Hurricane Vince

 

Hurricane Vince Is Heading My Way!

The anchor on TV said Hurricane Tammy was bearing down on the Lesser Antilles.

“You're next,” my wife said.

I am?

“Yup, there are no U names on the Hurricane list.”

No Ulysses? No Uma?

“Nope, it jumps straight to Hurricane Vince.”

I’m next.

It reminded me of a Milwaukee Braves phenom in 1957: Bob “Hurricane” Hazle, who got his nickname from the 1954 hurricane that battered the Carolina coasts.

I am about to become a hurricane: Hurricane Vince.

 I wonder what that will be like.

In 2005, I wrote a column about a real-life Kingsport girl who got her moment of fame, or infamy, from a hurricane:

 

Katrina Lahair remembers when she heard that a hurricane was going to be named after her. “At first I thought it was kind of neat. Then it was kind of weird.”

Katrina, an eleven-year-old sixth-grader at John Sevier Middle School, says that as the storm began bearing down on Florida, her friends would tease her and call her Hurricane Katrina.

But then, when it became clear that the real Hurricane Katrina was a devastating storm, the teasing died down. And now, three weeks later, the teasing is gone, the neatness is gone and weirdness is gone. Hardly anyone even mentions it to Katrina Lahair anymore except the writer who called her from the Times-News, after clearing it with her mom.

It was the mom, Trida, who gave Katrina her name. Trida’s middle name is Katrin. “We wanted something different so we added an ‘a’ to Katrin,” Trida explains.

The writer had called because he saw a list of hurricane names for the remainder of the 2005 hurricane season and spotted his own name.

After Hurricane Katrina, there were Hurricanes Lee, Maria and Nate, which fizzled out before landfall, then Hurricane Ophelia, which is currently lashing North Carolina, which will be followed in order by:

Hurricane Philippe

Hurricane Rita

Hurricane Stan

Hurricane Tammy

Hurricane Vince

Hurricane Wilma

 

Hurricane Vince?! There’s a Hurricane Vince on the horizon?

So the writer named Vince called the student named Katrina to find out what it was like to have a hurricane named after you.

“Are you glad there was a hurricane named after you?” future Hurricane Vince asked the experienced hurricane-name-sharing Katrina Lahair.

“In some ways yes and in some ways no,” Katrina answered.

Then future Hurricane Vince asked Katrina for advice: “Should I hope it fizzles out before it makes land?”

And Katrina Lahair, who had just lived through having a Hurricane share her name, had a simple answer: “Yes.”

I think I'll hope for a fizzle. 

 

Civic Auditorium in for Some Changes

 

Your Civic Auditorium

It was always the most aptly named of Kingsport’s municipal buildings: The Civic Auditorium. It was truly a civic center, home to so many different activities, from proms to industrial league basketball games to weeklong preaching missions.

And now the Depression-era building is in for some changes. As reported by Times-News education reporter Rick Wagner this morning, the Kingsport Board of Education “has approved a memorandum of understanding for its takeover of the Civic Auditorium, which will be utilized mostly by the school system. Voting, event rentals and parks and recreation use of the facility are to continue as scheduling constraints permit.”

What will that mean? Nobody knows. The Civic Auditorium is right at Dobyns-Bennett’s front door. Classes may be held there. The main auditorium has been home to many basketball games over the years. It would be perfect for gym classes, especially while construction continues on the D-B Dome.

Over the 83 years of its existence the Civic Auditorium has been home to professional wrestling, golden gloves boxing, rock and roll concerts, gospel shows, country jamborees.  

"Classy Freddie" Blassie, later star of a Cyndi Lauper video, wrestled in Kingsport in 1955.

Count Basie and his orchestra performed there, as did the big bands of Erskine Hawkins, Duke Ellington and Tommy Dorsey.

The most famous performer was probably Elvis, who played there on Sept. 22, 1955 as the middle act of a country show headlined by Cowboy Copas.

 

Jerry Lee Lewis was booked to play the Civic Auditorium on July 24, 1968 on a double bill with Conway Twitty. There were two shows scheduled for that night, one at 8 p.m. and a second at 10.

Jerry Lee was the headliner. Conway was the opening act even though both were equally big stars at the time.

Jim Sauceman told me about the show; his brother-in-law, the late Tiny Day, was the promoter.

“Conway was always late. Jerry Lee’s bus came in the parking lot about 2 p.m. Conway called about 6 p.m. and said he wasn’t going to make it on time. Tiny took the message to Jerry Lee, who said, ‘Killer don’t open for anybody.’”

