Forum Flashbacks: Feb. 23-March 1
THE MARYVILLE TRIBUNE FILE PHOTO
100 YEARS AGO: Maryville State Teachers College Team – Which has gone through the season undefeated and claims the state title won by them in 1922. The players, left to right: Top row — P. Hardwick, King City; Coach Mary MacLeod; E. McNeil, Jameson; W. Thompson, Amity; bottom row — L. Gartin, King City; H. Pugh, Maryville; Captain Ruth Miller, Maryville; M. Kennedy, Bolckow; E. Raines, Maryville. (Mabel Raines, Maryville, not in picture.)
5 years ago
Northwest Missouri State University Director of Athletics Mel Tjeerdsma, who has served in that role since April 2013 after leading the Bearcat football program for 17 years, has announced his retirement, effective April 30.
“My past five years as athletic director have been very rewarding, and this time has allowed me to give back to the university that I love,” Tjeerdsma said. “I would like to thank Dr. (University President John) Jasinski for giving me the opportunity to return as athletics director.”
Tjeerdsma continued: “It’s hard to put into words how blessed I’ve been to work with our athletics administrative staff. They are the ones who have been responsible for getting the daily work done to allow our athletics department to accomplish so much over the past five years.
“I’ll always be grateful to all of our coaches for all of the energy and enthusiasm that they put into our athletics program each day. Along with all of those mentioned, I want to give a special thanks to our student-athletes and our great fans who make up the Bearcat family. It’s been a thrill to serve as athletics director at Northwest.”
During Tjeerdsma tenure as AD, Northwest captured four NCAA Division II national championships, 11 MIAA regular season titles and six MIAA tournament titles.
During 2016-17, the Bearcats became the first institution in NCAA Division II history to win both a football and men’s basketball national championship in the same academic year.
As director of athletics Tjeerdsma has also been instrumental in numerous facility upgrades on the Northwest campus, including the construction of a giant video board at Bearcat Stadium, the replacement of the stadium’s track and field turf and the creation of the Harr Athletic Success Center, a student lounge and gathering space.
Tjeerdsma also played a major role in the planning and development of the Carl and Cheryl Hughes Fieldhouse, scheduled to open this fall.
15 years ago
Honest, hardworking, intelligent, compassionate, devoted…these are the words Chris Cummins used to describe his father, J.B. Cummins, Jr., who died Feb. 25 at the age of 93.
A respected businessman and leader in the community, Cummins saw the rise and fall of one of the oldest businesses in Maryville.
Since his birth Feb. 17, 1915, Cummins has called Maryville home.
Cummins’ father bought a half interest to a furniture store in 1919 and Cummins Furniture was born. At the time, seven other furniture stores were in operation in Maryville. Part of the store was also used as a funeral home.
To hone his retail skills, Cummins attended Northwest Missouri State Teacher’s College in 1935, graduating with a degree in business.
Cummins married Doris Logan June 8, 1940.
As a child, Cummins doodled airplanes in his textbooks, only to eventually serve our country in the air. During World War II, Cummins began as a flight instructor upon the U.S. entry into the war, but was later named second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Corps, a precursor for the U.S. Air Force. As second lieutenant, he ferried planes of all types to Africa and Italy. In 1944, he spent time in the South Pacific and Australia, where he was Base Chief Pilot and in charge of crew training.
25 years ago
The saga that is the Skidmore school is continuing, as the Nodaway-Holt R-VII School District made contingency plans for the elementary school building at last week’s Board of Education meeting.
According to Superintendent Bruce Skoglund, the district will offer the building to the City of Skidmore if all goes well with the April 7 bond and Proposition C levy votes.
“If both issues pass, we’ll offer the school and the property to Skidmore for $1,” he said. “We’ll take out the walk-out freezer and some of the kitchen stuff we can use, but other than that, the city will have complete control of the site.”
If Skidmore declines the offer, the district promised to tear down the building within a seven-year period.
“If we demolish it, we’ll offer (the land) to the city again,” Skoglund said. “We’ll give the city the first opportunity at the site.”
100 years ago
COLLEGE TO GET $460,000 DURING NEXT TWO YEARS
An appropriation of $460,000 for the State Teachers College here is provided in a bill introduced in the House …
The bill provides for $140,000 for building, which gives the College the new gymnasium asked in the budget, money for the repair and enlargement of the auditorium, for the repair of the power plant and for rebuilding the “old seminary” for use as a men’s dormitory. …
The salary budget was cut from $275,000 to $260,000 and the $20,000 asked for for rural education was eliminated entirely.
In commenting on the appropriation bill this morning President Uel W. Lamkin of the College said that “the board of regents, in preparing the budget, had asked for only those amounts which it felt absolutely necessary for the welfare of the school. And while the committee has not seen fit to grant all of the items asked, the administration will run the institution on the money which the state feels able to pay. The amount is not all that is needed, but it is enough to insure that the progress of the school will not be blocked for lack of funds.”
EDITOR’S NOTE: The 100-year flashback is courtesy of the Missouri Digital Newspaper Project from the State Historical Society of Missouri, viewable at shsmo.newspapers.com. The original article ran in the Feb. 28, 1923, edition of The Maryville Tribune, a predecessor of The Maryville Forum.
