PIONEER ALASKAN GEORGE HUPPRICH RECALLS EARLY DAYS IN NENANA
_ —---- 49 . Atirfuof TOO ft A
P By Paul (Ip) Lien
"We beat Cordova four to
two — Parlez Vous—
That was part of the victory
song heard in Nenana in July,
1922 when a young, 25-year
old pitcher handcuffed a strong
baseball team from the clam
digging town of Cordova of
which Fairbanks attorney, War
ren Taylor, was a member.
That pitcher was George F.
Hupprich. now retired, and liv
ing in the same old town.
Hupprich was born in Portland,
Ore. in 1897, and came to Skagway
with his father in 1911. His father
took a position as chief engineer
on the old riverboat, “General Ja
cobs” — and George went along as
a deckhand.
While still in his teens Hupprich
worked on the river boats and set
tled down in Nenana with his fath
er.
> Meets Pro
It was during the beginning of
the construction of the Alaska Rail
road in 1918 that Hupprich met
Walker Blakey. formerly a catcher
with the Portland Beavers. Blakey
was in Nenana working construc
tion during the building of the Ne
nana bridge which spans the Tan
ana river.
“Blakey taught me how to pitch
a ‘spitball'—which became very ef
fective,” said Hupprich, who was a
left-hander.
“During the 10 years I pitched
for Nenana. I won 111 out of a total
of 122 games.
“Fairbanks was our most serious
rival — and we used to play them
over half our games every year.
“Other teams we played were
Cordova, Dawson, Anchorage and
Ft. Gibbon.
“One of the toughest pitchers I
NENANA BASEBALL TEAM OF 1922 — Pictured here are George Hupprkh hoJding ‘
lower left; Charlie Tibbets, coach, upper left, standing; Blakey next toTibbets GeorgeJSure sho.) Ken
nedy, fourth, and Chuck DeWitt, fifth and Kelly, sixth, both pitchers; Charlie Thompson, umpire, rare
right, standing; Krause and Brown, seated right of Hupprich; Mike Cooney, mayor of N-nan^ froI't*
center with straw hat; Tom Haines, seated second from right; and Wilford Stump, now a prominent
Ketchikan attorney, mascot, seated front of Mayor Cooney.
ever played against was Charles
(Chuck) DeWitt, another spitballer,
who pitched for Fairbanks, and had
formerly been with Salt Lake City
in the Coast League.
Best Season 1922
‘ We had our best season in 1922
when we lost only one game — and
that was to Cordova. But we beat
them two out of three.
“That was at the peak of the
bridge construction when we had
some pros out of Pittsburgh.
“Some of the fellows I recall were
Cliff Brown, third baseman, who j
later went with the Pittsburgh Pi
rates; Tom Haines, first baseman—
and long ball hitter, who broke all
the windows on the east end of the
schoolhouse on the edge of the field;
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WHITE SWAN
LAUNDRY
314 Wendell
Clarence Cedar, pitcher, formerly
with the Pirates; ‘Bull’ Kelly, out
of the Coast League; Guy Krause,
shortstop, who was also a profes
sional; and George Kennedy.second
baseman.
“Fairbanks players I played
against were Charlie Fowler. Cros
by K.eene, clarence mirgnn, Lnarne
Geis, George Cook. George Parks.
Eddie Clausen. Barney Steitzel. Jim
Hutchinson, Carl Borland. Wally
Cathcart. Ecf Stroecker, Jack Han
sen. Ben Eielson, Danny Burch,
Bert and Roy Mattson, and Frank
Wood.
“Hansen pitched a game against
the ‘Black Wolf Squadron with four
Army DeHaviland planes landed on
old Week’s Field. I lost that game
2-1 in ten innings.
“The umpire for nearly all the
Fairbanks games was the former
saloon owner, Charlie Thompson.’*
Gets Married
Hupprich married the daughter
of the Nenana bakery owner. Harry
Rappolt, and stayed in Nenana.
Hupprich raised five children in
Nenana, all of whom now reside in
Fairbanks.
