Years Ago in History

By CinDy BEll tOBEy

140 years Ago – June 14, 1883

New Woodstock – Last Saturday, as Aaron Thompson, was driving quietly along Main Street, one of the whiffletrees dropped against the heels of one of the horses, which immediately commenced to run, striking the hotel barn, then turning and running directly towards the hotel.

The front wheel of the heavy lumber wagon struck one of the pillars that supported the piazza and tore it from the fastenings causing it to fall across the four wheels, in which condition it was dragged across the street to the door yard of Lemuel Bowers, where the team became entangle in some way and were stopped.

Considerable damage was done to the wagon harness and hotel.

The team belongs to S. C. Morse, who upon hearing of the accident showed considerable unnecessary nervousness, but has concluded to make the damage good.

125 years Ago – June 16, 1898

Delphi – A strange boy came into town Friday morning and remained sitting around all day without any particular business in view. At 5 p. m., a lady came afoot down Mill Street, showing much fatigue, and finally stopped on the corner by the hotel.

Seeing the above boy sitting on the steps with a fishpole in his hand she walked up and talked to him a little while and grasped him by the arm and hurried him into a carriage that had been driven up while the incident was transpiring, and drove out of town.

On investigation, it was found that the boy was “Billy” Crawford, a Cortland lad, who ran away from his home last Tuesday.

His mother had notified the police, but they could get no track of him. She then took the matter in hand herself and traced him from place to place until she finally found him here.

100 years Ago – June 14, 1923

Many Cazenovians are expected to attend the Erieville Old Home Day celebration which will be held all day Saturday of this week. In the morning commencing at 10:30 o’clock there will be a ball game between Munnsville and Erieville.

At 1 o’clock there will be a big parade, headed by the Erieville Martial band, the parade including decorated autos, a Home Bureau float, lady horseback riders, mounted clowns, a flock of ponies and a band of filibusters.

James A. Loyster of Cazenovia will deliver an address at 2:30 and at 3:30 o’clock the winner of the morning ball game will play with New Woodstock.

The former residents of Erieville are coming home en mass and the village will be alive with those who are coming back to shake hands with their neighbors and to visit the scenes of their childhood.

75 years Ago – June 11, 1953

Miss Helen Kennard tells us that the yellowwood tree in the front yard of Willowbank is expected to be in full bloom next week. Those interested in trees and flowers are welcome to see it.

It hasn’t really bloomed since 1946. Native to North Carolina, it was planted by John Stebbins who died in 1889. They are sometimes set out in park for ornamental trees.

Nantz and Boeheim… It

Last Saturday I had the pleasure of interviewing

Jim Nantz on my radio show. Yes…the same Jim Nantz all of us have been watching on CBS TV for over 40 years. The interview “happened” because Ron Mack, Le Moyne College Sports Hall of Fame inductee and 60 year member at Oak Hill in Rochester, NY, invited me to the induction ceremony for Jim into their “Hill of Fame” on Wednesday of PGA Championship week. It was a very special day for me and certainly for the other 100 or so invited guests for the private ceremony.

I had heard about the “Hill of Fame” and the metal plates, with the names of the inductees, that were permanently attached to the trees surrounding the 13th green but I was not aware of who and why they were selected. Well, I found out “who”. You might know some of the names; Walter Hagen, Ben Hogan, Robert Trent Jones, Mildred “Babe” Zaharias, Bob Hope, Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Curtis Strange, Kathie Whitworth, Donald Ross, Nancy Lopez, Bryon Nelson, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Tom Watson, Lee Trevino, and now…..JAMES W. NANTZ lll. Not bad company, I would say. I also found out why…

“We look on the Hill of Fame as an institution where men and women may be honored for their fine qualities of heart and mind and their personal contributions to some phase of human welfare and uplift”.

-Martin T. Cullen

In attendance at the ceremony were Coach Jim Boeheim and his wife Juli along with Josh Allen from the Buffalo Bills. Jim spoke about them, in glowing terms, for several minutes while thanking them for their special friendship and support after his mother passed away last year as well as for their financial support to the Nantz National Alzheimer Center in Houston, Texas, in memory of his late father. It is one of the Top “5” facilities of its kind in the world. I met Jim after his acceptance speech and mentioned, “I had the longest running golf show on the radio in the US”. He said, “I would like to be on your show sometime”. Fast forward…Saturday, June 3, 2023 at at 3AM. I wake up and can’t go to sleep thinking about what could possibly go wrong that would prevent the WSYR audience from listening to Jim Nantz. Also, I want to have a great show because I just finalized an agreement with Joe Convertino Jr., President of CH Insurance, to become the “title sponsor” for my radio show. Joe was going to be my co-host, in studio. Well,