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Tomorrow marks the 60th anniversary of day Uniontown native Gen. George C. Marshall accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway.

He was pictured on the front page of the Uniontown Evening Standard on Dec. 11, 1953, with the caption, in part, saying “The ceremony was marred by noisy Communist demonstrations in and outside of University Hall as the presentation was being made.”

Of course, Gen. Marshall was known for many things during his long life of service to the country. But hardly little was known about another aspect of his life – he was considered quite the athlete.

Uniontown Morning HeraldĢƵ sports editor in December of 1945, Jimmy Gismondi, wrote an interesting item about a time when Marshall, then a student at Virginia Military Institute, had shown valor, not on a battlefield, but on a football field.

According to GismondiĢƵ account, Marshall had made the VMI football team. But he’d been hospitalized after he was stabbed with a bayonet during “drilling maneuvers.”

According to the account, Marshall didn’t let a thing like a life-threatening accident keep him down.

Instead, he started “drawing pictures on the white bedsheets.”

When his football coach visited him in the hospital, he was apparently shocked to discover Marshall hadn’t been following his doctorĢƵ orders.

“Gee, coach, itĢƵ good to see you. Aw, they can’t kill a tough guy like me. Look, I’ve been making some diagrams of football plays and they can’t help scoring touchdowns,” he was quoted as saying.

He’d soon be back on his football team, and, according to Gismondi, “Marshall went on to become one of the greatest tackles in the history of the South.”

I’ve found another item on the Morning Herald sports page that was also written by Gismondi, which certainly must have been of great interest to Pittsburgh Pirates fans on Dec. 12th, 1945.

Crooner Bing Crosby was entertaining the notion of becoming a part-owner of the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Gismondi humorously pondered where the story should be covered by a sportswriter or a music critic.

As it turns out, Crosby did become a part-owner of the Pirates starting in 1946, and he maintained that part-ownership until he died in October of 1977.

Over a hundred years ago this week, it seems it was mighty tough pleasing local theatre patrons.

“‘The Champagne Belles mobbed by crowd of 200,” read a headline on the front page of the Dec. 16, 1911 edition of the Morning Herald.

That crowd of 200 was comprised only of disgruntled men, who’d gotten less than they bargained for at the Grand Theatre in Uniontown the previous night.

I used the word ‘less,” because of the way the sub-headline was written: “Soft pedal show fails to meet approval of audience and curtain is rung down following repeated outbreaks.”

According to the report, “The Champagne Belles” had to be hustled out of the Grand during their second act, when, “Loud yells and hoots greeted the appearance of the actors on the stage.”

The irate men decided to follow the women along Pittsburgh Street to Main Street, until they reached the St. Charles Hotel.

The crowd finally dispersed once city police officers arrived, but not before those “hoots and yells could have been heard for several blocks.”

There are times when headlines can tell the complete story.

ThatĢƵ the case of one headline I found on the front page of the Dec. 1, 1911 edition of the Morning Herald.

“Boy-dynamite cap-hammer-hospital-two finger lost,” was all that was needed.

The article did try to make some sense of how such a dreadful thing could happen.

It was reported that a 10-year-old boy from Grindstone had found the dynamite in his backyard, and he proceeded to get a hammer and start pounding it.

On Dec. 13, 1911, it was reported that the wife of a clergy member in Waynesburg had filed for divorce, under some rather unusual circumstances.

“ParsonĢƵ wife follows advice; hubby kicks,” read the headline said on the front page of that dayĢƵ Morning Herald.

It seems Mrs. Minnie E. Rockwell was encouraged by her husband to be “pleasant to the members of the flock.”

Unfortunately, it appears he didn’t mean THAT “pleasant.”

When Mrs. Rockwell decided she’d be more congenial to the male members of the church, her preacher husband, it was alleged, “upbraided and threatened her for being courteous to masculine members of the flock.”

The reverendĢƵ response, caused another one. His wife filed for divorce.

But thatĢƵ not the worst of it, while she thought she was acting in proper accord with her husbandĢƵ wishes, he “frequently struck her and on several occasions threatened her, warning her that sudden death awaited someone.”

Well, I guess you can’t please everybody!

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