Detroit City of Champions
Detroit City of Champions
Champions Don't Sleep: How Detroit Dominated Every Sport in 1935 - Ep116
The remarkable story of Detroit's 1935 "City of Champions" status stands as perhaps the greatest untold achievement in American sports history. When the Lions captured the NFL championship, the Tigers claimed the World Series, and the Red Wings hoisted Lord Stanley's Cup all in the same year – while Joe Louis began his meteoric rise to boxing dominance – Detroit experienced a perfect storm of athletic excellence that has never been matched.
In this episode, co-host Charles Avison shares his passionate 15-year quest to bring this forgotten legacy back into public consciousness. What began as research for a book became a mission that faced unexpected resistance from mainstream media and publishers. Rather than accepting defeat, Charles pivoted to grassroots efforts – selling books at art fairs and eventually creating Inspire Marketplace, a Made in Michigan gift shop that now supports over 110 local artists while serving as a platform for the City of Champions story.
The conversation takes fascinating detours through Detroit's latest ventures, including the new Ice Cube 3-on-3 basketball team, while also exploring university archives that reveal connections between Detroit's sporting triumphs and broader historical figures. We discover Arthur Miller's student journalism about Black athlete Willis Ward and the complex decisions faced by athletes regarding the 1936 Berlin Olympics – threading Detroit's championships into the fabric of American cultural history.
Beyond sports statistics, this episode illuminates the perseverance required to preserve history that might otherwise slip away. Charles' journey parallels the championship teams he chronicles – facing setbacks, adjusting strategies, and refusing to concede defeat. As Inspire Marketplace expands to new locations including Detroit's airport and potentially downtown near the stadiums, the mission to celebrate Detroit's unprecedented championship year gains momentum.
Join us as we reconnect with Detroit's sporting legacy and the determination required to keep remarkable stories alive for future generations. Whether you're a sports enthusiast, history buff, or appreciate tales of persistence against the odds, this episode offers a compelling glimpse into a magical moment when Detroit truly became the City of Champions.
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Show Open: 0:00
1935 the Lions win the NFL championship, the Detroit Tigers take the World Series, the Red Wings bring home Lord Stanley's Cup. Joe Lewis begins his rise to world domination. This transforms the Motor City into Detroit City of Champions, detroit City of Champions.
James Flanagan: 0:22
Hey, there you go. Crack of the bat, we're back. It is time for a little Detroit City of Champions. I'm Jamie Flanagan, with Charles Avison, and talking about the magnificent year of 1935, everything that led up to it the players, the coaches, the games, the teams, everything that led to that Detroit City of Champions. I tell you I've been doing a lot of stuff in and around the city. Detroit's launching a new Ice Cube. It has that three-on-three yes. And Detroit's got a team, the Amps.
Charles Avison: 0:53
Awesome.
James Flanagan: 0:54
I haven't been following that league.
Charles Avison: 0:56
How new is it?
James Flanagan: 0:56
I mean I haven't heard Well the league's been around for no Well, I know the league's been around but I didn't know there was a Detroit's.
Charles Avison: 1:03
This is Detroit's inaugural year, oh cool.
James Flanagan: 1:04
Yeah, so the Amps are playing. They have some pretty fun people that you would probably know who are they?
Charles Avison: 1:11
I don't know? Well, tell me their names. Do you have their roster?
James Flanagan: 1:13
I've met them. I hung out with them. What's their? Names I don't know, hit me with them so. And then I brought it up and but they had a big launch. Do you know the Iceman? He's the coach.
Charles Avison: 1:28
What Like? We mean the like George Girvin or something. Yeah, yeah, yeah, oh. Okay, George Girvin the Iceman.
James Flanagan: 1:34
George Girvin. He's the coach. That's the only one I remember, and I just remember Iceman. I remember George Girvin, but I took a couple of my high school. As I'm fumbling through here to try to find these, I took some of my high school kids down for the launch right and so they got to do some one-on-one interviews because they know who these people are.
Charles Avison: 1:58
And I'm like I don't know who all these people are. Are there any former Pistons out?
James Flanagan: 1:59
here. There's some people in the thing. All right, here we go, the Detroit Amps. And it was fun. There's a Born in Detroit t-shirt company and they have a shop down there. And so George Girvin, Joe Johnson yeah, he's a shooter.
Charles Avison: 2:17
Yeah.
James Flanagan: 2:18
He's the co-captain Jeremy Pargo.
Charles Avison: 2:23
Not as familiar with him.
James Flanagan: 2:24
Four-point record holder in the Big Three Darnell Jackson NCAA championship team. Shakur Justin, a national champion. Ray Nixon, keith J Stone. Tj Lang is one of the owners. Is he a football?
Charles Avison: 2:41
guy. Yeah, he's one of the part owners. He used to play for the Lions Of the franchise.
James Flanagan: 2:45
Yep, tj Lang, anthony Tomey, an MLB player, is part owner and part of the Born in Detroit brand, and so, yeah, there you go. So those were the people that were down there for this big press conference that my kids got to talk about.
Charles Avison: 3:01
So are those the players in the team that you're mentioning? Some of them. No big press conference and my kids got. So are those the players in the team that you're mentioning? Some of them, uh no, shakur is some of them. Yeah, ray is I've never heard of. Yeah, so keith stone, they need to make a couple of signings get some stars.
James Flanagan: 3:15
Yes, well, I mean, it's that three on three? It's, it's, I know, but the three on three, they usually have some a couple stars you get on that team like that's kind of the, that's kind of the hook for the league is that? They have like three former stars that are like going against the other former stars. Right, right, right. So, joe, joe, I think, joe Joe Johnson, well, no, he's a, he's a big one.
Charles Avison: 3:30
Yeah, he's the big one. Yeah, he's the he's the big one. So anyway, that was good.
James Flanagan: 3:37
Well, joe Johnson's good. So I've been doing, but I was, you know, detroit and championships, and and I'm like, and, and nobody quite hit it. You know, and I'm like oh, you know so but I I ended up rubbing shoulders and talking to a few people and throwing the champion story out there and I was just excited about sharing the story, uh, with different people yeah in person. So there's been a couple of events like that that I've done lately and just talked to people and they're like oh my god.
James Flanagan: 4:05
So, yeah, it was, it's been, it's been fun, but you've been super busy with your store because, I mean, this whole podcast revolves around and sprung from the books, right, yeah, and and and your project with the books and and what you've been doing with the books is is you you've been selling them at the, at the store, right, and you're, so you've been really really have shop, you've been selling them at the store right.
Charles Avison: 4:25
Yeah, it's a Made in Michigan gift shop. Is it called Made in Michigan? No, the store's called Inspire Marketplace.
James Flanagan: 4:28
Inspire.
Charles Avison: 4:28
Marketplace and it's a Made in Michigan gift shop. So it's, you know, it's like basically the concept is I've talked about a lot on the show but it is a usually I talk about it kind of at the end of the show to talk about where the books are available, but it's a it's like a giant indoor art fair and so there's we have like we have 110 different artists between the three stores we have, and so it's so basically like it's, it's this huge, you know, you come in and it's in the malls, that said, the three biggest malls in Detroit, detroit area. We were in 12 Oaks, malinovi, partridge Creek, clinton township and then Briarwood mall in Ann Arbor. Really the only mall that's the, that's the we're not in, that's a major mall is is a Somerset right.
Charles Avison: 5:07
They've got a store called the Detroit shop, which is like they kind of have that territory locked in. Like you can't penetrate that market. Yeah, but yeah, chris chimed in oh hey, what's up, Chris?
James Flanagan: 5:16
I texted him.
Charles Avison: 5:16
I'm like dude guess what's going to happen in a minute?
James Flanagan: 5:19
Yeah, so he was like hey man.
Charles Avison: 5:21
Yeah, good to see you man.
Charles Avison: 5:22
I'm so glad you joined me.