Killer is Jerry Lee’s nickname. He pretty much gave it to himself. When he was a kid, he called all his buddies “Killer” so they started calling him “Killer.” It stuck and years later it would become even more appropriate but that’s a story for another day.

When Jerry Lee told Tiny that he would not open the show, Tiny replied, “To get your money, you’ll open.”

Jerry Lee hit the stage at 8 p.m. sharp.

 

Rock legend Chuck Berry performed at the Civic Auditorium on November 22, 1960.

Chuck had learned early the lessons of the road. Al Wilkes told me that Chuck had had problems throughout his career being ripped off by promoters so he began taking a proactive approach. According to Al, when he played the Kingsport Civic Auditorium, Chuck dressed up in disguise - glasses, a wig and a hat - and sold tickets at the door. Not a soul recognized him! Chuck kept his eyes – and his hands – on his money.

 

There was a famous Scat Cats concert at the Civic Auditorium in 1965: a fight broke out and people scattered everywhere, even the band members. Except for drummer Donnie Flack. Jim Beck, who was at the show, remembers, “Everybody was running and he just kept playing.” Donnie shrugged it off to me years later. It was just his Symphony to a Knife Fight.

 

The first Miss Kingsport Pageant was held there on July 9, 1954. The winner, Dottie Teter Slaughter, told me years later that they didn't have a runway, just a bunch of tables placed end to end and she had to walk down that in high heels!

The Kiwanis Kapers moved from the Strand Theatre to the Civic Auditorium in 1941 and continued there till the Kapers ended in 1977.

I learned Ballroom Dancing – it’s still debatable whether I really learned - when I took lessons in the Teen Center in the winter of 1959.

My 7^th Grade Prom at Robinson – RNRJHS – was held at the Civic Auditorium. The Frolics were held there after every home football game.

And my 60th Birthday Party, Dance and Hula Hoop Competition was held in the main auditorium – the same place where Elvis had performed 52 years earlier in 2007. Over 300 people wandered in and out during my party.

But the heart and soul of the Civic Auditorium was always its local events: wedding showers, bridge tournaments, fashion shows.

My friend Margy Clark and her tennis group were playing tennis in the main auditorium during the winters up until the pandemic. (Margy would have been 90 during the last year of her tennis group; her fellow group members were her age.)

The breadth of activities that could occur at the Civic Auditorium during one week in its heyday was breathtaking.

Take for example the Civic Auditorium Schedule for the Week of January 31, 1955, as published every week in the Kingsport Times-News:

Monday

Basketball Games in Main Auditorium.

National Guard Vs. Mead - 6:30.

Munal Clinic Vs. Fashion Beauty Shop - 7:45.

Boys' Club Vs. W. B. Greene - 9:00.

Table Tennis League in Game Room.

Young Republican Club in Club Room 5.

AAUW in Party Room.

Tuesday

National Guard Drill in Main Auditorium.

Teen Dance Class in Game Room.

D.A.R. Meeting in Corner Room.

Wednesday

Golden Gloves Boxing Tournament in Main Auditorium.

Teen Dance Class in Game Room.

Chess Club in Corner Room.

Thursday

Audubon Screen Tour in Main Auditorium.

Hooked Rug Making in Club Rooms.

District Committee Boy Scouts in Corner Room.

Girl Scout Meeting in Party Room.

 

Boxing in one area, Teens learning ballroom dancing in a second and the Chess Club meeting in a third.

What a great civic auditorium!

Sunset at the Stadium

 

The Sun Setting over Bays Mountain as Viewed from J. Fred Johnson Stadium

Photo by Earl Carter

Earl Carter, my longtime colleague at the Kingsport Times-News and one of the finest photographers I know, posted this gorgeous sunset over Bays Mountain, as seen from the homestands at J. Fred Johnson Stadium on Friday.

Earl wondered if perhaps Kingsport’s founders “stood on this spot long ago and made the decision to build the stadium in this exact location so future generations would have a prime view of the setting sun at football games.”

It's a nice thought: J. Fred Johnson and John B. Dennis scouting out future building sites for industry and residences and having that ah-hah moment when they saw how the sun set over the hills.

I wish it had happened that way.

But it was mostly accidental and in fact the building of the stadium was originally opposed by a few Kingsporters, most notably the Kingsport Times.

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 The stadium didn’t begin with J. Fred Johnson or John B. Dennis but with the local American Legion Post which in early 1936 was proposing a city recreation center and public swimming pool on land near Lincoln School.

