By Erika Fortlage, Intern

During this project, I have spent more time evaluating men's shoes than women's. (which I felt was much more interesting!) My favorite pair in the collection is a pair of leather baseball cleats. This is probably a result of the fact that I played baseball and softball for nine years of my life. My cleats obviously are made of modern (and probably synthetic) materials and don't even come close to the awesomeness of these ones. They have ferocious metal spikes and are made of durable and wearable leather.

The best part of these shoes is that when they were donated, the history was given with it. They were worn by a guy named Quincy Hale when he played for the La Crosse High School (we know it as Old Central High School, located at 15th & Cass - where Weigent Park now is). The information we have says that they were from 1910. We have some old yearbooks from 1908 and 1913, so we unfortunately don't have a photo to put a face to the name.