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kelloggfireman.bsky.social @kelloggfireman.bsky.social · 6h

www.nebraskapress.unl.edu/nebraska/978... @rogersparkman.bsky.social @robertloerzel.bsky.social @univnebpress.bsky.social

Eckie - Nebraska Press

Walter “Eckie” Eckersall was one of the most famous people in Chicago for three decades: He was the city’s first high school athlete superstar when the...

www.nebraskapress.unl.edu

kelloggfireman.bsky.social @kelloggfireman.bsky.social · 6h

Meigs Field became a key link for executives, who could make it to downtown meetings within minutes of landing. After 65 years, Meigs Field met an ignoble end in 2003, when Mayor Richard M. Daley bulldozed the runway in the middle of the night & repurposed the airport as a park.

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kelloggfireman.bsky.social @kelloggfireman.bsky.social · 6h

Meigs also developed a single-runway airport for small planes on the 1933 Century of Progress World’s Fair site at Northerly Island, just east of Chicago's downtown. Originally called “Chicago Lakefront Airport,” it was renamed Merrill C. Meigs Field in 1950

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kelloggfireman.bsky.social @kelloggfireman.bsky.social · 6h

So Meigs and his commission selected the site for and began to develop O'Hare Airport. In the 1960s, O’Hare would supplant Midway as the world’s busiest airport, and hold that title for more than 30 years; it still remains one of the busiest, as well as the “most connected.”

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kelloggfireman.bsky.social @kelloggfireman.bsky.social · 6h

Under Meigs’ leadership, Chicago's Midway Airport became the world’s busiest airport, a title it held for well over a decade. But Midway was surrounded by neighborhoods, with little room for expansion and runways that would be too short for the large jet airliners that were on the horizon.

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kelloggfireman.bsky.social @kelloggfireman.bsky.social · 6h

But Meigs is best remembered for his work in aviation. Inspired by Charles Lindbergh’s historic 1927 trans-Atlantic flight, Meigs became chair of the Chicago Aero Commission in 1930. He held that post for 20 years, with the goal of making Chicago the aviation center of the world.

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kelloggfireman.bsky.social @kelloggfireman.bsky.social · 6h

Meigs was penciled into Stagg’s starting lineup for the 1906 season, but he dropped out of school to go into the advertising business. Meigs eventually became publisher of two different Chicago newspapers, and then a vice president with the Hearst Corporation.

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kelloggfireman.bsky.social @kelloggfireman.bsky.social · 6h

A bit more about Merrill Meigs, which is a familiar name in Chicago. The 6’ 4” sophomore, nicknamed “Babe,” was playing just his 2nd year of organized football. He played in 9 of Chicago’s 11 games that season, starting 8. Meigs was no star, but a solid player and a good teammate.

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kelloggfireman.bsky.social @kelloggfireman.bsky.social · 6h

"He could spin and turn and reverse his field like a jackrabbit. Once he broke loose he was never caught from the rear…He was a vicious, deadly tackler with a heart that didn’t know how to quit.”

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kelloggfireman.bsky.social @kelloggfireman.bsky.social · 6h

“He had the power to lift a whole team from mediocrity to the greatness of which he himself was capable—with the most inspiring voice the gridiron ever knew!...He had more speed than any of your modern greats. He could have been the ‘fastest human’ if he’d devoted the same attention to sprinting...

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kelloggfireman.bsky.social @kelloggfireman.bsky.social · 6h

“They fall so short by comparison that they look like pygmies. Eckie, as we used to call him, didn’t shine in one, two, or even three departments of the game—he was tops in all departments. And he had something else, something that made of him more than a football player.

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kelloggfireman.bsky.social @kelloggfireman.bsky.social · 6h

“It’s not wishful thinking. The records bear it out. I’ve been waiting 40 years, with an open mind, to see his equal. I haven’t yet. Take your Granges, Berwangers, Booths, Nagurskis, Friedmans, Harmons—yes, & your recent Blanchards and Davises—and stack them up against Eckersall.

