Conributed to Genesee County MIGenWeb by Kelly Wernette, September 2009

This is my uncle Earl in the year 1939.  He played for the Flint Northern men’s basketball team in 1938, 1939, and until February of 1940.  He made first team All State and All Saginaw Valley for two years running.  Earl was 6’4 inches tall and weighed about 191 pounds. He received a basketball scholarship to play at Ohio State University.  After college he played semi- professional basketball in Ohio. Earl was a successful businessman that became the President of the Imperial House Motels of Ohio and Indiana. Earl was born on March 21, 1921 in Flint, Michigan.  Earl died on September 5, 1996 at Hospice of Dayton. He was 75 years old when he died. He and his family lived in Kettering, Ohio.  Earl’s family included his wife Esther, son’s Michael and Thomas, and daughter’s Susan and Jane Kelly.  Earl was one of seven children of Frank and Stella Kelly of 2526 Lawndale Street, Flint. In 2000 I attempted to write a biography of Earl but lacked the proper information to do it. I needed the newspaper stories and records that were just not easily available at that time. However, a small miracle was about to take place that changed everything in the summer of 2009.

An Amazing Phone Call from Gary Zittel

In June of 2009 I was just finishing the final exams for my students at Ackerson Lake High School in Napoleon,  Michigan. When I arrived home that evening my wife said: “Call this man named Gary Zittel because he has some information about your Uncle Earl”.  So I did.  And what I heard both shocked and delighted me. He informed me that a friend of his was at a flea market in Cincinnati, Ohio and he had stumbled upon a beautiful old scrape book dealing with Earl and Don Kelly.  He explained that the scrapbook chronicles the 1939 and 1940 sports year for Earl Kelly and it chronicles the 1945 and 1946 sports season for Don Kelly.  Both men played basketball and football for Flint Northern High School. My next question was why call me.  He explained that he had goggled Earl Kelly and a biography of Frank Kelly (written by me) popped up on the internet that mentioned that “Earl was Frank’s athletically gifted son….”  So he did some more searches using my name and I popped up as a teacher for Napoleon High School.  From the school web page he was able to arrive at my phone number.  I told him I would love to see the scrape book because I had always wanted to write up a biography of Earl and I lacked the information. I asked if I could copy the stories from the Flint Journal.  He shocked me even further by offering to bring the book down to Jackson and give it to me.  I was shocked and delighted.  So this August we meet in Jackson and I became the proud owner of a very old book containing dozens of sports pictures and stories from the Flint Journal concerning both the teams of that era and my uncles who played for those teams.  I believe the scrape book was put together by my Grandmother Stella Thiese Kelly and by my Aunt Dorothy M. Kelly (She will be 90 in December).  I immediately learned that my Uncle Earl had a knick name that was unknown to me…..”simp”. That he was All State in Basketball for two years.  Notes had been written in the margins by either Dorothy or Grandma Kelly highlighting whenever Earl did something wonderful.  The book documents the entire 1939 football season where Flint Northern went undefeated and underlines every time Earl scored a touch down or punted the ball etc. etc…It had programs from the 1939 turkey day football game between Flint Northern and Flint Central that attracted a crowed of over 17,500 fans (at beautiful Atwood Stadium) for a High School game.  It also had a letter from Coach Guy Huston (Hall of fame Flint Northern football coach) promising Earl a position on the team if he came out for football.   Earl had concentrated on Basketball until 1939. I think we can conjecture that the coach realized a 6 foot 4 inch All State Basketball player might be able to play end and catch a few passes.  He did indeed catch a bunch of them and many were for touchdowns.  I believe Coach Huston had 5 or 6 state championship teams while coaching at Northern.  He did say once that the 1939/40 season produced the best athlete’s he was to ever coach.  Apparently, they had never lost a game in any basketball or football game during that stretch and earned 2 basketball state championships and 2 football state championships.  One Flint Journal sports writer called this group the “Wonder Boys”.  Thanks to Gary Zittle I was now the proud owner of a scrapbook history of the “wonder years”.  I would like to properly thank Gary Zittel for his generous contribution to our family history and lore.  I have just recently learned from Internet searches that a man from Grand Blanc Michigan has made a video reproduction of the 1939 film of that great football battle won 14-6 by Northern over Flint Central. This little introduction to my review of the material will set the stage for my analysis of the scrape book into a more digested format for easier viewing. First I will start with the vital facts of Earl Kelly’s life taken from his obituary written in September of 1998.

