery was dedicated. The Honorable Edward Everett,
former Governor of Massachusetts, spoke for over two hours,
then a hymn, written by Benjamin B. French, was sung, part of
which is as follows:
Here, where they fell
Oft shall the widow’s tear be shed,
Oft shall fond parents mourn their dead;
The orphan here shall kneel and weep…
Then President Abraham Lincoln rose to say a few words. The
crowd was upwards of 20,000 and they could barely hear him.
Lincoln was convinced no one would ever remember his two-
minute speech. Ha!
—
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this
continent, a new nation, conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to
the proposition that all men are created equal.
Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that
nation, or any nation so conceived and so dedicated, can long
endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have
come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a final resting place
for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It
is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate – we can not
consecrate – we can not hallow – this ground. The brave men,
living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far
above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little
note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never
forget what they did here. It is for us the living, rather, to be
dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought
here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be
here dedicated to the great task remaining before us – that from
these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for
which they gave the last full measure of devotion – that we here
highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain – that
this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom – and
that government of the people, by the people, for the people,
shall not perish from the earth.
—
Those few in the audience who actually did hear it were said to
be stunned and overwhelmed. These days, in another time of
war, you should get goose bumps rereading it. At least I did,
standing in the cemetery yesterday.
But on a lighter note, Thomas Desjardins wrote a little piece
years ago for the Friends of Gettysburg, concerning one of the
legends of the battle, the weather.
“Among the many facets of mythology connected with the
operations of the third day – in fact with the entire campaign – is
the intense heat under which the men of both sides apparently
struggled. Various published and recorded accounts place the
temperatures during the first three days of July 1863 in ‘the
upper 90s’ or ‘above one hundred degrees.’ Yet, while the
science of recording weather data has undoubtedly advanced
considerably in the last century, there is data from 1863 that may
poke a few holes in a number of tall tales.
“One of the professors at Pennsylvania College (now Gettysburg
College) had made it a regular habit in the 1860s to record
weather conditions on the campus at regular intervals. Despite
the eruption of a huge conflict in and around the college in July
of 1863, the good professor kept his regular vigil of
meteorological recording, leaving behind some enlightening
data. Keeping in mind the relatively unadvanced methods of
recording temperatures in those days and the fact that weather
almanacs show that modern temperatures in the northeastern
portion of the country are nine or ten degrees higher than a
century or more ago, the data seem to reveal a different story
than the legend.
“ ‘The entire period of the invasion,’ the professor’s notes tell us,
‘is remarkable for being one of clouds, and, for that season of the
year, low temperature.’ Rather than oppressive heat, most
soldiers’ diaries in the days leading up to the great battle
complain more of rain than anything else. In fact, July 2 proved
to be the only day that the Union Fifth Corps avoided rain in the
three-week period surrounding the battle.
“Men who served in the Signal Corps of either army paid greater
attention to the climatic conditions of the day since haze,
humidity, and rain greatly inhibited their ability to communicate.
On the morning of July 1 a frustrated signal officer on a
mountain near Emmitsburg, overlooking the region of conflict
below, recorded that it was ‘Still rainy and misty and of course
impracticable for our role of conveying information.’ July 2,
however, raised his spirits a bit. ‘Early this morning we found
the hazyness (sic) of the last day or two greatly dispelled and a
good view obtainable of the country in and around Gettysburg.’
“One of the legends relating to weather, however, seems to ring
true in light of the evidence. A number of soldiers on both sides
retained clear memories of the moments between the end of the
huge cannonade and the start of the infantry assault on July 3.
Almost to a man, these accounts depict an unusual calm on the
battlefield in these intervening minutes. While part of this
feeling can easily be attributed to the relative quiet which must
seem to follow every noise as loud and continuous as that one, it
may also have to do with the oppressive nature of the day’s
weather. July 3 was the hottest day of that July and coupled with
the resulting humidity that would likely have followed days of
rain, one can imagine the effect. As the fight ended, the
Emmitsburg signal officer noted… ‘Scarcely a breeze stirs the
atmosphere and the dense volumes of sulphorous smoke slowly
ascending, lingers at a height of about five hundred feet, and
hangs there, apparently motionless so slowly does it move, like a
great flat cloud pointed up the valley, as far as the eye can
reach.’”
Well now, that was probably far more than 99% of you needed to
know (and I’m now in that group myself), but if your teacher or
professor is going on and on about the weather of July 1-3, 1863,
set him or her straight. And tell ‘em…I READ IT IN BAR
CHAT!
