This article was written for the Chattanooga Area Historical Association’s Journal (volume 9 #2) published in the fall of 2007.

***************************************************

The Chattanooga Jaycees (aka Junior Chamber of Commerce) have had a profound effect on the history of the Chattanooga area - - - far more than can be measured. With their concept of ‘Leadership Training through Civic Work’, the Jaycees have sparked many successful projects. Even unsuccessful projects contributed mightily to developing outstanding civic leaders.

The U.S. Junior Chamber of Commerce began in 1920, but the Chattanooga chapter wasn’t organized until 1935. Since that date thousands of young men between the ages of 21 and 35 (later extended to 40 and included women), have been involved in hundreds of nationwide projects.

The Chattanooga Jaycees prospered, attaining a membership sometimes exceeding 500. It also helped organize area chapters in East Ridge, Red Bank, and other communities. (Unfortunately, there is no local chapter in Chattanooga, today).

Hopefully this brief article will encourage someone to do a little research and publish an in depth story on the Jaycee colorful history. I’m writing only from personal experience.

The Jaycee Creed says ‘Service to humanity is the best work of life’. I agree. I am very proud of what we accomplished as Jaycees. We had very little money but loads of youthful enthusiasm. We accomplished things because we didn’t know they couldn’t be accomplished.

Local news media played a major role in making the Jaycees succeed. Excellent news coverage broadened support for a great variety of projects. The coverage exposed young men to the public and helped further their careers too.

The News Free Press emphasis on local stories and pictures was especially important to Jaycee success. WRGP – TV (now WRCB) provided 30 minutes every Sunday for “Jaycee Question of the Week”, beginning the very day the station signed on the air. This public service time stimulated interest in many lasting projects such as starting the Better Business Bureau. Other news media were supportive too.

Chattanooga Jaycees started, or help start, many other permanent projects – The Chattanooga Symphony, the Opera, the Guidance Clinic, the Big Brothers Association, Council for Alcohol and Drug Abuse, Orange Grove Center, Blood Assurance, the Chattanooga Area Literacy Movement and much more.

In the late 1960’s the Jaycees built an 18-story apartment building for the elderly. The second Jaycee Towers was built in 1974. The Chattanooga Jaycee Foundation raised hundreds of thousands of dollars to assist the elderly, youth, handicapped, and indigent. Many annual projects were also sustained such as Christmas Shopping Tours, youth golf, youth tennis, etc.

We used the Jaycees to get things done, which we could never do as individuals. For example, Child Labor Laws were scaring potential employers from hiring youths through the country. Many energetic teenagers couldn’t find jobs. The Chattanooga Jaycees started a ‘Teenage Job Placement Service’. It was so successful; it became a state project of the Tennessee Jaycees.

Then, the U.S. Jaycees adopted the program and it became the top national youth project. At the time the entire Federal Government had only one part-time employee (Evelyn Murray) assigned to youth employment.

However, as a Jaycee I was able to meet with national leaders in various youth serving agencies. When I told the Director of the U.S. Department of Employment Security that their printed material scared potential employers, he turned to his assistant and said “He’s right – let’s change it”. Their brochures said “Warning, you can’t hire teenagers unless---,” the new brochure proclaimed “You can hire teenagers – Here’s How”. Thousands of teenagers nation-wide got jobs because of this simple change to positive thinking.

The Chattanooga Jaycees taught me how to get things done with little or no money. This was especially helpful in civic work but also in my profession. The Jaycees taught me how to manage my time too. While President, I attended nearly 1,000 meetings even though I was on a new job, working on commission.

Jaycee politics was an education. For some it was tougher than real politics. Soon after Bill Brock was defeated for Jaycee President, he was elected to Congress, then to the Senate. Jim Caldwell had to run twice for every Jaycee office, but never lost in a race for the Tennessee Legislature. I beat Ralph Kelly for Jaycee President. Later he asked me to be his Campaign Manager in his successful race for Mayor. He said, ‘Do FOR me what you did TO me! He made a great mayor and later a federal judge. Other Jaycees did well in politics too (e.g. Shelby Brammer, Dalton Roberts, Doug Meyer and Howard Sompayrac).

The Jaycee politics at state and national conventions was colorful too with caucuses, campaign speeches, etc. With all of these activities, the lifetime friends, the fellowship, et al, the most important part of the Jaycee experience to me was the intangible, but obvious, success in developing civic leaders.

Booton Herndon wrote a book about the Jaycees in 1960 entitled, “Young Men can Change the World” The U.S. Jaycees web page lists some alumni that did just that: Bill Gates, Ronald Reagon, Bill Clinton, Gerald Ford, Howard Hughes, John Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Hubert Humphries, Al Gore, Larry Bird, Larry Holmes and Charles Lindberg. Junior Chamber International has nearly a quarter of a million members now and millions of alumni in more than 100 countries.