James Flanagan: 5:23
But so the stores were having a little bit of trouble A lot of trouble, yeah and so you've been really focused on getting that and there's some great news about maybe a store at the airport and outlet at the airport and then branching out to, maybe you know, traverse or Grand Rapids, yeah, all kinds of stuff.
Charles Avison: 5:40
So, yeah, it's really interesting, I think. Because really interesting I think they're because, you know, from the very beginning of this like from the like when I first wrote the books, especially the first book, I'm like I just discovered the greatest season in the history of american sport right this is a bar.
Charles Avison: 5:53
That is a fact. There's no, there's. No other season can compare with this and the fact that it will I've said this a million times on the show but the fact that, like nobody's ever heard of it, it's not even mentioned in these other books, it's just absolutely ridiculous. I mean, there's a gap in the understanding of who we are and how we got here this is an absolute and it's like I mean this is like ready-made for like the biggest sports movie ever, ever filmed.
Charles Avison: 6:15
I mean it's got everything yeah and it's like I just you know it's got everything and that a great sports story or any or any story should have. And so, you know, I just told myself, I'm like this is you know, I, when I first put the book out back in 2008, I'm like this thing is like I didn't even plan on this lasting more than like a year. I thought that, like, when I put this book out, it was going to get it to the newspapers.
Charles Avison: 6:38
The newspapers are going to be like, oh my god you know, this is like the biggest thing we've ever heard of, how we never talked about this right, and then, like everybody else in the world, was going to take off and run with it. You know, I thought maybe you know, and I was like, well, this is a good launching point for my sort of history you know, my writing career, my history, my career in history and stuff because I'm the guy that sort of discovered this and this is this, this incredible story. And so I was like this is a good, and then I can, like, pursue other interests. I have a. I had a list of other things I wanted to do.
Charles Avison: 7:05
And then, but like I, it was just the like. When I released the book, it was like nothing could have prepared me for just how. Nobody it, just it. Nothing happened Like it was like there, like nobody cared, nobody. It was like there was, it was not. I mean not, I don't want to say nobody, cause there's like. I met like tom, and I've met people like yeah, whatever, yeah like people like that but it's.
Charles Avison: 7:24
But as far as like the mainstream anything newspapers, radio, tv there was absolutely no interest whatsoever and I had like people shutting the. I mean like they tell me one thing, they do another. You know, I try to hook up with like the save detroit tiger stadium group. That was like they were trying to save tiger stadium.
Charles Avison: 7:39
I was trying to make this book like, uh, sure, I was trying to make it, so it was like, it was like a fundraising device for that, you know, for the tiger stadium, you know, trying to save tiger stadium, that you know, they I got, you know, crapped in the face with that whole thing. You know, that same exact thing as this is this as the newspapers, where it's like told one thing and then it just never happened, you know, and it just, it was just, it was. It was like one thing after another. It was most frustrating, maddening, most like ridiculous thing, like and so what do you do I?
Charles Avison: 8:03
had no understanding what was going on, because I'm like I've got the greatest story in the greatest of the greatest season in the history of american sport right here. Why does nobody care?
Charles Avison: 8:13
why is?
Charles Avison: 8:13
it not in there and it's like every once in a while somebody go. Well, you know, it happened a long time ago and it's like there's people alive that still remember that, like the third 1935 at the time was 2008 so you were uh.
James Flanagan: 8:23
So you tripled down and wrote two more books. Well, the thing is what?
Charles Avison: 8:27
it was, was I'm telling you. It's a strange thing. It's a strange thing like you know. It's like it's like this weird because, like a lot of times, a lot of people, there's like the world that's like right in front of your face, right. But then there's like you read stories as you go, you know, at least I read, read stories my whole life growing up of like, of people that were like in pursuit of just like idealism, and like in like some kind of a passion or some type of a quest or whatever. And like the money meant nothing, the danger meant nothing, the you know, the, the, the tribulations meant nothing. The sacrifice meant nothing. It was the pursuit of the goal, the pursuit of the objective is all that mattered.
Charles Avison: 9:06
And so, like that's kind of what happened to me, because, especially when, like there was this moment I know I've talked about it on the show, but there was this moment where everything, like everything hit me all at once. Okay, like I was like the last, like one of the last, it was like the fifth or however many newspaper writer in the role that just you know like all of a sudden like oh, I want to write a story on this, and then it was like something else came, was like oh well, I got too busy, I can't do it, I'm working on a story about like why?
Charles Avison: 9:36
Allen Iverson wears cornrows in his hair. I mean that's legitimately what I a response I got you know I'm like it was was just, it was like all these things hit me and then like the worst of it was probably the biggest, the most deflationary thing. The deflating thing was I worked on mac island for seven years as a dock porter and I worked for a company called mission point, a resort up up on mac and island, and I was like I was so broke and I had nothing I had like I had every. Basically all of my hopes for this book were completely destroyed. I had two thousand copies of the book that I had printed, ready to sell, ready to do whatever with, and I couldn't. I had no, no direction. I had nothing I could do. I mean I did, I had done pretty well. I'd sold a little bit at the mall at that, at, at, at, at Birchwood Mall in Port Huron. I mean I'd sold some books there for Christmas that's like it's a smaller mall or whatever and it was good. I made a couple bucks during that, but that money was gone at this point. It was like March or April of 2009. And so I was like I got no other choice.
Charles Avison: 10:33
I got to go back to Mackinac Island and see if I can scrape some dollars together for the summer, get my old job back from a few years ago, I mean, it was almost like a panic, and so I. So I called up this hotel and I'm like, hey, you know, I worked there for seven years. I was a, you know, I was the manager of the docs. You know the bell stand, the doc where I was a manager up there too, I'm like, hey, I just I'll just come back up there and work as a doc porter. I don't even care, know, we're not, we're not hiring for for the summer. You know we're, we have, we've already filled all the all of those positions. So I couldn't even get my job back If somebody did.
Charles Avison: 11:10
when I was like 21 years old, I'm like you know, I was going on 30 years old at that point. And I just I couldn't believe it I was like and then there, so that. So it was like there's this. There's a quote by Abraham Lincoln. He's not the only one that's ever said this, but he's the most like, I think the most famous.
James Flanagan: 11:29
But he said damn, this sucks.
Charles Avison: 11:30
Yeah, Well, partially, he said. He said I was driven to my knees by the overwhelming conviction that I had nowhere else to go. And that's what the experience was like. I was like literally driven down to my knees.
James Flanagan: 11:41
It's a literally driven down to my knees a little more eloquent, just yes, but it's like I mean it's.
Charles Avison: 11:44
It's eloquent because it's because I was there, you know, I was like literally on my knees and just saying like, what am I gonna do? You know, what am I gonna do? Nobody cares, nobody, I can't there's, I can't go back. Yeah, I can. Only, you know it's like. You know, it's like this, and I remembered this like this thing about, like this thing I'd heard you know, read about, read about, like it's called the secret, where you know you kind of like you can, you know, like you positive thinking, envision what you're, what you want to do, and then, you know, pursue it or whatever. Anyways, it was like. So I started thinking about this concept of like, just trying to focus my, you know, just like you know, refocus, just try to think about. You know like, okay, all these avenues have been closed to me. You know, I've just got to throw away all this. I'd read all these books about, like, how to start a publishing company, how to like get your book out, all this different stuff.
Charles Avison: 12:29
I'm like I got to dump all that stuff because it's all it's doing, like I've I've checked every box, I've done everything I could possibly do, and then I just, and then I remembered I was like, so what have I achieved? Pretty well, selling books person to person at the mall. And I'm like, well, I just so.
Charles Avison: 12:46
I just need to get in front of some people. You know, and so it was, and so it was. It was so. I was born in a little town called elma, in northern it was like it's like central michigan. It's right next to mount pleasant. I was born in this little town called elma. When I grew up as a kid there, they there was this I always remembered this like it was called scotland, usa is the name of this little town.