[2:00 PM temperature…July 1 / 76; July 2 / 81; July 3 / 87.]
Wednesday
Today, I drove from Gettysburg to Shanksville in the morning, a
good three hour drive, most of which was on scenic Route 30,
especially the 30 miles leading into Breezewood. Then I hopped
on the turnpike for about 40 miles and then on up to Shanksville.
If you decide to visit the temporary memorial to Flight 93, when
you exit the PA Turnpike at Somerset ask for the directions at the
toll booth. They have printed copies for you. [It’s very easy and
about 20 minutes.]
Folks, simply put I was overwhelmed at Shanksville and I’ll save
my comments for “Week in Review.” I urge you to read them.
Next it was down south on beautiful highway 281, then 40 to
Farmington, the site of this week’s PGA Tour stop, the 84
Lumber Classic at gorgeous Nemacolin Woodlands Resort.
Wow, it’s spectacular, nestled in the Laurel Highlands.
Wednesday is pro-am day for the PGA and I didn’t spend much
time at the course after all the driving I had done…plus I had this
column hanging over me. But there was one funny story. As
soon as I arrived at the place, fellow Wake Forest alum Curtis
Strange was teeing off #1 with his three amateur partners. No
one was at the tee box, just me and two new friends I met on the
bus taking us from the parking lot to the course. So I’m two feet
from Curtis and when his name is introduced I said “Go Deacs!”
He glanced back at me with a smirk and said, “Alright.”
Now you have to know Curtis and his golf game the past ten
years to appreciate this next bit but he proceeded to hit the worst
duck hook I have ever witnessed from a pro golfer in person.
Curtis also has quite a temper and I didn’t dare say anything…
nor did he look back at me. [Though I hasten to add he’s really a
class act…especially knowing how much he has done for Wake
Forest.]
Anyway, tomorrow (Thursday) I hope to walk 18 with someone
interesting, but for crying out loud this course is so spread out
it’s kind of a pain to do so.
Stuff
–We note the passing of two individuals…Skeeter Davis, who
sang one of the great tunes of all time, “The End Of The World,”
and Donald Yettner Gardner, who didn’t write one of the greatest
tunes of all time, but you certainly know it, “All I Want For
Christmas Is My Two Front Teeth.”
–I rode back to the parking lot following golf with the same two
gentlemen I started out with and as I was saying good-bye, our
cars parked next to each other, they said, “Want a beer?” “Ah,
here? Sure!” [And they proceeded to pop open their trunk,
revealing the Lost Kingdom of Lager.] Now I’ve always said
some of the greatest people in the nation are from western
Pennsylvania (and it’s where my primary roots are) and these
two retirees were classic. Let’s just say I stayed in the parking
lot for a spell and learned all about West Virginia and Pitt
college football. One of those little moments in life that are
special to your editor.
–Woody R. reminded me that Darren Clarke played one year at
Wake Forest…I keep forgetting that. No wonder I like the guy.
–I had dinner at a Bob Evans next to my Super 8 hotel tonight.
Now I can’t remember the last time I ate at one, but is Bob Evans
known for small portions? For crying out loud, I was famished
and wanted a good country fried steak dish. I mean it was good
enough and all, but I was done in like four bites! Hel-loooooo.
[So I ordered the peanut butter sundae and all was right with the
world.]
–The official hotel for the golf is right across the street from
mine. I’m behind on my work today, but tomorrow night I’ll
head over to see if I can catch a player or two drowning his
sorrows. [In other words…a BAR CHAT EXCLUSIVE!]
Top 3 songs for the week of 9/21/68: #1 “Harper Valley P.T.A.”
(Jeannie C. Riley) #2 “People Got To Be Free” (The Rascals)
#3 “Hey Jude” (The Beatles)
Chicago Bears Quiz Answers: 1) 1965: Three 1st round draft
picks for the Bears – Dick Butkus (Illinois), Gale Sayers
(Kansas), Steve DeLong (Tennessee). 2) Sid Luckman is still the
leader in career passing yards with 14,686. 3) 13 TDs, receiving,
in a season: Ken Kavanaugh, 1947; Dick Gordon, 1970. 4) Gary
Fencik had 38 interceptions in his career. 5) Johnny Lujack has
the record with 468 passing yards in a single game. 6) Mike
Ditka replaced Neill Armstrong. [That’s one small step for man
…oops, wrong Armstrong.]
Next Bar Chat, Tuesday.
