With the 2012 Summer Olympic Games set to begin in London later this week, excitement will be varied, depending on the sport or a specific athlete.
Sixty years ago, following and supporting the summer games were at a fever pitch, for a different reason. For the U.S., it was to beat "Communist Russians" at all costs. The biggest contest at stake wasn't so much the athletics as it was for bragging rights. Oneonta and our region joined in the national effort to try to make sure the U.S. held on to those rights.
"For just a dime," it was reported in the June 12, 1952, Oneonta Star, "anyone in Otsego and Delaware Counties can join in defeating Communist Russia's propaganda war against the United States." Russia and other Iron Curtain nations planned to enter the Olympics for the first time that summer with government-subsidized athletes, with intent to win and to be able to "shout of Soviet superiority over capitalistic weakness."
The U.S., on the other hand, had no government support and an $850,000 tab to send its athletes to Helsinki, Finland.
As of mid-June, about $490,000 still had to be raised, so a national Olympic Fund was established.
Bob Hope and Bing Crosby put on a 14-hour marathon show on the newly growing medium of television, to raise funds. Local efforts began as well. A dime was suggested per person, but any amount was acceptable.
Oneonta Mayor Roger Hughes urged city residents to donate, saying, "If we can contribute enough to send our athletes to Finland, we will have shown the rest of the world that our way of life works."
The Varsity Club of Sidney Central School was the first in this area to donate to the Olympic Fund. The club raised $5 after W. Edwin Long of the Oneonta High School Athletic Department spoke at the annual dinner.
The topic was the Olympics and deterring any Soviet victory into propaganda.
"It was a fast and wonderful response," Long said of the collection.
The Oneonta Star and WDOS radio were owned by the same company at the time, and coordinated the fund drive. One could send in or bring a dime to "the Olympic Editor of the Star" until June 20. Local schools pooled their dimes and brought them to the newspaper offices. Businesses, such as Bresee's Department Store, made the donations easier, as shoppers could drop their coins into a repository in front of the store. It was reported to be a large plastic airplane turret, placed outside the entrance.
Each day, the Star listed those who sent in donations. Interesting stories emerged from some of the donations. One came from Ora Curtis Cloughen of Gilbertsville, dating back to the 1908 London games. The man she would later marry, Robert Cloughen, was picked as a sprinter for the U.S. Olympic team to go the games. Cloughen almost didn't make it.
"Bob simply did not have the money to make the trip," Mrs. Cloughen said, and "was almost ready to give up, but a few days before sailing date -- it happened! Someone had kicked in with money at the last minute."
Mrs. Cloughen donated $5, as she felt it was so important for the U.S. athletes to get to Helsinki.
While young Bob Cloughen didn't win any Olympic laurels in 1908, he placed a close second to a Canadian in a 200-meter sprint.
The Star-sponsored Olympic Fund raised $219.50, with more than $98 of it coming from that plane turret in front of Bresee's. The Bob Hope-Bing Crosby telethon put the fund well over the top, raising more than $1 million. The 1952 games began Saturday, July 19.
As for the U.S. vs. Soviet Union bragging rights, the U.S. won in total medals, by a 76-71 tally.
The U.S. dominated the Soviets in gold medals, 40-22.
This weekend: Oneonta's Company G got ready to go to war in August 1917.
City Historian Mark Simonson's column appears twice weekly. On Saturdays, his column focuses on the area during the Depression and before. His Monday columns address local history after the Depression. If you have feedback or ideas about the column, write to him at The Daily Star, or e-mail him at simmark@stny.rr.com. His website is www.oneontahistorian.com. His columns can be found at www.thedailystar.com/marksimonson.
Columns
Summer Olympics bragging rights on the line in 1952
- Big Chuck D'Imperio
-
-
Safety Patrol D.C. visits never get old
I asked Cam Morris, head of Eastern Travel/Oneonta Bus Lines, how many years her company has been handling the Safety Patrol trip to Washington, D.C.
