Hittin' the Bricks with Kathleen

Researching Your Athlete: High School to Olympian

August 10, 2024 • Kathleen Brandt • Season 4 • Episode 7

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Imagine uncovering hidden athletic gems within your own family tree! This episode of Hittin' the Bricks with Kathleen promises just that, as we celebrate the achievements of our ancestors from the amateur, collegient, professional, or Olympian athlete.

Did your ancestor face challenges like gender or racial discrimination?  Or did a military draft or War outbreak squash your ancestors athletic dreams. 

This episode offers valuable tips on tracing your family's sports history to include pioneering women and African American athletes. 

Read More 
Tracing College & Professional Athletes

Be sure to bookmark linktr.ee/hittinthebricks for your one stop access to Kathleen Brandt, the host of Hittin' the Bricks with Kathleen. And, visit us on YouTube: Off the Wall with Kathleen John and Chewey video recorded specials.

Hittin' the Bricks is produced through the not-for-profit, 501c3 TracingAncestors.org.
Thanks to MyHeritage for their generous support to Hittin' the Bricks with Kathleen! Follow us on social media and subscribe to HTB with Kathleen in order to enter your name in our monthly MyHeritage Complete Package giveaway starting Jan 2024!

John:

Ladies and gentlemen from the depths of flyover country in the heartland of America, the Kansas City on the other side of the Mighty Moe, welcome to Hittin' the Bricks with Kathleen, the do-it-yourself genealogy podcast that features your questions and her answers. I am John, your humble hubby, host and, in honor of the 33rd Olympiad and, of course, questions from her clients, we'll be speaking about how to research your family's athletes. Now let's start hitting the bricks. Hi, john, hey baby, oh Lord, we're back. Here we go, we're back. We kind of had a break because we had that two-parter with David.

Kathleen:

Yes.

John:

And about the publishing. That was really really a lot of fun and really fascinating. That was a lot of fun. Was it fun? I think it must have been fun.

Kathleen:

It must have been fun, john, because I said it was fun. You said it was, john, are you on?

John:

camera, absolutely.

Kathleen:

Because I'm only seeing half your face. Now I'm seeing.

John:

Oh well, yeah, that's your screen. We get the full frame, okay, although I'm sure that it's probably a good idea to keep me at a half frame. Don't want to scare the children if they walk in the room. You're strange. So today we're going to talk about the Olympics, which is timely because there's a few more days left before they wrap things up in Paris.

Kathleen:

You've always been buried in the Olympics, absolutely.

John:

And I really wasn't into it that seriously until really I started following because of you.

Kathleen:

I like summer and winter.

John:

Summer and winter. Yes, right, and I have a feeling that we're going to be talking about some winter Olympics. We're talking about both today because you said we're talking about both.

Kathleen:

Yeah, but you got a question in. What was the question?

John:

Oh, ok, I'll get to the question, but since we started with the Olympics, I got to start talking about Kansas City. Oh, okay, because Quincy Hall, quincy Hall, who just won the 400.

Kathleen:

He's pretty fabulous yeah.

John:

Yeah, he burned up four other people in order to get that gold medal and he's down the road in Raytown, that's correct, or he went to Raytown South. I don't know where he actually lived, so I'm assuming I'm just claiming him. I'm saying that's a Kansas City kid.

Kathleen:

Well, it is our metropolitan area. He's right east of us, so we're claiming him. Yeah, raytown is a suburb of Kansas City, so yeah, we get to claiming.

John:

And I think one of the things that about the Olympics this year that I think I've noticed more than maybe any other year is the level of sportsmanship is just off the chart.

Kathleen:

Well, like the women's gymnastic team, has always been very supportive across the Olympics. It's been very good with that. You know we have had problems in the past. I mean especially with ice skating.

John:

God, if you're talking, what are you thinking about? Like Nancy Kerrigan, yes, yeah, oh my.

Kathleen:

God yeah.

John:

That was so weird.

Kathleen:

But there is nothing like. There's nothing like good sportsmanship and in our house, which was in the house of athletes, that was so impressed on us that you don't take away someone's kudos.

John:

Your father was. He was an athlete, wasn't he? He was Up until he threw out his knees or something.

Kathleen:

Yeah, he was a four sport college athlete, and your mother too, she ran track, didn't she? She ran track. Yes, she did. She ran track at the community college athlete. And your mother too, she ran track. She ran track. Yes, she did, she ran track at the community college level. It was very good. My father played basketball, track football and baseball I think three of them for sure, and he did play four because he was lettered in four. We have that, and my father got an invitation to try out for the Green Bay Packers.

John:

Yeah, that's right Now, that's what I remembered. Yeah, that's why we ended up at Lambeau Field.