Charles Avison: 13:04
Yeah.
Charles Avison: 13:04
That's the nickname and they have this this Highland festival. It's a Scottish Highland festival. They were like the Scottish games and musics and stuff.
Charles Avison: 13:10
And they also had like this they also had this big fair there, you know. And and so they, they, I. So I was like you know what there's? I just remember there's a ton go up there and sell my book there.
Charles Avison: 13:20
And so I called up the lady and she was like you know, yeah, we have an art fair here, is that we were talking about? I go, yeah, I guess. And she was like, well, are you an artist? And I was like, well, I wrote these books, you know, and I designed them and stuff like that. I put all these books together. And she was like, well, you're an artist? I was like, so you can come to this show. And I was like, great, you know, like I didn't get into the art world because I was trying to, you know, wear a little fancy red beret, you know, I got into it out of desperation, just trying to sell, you know, flog a couple of books and, you know, pay my next bill. And so I went up there that weekend and it was incredible because I met some, uh, some like family friends that I hadn't seen since I was a child.
Charles Avison: 13:59
Like, I mean, we were there, I hadn't seen him in.
Charles Avison: 14:00
like I was 30 years old at that point and you know, I hadn't, I hadn't seen these guys since I was like like five, you know, like I was almost saying long time, no see to somebody I hadn't seen him in 25 years and so anyways, but that weekend I sold 40 books I made, like you know, whatever that is, like you know, you know, 1500 bucks or something it couldn't, it was massive.
James Flanagan: 14:21
Yeah saw him, it couldn't, it was massive yeah, and I was like, hey, this is what I can free, this is what I can do. Man, that's how we met. You were at, you were at, you were here we're in berkeley right close to the podcast, your voice studios here downtown berkeley. I'm walking down and I love detroit. I I enjoy sports. I don't know sports, apparently, if you were listening from the beginning.
Charles Avison: 14:40
You're putting some, you're putting a lot of sense together. People, though yeah so.
James Flanagan: 14:44
But so I'm cruising through the fair and I was like, oh, look at this detroit stuff, this is interesting. And uh, you were there and you gave me that elevator pitch. And then you know, but it was good. Five, six years later yeah and I started doing a little more podcasting stuff and I gave you a call and then, and then we started to do this, so that got you into the fairs right well, the thing about it was that it's as it's relevant to the inspired.
Charles Avison: 15:05
Market yeah, it was the inspired marketplace. It's, you know, it's the indoor. You know art, you know art.
James Flanagan: 15:09
Uh, you know because those art fairs, those art fairs have changed and how they work and the dynamics of it, and so well, this was like a dog coming for.
Charles Avison: 15:17
That was like had been living outside and now it's coming to the house for the first time that's how that's how it felt for me, because I've been out on the road like every single weekend.
Charles Avison: 15:24
I ended up doing kalamazoo crossroads. I'm actually from kalamazoo, that's where I spent most of my life, and so there's a mall out there. A few some of my friends, let you know, let me stay on, stay on their couch, sleep on their couch, and so I like, while I, for an entire christmas season, while I sold books at that mall and did pretty well there it is a better mall a little bit than the birchwood, and you know I was crazy, crazy stories then, but you know I was like. So I was, like you know, sleeping on my friend's couch and selling books all day at the at the in uh crossroads mall, kalamazoo for the.
Charles Avison: 15:50
That was my second year in business and you know so it's like all I was doing was. It's so. But the thing is that some, the reason I'm not trying to rehash all this you know there's a lot of stuff, we already talked about this but the thing about is it's relevant to like what you know where I've been up to lately is that I told myself at that time like it was kind of like well, it was just saying there about the idea of the quest. You know, like I told myself at that time, like you know, I got these doors shut in my face.
Charles Avison: 16:14
You know like the world didn't react to how I wanted it to react to me, you know, to the books or to what I was trying to say, or whatever, and I was just like I don't give a shit anymore, like the mentality, like the it's, it's.
Charles Avison: 16:30
It was such a like in a lot of ways, like I don't care. I mean like. However, this turns out like whether this thing takes off in another direction or whether I end up in a ditch. You know it's had it's. It's been the same mentality since those earliest days, which was like, like, like I've just like, it's something.
Charles Avison: 16:50
A fuse blew, like of the fuse that blew was like I, I'm like the expectations I have for, like the way that I think, the way that I think shit, things should be right. Right, you know, and it's like, uh, you know, it's like there's. And then there's the reality and like the thing is is like I've been learning more and more about that reality as life's gone on. Like the fuse that blew was this sense of like normalcy, where there's like this sort of a, you know, like a sort of a smooth operating world and you just all you discover this. Oh, like, for me it's just like. I'm just going to put in the. I'm just all I'm going to do is just work. I'm just going to work, I'm going to outwork everyone else and it like what? Like it doesn't, like maybe nobody's ever done anything, like I don't. I mean, there's plenty of people that have done these like quests or whatever. It is like this, but for me it's like I am never.
Charles Avison: 17:46
I don't care, I am not telling this story yeah my last, like every ounce of energy, like it doesn't matter what I have to do. I'm going to scrape and claw and fight to the next day, to the next week, whatever, and I'm never going to stop until this, until, like I basically it's going to be like checking a box on a thing, like to-do list, like done, brought back to city champions, or that I get to move on to my next thing, that's it but it's like, it's not.
Charles Avison: 18:11
Like you know, it's I'm not, there's nothing. There is literally nothing that's going to like it's nothing. I mean god, the only thing. Like god will stop me, but nothing here on earth. Will you know what I mean? Like no, at least not stop me from trying.
James Flanagan: 18:23
Yeah and so anyways, and so you're spending a lot of time keeping that inspire marketplace up and running. Yes, yes, all the artists. There's like a hundred different artists, Just all kinds of various very cool. Michigan-made coolness.
Charles Avison: 18:37
So, as it relates to the store, what's been going on lately is that the store ended up I was doing art fairs and art shows and I was doing a lot of these. I was doing an art show every weekend and then I was doing country clubs in the Christmas season. I was doing country clubs. I was doing three or four country club shows a week. Oh, wow, okay, like I mean, I was like doing a show every day.
Charles Avison: 18:57
You know, yeah, and the thing about these the art stores, the, the inspire stores is that the way that works is like if you have a space in the store, you're renting space, but you can like work hours in the store to reduce your rent, so you can get credits against your rent, sure? So I was like. So I was like I ended up like working for other people and then I was like I was just putting a ton of. I was certainly like shift a lot of my time from like art fairs into the stores to the point where I was like, basically, you know, I was a manager, I was like one of the managers there. I was there's a bunch of different managers. I was one of the managers there and then it got to a point just a couple years ago where the store like the, it's just the store like it. We were like.
Charles Avison: 19:32
We were in real bad shape and like the just the just the economy was down, whatever the every just money like we just didn't, our money was down.
James Flanagan: 19:40
You didn't dive in to fix it, it might've gone away.
Charles Avison: 19:42
Exactly.
Charles Avison: 19:43
So, basically I faced a crossroads where, uh, it was just, I faced a crossroads which was that you know, there's, there's. Basically I mean it was so bad that it was like, you know, the store was about to close. I mean there's, no, there's no other way around it and so there's no other way to put it. We were about to fold and it was, and it was kind of like I faced a crossroads which is, like you know, I'd done pretty well for the couple pre two years leading up to that.
Charles Avison: 20:06
I'd been really got into gold and silver and I'd been stacking gold and silver pretty heavily leading up to that point. And so I'm like this is, I mean, this is a, you know, maybe this is the moment for me to break off. I, I can jump ship and I've got gold and silver back in me and I can go start my life doing something else. But I knew that, whatever else, I wasn't going back to doing art fairs. I'm I, just I. They were, they brought, they made it, they made money. I met a lot of people, which is cool, but I'm just, you know, I'm getting older and I don't want to just have to lug tents and stuff all the time and I'll load my truck every weekend, every weekend is shot.
