LIVING SPORTS LEGENDS

Friday, September 7, 2007 10:06 PM CDT

Next week Saturday we're going to launch a series of articles that will focus on what we're calling Living Sports Legends.

The articles will run on the front page of the second section of Saturday newspapers but not necessarily week after week. They will be published periodically as space permits and as they are completed.

We've asked our sports writers to take a look at some people who excelled at various sports in Watertown who are truly “sports heroes for the ages.” Several of those interviews have been completed and the stories crafted from those visits.

In making selections for various sports we used a few guidelines. We wanted these people to be living so that the interviews would take on a special meaning. We also wanted only one person per sport and we wanted the ones selected to be representative of those who excelled in that particular sport.

We didn't do a formal poll, but being here at the Times for over 40 years now we have met and visited with a lot of sports heroes as well as those who are big sports fans. Over the past year or so we occasionally brought up the topic of “who was the best in (pick a sport) and elicited some responses. It was remarkable how many times the same names came up!

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In virtually all of the instances the names that came up most often were names and people we knew well - people we've talked with many times.

We've had a great time preparing the list of people and our sports writers, Kevin Wilson and Adam Burdsall, have enjoyed the interviews which are spiced with memories, anecdotes, and great stories from years gone by.

Today we're not going to give our readers a full listing of those who will be topics of the interviews. We'll let those surface as they are published.

But, to whet your appetite and to get you looking for the first installment next week, we will tell you we're going to start with the sport of golf. In our discussions, it was pretty much a “no -brainer” decision as to who would be a “golfer for the ages” and that person is our friend Jim Wade.

Jim simply dominated the game of golf in Watertown for decades. He was a perennial champion at Watertown Country Club, he was and still is a gentleman on the course, and to this day, decades after his first club championship, he is a top-notch golfer.

Watch for the front page of the second section of the Daily Times a week from today. In the first of our “Living Sports Legends” series, we'll profile Jim Wade.

We firmly believe our readers will enjoy this periodic series.

INTER-COUNTY FAIR RETURNS

Last week we started writing a bit about the old Inter-County Fair in Watertown and how big an operation it was back a century ago.

Surprisingly, we had a few people call us who were of that generation that they actually recalled being at the fairgrounds. In fact, one person we visited with was 98 years young and she recalled well the fairs at the site in the old Seventh Ward, roughly where the National Guard Armory sits today.

But, first, we want to take you back to the rest of the story from the old Inter-County Fair.

One of the highlights of the fair for many years was the balloon ascension which took place late in the afternoon after the last of the horse races had been completed.

In the middle of the infield of the track a large fire was kindled and a huge balloon was inflated with the hot, black, gassy smoke. A number of men on the grounds were recruited to hold the balloon down while it was being inflated. When the balloon was filled, a balloonist, usually with the formal title of “professor,” would make a grand entrance and get situated on a platform at the bottom of the balloon. It would be released from the grasp of the men holding it and up it would go. When it was high enough, the “professor” would jump out and fall from the sky to the gasps of those on the grounds. Just when it seemed he was facing certain death, he'd pull the pin on his parachute and the descent would slow and he'd land gracefully. Meanwhile the balloon would gradually deflate and belch out its dirty smoke and eventually would land in a nearby field. It would be gathered up by some people who had the duty of following it, and the same daredevil event would take place each day of the fair.

Now, that one does seem a little more dangerous than we'd like to do, but they were probably well trained.

Other huge attractions at the fair were some of the early exhibitions of real airplanes. These fairs were held not long after the airplane was invented by the Wright Brothers.

People paid money to go behind a curtain and actually see an airplane up close. There were even some flying demonstrations in the early years that were real crowd pleasers. Still, even the display of these newfangled flying machines was not as big of a draw as was the balloon descent.

As airplanes became a bit more common in later years another stunt was performed at the fair. That was on the horse track where a daredevil would change from a seat in a fast-moving car to a seat in a low-flying plane above the car. By today's standards that wouldn't be impossible and would probably only get a yawn, but back then it was considered “death-defying.”

Going through all of this history brought back memories from some of those early black and white films where similar acts were recorded and shown in silent movies.

The fair had a good run, operating annually from 1905 through 1926. Its demise came because of many reasons. One was the growing popularity of the automobile and the upsurge of vaudeville which made many acts of entertainment popular in cities throughout the state. No longer did Watertown have the “corner” on the market of topnotch entertainment. With many other communities now able to bring in these big name acts, the Inter-County Fair suffered. Gradually, the fair declined, and ultimately it was determined that it should end.

When the Watertown Inter-County Fair Association was dissolved on May 13, 1927, the final list of officers included Herman Wertheimer, president; William Miller, Juneau, vice president; Roy Sherman, secretary; R. Grosenick, treasurer; William Beurhaus, H. W. Kronitz, G. M. Gahlmann, Henry F. Scholz, R. H. Radtke, all of Watertown; E. M. Uehling and Theodore Lehmann, Watertown; and H. J. Grell, Johnson Creek, directors.

Adjacent to this column is one of the few known photos of the old Inter-County Fair. From the photo you can see it was a hotbed of entertainment opportunities. The photo shows the size of the grandstand and the many other activities going on there.

We didn't expect to hear any comments about the fair, but we were pleasantly surprised when we received several. Next week we'll talk a little bit about some of those recollections.

We also received several calls from people who recall another county fairgrounds in Watertown that preceded the Inter-County Fair. Those fairgrounds were located approximately at the intersection of Milford Street (also County Trunk A) and Commerce Drive (formerly Alvoss Road). That's in the general area of a small city industrial park. We'll talk a little bit about that as well.

This is turning out to be an interesting topic and we'll continue with it next week.

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