Combat Sports Historian and Martial Artist
On September 5, 1984, I walked through the doors of Grover Cleveland High School for the first time. I attended St. Louis’ most popular magnet school at the time, Kennard NJROTC Academy. The St. Louis School Board decided to move the program to “The Castle on Grand”. Cleveland High School would graduate many St. Louis children on St. Louis’ South
On January 10, 1927, Universum Film (UFA) released Fritz Lang’s Metropolis (1927). The German film company produced a science fiction class, which still holds up today. On the Internet Movie Database website (IMDB), users rate it 8.3 out of 10 stars. It is #104 on the Top 250. In a theme society has wrestled with since the beginning of the
Julius “Uncle Jules” Johannpeter was born in St. Charles, MO on March 5, 1875 to recent German immigrants Frederick William Johannpeter and Johanna Johannpeter nee Grieve. “Uncle Jules” was seven years older than his sister Caroline Leah “Lee” Johannpeter, my great grandmother. When Lee’s husband William Ellis died in 1917, Lee had the challenge of raising her two-year-old son Gilbert as a single
On September 27, 1941, Warner Brothers Film Corporation released Sergeant York (1941). The film (affiliate link) tells the story of Sergeant Alvin C. York, a reluctant World War I hero from the small town of Pall Mall, Tennessee. Western film veteran Gary Cooper stars as Sergeant York. The film begins with the contrast of a Sunday church service and the
Before he became St. Louis Chief of Detectives in 1890, William Desmond plied his trade as a Detective with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department. During February 1890, Detective Desmond’s persistent efforts to locate two confidence men paid off with the arrest of both men. “Kinch” Keegan and “Thatch” Grady were brother-in-laws and accomplices in several confidence games. On January
On July 7, 1939, Twentieth Century-Fox Films released the final Mr. Moto “B” film starring Peter Lorre as Inspector Kentaro Moto. Mr. Moto Takes a Vacation finds Mr. Moto accompanying the Queen of Sheba’s Crown from its discovery in an Egyptian archaeological site to a San Francisco museum. Mr. Moto suspects the arch criminal Metaxess, who authorities believed was dead, intends
During the Gilded Age and for several decades after, St. Louis had the distinction of being the largest city west of the Mississippi River. Pickpockets and thieves rode the rails to ply their illicit trade in the bustling metropolis. On September 21, 1901, hotel employees overpowered a sneak thief, who attempted to burglarize a room in the plush Southern Hotel.
On November 16, 1877, St. Louis Police Officer John S. White and his partner Officer Heffernan responded to a report of a wanted man tried to pawn stolen merchandise at Wright’s Pawnshop. The man later identified as Frank Rande entered Wright’s Pawnshop at about 9:30 a.m. Wright sent one of his assistants for the police. As Officer White and Heffernan
On Friday, October 14, and Saturday, October 15, 1904, 42 wrestlers in 7 weight classes met in the first Olympic Games contested in the freestyle wrestling method. Prior Olympic Games were contested in the Greco-Roman style of wrestling. The 1904 Summer Olympics was held in conjunction with the 1904 World’s Fair in St. Louis, MO. St. Louis was well-represented in
Kate Chopin, daughter of a prominent French family and at the time local author, collapsed at the St. Louis 1904 World’s Fair on August 20, 1904. Madame Chopin was only 54 years old and suffered a brain hemorrhage or aneurism. She died at her home on McPherson Avenue on August 22, 1904. Kate Chopin was born Kate O’Flaherty in St.