The headline on Jan. 7, 1936 read:

LEGION POST OKAYS PURCHASE LAND FOR RECREATION CENTER;

Land Will Cost $6,300 for Site; Clubhouse, Pool and Sports Activities Are Included In the Plans

“The Legion voted unanimously at its meeting held in the Municipal building last night to purchase the 10 and one-half acres of land at the junction of the Bristol and Johnson City highways, on which the center will be built. A swimming pool, Legion clubhouse, a softball diamond and carnival grounds will be placed in the "Y." Work is expected to get under way within the next few weeks.”

 

No mention of a football stadium.

 

Sept. 17, 1939

It would be a couple of years before stadium talk started.

An April 11, 1938 headline read:

City Will Take Steps to Get Athletic Stadium, Armory

“Prospects for a new athletic stadium and armory for Kingsport loomed today as authorities announced that steps may be taken to obtain WPA grants for their construction. Construction of a stadium has been discussed by city authorities and civic leaders several times, but on each occasion, it was decided that the city should not assume the entire debt of the project.

“Just where the two projects would be constructed has not been discussed. Heretofore suggestions have been made that the stadium be located on the old flying field at Lovedale and on Dobyns-Bennett’s athletic field. Location of the armory has been suggested on property of the Legion Park.”

 

So in 1938 possible locations for a new stadium ranged from the field down the hill from Jackson School to the grounds next to the “old” D-B on Wateree.

 

Public opinion soon started crystalizing around building a new stadium, especially after Johnson City and Bristol both constructed new facilities.

 

The Mayor and Board of Alderman scheduled a meeting for Feb. 21, 1939 to discuss the matter.

 

That’s when the Kingsport Times weighed in:

 

STADIUM?

"Kingsport is still a young city, with every prospect of continued healthy growth. If we could be given a glimpse into the future, say about 1959, it is quite possible that we would not recognize our city. That in the years to come many other large industries will locate plants here, is quite certain. That the population will increase steadily and that large tracts of land, now vacant, will be occupied by hundreds of homes, is also quite certain. Consequently, if it is desirable to have a large stadium later on, it is only the part of wisdom to set aside a desirable site now while it can still be bought at a comparatively low figure. That is strictly logical and admits of no argument.

"There is an 'if' in the above sentence.

"Is a large new stadium desirable? Certainly, a great many people think it is. "Stadium" means football to most people, as football is the principal use of such a place. Now football has become so popular as to be almost a mania with some people. The emphasis on football in our colleges and high schools is getting greater every year. Over emphasis, some think. But the fact remains that the "fans" want more and more of it and are willing to pay more and more for it. So it has developed, not so much as a sport but as a spectacle and a big business. As a sport, as it affects those who play, football is a little different but no better than it has been in past years. But there is no blinking the fact that gate receipts affect the attitude of a school or college toward football. They bow to the will of the people-and to the click of the turnstiles. All over the country we see it; more football, more stadia.

 "There is not in this country, a heavy-over-emphasis on athletics. There is a heavy over-emphasis on the use of athletics for business purposes. That is not good for anyone concerned. Kingsport should avoid the danger of becoming an example of that.

"For the real good of the city, would it not be better to start planning on city parks that would serve a much greater number of people. Such parks will be a greater necessity in the future when the population is denser, than a stadium, and the land for them will be as difficult to get later on. We will need parks, so located that they will be close to the people who need them most; people without cars.

"The question is, will a stadium be a necessity of the future, or just an expensive luxury? The board would like to know what you think.

 

So the Times wanted parks and playgrounds not a stadium."

 

The will of the people was decidedly not on the side of the Times’ editorial writer. Folks flooded the Municipal Building for the city government meeting that February night in 1939..

 

“Mayor William Holyoke called upon the group for expressions of opinion on the purchase of the property for the proposed stadium.

“A. D. Brockman, executive vice-president of the First National bank and chairman of the city school board expressed himself as heartily in favor of purchasing the property, declaring that the sooner the stadium is built the quicker it will "enable us to tear down the wooden fence at the school."

“’I feel,’ he added, ‘we should get government money while we can.’

“H. G. Stone moved that the board proceed with the purchase of the property. I. M. Fuller seconded the motion and appealed for immediate construction of the stadium.

“This motion also carried without opposition.

“In passing an ordinance authorizing the purchase of the property which is to cost $1,000 per acre, Mayor Holyoke commented that sentiment expressed at the meeting had shown the consensus of opinion of a large majority of citizens of the city was heartily in favor of the stadium and urged the board not to delay in the purchase.”

 

J. Fred Johnson Stadium opened on Sept. 3, 1942 with a War Bond Rally headlined by Hollywood star Greer Garson who was introduced to the crowd by E.W. Palmer, head of Kingsport Press.

She arrived 45 minutes late so she missed seeing that spectacular sunset over Bays Mountain.