Kathleen:

That's correct. But my father, when he was drafted, he did make it up there to Green Bay.

John:

Wait a minute. He was drafted into Korea.

Kathleen:

He wasn't drafted on the, he was invited to the green bay packers, but drafted, but drafted to the military for the korean war how come I think that didn't work out the way he would have preferred? Well, that's kind of what he said, but he did blow out his knee, and the army was not agreeable to him either. Because he has such a bad knee, he spent most of his time in kitchen duty now.

John:

Is that really is, because I'm sure you pulled his records? Is that really true, because I know your mom said my mother was correct.

Kathleen:

My father admitted to it. He went in at one level and came out lower. He came out lower.

John:

My mother always said that about him and I think it was true. John Excelling at going backwards Extraordinary. But, he did know how to peel potatoes very well, so at least he was handy in the kitchen when she needed him on occasion. Back to the Olympics. Now my family there's nothing. If there was an Olympic sport for maybe scotch drinking and bad attitudes, my family might have excelled in it. I mean, the only running we did is away from responsibility. You are horrible, I'm just kidding.

Kathleen:

You are horrible.

John:

Yeah Well, yeah, the question I really have is if I believe that a family member, if there was family folklore that my uncle, twice removed, was maybe drafted for the Kansas City Chiefs. Is there a way to research that? Where do I find the records of basically my family athlete?

Kathleen:

Okay. So that's a very good question, but before we even start that, you were teasing about what your family might have been in an Olympics. I have to go back to that, because one of the things that we forget is some of the earlier competitions are no longer in the Olympics. So they did have scotch drinking? No, they did not, but they did have things like tug of war.

John:

Tug of war was an Olympic sport.

Kathleen:

It was an Olympic sport at one time.

Kathleen:

But as far as following your athlete, there's a lot of ways. I recently had a client who wanted to have her father's scrapbook recreated because it was lost and he was a downhill skier. He was really big in high school and in college and then he, of course, was able to try out for the Olympic team, arthur Strom and out of the state of Washington. Well, I learned a couple things about it. We all know about the intercollegiate sports teams. You know how they're divided, but these athletes may not have played in a high school or college. They might have played in a club or a league. So you need to know your regional clubs and leagues also.

John:

One of the first issues, I would think, is that the pathways were different. The pathways were different. Um, the further back you go is that they didn't have the middle school, high school, au division, sort of things that you would run into, not that you do now and some of them still can have clubs and leagues.

Kathleen:

So one of the things you have to know is what's your ancestor An amateur, a collegiate or an Olympic-bound athlete? The way we do each one of those researches are different. Okay, for my father, he was wanting to go to Green Bay Packers and I was able to follow all of his college accolades through yearbooks, through the newspapers, those types of records.

John:

When you say newspapers, your local newspapers, right, was that? Like the Sawgrass Herald? Whatever, wherever he, where did he grow up, my father.

Kathleen:

Well, luckily for us, lyons, kansas, which is in Rice County Kansas, is where he went to high school and out in the Midwest those games are posted. It's the thing everyone goes to. It's what else is there to do? You travel across towns to games because there's only one high school per town, pretty much. Then he went to a private Presbyterian college by the name of College of Emporia.

John:

Got it.

Kathleen:

So I looked at those yearbooks and the newspapers were both in. My father was mentioned. Even his college records were mentioned in his hometown of Lyons, lyons Daily, and so that's how I was able to trace him. So in the case of let me talk about Art Strom a little bit. You'll find that real athletes, they normally do more than one sport. A lot of them even, like our Patrick Mahomes was noted for baseball as well as football.

Kathleen:

So this is not uncommon, and Art Strom was a football player, a wrestler, a boxer. He did a little bit of everything. So to follow his collegiate to his Olympic tryouts was a little different. I also had to look at the leagues and the clubs, but the newspapers again posted them in the state of Washington and I found lots of articles and pictures for him. Remember, there's these organizations that overlook the collegiate sports or the Olympic sports. Those records are still available for all of us to pull, which is where I found some of Art Strom's and my father's matter of fact In addition.

John:

And what are those records?

Kathleen:

organizations like the NCAA. There are just a lot of different kinds.

John:

The NCAA. You're saying that's actually a resource.

Kathleen:

Right. A lot of people don't.

John:

It just seems almost too obvious.

Kathleen:

So it seems like that, but there's also records that I have checked in museums or anything that has a specific theme. You were saying a museum.

John:

So that's what I was going to tell you. How would you know what museum to look for You're?

Kathleen:

going to look for one specific for that sport.

John:

Baseball Hall of Fame or the Monarchs Museum or something like that in Kansas, in Kansas City.

