The Okie Legacy

Vol. II, Issue 81 -- 21 October 2000

A Homecoming Mystery 
Bands, Floats & Celebrations

What do mysteries, bands, celebrations, floats, Cinderella, NWOSU and football have in common? According to the history of the Castle on the Hill (Northwestern State Normal College, or NWOSU) a celebration with floats in a great parade was being planned as far back as 1st of July 1899. Did that tradition continue to the present?

On July 1st (1899)... The work on the building of the famous 'Castle on the Hill' had so advanced that a committee began the preparations for laying the corner stone under the main tower in front. The program consisted of the usual ceremonies, led by the Masons. Governor Barnes and several other territorial officers, and Grand Master E. M. Bamford were present. President Ament introduced Governor Barnes as the first speaker. He was followed by Judge McAtee, S. L. Johnson and Hon. Temple Houston.

The following is a list of articles that were placed within the corner stone -- Roll of officers and members of the grand lodge and local lodge A. F. & A. M.; same of the Alva Commercial Club; same of the legislature 1897; copies of the Alva Pioneer, Courier, Review and Cleo Cheiftain; copy of program of the day's exercises and names of President Ament, Miss Bosworth and Mrs. DeLisle.

The day was one of general celebration, the businesses of the town being represented by floats in a great parade. The crowd present was guessed at 4000 to 6000. normalschool/morehistory.html

How many years of Homecomings has Northwestern had so far? If this is the 49th Cinderella Coronation, when was the first homecoming? 1899? Does anyone out there have any old photos of the first homecoming at Northwestern? Perhaps the Cinderella pageant only came later in 1951?

According to "The Daily Oklahoman" article entitled "Alva Homecoming By Subscription Opposed by Board," dated 11 June 1949, The Chamber of Commerce in Alva, with Magnuson as President, opposed homecoming by subscription. The Board voted by mail against a homecoming celebration which would have to be paid for by special subscription. It goes on to say that, "Homecoming in Alva had grown to a huge celebration at considerable expense to merchants and members of the chamber of commerce."

During the district meeting of the Oklahoma Education Association (OEA), merchants felt that the celebrations was worthwhile for the trade it might draw. The next paragraph has Magnuson, president of chamber of commerce, stating, "Last February the district Oklahoma Education Association meetings were set for the spring of the year which makes a large homecoming celebration inadvisable in the autumn."
june49alva.jpg

What does this all mean? Did the Chamber of Commerce opposed the Spring Special Subscription Homecoming or the Autumn Special Subscription Homecoming celebration? It did say, "Homecoming in Alva had grown to a huge celebration..." Was this the Spring or Autumn celebration? Lots of questions to search in this mystery of Alva's 1st Homecoming. How about some of you Alvans' & NWOSU Alumnus' helping me out here and setting me straight! Help me solve this mystery!

Send me, enlighten me with your knowledge, skills & information concerning Alva's Homecoming Subscripton opposed in June, 1949? Were there homecomings before '49? OR.... Only starting around 1951?

I would love someone to fill us in here on Alva & NWOSU's early homecomings. You can send your info and histories of Alva & Northwestern's homecomings to LK Wagner Or... Snail-mail to WWWPubCo, PO Box 18998, OKC, OK 73154-0998. We can scan your photos and return them to you! Thanks!

Today NWOSU's Homecoming 2000 (26-28 October) events will include 'Campus Contests', 'Cinderella Pageant', 'Marching Bands', 'Fly-In', 'Ranger Run', 'Parade', 'Tailgate Party', 'Football', 'Band Alumni', 'Baseball Alumni', 'Special Attractions', 'Dance', etc. This years theme is "Northwestern //YourHomepage". Check out NWOSU's Homecoming website for a complete schedule of events. Join the celebration October 28th, 2000, and help cheer Northwestern Rangers in their conference football game over Peru State, at 2:00p.m., Saturday, afternoon in Ranger Field.
http://www.nwosu.edu/homecmg/

The local Alva paper says that some former Texas/Oklahoma celebrities will emcee the 49th Cinderella Coronation, Friday Night, 8:00p.m. October 27th, 2000, on NWOSU campus, in Alva, Oklahoma. Butch and Ben McCain, former morning show mainstays on Oklahoma City television, are returning to Oklahoma Oct. 27 to emcee this Annual Miss Cinderella Pageant at NWOSU.