Charles Avison: 20:35
When you're doing art fairs, you're somewhere else in the state. You can kind of make up the difference because you're seeing people you haven't seen before, at least in a long time. You're always visiting people that you're seeing in connection with people that you maybe never wouldn't see for a decade. All of a sudden you're showing up every summer to say what's up. You know, because they live nearby where you're doing a show. So that was pretty cool. But as far as, like my family, like my immediate family and friends and stuff, you know you're just you.
Charles Avison: 20:59
You never see them because you're always out of town, you know and it's like you're living kind of a life of a gambler, because if you have one bad weekend, you know you're rolling out hundreds and thousands of dollars for checks in advance to like secure space in the shows, but then you don't actually get to recoup that money until months later. And then if you have a bad show, you're you're basically you're out of luck, you don't, you can't pay your bills you're, you're done.
James Flanagan: 21:19
You're a week or two subject to to extreme heat. Yeah, crappy weather just conflicts. It's like oh, there's like four other shows happening in town, so our attendance was on, or there's so many things, or a windstorm blows your tent away.
Charles Avison: 21:33
I've lost like three tenths of the windstorms yeah, you're so, you're so susceptible. You're done, you're done it's your weekends over, you're out of the money, you've lost your booth fee and you're just in your. You have a hole in your budget that you you have to somehow figure out a way to borrow money from family or overcome somehow it's a.
Charles Avison: 21:46
It's a. It's a tough, it's a tough life. So that's what it is like the stores are really. You know, I, you know, had been really great for me, and when the stores were going down, the fork in the road for me was looking at this and saying you know, if I like, if I go pursue some other direction in my life, for another business, another store, whatever, it is then, like I have no idea what this, what's going to result of the city of champions thing, you know?
Charles Avison: 22:09
like I don't know, am I going to be? I mean this, this store works so well because I'm like, I'm in the store work, I'm in the store managing, and then here's my big display with my city of Chambers which I can pitch, this thing all day long while I'm doing my daily thing and I can also do research, I can do all kinds of stuff and then, but it was like's the next direction. It was bizarre because I was talking to the owner of the store and everything at that time and we both came up with the same kind of agreement that it felt like we were facing the idea of the store closing, but it didn't feel like we were supposed to leave.
Charles Avison: 22:49
It didn't feel like that was the time. It didn't feel like that was it. It felt more like this is a major obstacle that you have to overcome. That's what it felt like. It didn't feel like we were about to close, like all signs were pointing to the story about to close, all signs saying, but the vibe you know we were talking with back and forth, we're like it doesn't feel like that. This is the time. It feels like this is one of those obstacles that has to be overcome.
James Flanagan: 23:15
And so there's been a rough eight months here but it's been a year.
Charles Avison: 23:18
Yeah, it's been yeah.
James Flanagan: 23:21
And so. But you've got things hammered out. Things are on the upswing, yeah, so you added another local store Fast forward a year and a half of brutality, and it says so.
Charles Avison: 23:30
I switched everything that I was doing I brutality, and it says so I switched everything that I was doing. I'm like I'm. I've got to, you know, the city of champions project. I'm not like I've. You know, the research is done, the books are done, we've got a great lineup in the show catalog.
Charles Avison: 23:40
I've got to focus on this business and turn this thing around because, because you know, talking with the owners, she's like look, if we could turn this business around, I can really turn this place into a money maker. We'll finance whatever you want to finance you know, I mean baseball team, you know.
Charles Avison: 23:54
You know, get, get a movie out, whatever city champions movie. So it's like you know, if we turn this thing, I'm like, I'm looking around, go. We have the greatest gift shop in the state of michigan. We really do. It's an incredible gift shop and I mean our lineup of talent. We've been developing talent in there for 15 years and we have like the best of the best. Hey, it's not an art gallery, it's a. It's a, it's a made in Michigan gift shop and it's just like the creme de la creme of people in there. That's cool and so, and so like the, and so one of the big things. That kind of led me to say and there's 110 artists.
James Flanagan: 24:23
Those 110. Super talent, those 110 people would have taken a hit in their income I.
Charles Avison: 24:29
It would have been disastrous. It would have been catastrophic for the art community in Detroit.
James Flanagan: 24:35
So I'm glad you're doing that, but it was 100% focused.
Charles Avison: 24:41
I was banging this thing. I've been working.
James Flanagan: 24:43
I'm bugging you all the time.
Charles Avison: 24:46
I feel terrible. I really want to.
James Flanagan: 24:47
Because it's been a hot minute since we did this, but it is, we'll get to it. We do still have to do the final game of each.
Charles Avison: 24:59
We haven't done the final game. That's crazy.
Charles Avison: 25:02
I know, I know we haven't done it.
James Flanagan: 25:04
We got to do the final game of each one.
Charles Avison: 25:07
We were saving that.
James Flanagan: 25:09
We were saving that. It's teasing it man. Chris is freaking out.
Charles Avison: 25:13
He needs this.
James Flanagan: 25:15
No, no, I don't know, but you know and and, but yeah, so we, we got to do that. I don't know if we'll do, I don't know how many episodes that I want to do it.
Charles Avison: 25:22
Well, we want to do it. We'll take three episodes, or will they?
James Flanagan: 25:26
take two episodes for each one. I will have to look at that and see what the information breaks down but you're right, we got to do that, we got to finish it off, that's.
Charles Avison: 25:33
It's not fair, man so.
James Flanagan: 25:35
So your attention's been on that, but it's it's. It's to keep the forum alive yeah, to keep the books out there at people's. Uh, but the craziest thing is.
Charles Avison: 25:44
It was at that sort of fork in the road where it's like you can go and do something else that's probably a lot more stable, or you can stick it out with this lot and try to, and you know, take this thing into the, you know, and figure out, figure out a way forward. One of the big sort of the are the, the sort of bullets in the chamber that I had to work with was the idea that there was, at that exact moment it was the funniest thing I was uh, it was. I was coming out of the back room and, like you know, I cook my food in these stores in the back room.
Charles Avison: 26:10
Right, I like have like a little little ramen noodles?
Charles Avison: 26:12
no, heck, no, I eat. I eat way, but I'm a gourmet cook man. I have a skillet in the back you know, I don't eat it.
James Flanagan: 26:18
Ramen noodles with ketchup oh heck no man.
Charles Avison: 26:21
No, I figured out a way to eat. I don't, I don't screw around, I can cook, dude, I can cook really well, it's one of my skills.
James Flanagan: 26:27
I can turn everything into a great meal, all right.
Charles Avison: 26:29
So anyways, I saw, but I was coming out of this back room and I had a spatula. I was like cleaning the spatula off.
Charles Avison: 26:34
You know, I was like a small worker like and there's a guy standing there with this lady they're both wearing suits, you know, and the guy standing he's like this is early on, this is like when the store is like it like really at its worst moment, sure, and he's like he's, this guy's like looking around, like you know, pc people are like looking around, like in awe, like oh my god, this place is amazing. You know, usually it's the first time you've been in there.
James Flanagan: 26:54
You're like I can't believe how much stuff is here, but I know he was even better than that.
Charles Avison: 26:59
The guy was the guy was of. He's the vice president of parodies, which is the biggest airport retailer in the country and so he's standing, he's telling me this is like the greatest gift shop I've ever seen, like he couldn't believe it.
Charles Avison: 27:13
He knows what he's talking about business yeah, and he's like this is insane, you know, and he's like, and that was really a, that was really a thing that kind of sparked my mind to help me wake my decision a little bit. Because he's like, you know, this is a guy, he's a vice president of a billion dollar company and he, with he didn't have to say that.
James Flanagan: 27:28
He could have just said you have cool stuff yeah, but he was but you know, but the reason well, I mean he.