Young Chattanooga men have played, and continue to play, a major role in “Changing the World” and changing Chattanooga. I am reminded of Jaycees such as John Stophel, Luther Masingill, John Germ, Dan Johnson, Bill Hubbach, Bill Hagan, Paul Leitner, Bob Maffett, Dalton Roberts, Zach Wamp – these men have all testified to the virtues of the Jaycee concept ‘Leadership Training’ through Civic Work’. Several thousands have been exposed to this concept through the Chattanooga Jaycees. Many of them are in leadership roles today in Chattanooga and throughout the world.

THE JAYCEE CREED

WE BELIEVE:

That faith in God gives meaning and purpose to human life;

That the brotherhood of man transcends the sovereignty of

nations,

That economic justice can best be won by free men through

free enterprise,

That government should be of laws rather than men,

That earth’s greatest treasure lies in human personality.

And that service to humanity is the best work of life.

Hopefully, some young Chattanoogans will adopt this creed and reactivate the Jaycees locally.

MORE ABOUT JAYCEES AND VOLUNTEERISM

When you take several hundred young men, place them under the Jaycee creed, encourage them to develop their leadership through civic projects, you have a powerful voice for good. This is especially true in a city like Chattanooga where support is readily available by news media.

Soon after I joined the Jaycees, I was elected to the Board, then Treasurer. I established a finance committee with people like John Stophel and Bernie Stone (who later became outstanding civic leaders). We really got the Jaycee finances under control when Harold Mitchell was president, 1951-1952.

One night after a date with Bettye, I was headed home. A young girl was hurt in a wreck about two blocks from Bettye’s house. I had only a little first aid training in the Boy Scouts so I was greatly relieved when the Police arrived. They knew even less about first aid. Again, I was relieved when the ambulance arrived. The driver knew nothing about first aid. Consequently, I asked around and learned that Chattanooga’s first responders were largely untrained to care for emergency victims. People were dying that could be saved. Sometimes minor injuries became major problems because of the way victims were handled. I took this up with the Jaycee Board. With their support, I met with the City Commission and ask for an ordinance to require first aid training for firemen, policemen and ambulance drivers. Mayor Olgiatti turned to the oldest city attorney in the U.S., Joe Anderson, “draft and ordinance to that effect”. Mr Anderson sat on it a good while; so we had to go back but eventually got it done.

Today Chattanooga and Hamilton County have an abundance of well-trained personnel and modern equipment for professional care for citizens needing emergency treatment. I am not claiming credit for the Jaycees for all that has been accomplished. This, however, is a good example of how a young man could see a need, the Jaycees could embrace it and the government officials would hear their request.

We were so innocent in the early 1950’s that some of our projects then may seem simplistic today. For example: Senator Kefauver committee on Juvenile Delinquency highlighted problems with comic books. They were violent and sometimes salacious. So, we organized a City-County Comic Board with people like Drew Haskins and Father Walter Bush. I served as Chairman. Among other things I met with wholesale distributors like Chattanooga Magazine Company and received a friendly and cooperative reception. Later the Jaycee Youth Welfare Committee got involved with attacking the problem of pornography. The Jaycees called for a Public Hearing on pornography. All levels of law enforcement were asked to view materials gathered by the Jaycees and to identify what they considered pornographic. Two court rooms were reserved to exhibit a variety of pornographic and salacious materials. Women were in one court room; men in another. We had judges, police, grand jury, sheriff, et al review the material. Most of it was plainly obscene by 1950 standards but not nearly as bad as what you see today on television or news stand.

Some of the items presented were girly pictures but probably not obscene, remember, we were searching for the border to define obscenity. A Jaycee, son of a prominent local official, loaned these to me if I promised confidentially. Near the conclusion of a very successful evening, Judge Schoolfield asked where we got our exhibits. We responded that we couldn’t say. The next day, banner headlines said, “Jaycees won’t reveal the source of pornography.” Jim Caldwell and I were specifically named as the culprits. Schoolfield was a dedicated politician but we didn’t let that deter us.

Later I testified before Senator Kefauver’s committee about all the Jaycees and others were doing to combat juvenile delinquency. I made a separate statement about pornography. We also got involved in the homosexual problem. All of our efforts were aimed at protecting youngsters, not telling adults how to behave. We received two Freedom Foundation Awards.