George owns George’s Beverage
Store in Graehl and is associated
with his brothers, Fred and Bob, in
a contracting business. Martha is
now married here to James Haight,
manager of Automotive Parts
Equipment Co., and Betty is mar
ried to Raymond Lorenre. who is
associated with the Alaska Tele
phone Co.
For many years Hupprich oper
ated a transfer service in Nenana.
He had offers from Portland in the
Coast League for a tryout through
the efforts of Blakey — but turned
it down.
“I was settled down with a fam
ily _ and a business at the time.
and just couldn’t get away.
"Blakey told me I could have
made the grade easily — but that
I'll never know," said Hupprich.
Tickets may be purchased at the following places:
^ a r 1 I a I_Crlaa'e Rar
v.o*vp urug
Redwood Bar
Swanson's Corner
Mecca Bar
Chena Bar
Crystal Room
Silver Dollar Bar
Polaris Cocktail Lounge
Drop Inn
Fairbanks Bar
Eva McGown
Denali Grocery
Nevada Bar
Elks Club
Eagles Club
Pastime Bar
Sportland
North Star Club
North Pole
Paulines Rainbow Room
6 Mile, Richardson Hvvy
Billikin Lounge
College Inn
Foodland
Tickets have also been distributed to all outlying areas as far north as Barrow
and south to Tok.
State
Permit
Number
1
NENANA ICE BREAKUP DATES
1918— May 11
1919— May 3
1920— May 1
1921— May 1
1922— May 12
1923— May 9
1924— May 1
1925— May 7
1926— April 26
1927— May 12
1928— May
1929— May
1930— May
6
5.
8....
1931— May 10
1932— Mav 1
1934— April 30
1933— May 8
1935— May 15
1936— ADril 30
1938— May 6
1937— May 12
1939— April 29
. 9:33 a.m. 1940—April 20. 3:27 p.m.
2:33 p.m. 1941—May 3. 1:50 a.m.
10:45 a.m. 1942—April 30. 1:28 a.m.
. 6:45 a.m. 1943—April 23. 7:22 p.m.
. 1:20 a.m. 1944—May 4. 2:08 p.m.
2:00 a.m. 1945—May 16. 9:41 a.m.
. 3:10 p.m. 1946—May 5. 4:40 p.m.
6:32 p.m. 1947—May 3. 5:53 p.m.
. 5:03 p.m. 1948—May 13 11:13 a.m.
5:42 a.m. 1949—May 14. 12:39 p.m.
4:25 p.m. 1950—May 6. 4:14 p.m.
3:41 p.m. 1951—April 30. 5:54 p.m.
. 7:03 p.m. 1952—May 12. 5:04 p.m.
9:30 a.m. 1953—April 29. 3:54 p.m.
.10:15 a.m. 1954—May 6. 6:01 p.m.
.. 2:07 p.m. 1955—May 9. 2:13 p.m.
. 7:30 p.m. 1956—May 1.11:24 a.m.
. 1:32 p.m. 1957—Mav 5. 9:30 a.m.
12:58 p.m. 1958—AdHI 29. 2:56 p.m.
8:14 p.m. 1959—May 8.11:26 a.m.
8:04 p.m. I960—May 2. 7:12 p.m.
1:26 p.m. 1961—May 5.11:31 a.m.
The net pay-off for the winnlpg guess for the last seven years as follows
1956—$106,000.00 1957—$113,500.00 1958—$104,500.00
1959—$ 93,000.00 1960—$ 80,000.00 1961—$ 75,999.00
State
Permit
Number
1
Sponsored Thru The Decades By The
NENANA ICE CLASSIC COMMITTEE
which this year comprises the following prominent residents of Nenana: Rob
ert Coghill, Don Clark, who is also manager again, as he has been for many
years, William P. Monroe, Alfred Ketzler, Vern Hensley, Norman Suckling and
Fred Mueller.
HURRY!
Buy Those Tickets Now!
Closing Date Midnight, April 7, 1962