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kelloggfireman.bsky.social @kelloggfireman.bsky.social · 6h

In the same article where Meigs recalled Eckie’s “solid kick in the pants” after halftime of the Indiana game, he also remembered: “Walter Eckersall…wasn’t one of the greatest football players that ever lived. He was the greatest. That’s a flat statement, without reservations.

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kelloggfireman.bsky.social @kelloggfireman.bsky.social · 6h

“He gave each member of the team a solid kick in the pants. ‘Now let’s go!’ he ordered, and we really went.” With Eckie now calling the plays, the Chicago offense sprung to life. Bezdek and Fred Walker each scored TDs and Eckie kicked a 20-yard FG in a 16-5 Maroons win.

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kelloggfireman.bsky.social @kelloggfireman.bsky.social · 6h

Down 5-0 at halftime, a nervous Speik defied Stagg’s orders and put Eckie and Bezdek in the lineup for the second half. “He looked over us scornfully,” lineman Merrill Meigs remembered, more than 40 years later. ‘What in hell is the matter with you fellows?’ he barked.

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kelloggfireman.bsky.social @kelloggfireman.bsky.social · 6h

Jesse Harper, who had played so well at halfback against Iowa the previous week, got the start at QB, but couldn’t get the Chicago offense moving. Meanwhile, Indiana shocked the Maroons with a clever double-lateral, which went for a 45-yard TD – the first points surrendered by Chicago all season.

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kelloggfireman.bsky.social @kelloggfireman.bsky.social · 6h

Stagg put his assistant coach, former Maroon captain Fred Speik, in charge, and ordered Speik NOT to play Walter Eckersall or Hugo Bezdek. Stagg figured that Indiana would be a pushover, and he wanted his two stars to get some extra rest for a tough @b1gfootball.bsky.social campaign ahead.

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kelloggfireman.bsky.social @kelloggfireman.bsky.social · 6h

120 years ago, on October 14, 1905, University of Chicago football coach Amos Alonzo Stagg skipped his game against @indianafootball.bsky.social to scout an upcoming opponent, Wisconsin. Skipping a “lesser” game was fairly common practice at the time, but this turned out to be a near-fatal mistake.

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kelloggfireman.bsky.social @kelloggfireman.bsky.social · 21h

My parents were in a bridge league for several years in the late 1970s/early 1980s! I think there was more drinking, smoking, and gossiping than actual bridge though. Yet somehow, they always turned in a score sheet at the end of the night.

kelloggfireman.bsky.social @kelloggfireman.bsky.social · 1d

I had you pegged as a potential Marxist back when you were head of the… (checks notes) …Young Republicans in high school.

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kelloggfireman.bsky.social @kelloggfireman.bsky.social · 3d

Or…he smarter than them. Even though, despite the Ivy League pedigree, he’s actually really dumb. (At least when it comes to macroeconomics…which any U.S. president should care about.)

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kelloggfireman.bsky.social @kelloggfireman.bsky.social · 3d

As far as dating opportunities go, running > volleyball. (I met my wife-who was a h.s. track coach & now coaches our daughters, & is a better runner than me-through other means, but back in my early 30s, got several dates & a couple semi-serious relationships through my Chicago running groups.)

h.coach

kelloggfireman.bsky.social @kelloggfireman.bsky.social · 3d

Michigan has been poaching from the Cats ever since John Navarre. (You’re too young to really remember Katie, you’ll have to look him up. But I still haven’t forgiven Lloyd Carr for that one. But it was kind of Gary Barnett’s fault, too.)

kelloggfireman.bsky.social @kelloggfireman.bsky.social · 3d

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kelloggfireman.bsky.social @kelloggfireman.bsky.social · 4d

Some early publicity for my @univnebpress.bsky.social book, "Eckie!" Story by @robertloerzel.bsky.social and appearing in Chicago Magazine's November issue, which will be on newsstands around October 20. The online version went live this morning: www.chicagomag.com/chicago-maga...

Chicago’s Original Celebrity Athlete

The new book ‘Eckie’ spotlights Walter Eckersall, a bygone local sports pioneer. Here’s what we learned.

www.chicagomag.com

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