Mark Kirkpatrick Archives

Friend and former Ohio University Post colleague Carol Towarnicky and I are going to do a presentation on the early days of the student rights movement to the OU History Association on October 24. It seems that stuff we covered as news has now become history. Or, as I like to say, “History is news with whiskers.”

The deal was brokered by Jessica Cyders, curator of the Athens County Historical Society and Museum. She’s heard so much about Southeast Missouri that she’s doing a road trip back with me. So, y’all be on your best behavior while she’s in town.

TWIRP (The Woman Is Requested to Pay)

It was appropriate (and somewhat amusing) to run across these photos from Central’s 1967 TWIRP Dance while working on the OU show. This was the era of Sadie Hawkins Day dances (where the girl asks the boy for a date) and The Woman Is Requested to Pay (TWIRP) affairs.

Notice how the girl is holding open the door for the boy?

For some reason, The Missourian didn’t run a photo with school reporter Margaret Randol’s story that on the March 11, 1967, Youth Page.

Littleton & Hirsch are Mr. and Miss CHS

The story said Gary Littleton and Miss Mary Hirsch were crowned Mr. and Miss CHS at the Twirp Dance Friday night in the Central High School gymnasium.

Mary is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Hirsch, 1855 Thilenius, and Gary is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Wesley Littleton, 2540 Marvin.

Candidates

The candidates included Miss Jane Dunklin, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Maurice Dunklin, 839 Alta Vista; Miss Mary Hale, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Lemro Hale, 2209 Brookwood; Miss Georganne Penzel, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George Penzel, 1844 Woodlawn; Charles McGinty, son of Dr. and Mrs. Charles McGinty, 2435 Brookwood; Larry Johnson, son of Dr. and Mrs. Earl Johnson, 1044 Henderson, and Mark Kirkpartrick, son of Mrs. Wilma Kirkpatrick, 903 Bellvue.

“Central Coach Leon Brinkopf leaps aside as a wild throw gets by Fox third sacker Ron Williams in the opening inning of Saturday’s Sectional game at Jackson. Mark Kirkpatrick is the Central player clutching the bag after a head-first dive,” was the caption in the May 16, 1966, Missourian sports section. (You can click on the photos to make them larger/)

Central wins 8-0

The oft-postponed Sectional game between Cape Central and Fox (Arnold) got off the launching pad Saturday afternoon and the Tigers scored and 8-0 victory behind the one-hit twirling of Brad Horky. The game had been rescheduled twice because of the rain and the third attempt was only possible through the efforts of Lou Weiss, Jackson coach. Weiss and his crew labored throughout the morning to bring the diamond in shape for the game, wrote Charley Murdoch, sports editor.

Capaha Park, the scheduled site of the game, represented a lake in left field. Jackson has one of the best draining diamonds in the area.

Horky in complete control

Horky was in complete control of Fox and the first hit was not obtained until the sixth when Gary VanHorn sent one up the middle. He advanced to second an an infield out and was stranded. The rangy righthander struck out eight and did not allow a walk. He hit one batter in the seventh when Fox made its only serious threat to score.

An infield error and the hit batsman after one out was followed by another infield out as both runners advanced. The game ended as Ron Drinnin sent a fly to right field.

Weird first inning

A weird first inning started the contest as the Tigers scored two runs on three hits and three errors. Terry Robinson started it with a single to left. Mark Kirkpatrick put down a bunt and the Fox shortstop added an error. Mike Schuette put down another bunt to the third base side and all hands were safe. When Larry Kitchen sent one to short, another error followed. John Brandt bounced back to the mound, the fox hurler continued the bobble-the-ball game, and two runs were across.

Five-run fifth

Four hits, two walks and a sacrifice gave Central a five-run fifth and they were off and running to the title. Kitchen’s double served as the only extra base blow. Kitchen, Horky and Dan Beard each had a pair of runs batted in for the affair. Schuette, Kitchen and Horky each collected two hits.

This was a decent game for me, with plenty of pictures that met the rule of “show the face, the ball and the action.”

Your baseball and softball fix

We’ve done a bunch of stories about softball and baseball. Here’s a sample.

Cape Central High Photos

Ken Steinhoff, Cape Girardeau Central High School Class of 1965, spent half a century in the ink-slinging business for papers in Missouri, Ohio, North Carolina, and Florida.

He retired in 2008 and has been spending time scanning hundreds of thousands of images because “photos once taken as news have grown enough whiskers that they’ve become history.”

Please comment on the articles when you see he may have left out a bit of history, forgotten a name or when your memory of a circumstance conflicts with his.

(His mother said her stories improved after all the folks who could contradict died off.)

Your information helps to make this a wonderful archive and may end up in book form.

Tag: Mark Kirkpatrick

Twirp and Student Rights