As Jaycee Youth Chairman and also Vice Chairman for The Pastors Committee for a Better Chattanooga, I learned of a successful program in Baptist Churches. The idea was to have a volunteer man mentor boys. We thought if that works for Baptists, why not other churches. Glen Ellis started recruiting from other churches. We set up a training meeting for 40 volunteers by a psychologist of the Chattanooga Guidance Clinic. Soon we learned of the National Big Brother’s movement with a similar approach to what we were doing. We invited the Executive Director of the Big Brothers, Felix Gentile, to come down and council us.

Some of our religious leaders like Dr Sam Wiley, Captain Jim Osborne and Fay Prigmore pitched in to find a leader of means. Porter Warner, Jr. had done so much for the Salvation Army so Osborne recommended him to us and he became our first Big Brothers’ President. The Siskin offered us free office space at the Siskin Foundation so we were ready to roll.

We had learned that a skilled professional was absolutely necessary to head the staff. I served as Executive Director until we found Irvin Richmond in Missouri. He came to Chattanooga and served for many years. Porter Warner made an outstanding president and secured a strong board and critical financial support. After several years, a building was erected especially for the Big Brothers/Big Sisters on Bailey Avenue (including the lot where I lived when in high school). I may be biased, but I believe we have one of the strongest Big Brothers chapters in the country.

Yes, I believe in positive thinking but permit me to inject one sour note. I need to get this out of my system. When President Eisenhower was going to honor the Big Brother of the Year, our President, Porter Warner was invited. He couldn’t go and ask me to represent Chattanooga. Perfect, I needed to meet with some officials in Washington for the Jaycee Youth Program (I was National Youth Chairman). The U. S. Jaycee Youth Staff agreed to meet me so I booked a hotel three blocks from the White House.

Everything fell in place. I was elated. Alas, the invitation was withdrawn. I was dis-invited and didn’t learn until years later why. It seems that a certain psychiatrist here had told the National Executive Director “Bob Elmore does not care about Big Brothers, he is just bucking to be named “Young Man of the Year.” Just for the record, I served as Vice President or Director of Big Brothers for 12 years AFTER I was Young Man of the Year.

I didn’t let this experience embitter me but I surely would liked to have met President Eisenhower. I voted for him and fought under him in Europe. My trip to D.C. was very successful for the Jaycees. This eased the pain of disappointment.

The Jaycees are largely responsible for starting the Better Business Bureau here. I mentioned earlier about my concern about loan sharks and kids getting out of school with little knowledge of everyday economics. While I was Jaycee President, I named a committee to consider establishing a local chapter of the Better Business Bureau. Jaycees favoring the BBB, learned of some powerful opposition but proceeded with youthful enthusiasm; they distributed thousands of reprints about the virtues of the BBB from Changing Times and Readers Digest. BBB managers appeared on “Jaycee Question of the Week” periodically from Atlanta, Louisville, and Memphis. We previewed a new BBB film with an “Open House” at Channel 3(WRGP).

The Chamber of Commerce decided to establish a Business Ethics Committee in lieu of a BBB. Frank (Junior) Orend was named to manage it. Alfred Smith was named Chairman and I was Vice Chairman. Some progress was made, but soon it became apparent that a separate, independent organization was needed. I contacted all the Chamber Directors before their vote and it passed almost unanimously.

John Stophel was Jaycee President by now. His partner, Bob Chambliss, drew up the papers and the Chattanooga Area Better Business Bureau was born. Alfred Smith served as our first president, Eric Lund as manager and Dora McGraw, as his girl Friday. I served as Vice President and later President and continue to serve on the Board 50 years later.

Today, Chattanooga has an outstanding BBB that does all that we envisioned and a whole lot more. Jim Winsett is presidentandCEO
In the Jaycees, you meet a lot of prominent people. We were involved in all kinds of projects and we had local, state and national meetings. We met most of our governors, senators, congressmen and state officials and a lot of other dignitaries.

One night we sponsored an event at the Hotel Patten with Ronald Reagan as the speaker. He was with General Electric speaking on free enterprise. This was before he ran for governor and president. I was very impressed with his enthusiasm and sincerity; not just his speech, but he continued answering questions as long as they came. He, Bettye and I were the last three to leave the room.

In the 1950’s Chattanooga was dumping raw sewage in the Tennessee River. Officials operated on the premise that “the solution to pollution is dilution”. Yes, we had water pollution; yes, we had air pollution and yes, we had other problems. We also had, however, a great community with many things to brag about. With the help of Hal Morris, EPB, Reg Stagmeir, Channel 3 TV, and others we developed an identifiable character, to help us build civic spirit, to help us see the positive aspects of the community and to help us brag. It was a cute little character, red headed, freckled faced, in a confederate uniform and in an exaggerated pose with his chest out and thumbs behind his suspenders. We named him “Billy Bragger”.

