Seasons passed

Local fans can get a ticket to the past at Cape Girardeau sports exhibit.

John Holcomb acknowledges that a lot of sweat went into the new sports exhibit that will be unveiled this weekend at the Cape River Heritage Museum.

But the retired Cape Girardeau doctor wouldn't have it any other way.

"It's been quite a bit of work, but it's also been a lot of fun," said Holcomb, who has been compiling items for the museum's "Take Me Out to the Ballpark" display for the past several months. "I've enjoyed talking to a lot of people and getting all this together."

The Cape River Heritage Museum, at 538 Independence, will open its new sports exhibit Saturday and Sunday, from 11 a.m. until 4 p.m. both days. Admission is $3 for adults and $1 for children. The exhibit will be displayed until December.

"It's the first sports exhibit we've had to my knowledge, and we're very excited," said Marge Thompson, the director and president of the museum's board.

Thompson said the idea for the sports exhibit was hatched by board vice-president Terri Foley.

"When we were done with the Lewis and Clark exhibit, Terri said we've got to think of something we haven't done before. She said, 'Why not sports?'" explained Thompson.

That's where Holcomb, the board treasurer, came in. He volunteered to gather virtually all of the items for the exhibit.

"I grew up around here, I played a little basketball and baseball in high school, I played for the Capahas one year and I played part of one year in the minor leagues before I went into the service," said Holcomb, 72. "I pretty well know everybody who grew up around here, everybody who was interested in sports, so I had a lot of good contacts.

"I probably have stuff from about 40 or 50 different people."

Among what Holcomb considers to be some highlights of the exhibit are two game tapes, one of Central High School's 1954 state championship basketball contest played at Houck Field House and another of a 1944 World Series meeting between the St. Louis Cardinals and the old St. Louis Browns.

Central captured the school's first state title of any kind during that 1954 basketball season, and many of those same players later went on to help the Tigers claim the 1954 state baseball crown.

"One of the player's parents shot that game on an old movie camera, so the quality isn't that great, but it's still pretty neat," Holcomb said. "We've got trophies from that team, and we've also got some memorabilia from the coach, Lou Muegge."

In addition to a tape from a 1944 World Series game, the exhibit also has considerable Cardinals and Browns memorabilia from through the years, including newspaper clippings, jerseys, warmup jackets, autographed pictures and autographed baseballs.

Holcomb figures the baseball memorabilia should be of particular interest to local residents, not only because the Cardinals have always been so popular, but also because the Browns conducted their spring training in Cape Girardeau from 1943 through 1945.

"I got the extensive collection of Browns and Cardinals memorabilia from two local residents, Sam Drusch [Browns] and Roger Suedekum [Cardinals]," Holcomb said. "It's really interesting stuff."

Holcomb said there is various Southeast Missouri State memorabilia from as far back as 1910, including the old carved wooden Indian -- standing more than 6 feet -- that used to be displayed near the entrance to Houck Stadium.

There is also memorabilia of several other local teams, including the Capahas, Notre Dame High School, the old Cape Jets softball team that won several state titles in the 1950s and 1960s, and the Cape American Legion baseball squad that won a state title in the early 1950s.

Also, there are scrapbook items from three old-time local products who played major league baseball -- Elam Vangilder, Leon Brinkopf and Tom Upton -- along with the Cubs uniform worn by Brinkopf.

"I think everybody will really enjoy all the items we have. Hopefully we'll have a big turnout this weekend," Holcomb said. "And I'm sure once word gets around about the exhibit, there will be people wanting to add stuff to it, which would be great."