Kathleen:

A good example is I was tracing a guy by the name of Sherman Jones not long ago. He was a well-known black baseball player here in Kansas City. I grew up with his children, but I found his records at the Negro Baseball Museum as well as in other sets of records for the Baseball Hall of Fame. So remember the Hall of Fames. Those are a good source for these athletes also, if they make it Okay. So you mentioned Quincy from Raytown, not only will he be on the Olympic information, he will be lauded here in the Kansas City area, so there will be a lot of records on him. So you don't want to just stop where they ended, you want to start where they started. Now, because there's so much social media, your ancestor may be buried in it, so you have to do a lot of ferritin in this case.

Kathleen:

So it doesn't make it easier, it just makes it different. So, artstrom, I'm sorry.

John:

And back to. I apologize for that. Yeah, let me just.

Kathleen:

I mentioned that you have all these different levels. Remember, you also had minor leagues. You had the minor leagues. They also have their own museums. They have their own local journals specific to your, your sport, and you want to check those, in addition to just the local newspapers. So so far, john, we've only talked about men. Let's talk about something that's more important to me puppies, rabbits, bunnies.

John:

It's bunnies, isn't it? What about the?

Kathleen:

women, women were in the the Olympics. John, when, really? When did this start? It started in 1900.

John:

It started in 1900. In 1900.

Kathleen:

We had sailing and tennis and golf and croquet. Is it really?

John:

croquet. I've always said croquet. I've always said croquet. Well it's.

Kathleen:

French. Our first woman was a lady by the name of Helene, from Switzerland, and she was well known in sailing I think one and two ton sailing. But that year we had 22 women who tried out and made the team. We also had tennis, golf and croquet.

John:

Okay, I say croquet.

Kathleen:

Okay so.

John:

Okay, salmon croquette.

Kathleen:

Well, they would have an extra tte on it right?

John:

so okay, but this was um the, the 1900. That was also in france. That was also. That is correct.

Kathleen:

It was also in paris and then in 1904 we had black people in the olympic, the first being george poge, which I think is funny, because right now I'm working on a Poge project and I wonder if they're related.

John:

Is it the same family? Oh, you don't know yet. I don't know.

Kathleen:

He meddled in the 200 and 400 yard hurdles. I believe he was from Milwaukee.

John:

Okay, so you had black athletes competing for America, for the United States. Were they segregated?

Kathleen:

Yes, they were, and a lot of people actually boycotted the St Louis games because of how they segregated. There's a couple of things I do want to mention about it, but a lot of people did not realize that we even had equestrian games in the olympics.

John:

We still do this year there is dressage, I think yep.

Kathleen:

well, this year we had 200 writers and I, and in 2024, but it started as early as the 1900s and I have to kudos to the? U. We got a silver in the 2024 in equestrian this year, john one of the things a lot of people don't know about Kansas City, kansas is that one of the first women who made our equestrian team was named Carol Durand and she was from Kansas City, kansas. Now well, there's more to her story she was from Kansas City.

John:

Kansas, oh wow.

Kathleen:

Well, there's more to her story. She was on the equestrian team. She made it and the United States decided she was not allowed to compete because they wanted an all men's team.

John:

Don't tell me this, it's true.

Kathleen:

Why would you tell me? This I'm sorry.

John:

Oh my gosh, I knew as soon as you started saying and then, that there was going to be some foolishness.

Kathleen:

So it was because she was a woman.

John:

They were like no, we want an all men's team.

Kathleen:

Yes, but she made the Olympic team. She did not get to compete. But what makes her story even sadder? She was killed years later by being thrown from a horse. Are you okay, john? I didn't mean to emotionally, you know stab you, I just need. I'm so sorry honey.

John:

Started out to be such a good podcast.

Kathleen:

She continued to be very active, though. Any questions science After her death? No, after the Olympic team John before her death.

John:

That was going to be a comeback story that I really wanted to hear.

Kathleen:

One of the things I also want to remind people that their high school athlete also contributed to the communities, to uplifting the communities, whether or not they were in integrated or segregated sports. And in Chicago between 1935 and 1952, there was an extraordinary black swimming team that really lifted the sports for African-Americans in Chicago. It was called the Disabled High School Swimming Team. 1935 to 1952. The schools were segregated, some of the competitions were not.

John:

Again, those are high school records though.

Kathleen:

These are high school. They were in the newspaper.

John:

You would really start with yearbooks and work your way through that's correct the collegiate path and then um and then follow them through so one of the swimmer associations and exactly so.

Kathleen:

One of the other things remember in genealogy we start with present day and we work back. That's very important when you're looking for your athlete, because you might know where your father went to college but you might not know in a big city which one of those high schools he played for so often. Look at the college yearbook and from that college yearbook it will tell you more than likely what high school they had graduated from. So now you have a place to go to that one high school versus five, like even in Kansas City Kansas, I think we have five.

