75 years ago: Colgate's Andy Kerr

[Lehigh Football Nation]

http://lubbockonline.com/stories/081208/loc_317614928.shtml

From the Lubbock Avalanche-Journal's Pages:


75 years ago:

The third annual Texas Tech coaching school came to a close at noon today when Andy Kerr, football coach at Colgate University, bade an Irish adieu to coaches who had come hundreds of miles and from 20 states to hear him.

xeekx xthumbsupx

[carney2]

Talk about obscure. How do you find these things?

[Lehigh Football Nation]

Talk about obscure. How do you find these things?

This is coming from Mr. "Patsy Rankings"... :p

That's me, spending valuable time that could be spent working, writing, or (gasp) spending quality time with the kid or the Missus, to deliver you these factoids from a paper 2000 miles away.

Of course, I know I'm with some good company in this endeavor here on AGS... xsmiley_wix

[TheValleyRaider]

Fantastic find! xbowx xeekx xbowx

[Go...gate]

Thanks very much, LFN. Andy Kerr was a greatly liked and respected coach throughout America for his deeds with "The Little Giant of the Chenango".

[Marcus Garvey]

Sweet Jesus, that was a long trip. I'm busting out my 1930 "Official Guide" and seeing how many days and how many transfers it took to take a train from Hamilton to Lubbock. Though I suspect he caught a train at Utica or Syracuse instead.

[Go...gate]

Sweet Jesus, that was a long trip. I'm busting out my 1930 "Official Guide" and seeing how many days and how many transfers it took to take a train from Hamilton to Lubbock. Though I suspect he caught a train at Utica or Syracuse instead.

Nice to hear from another railfan. Think of how many different RR companies' lines Coach Kerr traveled on!

[Marcus Garvey]

Nice to hear from another railfan. Think of how many different RR companies' lines Coach Kerr traveled on!

I'm betting it was, at most 3 lines. I figure he wouldn't have taken a train from Hamilton, as the NY,O&W ran passenger trains primarily from the middle of nowhere (Oswego, NY) to no place in particular (Weehauken, NJ). They made frequent stops and took forever.
I figure he grabbed a NYC train at Syracuse or Utica, then changed in Chicago. That's the connection I need to look up. It may have been possible to take a through car to Lubbock from Chicago back then. If not, then there's 1 more change.

To make this a football related post...
My brother has a book on Eastern PA train wrecks. I recall one of the wrecks involved an overnight passenger train that derailed near the Delaware Water Gap. On that train was the Duke Univeristy football team. According to the story in the book, they were returning from a game against Colgate. :D
According to the CFBDatawarehouse (http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/div_iaa/patriot/colgate/opponents_records.php?teamid=971), Duke played in Hamilton in 1937 and 1940. I believe the accident was in 1940.

[Go...gate]

I'm betting it was, at most 3 lines. I figure he wouldn't have taken a train from Hamilton, as the NY,O&W ran passenger trains primarily from the middle of nowwhere (Owego, NY) to no place in particular (Weehauken, NJ). They made frequent stops and took forever.
I figure he grabbed a NYC train at Syracuse or Utica, then changed in Chicago. That's the connection I need to look up. It may have been possible to take a through car to Lubbock from Chicago back then. If not, then there's 1 more change.

To make this a football related post...
My brother has a book on Eastern PA train wrecks. I recall one of the wrecks involved an overnight passenger train that derailed near the Delaware Water Gap. On that train was the Duke Univeristy football team. According to the story in the book, they were returning from a game against Colgate. :D
According to the CFBDatawarehouse (http://www.cfbdatawarehouse.com/data/div_iaa/patriot/colgate/opponents_records.php?teamid=971), Duke played in Hamilton in 1937 and 1940. I believe the accident was in 1940.

That would have been the first game at what was then called "Colgate Athletic Field", renamed Andy Kerr Stadium in 1966.

[TheValleyRaider]

Yes, but does it stack up to the legend of the Great Chocolate Wreck of 1955? :)

[Marcus Garvey]

Yes, but does it stack up to the legend of the Great Chocolate Wreck of 1955? :)

Yup... I know about that one too. The authorities at first suspected a local teenager who was friendly with the rail employees at the station. Later, it was focused on a Colgate student.

