Football Game Between Springfield and Lamar Includes Former Professionals
The 1920s earned the moniker “The Golden Age of Sports” due to the dawn of high-level competitive athletics and the rise of exceptional athletes across various disciplines. With increased leisure time and improved transportation, individuals exhibited unwavering devotion to local sports, fostering an unprecedented sense of community spirit. Teams were often organized in a spontaneous, grassroots fashion, drawing enthusiastic support from their respective communities.
Although the depression and dust bowl of the 1930s certainly impacted the American fascination with sport, there are many examples of the importance of sport in American life and more specifically in southeast Colorado.
Here is a different kind of dust bowl story from the Nov 16, 1933 Democrat Herald which certainly had its roots in the 1920’s golden age of sport.
This news clipping reports on both an Armistice Day football game between Springfield and Lamar All Stars and an upcoming one for Thanksgiving 1933. Interestingly the game was to be played at Walsh. Among the All Stars for Springfield were a couple of Joy Coy residents who in the years just prior to this game had played in the fledgling National Football League.
We have previously reported on the Earl and Myrl Godwin in the February 2, 2022 print edition of the Plainsman Herald, but had never encountered any mention of their time as professional football players in our local newspaper archives.
These were not high school aged players. The Baca players mentioned were men who had played football in college and thus were at least in their mid to late twenties or older. The Godwins, born in 1901 would have been 32 years old and were back living in Pritchett. We can only assume that the Lamar players were of similar age.
We have provided digital access to the original article Joy Coy Twins in the NFL written for the Herald by our fellow Baca Countian, Greg Crane.
One response to “A 1933 Dust Bowl Thanksgiving”
Loved the article. My great grandfather David Jones homesteaded a quarter section after the Civil War. I’d love to know more about what history you have. We’re trying to determine what was the exact timeframe that he and his wife were Celia live there. We know that they had a sod house, and fortunately, the land is still in our family. Just wondering what might be the best way for us to get some of the answers about their life when they homesteaded the land. My great grandfather was a Civil War hero, and was awarded the congressional medal of honor, after the war in the battle of Vicksburg.