Charles Avison: 27:32
There was a reason why I was saying it, because he was like we want he goes, we want to sponsor your an entry, this store, into the airport, oh, and we want to like manage the store. But you guys can provide the products and stuff we have, like a handmade gift shot in the shop in the airport, which like doesn't exist, and you guys are like, right, this is a legitimate, you know store. You're in the mall, this is like an awesome store and so, anyways, that was one of the things like the fact that he you know he was, that you know we were running for you know that this opportunity existed, that you know, if anything, this thing could pull us out of the, the mud. You know, if we got a shot in the airport, it's like the biggest thing. It's like so on one side, we're facing destitution, right, and on the other side is the biggest opportunity that anybody has ever known to get in the airport well, it's funny because the first time you went for that you got denied yeah and then.
James Flanagan: 28:17
But now the worst thing was james.
Charles Avison: 28:20
I gave this big speech at this. I gave a presentation at the airport board of directors and I thought I nailed it I thought I nailed it, man.
Charles Avison: 28:28
I was like myself giving an idea that that's the end of it. It's only like three minutes on because I go, but I go. You know people, I go. How many people that come to the airport? You're, you know your guests that come to the airport. I was like, how many people would prefer to go out to the parking lot and grab a pebble from the parking lot? I was like, rather than a shot glass that says detroit but was made in china. I was like I go, but how I go? Wouldn't you want, you know, don't you want, to give your passengers, your people, a better gift option than a pebble from the parking lot?
Charles Avison: 28:56
That's what we're here is to make handmade gifts from Michigan made out of Michigan stuff. I was like we're here to give them their higher, better choice than a pebble out of the parking lot.
James Flanagan: 29:06
And they said, no, we're going to stick with the pebble.
Charles Avison: 29:09
But it felt like the guy from Coming to America, the guy's sexual chocolate. He just puts his soul into a song you know, and then they go. Yeah, you know. Next, you know you go. Oh my God, I thought that was pretty good, you know. So I didn't get it, so we didn't get it.
James Flanagan: 29:23
But things have turned around and now the offer is back up there and it looks like it's coming to fruition. No, we landed the spot.
Charles Avison: 29:30
We got a spot Excellent, so that's good. We got that going.
James Flanagan: 29:34
I got that going for me. I got that going for me.
Charles Avison: 29:38
So we got other things. We're looking at doing a pop-up in Grand Rapids this year for Christmas at Rivertown, which that's Chris' neck of the woods.
James Flanagan: 29:47
So that's nice. It's fun that you have a forum that publicizes and sells the City of champions book and gear.
Charles Avison: 29:55
Yeah.
James Flanagan: 29:55
So that's very, very cool.
Charles Avison: 29:56
It is, but it's but we're taking this thing to the next level. We've got this we've got, we've got, like we've got a guy. I was talking to the guy today, this major mover and shaker in Detroit, who's all, who's saying that he, you know he wants us is to come down to downtown Detroit and get a store out front of the stadiums. Yeah, it should be awesome, you know. So a stadium store out front of the stadium somewhere, or I'm going to retire next year, I'll need to work.
James Flanagan: 30:19
Well, there you go, work the shop.
Charles Avison: 30:20
Yeah, and then we're also looking at going up north for the summer season, like Mackinac City or Petoskey or something. So we're going to get a shop up there. We got things moving the right direction and if things, like you know, like I say the, the idea being that that's uh, it's for the first time in my life I'm really focused on business and money and this and that you know, focusing us on making money, and the thing is, I think that we're in a, we're in a situation where, you know, this thing could actually turn out to, you know, to actually it's like of with the same mentality now, which is, like you know, I've tried all these different routes. I spent it, you know.
Charles Avison: 30:56
I spent over a decade like reaching out to, you know, newspaper writers and millionaires and billionaires and whatever you know, trying to get interest in the city of champion story, trying to get interested in the baseball project, I do and now it's kind of like my mentality is like it's really switched gear and it's like you know what I'm tired of begging, I'm tired of this. I'm just going to make my own money. I'm going to make myself a millionaire, a billionaire, a whatever air you know, and I'm going to freaking, finance my own projects and then I don't have to worry about it anymore, I don't have to try to beg and I don't have to worry about whether somebody else thinks it's a good idea, because I think it's a good idea and I'm going to be able to finance it myself. So that's that's where I'm at, you know. That's so, that's you know. That's why I've been a little. You know, I've been sort of absent a little bit not a little bit from the show, because it's like I say it's been, it's been it's been every it's been all
Charles Avison: 31:43
consuming, and every single day you know, in a year bro yeah jamie I know it's been that long, you know it's been that long, but somebody that maybe, that maybe is watching the show for the first time and they're kind of cruising through episodes.
James Flanagan: 31:57
This is just the next episode of the game. It was the next click over.
Charles Avison: 31:59
This is just the next click over. They didn't know that, but now they do. We were on a break, all right.
James Flanagan: 32:04
Yeah, but for them.
Charles Avison: 32:05
It was just one click over.
James Flanagan: 32:06
He just gave the game away, said we still got to do the wrap-ups on the, on the three big ones. I would like to do those from, from someplace special, like either like the at comerica park or or down at the joe, some maybe somewhere downtown at the detroit historical museum. Do do it someplace. Do do those someplace remote and just kind of have fun with it.
James Flanagan: 32:29
And if you want to join us. They can. But just kind of do them. Just to be in the thing. I, maybe the in the in the, I'd like to do the one and the lions and with with the trophy right there with us, how we did with the boat and we had miss america, you know x, the miss america 10 there with us right there, live at the packard museum and talking about the races with her and just sit in front of that boat. So I feel, if you're interested, it's, it's fun, it's a fun to see we're sitting there right in front of the miss america that's great.
Charles Avison: 32:58
That was a great show. I love that and then.
James Flanagan: 33:00
So yeah, we talked to the people at the packer point, so I'd like to do something like that for those shows.
Charles Avison: 33:04
Yeah, go somewhere, maybe with or we just set up awesome background or something with all the newspapers all laid out, the original newspapers all at out, so we could actually show the newspapers on the show.
James Flanagan: 33:14
So, talking about newspapers, and I kind of talked about this, we talked about this off air, and it's something that I wanted to do, and then do you know which? One of my favorite, so many favorites? Do you know? One of my favorite side stories, though, of this whole thing With the side story from Eddie Tolan, the other runner, Michigan runner, Willis Ward side story with uh from eddie tolan, the the other runner, michigan runner, willis willis ward.
James Flanagan: 33:36
So willis ward is one of. Is it part of the dynamics of the the 35 and I just love it. And we talked about how the students were in an uproar because willis ward, and you can go back and you can see this willis ward episodes, we'll link it in the show notes. But how? How? Arthur miller was a student at the university of Michigan at the time. You know the crucible and all that that Arthur Miller and he wrote for the school paper and and apparently he had written cause in your in your reporting you're telling of the story. You said he wrote some really scathing editorials and I've been trying to find them here but they're not bylined. Here's the problem. They're, they're not and I'm trying to find the dates and I've pulled down. I saved the Michigan Daily is the paper for the University of Michigan at the time and I've saved a bunch of those. But I wanted to do this with, like the Detroit Times and the Detroit Free Press. The news wasn't around.
Charles Avison: 34:29
It was the Free Press and the Times. No, there's all three.
James Flanagan: 34:39
no-transcript university of michigan one. I have a bunch of them I I don't have today's date because you know I just we.
James Flanagan: 34:49
We agreed to do this like earlier this afternoon yeah we're like, yeah, we're gonna do it today, all right, cool so. But I had one sent on my desktop because it had some willis ward stuff in it, so I want to go through these papers and just kind of look at like the other things that happen. So it's the michigan daily. So I've found the the michigan daily, and if you're watching on youtube or facebook you can see the michigan daily there, and this one one is Saturday, december 14th of 1935. And it's cool because there's Jack Classy sets a new world breaststroke record, a new world mark. And how do we miss this one? Is this a 30? Does this make 34? The breaststroke.