Continued ... - My pal Brucie, savior of Sidney's hospital
- Catching a whiff of 'Vermont Vapor'
- Selections from the virtual mailbag
- Recalling days of 'Doughnut King'
-
Safety Patrol D.C. visits never get old
- Cary Brunswick
-
-
We've become our own worst enemies
The past month has been marked by a seeming unprecedented number of man-made tragedies, as distinct from those caused by violent outbursts of the natural world, such as earthquakes, hurricanes and tsunamis.
Continued ... - Plenty of blame to go around for Bangladesh horror
- Obama is going against his word on Social Security
- Reflecting on a Florida trip
- Those magnificent spies in their flying machines
-
We've become our own worst enemies
- Chuck Pinkey
- Guest Column
-
-
Records seizure is an insult to free press
Distrust of government secrecy has been elevated to an exceptional level with the disclosure the Justice Department covertly examined two months of Associated Press phone records to determine who leaked details to the AP about a foiled terrorist plot.
Continued ... - The evangelical view of same-sex marriage
- Manor's fate will be Otsego board's legacy
- A closer look at our economy - Part II
- Use fracking to fill budget gaps
-
Records seizure is an insult to free press
- Lisa Miller
-
-
A view from above
Fire towers in the Catskill Mountains have always been destination points, built to capture some of the region’s best views. These sentinel stations served an important role for the earliest possible sightings of forest fires in the remote mountain ranges. But the fire towers and those who manned them fulfilled a multitude of other roles as well.
Continued ... - Being a parent is a constant learning process
- Healthy doesn't have to mean expensive
- A family era ends with close of Potter series
- Independent stores make up for loss of Borders
-
- Mark Simonson
-
-
General Clinton Canoe Regatta got a new home in 1972
Ever since 1963, when Charles Hinkley and a group of Tri-Town businessmen came up with the idea for what we know today as the General Clinton Canoe Regatta, people lined the shores of the Susquehanna to watch the canoeists as they made their 70-mile trek from Cooperstown to Bainbridge.
Continued ... - Sunday movies in Oneonta finally shown in 1934
- Politics, fitness and landmarks dominated local news in May 1968
- Local people sought income in many ways in 1933
- Local windstorm in 1983 caused tense moments
-
- Rick Brockway
-
-
Kids have sparkle in their eyes
When I was in my teens, old Bill Naatz told me about a stream north of Lake George where a man had panned out enough gold to make his wife a wedding band. It was all rumors, but to his grandson and myself, it sounded like the makings of a great adventure.
- People make the outdoors even better
- Turkey season has ups and downs
- Spring air isn't always the freshest
- Adriondacks keep growing and growing
-
Kids have sparkle in their eyes
- Sam Pollak
- William Masters
-
-
Schreibman tops Chris Gibson on women's issues
As the time to vote draws near, we need to remember how money can run politics more than we can. Raising funds is a prominent (if not the dominant) task of getting elected. Raising issues is also crucial, but those efforts are subject to distortion and fear-mongering.
- Republicans feelentitled to allthey can garner An entitlement is a legal benefit available from the government to individuals who are within a defined category of recipients, such as needing insurance for unemployment or health services.
-
Romney focuses on self; Obama emphasizes unity
Mitt Romney criticizes President Obama for saying a person's success is rooted in his community, and is not all his alone. Romney belittles this with his belief in individual initiative. He is better at the put-down than the push-up.
-
Romney shows little regard for common man
The Republicans in Congress have voted over and over, 33 times, redundantly and uselessly, to rescind what they call Obamacare.
-
Scouts' gay ban creates problem where none exists
The Boy Scouts of America's "emphatic reaffirmation" of its vow to exclude any and all homosexuals from its hallowed ranks is ill-considered and pathetic, especially in view of its having reviewed the matter for two years.
-
Schreibman tops Chris Gibson on women's issues
