Here’s a look at some stories from the week of March 10-16.
March 10, 1947: Cockfights near Xenia exposed
Cockfighting, banned by state statute since 1831, was still a thriving “sport” in Ohio in 1947.
A Dayton Daily News reporter and photographer secretly went to cover a fight being held in an old dance pavilion at Kilkare Park in Greene County where 400 people had gathered. The photographer “had a candid camera strapped to his chest inside his shirt, the protruding lens concealed by his tie.”
License plates were seen from at least four states: Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee. The admission fee was $2.
The fight ring was about 15 feet in diameter and had a sand floor. It was surrounded by a wood fence about two feet high.
The birds weighed between four pounds, six ounces to six pounds six ounces and were matched up by weight to the closest ounce. Steel spurs of various lengths were attached to the birds’ claws to inflict injury.
The anonymous reporter saw five fights during the hour they were there. Some ended almost immediately while some dragged out for 15 to 20 minutes.
Before each fight started, the handlers would parade around the ring, showing off the birds to incite betting. Wagers were mostly in the $5 to $25 range.
The main attraction of the night was a “derby” which was a fight between four birds instead of two.
Despite being outlawed, the reporter was told that there was a regular “circuit” around the state with weekly events.
March 13, 1957: Supersonic B-58 arrives at Wright Air Development Center
A new airplane, a supersonic B-58 Hustler jet bomber, flew to Dayton under the belly of a massive, 10-engine, B-36 bomber.
It was taken to a special hanger at Wright Field for complete reassemble and testing. Officials needed to be sure the plane could withstand the forces of high-speed flight.
Forces were to be applied to all parts of the B-58 to simulate maneuvers. It also was to be tested at high temperatures from radiant heating lamps to simulate temperatures of high-speed flight.
Over the next year and a half it was to be pushed beyond its designed specifications and possibly to the point of destruction.
The B-58 was the first operational bomber capable of Mach 2 flight.
March 12, 1967: UD’s glass blower Richard Grant
Richard Grant was a glass blower, but not the kind that made tiny elephants and candy dishes.
He made more exotic items, like ebulliometers and thermal diffusion columns for scientific work in the research laboratories at the University of Dayton. Each was an individual design made specifically for individual projects.
Grant picked up the skill while working at Monsanto Research Corp. He was a technician who was fascinated with glass. He talked with some members in the glass shop there, and they agreed to teach him how to do it during a year-and-a-half of lunch breaks.
Many years later, Grant found himself at UD, setting up and operating UD’s first glass shop.
“It takes four or five years of apprenticeship and several years of experience to gain the confidence to run your own lab,” he said.
The job involved more than simple test tubes and beakers. Grant once built an organic distillation apparatus, a complex maze of glass, that was two stories high.
March 13, 1977: New trolleys come without old bumps
The buzzer cords were a little bit too high to reach and the back door was difficult to open, but riders on the new RTA trolleys all agreed on one thing: The smooth ride made them overlook all the flaws.
“Them old ones bounced you all over, " said Cora Ivery, who had been riding the trolleys for 25 years. “I like the ride on these new ones.”
“The bright colors (they had orange seats) and the smooth ride were the first things I noticed,” said another rider, Elizabeth Dewey.
Riders were anticipating something else new: Air conditioning.
The new trolleys came with a price tag of $106,000 each.
March 15, 1987: Dunbar, ‘Ice-T’ cool Fairfield to win district
Kirk “Ice T” Taylor exploded for 20 of his 29 points in the second half to carry Dunbar to victory in front of 5,230 fans at Dayton Arena in a district final against Fairfield.
It was Dunbar’s fifth straight Class AAA district title.
Taylor was the Associated Press Class AAA Southwest District Player of the Year.
He later helped propel Dunbar to the state championship by toppling Cleveland St. Joseph and then went on to play at Michigan with Chris Webber, Jalen Rose, Gary Grant and Juwan Howard.
Highlighting Kirk’s UM career was winning the ‘89 NCAA championship when his team nicked Seton Hall in OT. And in ‘92, he was with the UM crew that drove to the March Madness final before losing to Duke.
March 10, 1997: After 45 years, woman witnesses end of era
Shelby Yeater worked in the Dayton Arcade during its glory days.
Yeater worked at Arcade Seafoods fish market and restaurant for 45 years, starting in 1952, when she was 16 years old.
She moved with the business to their Ludlow Street site when the main Arcade closed in 1991. The seafood restaurant was allowed to stay open because it was on the outside perimeter of the complex.
The downtown Arcade first opened in 1909, and was described as a village in the heart of the city.
“It was so beautiful, breathless to look at when I first saw it,” Yeater said.
Yeater made lots of friends working at the Arcade. Some of her favorite businesses included Mary Perkins, the popcorn lady, Culp’s cafeteria, Walker’s Fruit Drink stand, Tasty Bird poultry counter and Leo McGarry, who ran the grocery.
“This is the last of the shops, the last of the line, the end of an era,” she said. “I just hope that some miracle happens and that those big doors spring open and the arcade gets a new lease on life.”
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