What Do Professional Football, U.S. Presidents and Rock and Roll Have in Common? – Ohio
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Published: October 13th 2019
On Wednesday, August 14, 2019, I made my way from Elizabethtown/Hershey KOA in Elizabethtown PA to Hart's Content Campground in Beaver Falls PA. This stop was quite unusual for me in that I really had no tourist activities planned for the week as I had been in the Pittsburgh area in 2018. Since that stop, however, a great nephew, his wife and two children had moved into the area. He lived in eastern Europe for a few years and has travelled in several European countries so I wanted to get some pointers for an upcoming trip I have planned for Europe. He and his wife both are very busy so my empty calendar allowed us to get together as their time permitted. Had the weather been more cooperative, there were a couple of attractions I had not visited last year that I might have picked up spontaneously. I hadn’t seen them since their wedding, had a very nice time when we got together and got a lot of great info about Europe.
From Beaver Falls, I made my way to Caskeys Campground in Orrville OH the next Wednesday. I selected Orrville for its location between Canton OH and Cleveland OH
– both of which had attractions I wanted to visit. The weather was “tourist unfriendly” on Thursday (as it was on all but two days of my week-long stay), but Friday, August 23, 2019 was my 71
st birthday and, by design, I made my way to the
Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton. THAT was going to happen regardless the weather! Before I had even made my way to the building, I encountered the not-yet-open original 1987 Madden Cruiser which John Madden, a 2006 Hall of Fame inductee, had constructed when he left coaching, entered the broadcast arena and decided he no longer wanted to fly – contrary to my misinformation that he had never flown.
Professional football was born on November 12, 1892 when William “Pudge” Heffelfinger was paid $500 to play in a single game for the Allegheny Athletic Association against the Pittsburgh Athletic Club. Although other amateur teams had been suspected of paying players, this is the first archival record confirming those notions. Pro football made its indoor debut on December 28, 1902 in Madison Square Garden as the first game was played in a five-team, four-game tournament. By 1905, most of the eastern clubs had disbanded, and one
of the strongest football rivalries was between the Canton Bulldogs and the Massillon OH Tigers. Other Ohio cities fielding pro teams were Cleveland, Columbus, Akron and Toledo. On September 17, 1920, representatives from ten teams gathered in Canton to form the American Professional Football Association which became the National Football League (NFL) two years later. Early issues were rising salaries, players jumping from team to team and the recruitment of college players.
Using a timeline format, the exhibits continue to outline the growth of the NFL by chronicling the impact on the league made by each of its commissioners, the movement of teams from small towns to large cities, the birth of the draft in 1936, the effects of World War II on the league, blockbuster trades made over the years, the birth of the American Football League (AFL) and its subsequent merger with the NFL, the beginning of the Super Bowl Era and free agency. The evolution of the ball, the rules and the protective equipment are outlined; various formations are identified, such as the Single Wing; and the visitor can compare the physical stature of their own body with NFL notables by thigh and hand size, grip
on the football and leg length. Non-football subjects such as integration are discussed and “human interest” stories are revealed, such as the friendship between Chicago Bears roommates Gayle Sayers and Brian Piccolo – the basis of the 1971 movie,
Brian’s Song. Of course, the
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Super Bowl Shuffle, recorded by the Super Bowl XX champion Chicago Bears, gets acknowledged. Legends of the game such as Vince Lombardi, George Halas and Jim Thorpe are recounted as are the dynasties of half a dozen teams. Lifetime achievements such as the 328 regular season victories by Baltimore Colts and Miami Dolphins head coach Don Shula, Emmitt Smith’s career rushing total of 18,355 yards and Bruce Smith’s career record of 200 sacks are chronicled. Jerseys, shoes and balls related to numerous players and records are presented, and, then, there are the busts of the inductees and the rings as presented to all of the Super Bowl Champions. This attraction would be of zero interest to the non-football fan but would be of varying degrees of interest to those mildly, moderately or extremely interested in the game.
My second of three Canton stops was the
First Ladies National Historic Site. The National Park Service attraction consists of two properties in downtown
Canton – the home of First Lady Ida Saxton-McKinley and another house that has a small museum and visitor center. For some totally inexplicable reason, photography is not allowed in the museum/visitor center whereas it is allowed during the ranger-guided tour of the Victorian era Saxton-McKinley house. I don’t question all the whys and wherefores of seemingly whimsical rules but just roll with the flow. The museum/visitor center holds several first lady gowns and other paraphernalia of mild interest to the average visitor. Both attractions are nice and worthwhile if there is an empty hour or two in the schedule that needs filling, but I would be hard pressed to include either on my recommended list, let alone a highly-recommended or must-see list. As I do frequently, I’ll let the photographs do the commentary for the Saxton-McKinley house.
The
McKinley Presidential Museum, Library and Monument, also in Canton, is totally about the President and his grave site. The exhibits progress through his childhood, his service in the Union Army during the Civil War, his rise to political prominence and his term as the 25
th President of the United States from March 4, 1897 until his assassination six months into his second term. McKinley was
The McKinley Memorial Towers Above the Trees of Canton
McKinley Presidential Museum, Library and Monument - Canton OHthe last President to have served in the American Civil War and was the only one to have started the war as an enlisted soldier and ended it as a brevet major. During his presidency, McKinley led the nation to victory in the Spanish–American War, raised protective tariffs to promote American industry and kept the nation on the gold standard. While the President was meeting the public on September 5, 1901, he was shot twice in the abdomen by anarchist Leon Czolgosz and died on September 14. Czolgosz was put on trial for murder nine days after McKinley's death, found guilty, sentenced to death on September 26 and executed in the electric chair on October 29, 1901 – 45 days after his victim's death. That is punishment as it should be, swift and certain. President McKinley and his wife are interred in the
McKinley National Memorial, adjacent to the museum. Both are well done and worthy of 1-2 hours of the average tourist’s time.