I was just checking Google Maps and Microsoft Live Earth. Both show the rail line through Hamilton on their maps. However, it's been abondaned since 1957!!!!!

[Go...gate]

Yup... I know about that one too. The authorities at first suspected a local teenager who was friendly with the rail employees at the station. Later, it was focused on a Colgate student.

I was just checking Google Maps and Microsoft Live Earth. Both show the rail line through Hamilton on their maps. However, it's been abandoned since 1957!!!!!

NYO&W shut down in '57.

Ah, the flying EMD diesel locomotive with a train full of Nestle's candy bars!! xlolx

[colorless raider]

NYO&W shut down in '57.

Ah, the flying EMD diesel locomotive with a train full of Nestle's candy bars!! xlolx

Thanks for the history lesson for this "youngster", well not that young! Coach Biddle will break Andy Kerr's record number of wins this season!

[CSU Girl]

I think this is Colgate's year, I just feel it.

[Marcus Garvey]

Nice to hear from another railfan. Think of how many different RR companies' lines Coach Kerr traveled on!

I did a quick check of the Guide last night.
At the least, one would have taken 3 companies to get from Hamilto to Lubbock: New York, Ontario & Western; New York Central and Santa Fe. There were 2 daily trains from Hamilton to Utica. However, both took over 90 minutes to travel the 29 miles to Utica Union Station!!!!

Assuming the schedules didn't change much in 1933, Andy Kerr could have taken the O&W to Utica. There, he could grab an NYC train to Chicago's LaSalle St. Station. In Chicago, he would transfer to Dearborn Station. There was a taxi company in Chicago who catered exclusively to shuttling people and their baggage between Chicago's 7 stations!.

Now, to get to Lubbock, the only practical course would be take Santa Fe's Train #1, The Scout. This traveled via Clovis, NM and Amarillo, TX, as opposed to the ATSF mainline. In Amarillo, he could transfer to a train that would take him to Lubbock.

[Lehigh Football Nation]

I did a quick check of the Guide last night.
At the least, one would have taken 3 companies to get from Hamilto to Lubbock: New York, Ontario & Western; New York Central and Santa Fe. There were 2 daily trains from Hamilton to Utica. However, both took over 90 minutes to travel the 29 miles to Utica Union Station!!!!

Assuming the schedules didn't change much in 1933, Andy Kerr could have taken the O&W to Utica. There, he could grab an NYC train to Chicago's LaSalle St. Station. In Chicago, he would transfer to Dearborn Station. There was a taxi company in Chicago who catered exclusively to shuttling people and their baggage between Chicago's 7 stations!.

Now, to get to Lubbock, the only practical course would be take Santa Fe's Train #1, The Scout. This traveled via Clovis, NM and Amarillo, TX, as opposed to the ATSF mainline. In Amarillo, he could transfer to a train that would take him to Lubbock.

The other interesting thing that your itinerary points out is that this was probably a national tour that brought him to NYC, Chicago and other points. I'm betting that this wasn't round-trip to Lubbock. Furthermore, he might have gone out West too and looped back to Lubbock.

Lubbock, if I remember correctly, was a pretty big city in 1930? Maybe its heyday?

[Marcus Garvey]

The other interesting thing that your itinerary points out is that this was probably a national tour that brought him to NYC, Chicago and other points. I'm betting that this wasn't round-trip to Lubbock. Furthermore, he might have gone out West too and looped back to Lubbock.

Lubbock, if I remember correctly, was a pretty big city in 1930? Maybe its heyday?

Dunno much about Lubbock. Was it an oil boom town? What I do know is that it wasn't on any railroad's main lines. In 1930, it was served by two railroads: The Panhandle & Santa Fe Railway (a subsidiary of Santa Fe) and the Colorado & Southern Railway (a subsidiary of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy). In both cases, Lubbock was not on branch lines of subsidiary railroads. That doesn't sound like a mecca of commerce to me. :)