Once Upon Fostoria - C'mon, be a Sport Towns Older Residents Recall the Fostoria of Long Ago
January 11, 1998, article one

This is the fourth in a series of articles containing reminiscences of some of our older fellow Fostorians. We hope these articles will stir pleasant memories in some and acquaint others with the manner of life and living in Fostoria in years past.

Think of sports in Fostoria and you're almost automatically drawn to the many powerhouse football squads fielded by Fostoria High School throughout a century of gridiron competition. But football isn't all there is to Fostoria sports history.

Let's talk a little baseball, for instance. Lots of folks can still remember the Fostoria Redbirds, the Class D minor league professional ball club that played its games at Redbird Park near the intersection of SR 12 and Independence Roads.

The Redbirds played from 1936-41 and were a St Louis Cardinal farm club. In 1936 first baseman Eddie Zipay hit .419, the highest batting average in all of professional baseball that season, major league or minor.

Tony Lucadello played shortstop on that team. As a scout for the Chicago Cubs and Philadelphia Phillies, Tony signed over 50 players who eventually made the major leagues.

Not so well remembered however is the Fostoria Clover Farm Girls Baseball Team. That's women's baseball, not softball. Lillian Thaxton remembers the team well. She played on it. The Clovers played teams in Findlay, Lima, Bowling Green, Tiffin and other area towns.

Russell Boyd was the manager and Norman Nesbitt coached. Earl Gray bankrolled the operation, buying uniforms and equipment and paying fees. Speaking of uniforms, the Clovers were sharply decked out in yellow and green with names on one sleeve and numbers on the back.

The Clovers played for several years in the 1930s and '40s. One of the team's highlights was a trip to Ft. Wayne to play a WAC (Women's Army Corps) team. Said Lillian, "We skunked 'em."

Racial segregation, sadly, was the practice of the times and back in the 30s Fostoria had a black baseball team, the Fostoria Colored Travelers. Luella Jackson recalled that her brothers were too young to play on the team, but they used to peer over the outfield fence and watch the Travelers' games.

Back in the early 1960s, the Ohio State Buckeyes basketball team dominated the hardcourt. One of the starters on those teams was Doug McDonald who captained the bucks in 1963 and graduated from FHS in 1959.

Doug married Dorothy Gamertsfelder's daughter, Sally. He also roomed with John Havlicek, who eventually starred for the great Boston Celtic professional teams of the 60s and 70s. Recently, when Havlicek's daughter got married, the McDonalds were among those attending. Dorothy has fond memories of those teams, though not for their performances on the court.

"We lived on the other side of the quarry then and the lot next to us was vacant. That whole team used to come here for the Fourth of July and swim in the quarry. Jerry Lucas would pitch a tent next to our house. Some of them would sleep in the tent and the rest would sleep in our house. I've got slides of all that. I'll bet Sports Illustrated would have paid for them."

Maybelle Kinn had a connection with Big 10 football some time back.

"My brother-in-law was the head coach at Purdue, Jack Mollenkopf," she said. "We went to all the games. We even went to the Rose Bowl and the Hula Bowl."

The Hula Bowl is played in Hawaii and that had to be a wintertime excursion that really hit paydirt.

Fostoria was once known for the excellent hunting in the area - pheasant hunting.

"Fostoria was the pheasant capital of the world." said Lillian. "It was well-known. People made money because men rented rooms so they could go hunting early on the first day of hunting season. We rented three rooms to hunters."

Now we wouldn't want to ignore football altogether, would we? Absolutely not. Paul Carbin recalled how a successful Redmen football game was celebrated.

"I'll tell ou something they don't have anymore," he said, "snake dances. After the football games they'd form at the high school (prior to 1949 the games were played behind the high school on High St.) And snake dance down Perry St., down Main St., through the Central Drug Store's Main St. entrance and out the side door. Any store that had tow entrances, they'd go in and out. There'd be a hundred kids. Those were the good old days."

Paul worked at Central Drug Store in the mid 1920s. Central Drug later became Edison's Drug Store.

Well, folks, that brings this edition's chronicle of old memories to an end. Next time we're going to tee off aon a couple other sports items, mull over the beginnings of a few of our community organizations and, just to make sure no one loses their train of thought, we'll take a look back to the days of the interurban trolleys.