Sports Festival 



BY LARRY POTTER 



^^N^EDICATED to building a hap- 

 ^>-/ I pier and more satisfying farm 



- ^ y life, the second annual Farm 

 Bureau Sports Festival, University of 

 Illinois campus, September 3 and 4, was 

 the most colorful event on the 1937 

 farm calendar. 



Three thousand farm athletes, the pick 

 of 12,000 who had entered county sports 

 programs, participated in 66 events. 

 Seventy counties were represented. A 

 historical narrative dramatizing 25 years 

 of agricultural extension work and farm 

 organization activity in Illinois, in the 

 Memorial Stadium Friday evening, at- 

 tracted 25,000 persons. 



Just after chore time Friday morning, 

 nearly 40 softball teams, clad in bright 

 snappy uniforms, opened play in five 

 tournaments. Sunny fields, stately elms, 

 fleecy clouds and azure skies added to the 

 brilliance of the scene. 



By noon the crowd had swelled to 

 record size. Softball fans saw close games 

 as county champions tried for a chance 

 at state titles. 



One hundred ten teams played in five 

 divisions. Nineteen entered the Adult 

 County League tournament, 34 played in 



the *AlI-County League division and ten 

 teams of Farm Bureau members over 



35 entered that tournament. There were 



36 teams in the Boys 4-H Club division 

 and 1 1 in the Girls' division. 



Many folks found comfortable seats 

 in the balcony of the spacious George 

 Huff Gym, Friday morning, where they 

 heard five family singing groups and saw 

 11 square dance and ten folk dance 

 teams go through their paces. 



The view from the balcony of the 

 gym was the most colorful of the Festi- 

 val. In addition to their rhythmical and 

 graceful action, the dancers wore ap- 

 propriate costumes of many colors. 



Friday afternoon, softball tournaments 

 went into second and third rounds, 

 horseshoe pitching began, novelty and 

 square dance bands vied for honors, trap 

 shooters pelted clay birds. Farm Bureau 

 baseball teams entered the quarter finals 

 of a state championship tournament and 

 125 folks toured the University Farm. 



At the gun club west of Champaign, 

 200 spectators saw 63 trap shooters fire 

 in the first All Farm Bureau match 

 ever conducted. By six o'clock, Ed 

 Cooper, Vermilion county, and Garrett 



LAJl. DINNER TO FARM BUREAU AND AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION PIONEERS. 

 Inman Hotel, Chompoign, Sept. 3. 



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Meyers, Champaign, were tied for first 

 place with 48 hits. Five others were tied 

 for third with 47 each. Cooper won the 

 title in the shoot off when Meyers missed 

 the seventh target. L. Bear, Macon coun- 

 ty, took third. 



Women, too, were interested in the 

 trap shoot. Miss Carmaline Cuddy, 17 

 year old Greene county high school lass, 

 was the only one participating. In this, 

 her first meet. Miss Cuddy broke 36 

 targets, bested many of her comjjetitors. 



Baseball fans saw topnotch games 

 when DeKalb defeated Peoria, 6 to 1, 

 and Will trounced Fayette, 10 to 3, in 

 the Farm Bureau Baseball League quarter 

 finals. The title games, played on Satur- 

 day, gave Ogle a 3-0 win over DeKalb 

 and an 8-5 victory over Will in the 

 finals. (Ogle county announced last Janu- 

 ary it would enter a baseball team and 

 win the state title. Nothing like calling 

 your shots — Ed.) 



After a busy day, folks flocked to 

 the Stadium for the evening program. 

 Boone, Logan and Sangamon County 

 Farm Bureau bands played a concert for 

 the early arrivals. 



Then the winners of the novelty and 

 square dance band contests put on a 

 show. Costumed square and folk dancers, 

 too, displayed their talents. 



As darkness closed in, early leaders in 

 agricultural extension work and farm or- 

 ganization took their places near the 

 platform. As the story of 25 years of 

 farm progress was told, these persons 

 mounted the stage and reenactcd scenes 

 in which they had played important parts. 



From early community meetings in 



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