The back and forth political debate over the proposed 79.5 M (current estimate) investment on the “eyesore” east of the freeway in downtown Chattanooga brings up a potential positive undisclosed benefit from the deal going through that remains from the era of Joe Engel and the Chattanooga Lookouts.
While it might not be as financially beneficial as the rewards to the property owners, out of town architects, own of town construction companies, etc., the new stadium might regenerate a prior practice that brought area youth off of the streets and instilled education and conduct standards that still are visible in the survivors in the older generation that were a part of the “Knothole Gang.”
In a detailed October 1, 2012, article by reporter Emily Crisman of the Chattanooga Times Free Press she traces the history of another creative idea of the “Barnum of the Bushes.”
Through the voice of the late sportswriter, Buck Johnson of Soddy Daisy, Gary Haskew (Dr.
Basketball) former sportswriter Ray Deering, physician Dr. Smith Murray, developer Buck Schimpf, former River City president Pem Guerry, former Lookouts owner Carrington Montague and others, Crisman traces the history of the Knothole Gang at Engel Stadium from its birth in the 1930s.
Other than being a creative advertising tool to bring paying adult baseball fans into the facility, Engel’s youth club also provided the development of character traits that are solely missing in many of todays pre-adolescent and teenage students.
If you met the basic requirements of maintaining “good grades and regular Sunday School and church attendance” you could become a part of the Knothole Gang with your own membership card signed by the owner and president of the Lookouts. (Are both needed today?)
Obviously, the term “gang” had a more positive meaning in that era than the terminology applied to today’s youth.
Buck Johnson credits the baseball diamond group as an “area to learn life’s most important lessons from self-discipline to accepting defeat.”
He also gave credit to the “gang” as being the foundation for the development of many leaders in the community in both coaching and non-athletic fields.
By 1954 Joe Engles’ Knothole Gary had reportedly “grown to 6595 young players participating in 19 leagues with 82 white and 18 black teams representing 93 schools.” It would exist until the 1960s when television caused a decline in attendance at minor league baseball parks.
End of season tournaments were held, free admission for minors who were accompanied by a paying adult, and the chance to create a memory of playing on a field where greats like Jim Kaat, Hillis Layne, Ferguson Jenkins, Rogers Hornsby, and Harmon Killebrew, and over 1000 others created eternal recollections in the past and hopefully will include the future.
(The Knothole Gang is still needed!)
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You can reach Jerry Summers at jsummers@summersfirm.com)
Jerry Summers