Obituary of Earl Kelly (excerpt)

“Kelly, Earl F., age 75 of Kettering, died Thursday, September 5, 1996 at Hospice of Dayton.  He was born and raised in Flint, Michigan and graduated from Flint Northern High School, where he was selected All State basketball player for 2 consecutive years.  Earl earned an athletic scholarship to and attended Ohio State for 2 years.  He was employed by F. R. Lazarus for 19 years in sales management and during this time played semi-pro basketball.  Earl came to Kettering to work for Imperial House Motels of Ohio and Indiana for the next 18 years and retired as their president.  An avid golfer, “Big Earl” with the big smile, spent his semi-retirement years with the South-town Elder Bearman store.”

Review of Earl’s 1939 Football Season

It all began when Hall of Fame football coach Guy Houston wrote Earl a summer letter informing him he would start for the football squad if he came out for the team.  The letter read: “Friend Earl: You have been chosen as one of the boys to make up the first squad. I have picked you because I have seen things in your ability that I believe Northern High School can use.” The letter dated August 22, 1939 had information on physical forms to fill out and some sage conditioning advice. The last paragraph said: “Get ready for some hard work and get into good physical condition as possible before you report.”  Earl who was six foot four and weighed in at 191 pounds was going to be a football player for the first time in his life.  He didn’t get All State Honors in football but he did help them win a State Championship and go undefeated for the year.  He was what you could call today a “ super sub. “ He was sent in for pass plays, punts, extra points, and blocking.  He made some key plays that broke some games wide open like the “flea flicker pass lateral” to Eddie Krupa that resulted in the winning touchdown in a close fought game against Lansing Eastern.  The Flint Journal described it this way: “Bob Bohl dropped back and shot a short flat pass to Earl Kelly who lateraled to Full back Eddie Krupa on the 20 yard line and Eddie evaded the Lansing secondary to score”   This allowed Northern to win a close game and was the first football game Earl had ever played in.  Apparently, Coach Guy Houston was a good judge of character.  The All State basketball player could play a little football too. Score Northern 20 and Lansing Eastern 13. In Earl’s very first football game he made his mark.  He said I am here to help.  Northern’s next opponent was Muskegon Heights which they won 13-6 on the back of Eddie Krupp and Bud Fromholz.  These two outstanding All State footballers represented 90% of Northern’s scoring over the championship season.  Against Saginaw Arthur Hill Earl played and made a contribution to the team by punting and playing end.

Northern won easily 20-6, when they played Bay City the result was the same, a 20-7 win.  When Pontiac came to town Earl finally had a day when the Flint Journal recognized his football skills.  In a football romp which Northern won 36-0 we see 5 players score touchdowns: Sweet, Holloway, Clement, Kelly, and Krupa.  Flint Journal writer Tom Mercy describe Earls big plays this way: “With the ball in Pontiac’s possession on its own 20 yard line, Stiffler made his second wild heave of the day and Northern End Earl Kelly won the race to the ball, recovering on the Pontiac 29 yard line.  On the first play from that point Kelly took the ball on an end around and lumbered across the goal line with several tacklers hanging onto him.” This was “Big Earl’s” first high school football touchdown.  Earl’s contributions would continue when Northern thrashed cross town rival Owosso 32-0. Earl’s punt set up a touchdown. Tom Mercy wrote:  “Earl Kelly got off a low bounding kick which rolled off Steve Harveth’s foot and Harold Kruse recovered for the Vikings on the Owosso 4 yard line.”  Krupa would punch the ball into the end zone in two plays from there.  Later in the same article Tom Mercy wrote: “The final touchdown resulted from a 35 yard punt by Kelly which went out of bounds on the Owosso one-foot line.”  Owosso was forced to punt from there and Northern took advantage and scored. Earl would set up the final touchdown of the night for Bob Holloway.  Mercy wrote: “Kelly went on an end around to the five and B. Holloway went over right tackle to top off the scoring for the night.” Earl had another brilliant night of football and proved to be a punter who knew how to pin the other team in the coffin corner.  Against Saginaw Flint Northern would win 14-0 and Earl become a force on defense that night. Tom Mercy wrote: “Although displeased with the team as a whole, Coach Houston of Northern had words of praise for Earl Kelly, alternative right end.  He was the only one getting across the line to do any damage in their backfield. In addition to Kelly, who also did a great job punting, Center Wallace Dutkowski showed sighs of life in the backing up the line and both Gilmore and Dick Holloway ran well with the ball.”

