Did you know?
Did you know that a Uniontown native gained a degree of attention just for wearing glasses? Well, maybe not just for wearing them, but where he wore them. The day before Christmas in 1975, the Anniston (Alabama) Star ran a story about Uniontown’s Chuck Muncie and his rather unusual penchant for wearing his glasses while playing football and serving as one of the top running backs in the country at the University of California.
According the article, the nearsighted Muncie started wearing the spectacles while playing at a junior college in Arizona. “I just went out one day with my glasses on,” he told a reporter. “Things looked a lot better to me.”
He continued wearing them when he enrolled at California, and he was known for wearing them during his entire professional career with the New Orleans Saints and the San Diego Chargers.
Did you know that while many people enjoy a fanciful “Christmas in July,” Fayette County once celebrated a New Year in August – sort of?
Guy Lombardo brought his Royal Canadians to Shady Grove Park on Aug. 24, 1928.
Lombardo, who is said to have sold more than 300 million records during his long career, was mostly known for his New Year’s Eve broadcasts, which actually began five months after his Fayette County performance.
His version of Auld Lang Syne is still played to usher in the New Year at Times Square.
What did it cost to see that future musical legend? One dollar for the ladies and $2 for the “gents.”
Did you know that in March of 1922, a 7 year-old child from Fayette County made international news, when he scratched the pin of a dynamite blasting cap and it exploded near his school?
According to the Oakland (California) Tribune, the child blew one of his hands off, and the resultant blast sent splinters in every direction, causing it to injure a dozen other children.
Did you know that starting in July of 1941 the Uniontown Morning Herald sponsored a highly active “Hobby Club?”
Perhaps that may not sound very exciting, until you consider that the club consisted of an estimated 3000 card carrying members.
President Franklin Roosevelt actually sent a letter of encouragement to the club after he’d been sent a membership card for his stamp-collecting hobby.
Sometimes, local hobbyists would write about their hobbies in the Morning Herald.
For instance, George Evans of Uniontown was a budding pianist with another hobby. He liked to collect the autographs of famous bandleaders.
Just eight days after the Hobby Club was started, Evans struck pay dirt. He managed to get the autograph of piano legend Earl “Fatha” Hines, who’d come to Uniontown to play at the Ivory Ballroom on July 15, 1941.
Evans wrote about his encounter.
Hines returned to the Ivory Ballroom on Nov. 6 of that year. That time he was joined by crooner Billy Eckstein – a Pittsburgh native.
The Hobby Club got another new member, just a few days later. On Nov. 26, Hobby Club member Pat Evans of Uniontown got the attention of legendary vibraphonist Lionel Hampton, who was playing at the skating rink on Arch Street with his 16-piece orchestra that night.
Evans discovered that Hampton’s hobby was baseball. Hampton joined the Hobby Club on the spot.
Did you know that if you pitch a no-hitter, you’re supposed to win? Well, in July of 1939, Bruno Vitz of Lambert in the Frick League did, indeed, pitch a no-hit, no-run game – but he still didn’t win the game against the team from Smock.
The game was such an oddity, that it made it into the Modesto (California) Bee.
The reason the game got that kind of attention across the country, was that the pitcher from Smock didn’t give up any runs either. The game was called after the ninth inning due to darkness, but without Vitz’ no-hitter producing a win.
Did you know that it doesn’t pay to leave your wife for nearly three decades, and then return to hope that nothing has changed?
That’s the experience of a Uniontown man, who left his wife for 27 years. What he found when he got home – made national news.
In the Oct. 7, 1937 edition of the Anniston (Alabama) Star, it was reported that the husband returned to Uniontown to discover that his wife had remarried twice, and that he’d actually become the step-father of eight children while he was away.
He did make his way to the garage where he found his real son. He introduced himself, but his son’s reply was simply, “You’ve had one too many mister. My father’s dead.”
The father, as they say, had a lot of ‘splainin’ to do.
Did you know that a local basketball team with Uniontown’s future legendary coach A.J. Everhart as one of its stars once beat a professional team in Uniontown?
It’s true, and I’ll explain next week.
Edward A. Owens of Uniontown is webmaster of “Red Raider Nation: Where Champions Live.’ E-mail him at freedoms@bellatlantic.net