Charles Avison: 35:30
Well, my favorite aspect of the Willis Ward thingard thing is that he raced Jesse Owens. Yeah, that's like the coolest thing, that's like the story, especially the rivalry with Michigan-Ohio State. So you can see, you have that dynamic which is Willis-Ward is battling against Jesse Owens. That was the matchup.
James Flanagan: 35:46
He wasn't sure if he was going here In December of 35, he wasn't sure yet and if you see it just in the underneath the corner of the picture, there it says athlete has to decide Olympic problem award. And so he was talking about having to decide that. So here's the story, and again, it's not byline, because I'm looking for these Arthur Miller editorials is why I really started digging into these, but then I just got excited to to to read these. So former Michigan star says individuals must follow his own opinion because he looks on at the 1936 Olympics Olympiad in Berlin as tainted. Willis Ward 38l, former one-man track team and star end on the Michigan football squad of 1933 and 1934. And last night declared he was not so sure he would participate in the games so he wasn't sure he was going.
Charles Avison: 36:42
But he didn't go and from my from my memory is correct from where we were really diving into that was that he just decided not to do it. Yeah, but the thing is and he's talking about face the same thing, but he ended up going anyways and became a legend.
James Flanagan: 36:52
So that's what that's where they their stories didn't yeah, so maybe ward would have been up there. Well, he would have.
Charles Avison: 36:59
I think that's the problem.
Charles Avison: 37:00
That's what that's. The conundrum with his story is why would he? Why would he? Why would he not? Because jesse owens went and the thing is there is, you know, they're like there's.
Charles Avison: 37:09
I've read all other stories about jesse owens where, you know, the one of the one of the aspects of the Jesse Owens stories in Berlin is where they're like oh, you know, hitler was this, like ultimate racist or whatever. But the thing is, I read somewhere where Jesse Owens said something about like Hitler actually wasn't, was like nice to him in some capacity, like he didn't, hitler didn't shun him or anything like this he said. So he said a piece where, where he's like, at least like you know, back home, like like I can't even, you know, I can't even, you know, I'm basically like treat as a second class citizen at home and out here they I've just been fine. It's along those lines, like they didn't mistreat him while he was there, and so that's what I'm saying is like there. I just wonder, like with willis ward, at the very least there is that sense of. To me, that's always the the downside of the willis ward story is that he didn't go out there.
Charles Avison: 37:56
Where? Because? In that? Because there was a big thing in the american papers about whether jesse owens should go, okay, right to show, because the thing is at the time that you're sitting there going, well, hitler's this big time racist or whatever right, but the thing about it was was that it wasn't much better for in america.
James Flanagan: 38:15
I mean for for black oh yeah, so that's the case.
Charles Avison: 38:19
So if that's the case, like you know, like the moral righteousness of people trying to tell jesse owens you shouldn't go, it makes me wonder if there was more to the story about why they didn't want jesse owens to go, if there was something else that was not involved with racism yeah that there was some other motivation that was trying to stop jesse owens from going out there we don't need that european racism.
James Flanagan: 38:40
We got all of our racism that we need right here in the states. It's the concept from the bible where it says before, you before you, you know, pull the beam.
Charles Avison: 38:48
You know, before you pull the sliver out of somebody else's eye, you should pull the beam out of your own, sure? So the question is like why were they so concerned about, right you know, the supposed racism?
James Flanagan: 38:56
for berlin.
Charles Avison: 38:58
But when they had plenty, you know like where they're like. Well, all of a sudden they're the guardians of moral virtue and they're like oh, you shouldn't go because they're racist. What about here?
James Flanagan: 39:05
there's a little bit more in the story here from ward and there's some quotes from him from this. And so ward, who is the principal speaker at the Student League for Industrial Democracy Open Forum on the Olympics participation question, said he believed nevertheless that Americans should send a team to Berlin if and this is in quotes fair play is assured for us by the German government and no underhand methods are employed. So they're worried. It was going to be fair, but I'm we. That that's. That was like every we grew up in the late eighties and uh, you know the Russians, and it's like, oh, they're cheating them, damn.
Charles Avison: 39:45
You know the.
James Flanagan: 39:45
Reagan of the cold war, and they're all coming through.
Charles Avison: 39:48
Those fears are missed are unfounded because they're because they. Because at Jesse Owens, if there was foul play. Are unfounded because they're because that, because at jesse owens, if there was foul play, they wouldn't let jesse owens win all those when all those gold medals?
James Flanagan: 39:57
sure yeah and so that fear was misplaced.
Charles Avison: 39:59
And the question become well, how is it misplaced? If it was not misplaced, sure they wouldn't let him win all those gold medals. They would have cheated, they would have, you know, done whatever it was. Give him, put rocks in his shoes or had a guy that elbowed him.
Charles Avison: 40:11
You know, know, whatever. But I'm saying is is that the question then remains like why was what was the what was the what? What was the driving force, the thrust to knock to try to prevent them from going out there and participating in those Olympic games? Was it really racism?
James Flanagan: 40:26
is the question or was it some?
Charles Avison: 40:28
other motivation.
James Flanagan: 40:29
The story continues. The impossibility of solving the American entry problem with a categorical yes or no was stressed by Ward for the United States delegates to help smash the Hitler elite theory of Aryan supremacy by a display of capabilities of our Jewish and Negro athletes. In final analysis, ward declared participation or boycott must be decided by the individual athletes. And that was a quote from him. Still a quote from him. If our athletes are assured that the contest will be fair, most of them will want to go. He said so. Reed 36, sports reporter of the daily, told the forum that the failure of the united states to compete would be a blow to the individual athletes and to the sports in this country for the hope of someday participating in the olympics. And that's been the argument.
James Flanagan: 41:36
It's like when we're like, oh, we shouldn't go, or it's like, oh, you can't let russia athletes compete because you know, so they can't because they're, you know, in war, in a war right so uh, they're like well, they can compete, but they can't do it under their flag, right, they have to use some like olympic yeah, politics can drag in the olympics, and the problem is that that's the reason why the olympics exists.
Charles Avison: 41:57
Was to was to. It was. It was the coming together of all nations, no matter what kind of grievances, to basically to compete on the athletic playing field rather than killing each other on the battlefield.
James Flanagan: 42:10
All right. So that was a story about Willis Ward there in the 35 December issue of the Michigan Daily. There's another story in here. Students suffer severe burns in laboratory. Poor Edward Page lost two fingers, jeez.
Charles Avison: 42:28
Eddie, Where's your fingersdie?
James Flanagan: 42:30
uh, there's uh the, but there's a on the headline. I don't know if it shows up in there. No, it's underneath the fold. Lewis wins in fourth round with knockout. So this is on the front page. It's below the full box.
Charles Avison: 42:43
Which fighter was that?
James Flanagan: 42:44
so new york, december 13th, with the first and only earnestly plays punch of the entire abbreviated performance a crushing right hook to the side of the face. Joe lewis exploded. The remnants of the one-time rock rib resistance of paulino who's kanda is.
Charles Avison: 43:03
Yeah, this is so. This is by this point. Yeah, joe's already going strong, he's already.
Charles Avison: 43:08
Use condom, use, yeah, use condom?
Charles Avison: 43:10
Yeah, no, paulino.
James Flanagan: 43:12
Use C U D U N. Paulino is scooting. Is it use condom? Is his name use condom? That's a rough childhood. I C-U-D-U-N Use condom. Uskudin, I think his name is that's probably better.
Charles Avison: 43:27
They call him the Basque.
James Flanagan: 43:28
Turtle or something. That's probably better than use condom.
Charles Avison: 43:33
They call him the Basque Turtle or something like that in that article His nickname, because I believe he was a fighter, he was a rock rib resistance. Yeah, because he had a style where.