The River Rouge Scare…..Flint Northern 13 - River Rouge 12

Every season usually produces a game that could have gone either way.  A game where two teams play super football.  For the 1939 Flint Northern team there hopes for a State Championship almost was lost to a highly ranked and undefeated River Rouge team. Ironically, this game was Earl’s finest moment and the one he played his best football.  He was involved with both touchdowns. He scored one and set up the other one.  This was a mighty fine achievement for a player that sports writer Tom Mercer described as the “alternative right end”.  River Rouge had a running back named Paul White, who Coach Houston said: “If he isn’t an All State Running Back no one is”.  White’s score late in the game would have brought a tie except for the poorly set ball on the point after that the kicker deposited in the fanny of the left guard.  If the ball was properly placed and the kick was good the game would have ended in a 13 to 13 tie. Since this was Earl’s finest moment in high school football I’ll pull a few quotes by Flint Journal sports writer Speed Olfield. This quote shows how Earl’s set up second  touch down with a catch of a forward pass: “Taking the ball on its own 36, Northern opened a driving line attack to work the ball to Rouge’s 13.  Here Bob Bohl dropped back and tossed a pass to Earl Kelly, who was hauled down on the one yard line.  Eddie Krupa then drove through right guard and tackle to score on the first try and Fromholz stepped in to do the all important place kicking.” Mr. Olsfield continues: “As Kelly made the second touchdown possible with a great catch of a forward pass, so did he sparkle in the Vikings first touchdown when he took a fourth down pass from Dick Holloway as he crossed the goal line the last 15 seconds of the first half…..Kelly swept over the goal line to snare a perfect toss from Dick Holloway.”  Northern had only 33 yards passing in this crucial game and Earl was responsible for most of it.  Paul White in a losing cause helped Rouge accumulate 287 yards rushing.  It was no surprise to anyone when he was selected to the All State first team at the season’s conclusion.

17,426 See Passes Pay Off, 14-6

The Northern Central football game in the city of Flint is the similar to the Michigan State Michigan game for the intensity of the rivalry.  Certain facts seem inevitable when discussing this rivalry. Number one is the fact you can never predict the winner regardless of the teams win/loss record. The second fact is it was always played in beautiful Atwood Stadium in front of an enormous crowd.  The 17,746 people who showed up for the game saw one of the many classics of what was at one time the premier high school rivalry in the State of Michigan.  If Flint Northern won, they would win the State Championship, complete a second consecutive perfect season, and stretch the schools winning streak to 19 games. If Central won, they would tie for the Saginaw Valley Championship, Complete a undefeated season, and most likely the State Championship would have went to undefeated Lansing Central.  However, the game went to Flint Northern by a score of 14-6. This would be one of 10 undefeated seasons for Coach Guy Houston.  Big Earl did not get involved in the scoring in this game.  However, his name was mentioned twice by Flint Journal sports writer Maurle Crossman in connection with his punting.  It turned out Earl punted 11 times in this game.  In fact, he got his picture in the paper punting the ball.  Earl kicked for 404 yards during the game and averaged 37 yards per punt.  His specialty was pinning the other team inside the 10 yard line.  Earl also carried the ball on the end around twice for a total of 19 yards.  Leonard Sweet and Eddie Krupa were the scoring aces for Northern.  The Flint Journal made the case for a State Championship by comparing Northern to other teams in class A: “There is only one other undefeated and untied Class A eleven in Michigan, Lansing Central, and the Reds won 7 games this fall, only five from Class A competition.  Northern, on the other hand, defeated 9 straight Class A foes, including champions of two rival conferences, River Rouge and Muskegon Heights.  Two of Northern’s victims showed only one defeat for the entire season, Heights and Flint Central.  There never has been a Flint team with a better right to a state title and it is doubtful that any claimant ever mopped up on 9 foe’s of its own caliber. A fast, versatile hard hitting ball club, this outfit Thursday showed Flint’s largest football crowd two rapier-like offensive thrusts worthy of a college eleven.”  Mr. Crossman’s words in the Flint Journal were prophetic and Northern’s eleven won the mythical State Championship for 1939.  Coach Guy Huston was quoted as saying: “Boy, weren’t those kids swell, they played like true champions. There have been a good many boys pass through here but I don’t think we’ve ever had as swell a bunch as this gang.” Earl did not make the All State Team in football. However, he did record a coup of sorts when he was selected to the All City 2 ^nd Team by the Flint Journal. Considering that he was only the alternative right end he must have been very pleased with his help and contribution to one of the finest eleven to ever play for Flint Northern.  He scored two touchdowns, punted and played in every game, and made several plays that were keys to Northern victory.  He would save his All State accolades for the basketball court where he was there star player for two State Championships and two undefeated seasons.  Consider this, Bud Fromholz, the man Earl substituted for in the 1939 State Championship season, was the only Viking to make first team All State in Football that year.  Amazing. One of the young men Earl alternated with in 1939, Harold Kruse, would win the Bronze Star for Bravery in World War II.  In a Flint Journal article written by John Steve, titled “End Run Nets Kruse Bronze Star”, Earl was mentioned yet again years later.  The story said: Kruse won his first letter at Northern in 1939, alternating with three star ends, Bud Fromholz, Ralph Gilbert, and Earl Kelly. In 1940, on a team coach Houston called “the best we ever had,” Kruse paired with Leo Suszek at ends.  Incidentally, Leo also encountered rough going in Europe and was a prisoner of war in Germany for some time.”  Eddie Krupa, the star half back on the 1939 team would play for both Ohio State and Notre Dame.  Earl would play both football and basketball for Ohio State and played semi pro basketball for many years.  The Flint Journal wrote one final salute to Earl just before he left to play for Ohio State:  “Frank Kelly, the veteran umpire hereabouts, reports that his son Earl and Eddie Krupa, two of the finest of the many splendid athletes Northern High has produced, are to enroll at Ohio State in the fall. Earl was the key man of two consecutive state championship basketball teams at Northern, but it will be no surprise if he proves to be a better gridder than basketeer.  Tall, rangy and strong, this young man just started to find his way around in the late weeks of this senior year, 1939.  At that, he was overshadowed by two stalwart ends, Ralph Gilbert and Bud Fromholz.  Remarkable pass catcher and good punter, Earl has the physical qualities to play Big Ten football.”