We had the Chamber, the Convention and Visitors Bureau, and the Jaycees to sponsor our public relations campaign to build civic spirit. Billy Bragger proclaimed, “Chattanooga’s the Greatest and Growing Greater”. We used radio and television public service announcements extensively, also bill boards, bus cards, signs, and news paper articles.

Billy Bragger gave the campaign a touch of humor so we wouldn’t sound like the Chamber of Commerce. We urged every body to brag. After the first weekend of our campaign, the Chamber CEO, Ed Garland, told me he hadn’t been for the project but he was all for it now. I asked what changed his mind. He said his kids. Ed took his family for a ride around Lake Chickamauga with his kids in the back seat. They started a bragging contest about Chattanooga.

We had Senator Estes Kefauver present a deed to one square inch of Lookout Mountain and a vial of Tennessee River water to Senator Lyndon Johnson on the floor of the U.S. Senate….with appropriate barbed remarks.

Texans were known for bragging so we said everything good about Texas had come from Tennessee (like Sam Houston and Davy Crockett).Some of our PSA’s said, “if Texas had a mole hill, they would make a mountain out of it. What would they say if they had Lookout Mountain?”

The public embraced Billy bragger enthusiastically, so we started a contest to find the little boy who looked the most like Billy Bragger. The contest was at Engel Stadium before a Lookouts ballgame. It was so successful that we soon had mothers complain that it was limited to boys. They wanted a Betty Bragger contest also.

Like most Jaycee projects, Billy Bragger got strong media support. At one point, it was estimated that over $200,000 worth of publicity was generated for every $100 the Jaycees spent.

Dr. Nolan Estes became Billy Bragger Chairman after me (he went on to become Dallas School Superintendent); then Dalton Roberts who later became Hamilton County Manager, then long term Hamilton County Executive. After several years, the Billy Bragger campaign was discontinued, unfortunately. Today, we have so much more to brag about. I have had several people ask, “Why don’t we resurrect Billy Bragger”? Maybe if we could resurrect the Chattanooga Jaycees, we could get them to resurrect Billy Bragger.

With or without Billy Bragger, I hope Chattanoogans realizes how blessed we are and hopefully, they will brag a little about the “Scenic Center of the South”.

When I was Jaycee President I named Allen Casey, Chairman of the “On to Los Angeles Committee” He was a new Jaycee, just 21. Allen was so enthusiastic and did such a good job, he was named the Jaycee of the year.

Here is a brief recap of what he did: We took our largest delegation ever, 28, to the most distant Jaycee convention site, Los Angeles. We had a trailer made like a Rock city Birdhouse, filled with 5,000 birdhouses. (Smaller than normal, made of impregnated cardboard and folded flat.) We all dressed like Davy Crockett with coonskin caps (this was in 1957 when Davy Crockett was especially popular on national TV).

Allen arranged for us to transport used cars across the country in caravan and fly back. He had state highway patrol escorts across the western states. We would go in to a restaurant or night club singing “Chattanooga Choo Choo” and handing out birdhouses.

At the huge Sands Hotel in Las Vegas, when we entered with fanfare, the bouncer told me, “One more outburst and we will have to ask you to leave.”

About that time, Sammy Davis came out on stage in one of our coonskin caps and carrying a Rock City Birdhouse. He joked with us during the show. The bouncer came back and apologized. He said, “I didn’t know you were part of the show”.

Our group of Jaycees went back stage with Kay Starr. She did her entire performance in an anti-bellum dress. We did not notice that she did not move around, but in her final song, she pulled up her dress and revealed a full cast on her leg. She was charming.

We met Mickey Rooney, “Slapsie” Maxie Rosenbloom, champion heavyweight boxer, Sally Rand and several other celebrities. At the convention, Bettye was on the Tennessee float in the parade of states. She did that also in Atlanta where we had over 200,000 in attendance.

The whole trip was so successful that we have had several reunions of the delegates. These young men were just getting started in their careers. Allen Casey envisioned then created the Chattanooga Choo Choo Complexes, Ralph Kelley became Mayor and Federal Judge, Jim Caldwell became Governor Dunn’s Liaison with the Legislature, Doug Meyer became Criminal Court Judge, Jim Everhart built the Sun Sphere for the World’s Fair in Knoxville and many others went on to successful careers.

Leadership training through civic work is a great concept and we need to develop strong leaders for the trying days ahead. I hope some young men will reactivate the Chattanooga Jaycees.

(This is an excerpt from Bob Elmore's new book, "A Funny Thing Happened on My Way to the National Cemetery." The book is $10 in softback, $20 in hardback. Copies are available at the Bicentennial Library downtown, Wally's (on McCallie), Senior Neighbors, The Racket Club and the Brainerd Trophy Shop. All proceeds, not just profits, go to the Chattanooga Area Historical Association. For more information, call 629-1366)