Do you remember the AM Oklahoma (A Morning show)? Y'all remember when these Muleshoe/Bovina, Texas boys teamed up to start a morning show in Oklahoma City in 1981? The McCain Brothers used to have a News & Weather spot on the OKC local news channel. Butch was the weather man and Ben was the News anchor. They had what some might say, "A successful morning show on the NBC & ABC affiliates in Oklahoma City for 12 years." From reading their website bio, they have moved to bigger, better entertainment projects in the Los Angeles, California area and work as full time actors.
McCain Brothers website - http://www.mccainbrothers.com/

For all those who helped gather the rain and do their rain dances... It's beginning to work. BUT... We need more rain! Enid & Lahoma, Oklahoma (NW Oklahoma) reported approximately 3 inches of the wet stuff the weekend of the 14th October. The weatherman says next week (beginning Sunday) we have a chance for some more of that wet stuff. That rain we got an abundance of in June (2000) dwindled to nothing during July, August, September.

Y'all have a cool, wet one and help cheer OU vs Nebraska next weekend (October 28th). Let's don't forget about those NY baseball teams, Yankees & Mets, heading for the World Series. On Saturday (October 21), the Yankees and Mets will square off in Game 1 of the World Series - New York's first Subway Series since 1956 - and the first ever between the two teams.

o OAKIE'S MAILBAG/LINKS

King of Sports (Baseball) Has Long History in Alva & NW Oklahoma -- Greats & Near-Greats Made Alva Symbol of Good Baseball. This article was written in 1943, by E. M. Barker, Courier Sports Editor, Vol. XLIV, Section C, pg. 2, continued on pgs. 3 & 6, for the 1943, 50th Anniversary Edition, of the "Alva-Reveiw Courier".

Mr. Barker wrote about and researched the Alva Giants, Alva Orphans and Northwestern baseball clubs in NW Oklahoma for his article written in 1943 which states some interesting facts concerning my Grandpa Bill McGill,...

"On September 17, 1907, the St. Louis Browns were playing the Cleveland American Indians... It was the second game of the doubleheader and not a man had been retired. On the mound for the Browns was a young Texas League recruit pitching his first major league baseball game. The crowd was astounded at his speed as he weaved his long willowy frame to and fro on the pitcher's mound, coolly chopping down the most seasoned veterans of the game. The pitcher was Bill McGill, local furniture man, whose life history is closely interwoven in baseball to follow the days of the old Alva Giants.

In 1900 Bill was a big gangling awkward farmer boy living on a farm SW of Alva, where his father had made the run. He opined he would like a college career and enrolled at Northwestern. Then followed a long period of time when Bill McGill and the great Dan Quinlan did most of the pitching for Alva and played both with the college and town teams, which clubs alternated at being the best as the occasion demanded.

Bill left Alva in 1903 and attended Friends University for three seasons and then went to Washburn from whence he went on to the Kansas State league and later to the Texas league from whence he went to the majors. Bill (McGill) was burning up the minors and reached his zenith in the Texas league in the years of 1906-07. In 1906 he pitched 44 games, winning 33 of them, and in 1907 won 15 out of 20 games pitched. Sixteen of his 48 Texas league wins were by the shutout route. In 1907 he led the league in batting.

Bill's (McGill) major league career was brief. He pitched only two games, the Cleveland game and a game against the famous old New York Highlanders (NY Yankees) which he won 7 to 5. It was late in September and Bill returned to Alva to go into the furniture business. He did take a short fling in the old "Western Association with Guthrie" and also pitched a few more games for Alva. During his brief major league career one wacky sportswriter dubbed Bill 'The pitcher with the millian dollar arm and the ten cent head.'