James Flanagan: 43:46
He's 36 Spaniard for the first time.
Charles Avison: 43:48
He went down for the first time in the fourth round was like the bass brawler or something like this because he was, but it was like the bass turtle or something. He had this distinctive fighting style where, where he was like, basically he was like in a turtle shell, he was like this, like he was turtle shell. He was like this, like he was. That's why they call him rock rib, because he was like he'd like fight in a crouch and he was all kind of turtled up like all his body parts were all closed in together and then he would like basically take a bunch of punches.
Charles Avison: 44:13
Here we go. He would come out of this right here is right here, the sensational detroit negro.
James Flanagan: 44:18
After jabbing the experiment, jabbing and experimenting for three rounds with the crab-like stance of the aging Spaniard brought the fight to an abrupt finish with a short left to the chin, followed by a smashing right that shocked Paulino and doubled him over backwards On the floor. For the first time in his life, paulino staggered to his feet at the count of eight, but was hopelessly groggy and bleeding. He absorbed one more right to the head. He's bleeding. Let him go.
Charles Avison: 44:51
Let him go.
James Flanagan: 44:53
Joel, take it easy on him. He absorbed one more right to the head, wavered towards the rope and looked hopelessly at the referee. Dude, stop this already.
Charles Avison: 45:02
My head I'm bleeding over here Well, that's what I say. Bleeding over here, well, well, that's what I say. But he was like it was really bizarre stance. He was, and I don't think there's ever been anybody that's ever fought like him ever since, cause he's like well, they say, crab, like that's what it was like. He was like crouched in, like all of his arms were pulled together and that, basically, you're punching at the top of his head or at his shoulders, whatever.
James Flanagan: 45:25
He was like a rock, basically. So, yeah, the referee was Arthur Donovan Donovan. Yes, that's the big guy, Arthur.
Charles Avison: 45:31
He was the guy that refereed all the big bouts.
James Flanagan: 45:33
All right, so Arthur Donovan promptly called a halt. Two minutes and 32 seconds of the fourth round had elapsed.
Charles Avison: 45:42
But it looks like. Paulino took a bunch of beatings, took a bunch of shots because he was turtled up. He was all crouched.
James Flanagan: 45:51
But I think that's interesting. And then $1,000 was lost to Michigan Theater, so $1,000. $1,000. It's like $23,000 today.
Charles Avison: 46:00
The thing is about. It is inflation is different. I've come up with the realization that inflation, the inflation category, doesn't take it. All the inflation category does is base it off of like fiat currency. All right, it doesn't base it off of the gold.
James Flanagan: 46:13
So think about this. Right, my quick Google said $20,000, $23,000. A grand was lost at the Michigan Theater.
Charles Avison: 46:18
Okay, so you say $23,000. So $1,000 at the time was convertible into silver dollars. Right, they actually had silver dollars back then, the silver dollars were 0.77 ounces of silver. So if you divide 1,000, or you take 10,000 and you multiply that, or, I'm sorry, you take $1,000, you multiply that by 0.77, all right, because that's how many. So you get 770 ounces of silver, okay? The current price of silver today is $35.96 an ounce right, so you multiply that by 35.96. The number I got is $27,689.
James Flanagan: 46:57
All right.
Charles Avison: 46:57
So that's the value, so that's the. So that's what I'm saying. Anytime that there's a circulating silver currency with the number, in my opinion it has that inflation has to be adjusted to by the silver price, because that's what those dollars were exchangeable for.
James Flanagan: 47:11
So EC Ashby is kind of kicking himself now. Approximately $500 in cash and $500 in negotiable checks was lost or stolen from EC Ashby of the Bloomfield Open Hunt Club, bloomfield Hills. It was reported late last night to the management of the Michigan Theater Ashby, who had been attending the second evening show of the Gerald Hogue manager of the Michigan Theater. He believed the money disappeared while he was in the theater. Local police officers have been notified of the disappearance and banks will be warned this morning not to honor those checks.
Charles Avison: 47:44
Well, but then the flip side of the story. There's another side of the story which says there's another guy walking around that discovered $1,000. Yeah, yeah yeah. It's the greatest day of my life. Like there's some major business founded somewhere by some guy that found $1,000.
James Flanagan: 47:56
Oh, here's the social pages. Fraternity throwing big gala. There you go.
Charles Avison: 48:01
Is that what it says? No, Is that what it says. I was going to say there you go, Ashby, we found your money.
James Flanagan: 48:05
I bet you, I bet you, there's a shopping guy.
Charles Avison: 48:08
Ashby, we found your money. It's a big kegger they're having right out next door Ladies love lingerie for Christmas.
James Flanagan: 48:14
They love dainty, personal, intimate apparel that will glorify their sweet selves. Yeah, they do, and they will love, we assure you, any large assortment that we have, pardonable.
Charles Avison: 48:28
Yeah, I think it's a great idea.
James Flanagan: 48:30
Get your ladies some fancy underpants for Christmas. Yeah, there's a letter to the editor about temperance education. Yeah, because this is just after Prohibition and people are still like stop drinking, and we're like we're drinking again.
Charles Avison: 48:46
It's been a long time. We can get back to drinking if we want.
James Flanagan: 48:48
Yep. So as an all-inclusive, as a college curricula that we made today, they are strikingly incomplete in one respect the student has no possibility of learning the rudiments of drinking.
Charles Avison: 49:02
Oh, I think you go to college to learn the rudiments of drinking and they sort of relearned in 1934 when the prohibition that's right whatever education has been acquired, it's an extra extracurricular nature for sure.
James Flanagan: 49:14
Certainly the results of a society wasteful. Well, the trial and error method that's like.
Charles Avison: 49:20
I mean that's another aspect off about people being able to train and that's another like aspect of how, how crazy, how like a detail that's so interesting you know about the city champions story too is 1934. That's when they lift. They lifted the prohibitions on beer and liquor so that so detroit city of champions kicks off. You know, 34, 35, these are the first years that beer and liquor are legalized. In 20 years or whatever, like that's, that's huge. Like they're, they're gonna imagine your beer and liquor are finally legalized after 20 years and you're, you know your teams are all kicking ass, you know they're all winning championships and that you know it's like it's awesome so they're, I'd say, I like, I like kind of hopping around through these, these old, that's how it was when I was doing the research.
Charles Avison: 50:02
As you're jumping around, you're seeing all kinds of stories which are just like, are just driving you off in different directions.
James Flanagan: 50:08
But then there was a world record set in the breaststroke during one of the champions of the Big Ten here.
Charles Avison: 50:15
Yeah, they're setting records, all the time.
James Flanagan: 50:17
But was it a Michigan person? Was this a Detroit? Was it another champion?
Charles Avison: 50:22
Was it a Michigan champion? It just depends.
James Flanagan: 50:24
Or is that college stuff, just college crap and you don't care about it?
Charles Avison: 50:26
You can throw college stuff in there, but the thing about it is that the Champions Day party had long since been taking place April 18th.
James Flanagan: 50:34
No, this is December 14 of 35.
Charles Avison: 50:38
Oh, is it? Well, if it's not factored in, then yeah, it looks like you've got another champion to tag up on the wall, bro.
James Flanagan: 50:45
We'll put him right up there with the pigeons. We'll have to suss this out with the pigeons.
Charles Avison: 50:49
We've been talking about them, damn pigeons, for 116 episodes. I'm losing track of how many there even was anymore man.
James Flanagan: 50:56
So yeah, the Wolverines junior performance in the high spot of the evening, breaking another record, an unofficial world record. He batters his way through the 100 meter. So yeah, and it was like a quartet.
Charles Avison: 51:09
So write his name down so we can tack him up on the long list of championships. Man it is.
James Flanagan: 51:14
There's more. That was just the first two pages of shenanigans. There's more in here. There's like a two and a half page shopping guide. It's December 14th.
