DETROIT SPORTS
In my family, sports played a large part in the activities that my father (and brother) enjoyed. The Detroit teams were my father's passion and he could always be found enjoying a game or three at the same time.
I can still see my father sitting in his recliner watching the Detroit Tigers on the large TV, watching another sport on a small 7" TV that he propped up on his stomach and holding a radio to his ear listening to another team. Whether it was the Detroit Tigers playing baseball, the Pistons playing basketball, the Red Wings - and Gordie Howe - playing hockey or the Lions playing football, there was my dad. In fact my parents had season tickets to all the Detroit Lions games for many seasons.
In going through my photos for an interesting story to enhance this post I came across two photos of my paternal grandfather showing him enjoying sports.
While I remember my grandfather vividly, and while we were extremely close, he never mentioned anything to me about having actively taken part in a sport. But pictures do not lie!
Here is my grandfather, Elmer Schulte, in 1902 at the age of 8 with his bicycle. I am taking liberties here for the purpose of this post that riding a bicycle is indeed a sport! I am amazed at the size of the tires on this bike and how young my grandfather was when he had this bike. He was also pretty well "dressed up" for a bike ride; was that the way children road bikes in the early 1900's? Realizing this photo is well over 100 years old I did the best I could with scanning it:
Some years later, perhaps when newly married, my grandfather was shown in a baseball uniform out on the field catching a fly ball. My grandmother wrote on the back of the photo that this was "Elmer in baseball uniform" though I never knew that he had actually played on a team.
Was this a staged photo for fun showing him with feet off the ground catching the ball or was it a real game? I don't know but it is a unique photo that is also over 100 years old:
While I remember my grandfather enjoying watching the Detroit teams on TV and listening to them on the radio, it is interesting to me to realize that he also at one time did actually take part in sports.
Memories and newly discovered memories are enjoyable!
4 comments:
Fantastic photos! Thanks for sharing!
Thanks, Barb.
Look at the size of that bicycle! Fun post.
That bicycle is a wonder isn't it? Thanks for your comments.
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