Grandpa started his baseball career at age 21 and began playing for the majors at age 30. You can read the whole article at the following Link: grandpa/43kingsports.html
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Before you start sending Email with stationery, first, make sure you have Outlook Express configured to send Email in HTML format. Start Internet Explorer -- Click on Mail, Read Mail. That should open up Outlook Express, then browse to Tools, Options and select the Send Tab. Under Mail sending format, make sure you have HTML checked. Click on Settings. For Encode text using, select Quoted Printable. Check Send pictures with messages and Indent messages on reply.  Click OK.  Click Apply, and OK. You are now ready to send Email using stationery.
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Have you discovered Outlook Express' Email Stationery? Outlook came with some Stationery ready for you to use. To view this stationery, click on Mail, New Message. Then Compose, New Message using, More Stationery. This will take you to your Stationery folder which is located at C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\Stationery. Remember this path you will need it when adding new stationery you create or D/L from the net. While you are in your Stationery folder, double click on a stationery file that suits your mood. You can edit (remove) any of the text, and, of course, add your own message. You can also choose your own font, size, color, etc. Note small yellow "picture" icon which is located on the tool bar above where you begin to type your message. Click on it and you can add a picture (graphics) file to your mail.
personal.atl.bellsouth.net/atl/m/r/mrearnie/course.html
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Let the Stationery Depot help create your own stationery to use in sending email. Add graphics and sudio to your messages. It's not difficult to learn and a lot of fun to use. Here are some sites that will help you get started. You need to be using Internet Explorer browser and have Outlook Express mail program configured to HTML format.
personal.atl.bellsouth.net/atl/m/r/mrearnie/course.html
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The 1995 Oklahoma Bombing Trial is being rehashed in Oklahoma. This time the News is, "Bob Macy, You Talk Too Much." NW Oklahoma District Judge (Ray Dean Linder) assigned to the Oklahoma Bomber Case, pulls Oklahoma Prosecutor (Bob Macy) from Bomber Case - Reuters -- "A state death penalty case against Terry Nichols, already serving a federal life term for helping in the Oklahoma City bombing, hit a new snag Monday when a judge disqualified the prosecutor for 'conflict of interest.' State District Judge Ray Dean Linder ruled in favor of a motion from defense attorneys that claimed Oklahoma County District Attorney Bob Macy, the driving force behind the case, had a conflict of interest because of a lingering emotional response to the 1995 blast that killed 168 people."
news.findlaw.com/legalnews/s/20001016/crimebombing.html
Memorandum Opinion & Order
denying McVeigh's motion for a new trial:
legalnews.findlaw.com/cnn/docs/mcveigh/mcvtrialdenial.pdf
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www.winmag.com/wintune98/
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A southern Oklahoma Reader sent me the following information... "ROCK CEDAR (Arbuckle White Cedar) Juniperus This is a comparatively small tree closely resembling the Red Cedar. To date it has been reported from only two locations in Oklahoma, the Arbuckle Mountains and Mayes County near Salina. It is the predominating cedar on the ridges and plateaus of the Arbuckle's while the red cedar is more often found in valleys and draws. Its small spreading branches usually form a wide rounded top or occasionally an open irregular pyramidal headed tree. ref. Forest Trees of Oklahoma 1959. The cedars we have in Okla. are more accurately referred to as Junipers. In our area, we have the Red Cedar (Juniper) & has red heart wood."
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Butch & Ben McCain Website -- Y'all remember when these Muleshoe/Bovina, Texas boys teamed up to start a morning show in Oklahoma City in 1981? Do you remember the AM Oklahoma (A Morning show). From reading their website bio, they have moved to bigger, better entertainment projects in the Los Angeles, California area and work as full time actors.
McCain Brothers website - members.aol.com/mccainbros/bb.htm
McCain Brothers Bio - members.aol.com/mccainbros/bio.htm
KFROG 95.1 online - www.kfrog.fm/
Archives - www.kfrog.fm/frogmen_archive.html
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"On Saturday, the Yankees and Mets will square off in Game 1of the World Series - New York's first Subway Series since 1956 - and the first ever between the two teams. To help you stay on top of this historic event, NYTimes.com will bring you the most comprehensive and up-to-date coverage you'll find anywhere on the Web. In addition to the latest statistics and scores, you'll also get an insider's look at the players, the fans and the top-notch commentary and analysis you expect from George Vecsey, Buster Olney, Murray Chass, William C. Rhoden, Jack Curry and Tyler Kepner." www.nytimes.com/pages/sports/index.html?1020a
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o OAKIE'S QUOTES/POEMS

"Your hearts know in silence the secrets of the days and the nights. But your ears thirst for the sound of your heart's knowledge... But let there be no scales to weigh your unknown treasure; and seek not the depths of your knowledge with staff or sounding line. For self is a sea boundless and measureless." -- by Kahlil Gibran, from "The Prophet"
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Hope to see Y'all Next weekend!