Charles Avison: 51:24
Yeah, it's coming up to Christmas, they're trying to get people ideas for shopping for the holiday.
James Flanagan: 51:29
I was looking for the sports page proper and this might just be because it's near the holiday end of the semester. They're kind of giving up. Fraternity and sorority FETs are scheduled. Functions given tonight will mark the last to be given before Christmas. It's funny. So sorority parties Alpha, epsilon Phi sorority will hold a closed formal tonight at the Union. Have you ever been to the Michigan Union? I have not, so I've DJed. People can rent it out for weddings and stuff I've.
James Flanagan: 52:02
DJed a bunch of parties in the Union. It's funny to see this. So in 35, I'm like I've DJed that.
James Flanagan: 52:07
I've DJed these parties and it's funny, all right. So the Tonight at the Union, evelyn Blustein, 37, class of 37, social chairman, has announced that Billy Sawyer's orchestra will play for the dance. Frida Loeb and Dr and Mrs SM Goldhammer and Dr and Mrs Jerry Kahn will be the chaperones. Nice, it's funny. Delta, delta, delta. They're having their Christmas formal and HH Higby and Mr and Mrs Carl Coe will be the chaperones. It's funny. I was going through my dad's old yearbooks and when he was in high school, I think it was Catholic Central or was it U of D, something like that? So I think it was Catholic Central and anyway. So it was the mom's club. Right, it was whatever it was called. It was the mother's club, but it was like all the moms. There were pictures of all the moms. Right, it wasn't the Varsity Club crap, but it was like all the names were Mrs John Smith, mrs Dave Jones, so all the women were named as Mrs and their husband's name. It wasn't their names.
Charles Avison: 53:22
Yeah, what's wrong with that Squad?
James Flanagan: 53:28
It's just interesting to see these right. So it's a well. This actually says oh nope, that's what the coordinator so all the chaperones are all just the men's name. It's not like dave and louis or dave and louise or something, but it's just yeah, dr and mrs j walter steberg, dr and Mrs George Monroe. So anyway, that just kind of cracks me up, yeah.
Charles Avison: 53:52
I mean, it kind of reminds me. When I think of stuff like that, when I think of those formals and stuff, I think of that movie with what is it? What's the movie with Jimmy Stewart? Is it Miracle on 34th Street with Donna Reed? Is that the movie with Jimmy Stewart with the? Is it American 34th street with Donna Reed? Is that the movie? The one where he's like, where he's goes and sees, like the the with the world without if he never?
James Flanagan: 54:12
is that American 34th street? I don't know. That's a, that's a wonderful life. That's like my favorite.
Charles Avison: 54:16
It's one of my favorite movies.
Charles Avison: 54:17
But, I, but I but they had like at you know where he's meeting, where he's first courting donna reed that's kind of like the images I get into my minds whenever I think of like those, like formal, like the, you know, the sort of the courting rituals back in the 1930s is that is from that, it's a wonderful life like that's the kind of the picture that I get. Yeah, I mean it. I mean that's when that, that's when it was, that's when they're trying to present that story. I mean they're because it's george, when george and what's what's her name in the movie. But yeah what.
Charles Avison: 54:46
But anyways, they're that's what that's contemporary with the 30s, like that's what they're, that's what that's portraying, because they because I mean it shows like a few years later his brother goes to world war ii and stuff, so that's like that's. So. I just think that's a cool aspect of it's a wonderful life is that they show kind of like the sort of the courting rituals of that time, the tradition, you know, all the way to the point where they're like dancing in the gym and stuff and the floor opens. That that isn't isn't necessarily normal, but I just like that. That's one of my that's whenever I'm hearing articles like you're just mentioning there about the formals where there's like chaperones and stuff.
Charles Avison: 55:18
It conjures memories of that, you know, of that uh movie. It's a wonderful life I think I don't, I can't think of too many other movies that show that specific dynamic, that specific aspect of our history.
James Flanagan: 55:30
We're going to do more of this. We're going to wade through more old papers. We might do it around the dates. This was December. We're doing this here July 1st. We're going to do more of that. We're going to play with some old papers. We're going to get some of the Detroit Times and the Free Press on the news. The Detroit Times were just saucy Detroit.
Charles Avison: 55:49
Times were amazing. That's my favorite newspaper.
James Flanagan: 55:50
Yeah, they're saucy, saucy writing, but like most of these articles in here, because, again, what led me down this rabbit hole was trying to find Arthur Miller's some of his writing, some of his college writing and his because I examples for my kids, because good writing well, detroit times has a bunch of u of m stuff in there too.
James Flanagan: 56:11
Yeah, yeah but it's not byline, none of the stuff is none of the stuff is is byline, so I don't know which ones arthur wrote. They have a like a staff box and it's like okay, great, so. But I want to find specifically those editorials he wrote about Willis Ward when, when the student body was.
Charles Avison: 56:30
I think it's a worthwhile project because there's a lot of aspects of that story that we just do not know.
James Flanagan: 56:34
I know and then you know, I want to find out. You know where Delta, delta, delta was doing that semester for the formal.
Charles Avison: 56:41
Yeah, I mean there's, there's are those Delta girls still around Probably?
James Flanagan: 56:44
Yeah, but they, but they but's are those Delta girls still around?
Charles Avison: 56:46
Are they? Yeah, but they, but they, but yeah, that Willis word. I mean there's, there's a lot of, there's a lot of holes in that story that have never been really patched up, like, especially like the reason why, the specific reason why he didn't go to them. I think, I want to think, I think that there was a. I think that their part of it was that he was actually, I think he was injured. I don't think it was just a pure cut-and-dry decision they didn't want to go. I think it was a race that he lost that kind of triggered the idea that he didn't think he was going to be good enough or something like this. But no, his story is interesting, there's no doubt we should have stretched before this.
James Flanagan: 57:18
It was like podcasting. We're back into it. Man, it was good.
Charles Avison: 57:24
I'm feeling good. Yeah, I feel good too, I feel good.
James Flanagan: 57:27
All right, we'll do more of these. So Detroit City of Champions DetroitCityofChampionscom Facebook. Facebook videos go away now after 30 days.
Charles Avison: 57:36
Really, yeah, yeah, you can archive and put them on YouTube.
James Flanagan: 57:39
Yeah, they're all on YouTube. Good, so find us on YouTube. They're going up on Spotify. We're going to be on a Roku app supposedly. I don't know. The guy said, oh, it's going up next week and it was like three weeks ago.
James Flanagan: 57:52
So we'll see, but definitely they're on YouTube. They're staying on YouTube. So if you want to go back and see videos, youtube's a good spot for that. Facebook is changing Because it's live videos, right. So if I take this and I publish it on Facebook, it'll stay, but after 30 days the live ones go away, because kids they play Minecraft or Call of Duty and they play for 12 hours and then the video's on there and it stays on forever and it's like 12 hours of like some 12 year old yeah, playing crappy, you'd think they only have a certain amount of server space, right, right, so they're like and and they said, you know, after, after the first 30 days, viewership falls off.
James Flanagan: 58:38
Yeah, on video, live videos in general, so, but if we want them to be up there, they, we just have to upload them. And they will stay, but anything like this is streaming live. That's why Chris and the other people that have chimed in can see us live while we do it. We appreciate that.
Charles Avison: 58:54
Yeah, definitely.
James Flanagan: 58:55
So yeah, so it goes away. That's been a change.
Charles Avison: 58:58
That's fine, youtube's a spot anyway. That interweb changes YouTube's a spot anyway. I like having that interweb changes.
James Flanagan: 59:03
It really is. It really is like subscribe, leave a comment, all those podcast things in the podcast places. You got anything else?
Charles Avison: 59:10
no man, it's been good to like get back on the horse a little bit all right, cool, all right, we'll see y'all again.
James Flanagan: 59:14
We'll do it again very, very soon.
