MONETT, MISSOURI HISTORY, BASEBALL, SPORTS & RECREATION

EARLY SPORTS & RECREATION, MONETT, MISSOURI

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Martin's White Sox, 1908. Earl Jeffries is in the center of the back row. On July 31, 1908, the Monett Times gave the lineup of the Martin's team as Charles Woolsey, catcher; Rex Leckie, pitcher; Frank Geister, 1st base; Tom Lyons, 2nd base; Lane Guinney, short stop; Everet Stringer, 3d base; Earl Jeffries, left field; Guy Miller, center field; and Ernest Brown, right field. How this lineup corresponds to the photo is unknown. The image is from a postcard.

Monett Times, July 3, 1908

Athletic Association

The Monett Athletic Association has been organized and sufficent money secured to place the grounds in first class condition. The grounds selected are south of the railroad tracks near the Patterson mill. Postcard of the Patterson Mill.

The officers of the Association are E. O. Brown, Pres., Wirt Patterson, manager, and W. W. Lehnhard, treasurer. The board of directors are W. H. Fly, Chas. Copeland, Ed Salzer, John McGrath and Chas. Bryan.

NOTE

As far as I can tell, the formation of the Monett Athletic Association marked the beginning of semi-professional baseball in Monett. The team was called the Athletics until the spring of 1910, then the Midgets. Admission to the games was charged, and the players were paid. There was a tall board fence around the field, visible in the 1909 photograph below, to keep out unpaid eyes. Kids who sneaked through the fence were arrested. On August 16, 1909, the Monett Times mentioned that there had been 806 paid admissions to a single Sunday afternoon game with Sarcoxie. Intially admission was a quarter for everyone. Later it was reduced to a dime for ladies and people who watched the game from their own carriages rather than the grandstands. The team traveled around the area, and sometimes the Frisco assembled a special train to take fans to a big game.

In 1910, the team opened the season with a losing exhibition game in Monett against the St. Louis Browns professional team. In the regular season, it had a 54-7 record and was considered one of the finest semi-pro teams in Missouri. It continued its winning ways in 1911, but struggled financially and lost its lease on the athletic field at the end of the season. Shortly thereafter, it apparently went out of business.

	Monett Baseball Team, 1909, the Athletics. Earl Jeffries is second from left in the front row. The others are unidentified. On April 10, 1909, the Monett Times gave the lineup of the Monett team at a game in Fairview: Ed Salzer, manager; Persch, pitcher; Freeman, catcher; Stringer, 1st base; Selfe, 2nd base; Guinney, 3rd base; Varner, short stop; Keys, right field; Leckie, center field; Dawson, left field; and Temple, mascot. On May 8, 1909, the paper gave a somewhat different lineup for a game with Carthage: Lewis, catcher; Keyes, pitcher; Geister, 1st; Selfe, 2nd; Guinney, 3rd; Varner, SS; Vinson, LF; Leckie, CF; Lopp, RF. This image is from a postcard.
	1911 Monett High School Team. Updated August 20, 2010. This image is from an undated postcard, but the same photograph appeared in the 1911 Monett high school yearbook, The Pioneer, at page 49. P. C. Callaway, the school science teacher, was manager of the team. According to the yearbook at page 48, team members were Paul Boyer, captain, John Boehm, Ovid Vermillion, John Patton, Houston Temple, Grover Garrison, Tom Reeves, Wilson Gates, Roy Watson, Tom Luby and Roy Granger. How these names correspond to the photo is unknown. The 1911 Monett yearbook is online at the Barry County site at Rootsweb. The 1912 yearbook, also online, has individual photos of Boyer, Temple and Luby for comparison.
	Monett Team, About 1912-14. Ralph Turpin is third from left in the back row. The others are unidentified. Two of the players are wearing AA uniforms, but the others are wearing uniforms monogramed MHS for Monett High School. Ralph Turpin was listed as a freshman in the 1911 Monett high school yearbook, The Pioneer, and was not yet a member of the baseball team. After high school he was offered a contract with the St. Louis professional team, but turned it down at his mother's behest. This image is from a postcard.
	Monett's Legendary 1921 Football Team, Part I. Walt Reynaud and Cecil Long are fifth and sixth from left respectively. They were part of Monett's legendary 1921 football team, so this is either the '21 team or one of its immediate predecessors. Reynaud became president of the Gillioz bank and Long a county official and state representative from Barry County. In 1919, the Monett team lost its first two games, then won the rest. In 1920 and 1921, it was undefeated. Reynaud and Long played on all three teams. This scan is of the left end of a yardlong photograph of the team.
	Monett's Legendary 1921 Football Team, Part II. In an undefeated season of 11 games, the 1921 team scored 504 points, its opponents 9 points. No opponent crossed the goal line until the last game of the season. Monett defeated Rogers, Arkansas 57 to 0, Republic 94 to 0 and Mt. Vernon 70 to 0. The Monett team was so fast and overpowering that one official complained that he was not qualified to officiate at a track meet. This scan is of the left center of a yardlong photograph of the team.
	Monett's Legendary 1921 Football Team, Part III. A newspaper clipping from the August, 1962 Monett Times had a formal portrait of the 1921 team and listed its members as Cecil Long, Walter Reynaud, Fred Steele, Milton Reynaud, Oliver Young, Otto Witte, Francis Mourglia, Frank Miller, Lyle Black, Otto Boss, Vernon Chumbley, Loy Shepherd, Earl Howerton, Ami Cuendet, Bud Henderson and Edgar McMahon. The coach was Finis Engleman and the assistant coach named Holestein. This scan is of the right center of a yardlong photograph of the team.
	Monett's Legendary 1921 Football Team, Part IV. This yardlong photograph shows 31 people. The portrait from the 1962 clipping shows only 18, so the yardlong most likely has the JV & freshmen players who weren't in the formal team portrait. Notice that some of the players here are wearing very tattered practice jerseys. This scan is of the right end of a yardlong photograph of the team.
	Claude Woolsey in Football Dress. This image is from an undated postcard with an identifying note on the back. Some of the Jeffries family were married to Woolseys. According to the Monett Times, Claude Woolsey enrolled in the University of Missouri in September, 1910.
	Postcard, "Freshman and Sophomore Basketball - Monett, Mo". Postmarked May 4, 1909.
	Menace Boosters. This image is from a postcard, addressed to Earl Jeffries from "E. M." and postmarked Aurora, Missouri, May, 1913. Is this a Monett or Aurora group?
	Pool Hall. This image is from a postcard, addressed to Lalah (Trink) Jeffries from "C. E. W." (possibly Charles E. Woolsey) and postmarked Monett. The date is partially obscured, but appears to be 1909. My father says this resembles the Monett pool hall as it existed in the 1930s.
	1910 Barn Dance. There is no identification on this postcard, but the Monett Times describes it exactly in an article on a barn dance held at Campbell's Hall in Monett on February 10, 1910.

The Jeffries Collection of Monett Photographs & Documents.

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