Final Notes:

Guy Houston Flint Northern 1928-51 148 41 .765 …..there is a hall of fame coaching record if I ever saw one. He was inducted into the Michigan Hall of Fame in 1963. This is what became of the famous Thanksgiving Day game:(Source: Flint Journal)

The Northern-Central Thanksgiving Day football game continued to stand as the biggest single prep event in the state. The attendance record peaked in 1950, when 20,600 at Atwood Stadium saw Leroy Bolden bolt 79 yards for a touchdown with 2:45 left in a 20-13 Northern victory. That gave the Vikings their 10th unbeaten season in 23 years under coach Guy Houston, and the entire Northern backfield of Bolden, Ellis Duckett and quarterback Duncan McDonald landed on the All-State team. Bolden and Duckett later starred at Michigan State

The football postseason also forced an end to a 49-year Flint tradition. The Central-Northern Thanksgiving Day game became impractical because the playoffs started weeks earlier, and the schools thus were denying themselves precious playoff points. The last Turkey Day classic in 1976 drew less than 4,000 fans to Atwood Stadium, where more than 20,000 had watched previous games.

I had the privilege of seeing Bolden and Duckett play as a young child.  We had 4 seats on the 40 yard line from about 1950-1970.  We used to sit behind the MSU bench and the crew who occupied the seats around us were permanent fixtures in those days.  Ironically, I knew more about Bolden and Ducket than my Uncle Earl and the Wonder Boys of the late 30’s.  That is why it was such a pleasure to put this little tribute to Earl Kelly together.  I have to admit the experience left me a little in awe. I would like to thank Gary Zittel for giving me the opportunity to put together the 1939 Flint Central season highlighting my Uncle Earl Kelly.  Without the scrapbook  he provided this would have been impossible.

Kelly D. Wernette

kellywernette@yahoo.com

P.S.  Earl Kelly was the ace on the 1939 and 1940 Flint Northern State Champions. This was the outcome: (Taken from official state files…Championship game)

1940 Flint Northern (Jim Barclay) Dearborn Fordson 28-17

1939 Flint Northern (Jim Barclay) Muskegon Heights 37-27

My next project is the 1939-40 basketball seasons. Stay tuned.

Here is a few notes on the discovery of Turkey Day Film:

Not only are these exciting and important games that sometimes led to state titles, but many of Flint's all-time greatest athletes performed in this era. With these films, we've preserved performances by Central's Lynn Chandnois, Don Coleman and Tony Branoff and Northern's Bill Hamilton, Leo Sugar, Leroy Bolden, Ellis Duckett and the 'Wonder Boys' of the late '30s —— Ed Krupa, Len Sweet and Bob and Dick Holloway." Dan Nilsen....Flint Journal

Gustin's latest finds were the 1938 and 1939 games, the oldest known films of the Thanksgiving Day battles that ran from 1928-1976. They join the recently discovered treasure of 1947-50 games, a span when the series peaked in popularity with more than 20,000 fans attending.  Dan Nilsen...Flint Journal....commenting on the discovery of films of the Flint Turkey Day game between Northern and Central......

On Guy Huston’s Death:

Northern began its fifth full decade as a state powerhouse as new coach Bill Frieder won the ’71 and ’72 state basketball titles and the Vikings set a Class A record with 37 consecutive victories. The streak ended Dec. 19, 1972 , the same day Northern coaching legend Guy Houston died at age 75. Frieder left the following year for the UM program.(Source…Flint Journal)