John:

Mirroring that level of research you have to do, how many places you actually have to go Right In order to get the same information and don't forget our community college.

Kathleen:

Many of these were feeder schools into a community college. My mother ran for a community college in Hutchison, as I mentioned. Well, more East Green, yes exactly Well, Maury's green. Yes, exactly.

John:

Yeah, and your mother used to tell him to sit down and be quiet. That's what he would tell us that she said Because she was in the library, she was teaching the library or running the library at.

Kathleen:

FL Schlegel, wasn't it? Yeah, she was the librarian.

John:

Because that was an FL Schlegel thing, that's correct. So one more time when are we looking for our family athlete?

Kathleen:

So I know I mentioned quite a bit on newspapers, but we also want to make sure we're looking at those sports museums that we talked about. Oh yes, and local libraries, because they also might hold the yearbooks that you don't have and they might also be online Also might hold the yearbooks that you don't have and they might also be online. State historical societies in any kind of league records or club records or intercollegiate type records All of those things are where I normally am finding these athletes.

John:

So again, deep dives into local resources, local public libraries. We'll possibly even have whole sections on local people who excelled in sports that's correct or won particular awards, because local libraries always support the community.

Kathleen:

That's correct.

John:

Sean, it's kind of what they do.

Kathleen:

It's what they do.

John:

It's what they do, so they're always kind of singing the praises of the community. So always remember support your local library, yes, your community library and, uh, the library system as a whole. So that's my plug for this. Uh, do we have anything else to discuss?

Kathleen:

we need to announce our our our june podcast winner for the my heritage complete package.

John:

Package Right, the Complete Package, and it is a $300 value and this is a year-long subscription they get. That's correct, so that they're able to dive into their full genealogy and use all the cool tools that they have.

Kathleen:

That's correct. Her name is Sheila Brendan.

John:

Fantastic. Well, congratulations to her. And that's for the month of June, isn't it? That was for the month of June.

Kathleen:

I'm getting ready to announce July, but I haven't yet because I haven't heard yet from the winner.

John:

Oh, okay, so Sheila is the winner for June. We have another name already picked. We're waiting for the response back to win that or to receive MyHeritage Plus package. That is a $300 value and I think that's really really cool for somebody especially if they're not really into their genealogy yet to be able to jump in and get a jump start using the tools. And if you've just taken a DNA test and you want to use the cool tools that they have to parse that information to start making those connections.

Kathleen:

It's such a great idea. Yeah, and our May person really liked the AI tools on MyHeritage. I don't work with those because it's about photos and that's in your category, not Kathleen's.

John:

So she really wanted to know more about the AI, photo manipulation and colorization. A lot of people do dig that, but the photo restoration work is actually helpful and it digs pretty deep in there and can clean up a lot of mess and it's always nice to see that. It's always nice to be able to get a little bit cleaner image and a little cleaner picture of your ancestor, especially when you're just starting out on research. I think that's really gratifying.

Kathleen:

OK, I believe you, you geek, but I don't work with it, so I don't get the same kind of gratification, but I do send it to you and the results are fabulous.

John:

Yeah, I'm just using AI. I send it off.

Kathleen:

All right, John, I think I do have one last thing. I did do a July newsletter. I'm hoping our readers are checking out our newsletters. It's kind of captures a month of good research tips so that I share with readers to help them diy their genealogy last time I looked at, uh, the newsletter, that my comment was is just how much information was in it.

John:

Um, I I was really kind of surprised. I didn't realize how much you were dumping into those. Uh and and man it is, it is chock full. I do Of a lot of information and a lot of good Kind of behind the scenes, because you're pulling this from the research you're doing today.

Kathleen:

That is correct. That was our July research projects review Things I learned, things other people have asked about that I needed to actually help them with. I'm sharing it so that our listeners can actually do their own genealogy. That's the goal, because that's where the real excitement comes to seeing your own ancestors and doing your own research.

John:

Yes, right now, my thought is that I'd like to go downstairs and research what's in the refrigerator. What do you think?

Kathleen:

I think that sounds great.

John:

Well, congratulations, you've made it to the end of another episode. Thanks so much for staying. Thanks to MyHeritage and Legacy Family Tree webinars. Thanks to Chewy Chewbacca-Brent, our part-time oologist and full-time fromologist, for his unwavering lack of interest in anything we're doing. The theme song for Hittin' the Bricks was written and performed by Tony Fisknuckle and the Obstinacy Watch for their next appearance at the Ratskeller behind the Student Union at Morgan State University. You can find us wherever you listen to your favorite podcasts. Do you have a genealogical question for Kathleen? Drop us a line at hittinthebricks at gmailcom and let us know.

People on this episode

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Kathleen Brandt

Host
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John Brandt

Co-host