Saturday, August 24, 2019 found me heading to Cleveland and the
Great Lakes Science Center. I might have skipped the science center, as I (correctly) expected it to be geared to the youngsters, but general admission to the science center
is a prerequisite to visiting the Steamship William G. Mather Maritime Museum. It turned out that the science center, although predominantly geared to the middle school student, is a genuine learning experience for most adults as well. There is a section devoted to space exploration and the 25 astronauts from Ohio, including John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth; Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon; and Judith Resnik, an engineer who died in the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion. Numerous physics phenomena are portrayed including light, motion, sound, heat and gravity; and more complex topics are introduced including stem cells; electromagnetic propulsion in high-speed passenger trains; aeronautics; solar energy; and biomedical engineering in limb prostheses, medical imaging and robotics. Very interesting for all ages.
After visiting the science center, I stepped outside for a self-guided tour of the 1925
Steamship William G. Mather, a retired Great Lakes bulk freighter. She transported cargo such as ore, coal, stone and grain to ports throughout the Great Lakes and was nicknamed "The Ship That Built Cleveland," because Cleveland's steel mills were a frequent destination. I have visited numerous retired warships and a handful of merchant ships, but never a steam-powered merchant
ship; and took this rare opportunity to visit the last remaining vessel of its type in existence in America. Placards on the pier and aboard the ship explain the operational aspects of the ship, and the lavish guest accommodations are nicely labeled to reflect life aboard the ship. The steam boilers and other components of the propulsion system are clearly labeled. This truly is a one-of-a-kind maritime treasure not to be missed by any who are even the least bit interested in maritime history.
My final stop of the day was the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame next door to the science center and the maritime museum. Rock and Roll in Cleveland, I asked. Well, why not, I reasoned, but, make no mistake, I would have guessed many other locales before I would have guessed Cleveland. Before even entering the museum, the Class of 2019 is emblazoned across the marquis – Stevie Nicks, Janet Jackson, Def Leppard, The Zombies, The Cure, Radiohead and Roxy Music. Somewhat familiar with the first two, having heard of the second two and never even having hard of the last three, I wondered if this country fan had bitten off more than he could chew. Near the entrance,
there was a tribute to the fiftieth anniversary of Woodstock, complete with a Woodstock program, a 1969 jacket of John Sebastian’s of The Lovin Spoonful and a 1969 pair of cowboy boots of Stephen Stills of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young; as well as a display of the hall’s new acquisitions.
My concerns diminished when I reached “The Early Influences” display which includes country and bluegrass icons like Jimmie Rodgers, Hank Williams and Bill Monroe as well as rock and roll icons like Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly and Jerry Lee Lewis – all of whom are quite familiar to me. Placards then describe how elements from the genres of Rhythm & Blues, The Blues and Country, Folk and Bluegrass congealed to launch a completely new genre of music, Rock and Roll. Video clips of protests against Rock and Roll are offered before memorabilia from some of the most famous are displayed. Some of the memorabilia is clearly labeled “reproduction,” such as John Lennon’s passport and green card, while much of the memorabilia is on loan from other collections and/or institutions. Geographical influences are outlined – Memphis is acknowledged as the birthplace of rock and roll, Detroit for
its Motown sound, London and Liverpool for the British invasion of the 1960s, San Francisco for its psychedelic impact on music and Los Angeles for the sun and fun found on its beaches. The museum proceeds, as the music evolved, into the “if it’s too loud, you’re too old” mentality of heavy metal, tracing those roots to the 1960s and groups like Iron Butterfly and Blue Cheer. The museum concludes with an arcade chock full of musical group pinball machines. The museum has something of interest for almost every fan of contemporary music; however, stopping to listen to all of the music that is available via earphones and reading all of the descriptive placards about genres, artists, artifacts and the musical eras and movements might take the music enthusiast a week. An all-day visit should provide most with the time to delve into the exhibits quite nicely, but a 3-4 hours stop (as was my visit) was just not enough to assimilate all the museum has to offer.
Obviously within certain constraints beyond my control, a major prescription for my life has been, “If it’s not fun, why do it?” Dodging raindrops never has been my idea of fun,
and, in spite of the uncooperative weather, I accomplished all of the major missions I had on my Canton/Cleveland agenda. Since Ohio claims eight presidents – William Henry Harrison, Ulysses Grant, Rutherford Hayes, James Garfield, Benjamin Harrison, William McKinley, William Taft and Warren Harding – there were a couple of presidential attractions in the general vicinity of my visit that I elected to save for a later, dryer date. Navigating Canton on a weekday was simple, and navigating Cleveland on a weekend day was just as easy. I must admit that I have had more enjoyable stops during
The Great Adventure, but that deficiency was completely a function of the weather and had nothing to do with the state, the region nor the fine people of Ohio. I hope to return some day to complete my unfinished business.
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