Andy Anderson provides a "Living Legacy" to CSC

Note:  With thanks to Chadron State College, we re-print the following story from CSC about Clyde "Andy" Anderson, a standout pitcher for the Chadron Elks in the 1950's.  We've also inserted a couple of additional photos. (Thanks to Con Marshall, Mike Smith and Bud Larsen!)

Andy Anderson remembers when he didn’t think college was for him. He was happy as long as he had a decent job and the time to hunt, fish and play baseball.

Andy grew up in Minatare and baseball was his sport. He was a tall, left-handed pitcher who played ball with Verne Lewellen and Bill Stephenson; both top-notch all-around athletes who enrolled at Chadron State and played football after they had served in the Army during World War II.

When the Elks needed a pitcher, “Lew and Steve” remembered their former teammate and encouraged him to join them in Chadron. The deal included a job at the Chadron Milling Co. which was managed by Paul Babue, who was a strong booster of CSC athletics.

After he’d worked at “The Mill” for a couple of years, Andy says Babue called him into his office. “He told me, ‘Andy I’m firing you. You can’t work here anymore. Now get yourself up to the college and earn your degree.’”

“Well, I took his advice and that was the best thing that ever happened to me.” Andy recalls. “I owe a lot to Verne Lewellen, Bill Stephenson and Paul Babue. It was their influence that brought me to Chadron and then got me to Chadron State.”

After Andy graduated from CSC, he taught and coached in area schools for five years before becoming a Bankers Life of Nebraska Insurance agent in Scottsbluff.

After school, Andy faithfully supported his alma mater. In 1989, he was among about a dozen individuals who formed the Foundation’s Living Legacy Club. Its members designate that their estate will include a gift to the college.

“I’m so happy that Chadron State is continuing to do well and attracts so many outstanding students,” Andy notes. “It’s rewarding to keep track of what’s going on at the college and I urge others to become involved. I know you’ll enjoy it.”

To learn more about joining the Living Legacy Club, or ways you can give to CSC, contact Ben Watson at bwatson@csc.edu or 308-432-7007.

Thanks to Mike Smith and Bud Larsen for sharing this photograph of the Chadron Elks baseball team in about 1950.  Kneeling (l-to-r) are:  Clayton Brown, Bob Staikoff, Curt Elwood, Bill Stephenson, Henry Meter, and Verne Lewellen.  Standing (l-to-r):  Umpire, Paul Larsen, Harold Tuma (behind Larsen), Ed Puck, Paul Rhoads (behind Puck), Clyde "Andy" Anderson, Bob Baker(?), Frank Braden, and Walt Hampton. We're not certain where this photo was taken, but we don't remember a press box in Chadron like this one.  Do you?  

Road from Rushville led to 7 years as pro pitcher

by Larry Miller

It'd been a long time since I'd read an Omaha World-Herald newspaper.  So when I stopped for lunch at Perkins in Lincoln, Nebraska, last Monday (9/1/14), I bought a copy.  Inside, as I sat down and glanced at the front page, I found dessert even before I placed my order!  A photo and story that pulled me back to northwest Nebraska more than half a century ago.

Beneath the fold on the front page of the Monday World-Herald was a picture of Dale Hendrickson, long-time coach and teacher at Morrill, Nebraska.  Sixty years ago, young Dale Hendrickson was a baseball hero to kids all across the panhandle as he launched a seven-year career in pro baseball that brought him a lot of fame — if not fortune.

We remember his stellar mound performances for the Chadron Elks baseball team in 1954 (see photo below) just before he signed a contract with the Milwaukee Braves.   He was all of 17 years old!  But you really need to check out the full World-Herald story.  And don't miss their links to a story about the re-dedication of Modisett Park in Rushville — and a really fun video about the baseball camp and community of Rushville! 

Dale Hendrickson as a left-handed pitchers for the 1954 Chadron Elks —  and 60 years later at Hendrickson Field in Morrill where he was Athletic Director for some 25 years.

Hendrickson was also a standout basketball player at Chadron State College. Despite having to cut short a couple of seasons in order to fulfill his baseball commitments, he amassed 860 career points, according to Con Marshall.  Hendrickson earned his Bachelor of Science degree in 1960 and went in to education after he left pro baseball in 1961.  He's married to Gayle Babue of Chadron, whose father, Paul, will long be remembered as President of the old Chadron Sports Club (We still long for a return of the ball caps like the one Dale is wearing above in his Chadron Elks uniform!).

In 1993, Dale Hendrickson was inducted into the Chadron State College Athletic Hall of Fame.  And that's really quite an honor, one of many in his career.

But for all of us young baseball players of the 1950's —whose aspirations were to be "big league ball players" — Dale Hendrickson's achievements were inspiring and indelible.  We've never forgotten them.  And Modisett Ball Park in Rushville helped launch the Dale Hendrickson adventure (See more about Modisett Ball Park below). 

Did we tell you that he struck out Mickey Mantle?  And "Moose" Skowron?  And Tony Kubek?  And "Yogi" Berra? And…

MORE ABOUT MODISETT BALL PARK RUSHVILLE

• 2010 Slide Show-History & prospect of Modisett renovation
• Rushville Baseball Field from "Baseball Fields of Nebraska"

By Technique.....By Example

We received an e-mail the other day that led us to a KCSR Radio web site containing a story written a good number of years ago. I think it was discovered by Chuck Cogdill (CHS-1957) and passed along to a few of his correspondents.

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The subject was Chadron High School basketball. Not surprisingly, the story was written by the indefatigable Con Marshall, something of an icon for those of us with any interest in knowing who the best-ever free-throw shooter at CHS was......or who had the best batting average when CSC still had a baseball team.......or who the most prolific pass-receiver was for the Eagles in the 1940s. Con knows all that stuff, and if he can't remember, give him a a couple of minutes and he'll find it......somewhere!

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This article by Con was apparently written in 1985. Of course, web links come and go, so I've posted the text separately here with thanks to Chuck, brother John, KCSR, and -- of course -- Con.

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In the photograph above is former CHS basketball coach Verne Lewellen, atop a flatbed trailer in downtown Chadron in March of 1961. That's the year the Cardinals won their first state basketball tournament. The team and coaches had just returned home from Lincoln and were greeted by a huge crowd. Long-time sports booster Paul Babue is at right.

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As a student and player, I and most of my teammates thought Verne Lewellen walked on water. I still do. Okay, okay.....that's just a figure of speech. Nonetheless, he was an excellent coach and wonderful role model.

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Nearly 50 years later, as I watch coaches from the NBA down to the local junior high schools, I am often appalled at the way in which they conduct themselves.

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Coach "Lew" set an example for all of us. His quiet, low-key mentoring stayed with many of us long after we left the basketball court. I admired the way he coached, and I still admire the kind of person he is.

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I finally cornered Verne Lewellen at a CSC football game this year, and I told him exactly how much I appreciated what he taught so many of us, by technique.....and by example.

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Thanks, Coach.