Ernie Howard's Bus Cap

Copyright La Crosse County Historical Society

Emily Patwell

Catalog Number: 2012.011.01

The cap pictured here belonged to Ernie Howard, a bus driver in La Crosse between 1965 and 1977. His black-and-blue cap with a visor and a La Crosse Transit Co. badge will be familiar to readers who recall riding the bus in the 1970s.

Public transportation has been a critical part of the city’s infrastructure since the La Crosse Street Railway Co., the area’s first streetcar company, was established in 1879.

By 1885, it merged with another company into the La Crosse City Railway Co. Originally using horse-drawn carriages, they introduced their first electric trolleys in 1890. In 1913, the Wisconsin Light and Power Co. purchased the streetcar lines before changing its name to the Mississippi Valley Public Service Co. in 1926. When the fuel and rubber shortages of the World War II years ended, the company replaced the trolleys with buses.

In 1949, the company was sold and renamed the La Crosse Transit Co. The city purchased the company and renamed it the La Crosse Municipal Transit Utility in 1975.

In addition to providing transportation, MTU buses have provided jobs for people like Ernie Howard.

A native and lifelong resident of the La Crosse area, Ernie Howard was born Ernest Lloyd Tracey to Lloyd Tracey and Anna Howard (née Mahlum) in 1926. After his parents divorced, Ernie went to live with his grandparents, Even and Andrine, in Holmen. He completed grade school, then moved back to La Crosse to live with his mother and stepfather, Everett W. Howard. Ernie graduated from Logan High School in 1944, and subsequently served in the U.S. Navy as a corpsman with the Seabees in Okinawa during WWII.

After the war, he legally changed his name to Ernest Leon Howard and married Elizabeth Rosina Pertzsch. They had a daughter, Sandra, and two sons, Sigurd and Douglas.

Ernie began working for the La Crosse Transit Co., and later the MTU, around 1965, and drove a bus for 12 years. His route, No. 3, served the city’s south-southeast section and included Aquinas High School, Central High School and St. Francis Hospital.

On Oct. 15, 1977, at age 51, he was suddenly struck with a rare auto-immune illness known as Guillain-Barré Syndrome. The neurological syndrome leads to pain, tingling, numbness, and in extreme cases, paralysis. While the precise causes of Guillain-Barré Syndrome are unknown, it often occurs after acute infections of influenza. Ernie’s wife reported that he had been sick with the flu the week before his collapse.

His manager, Percy Mahlum, often said that Ernie was a hard worker who rarely called in sick and kept his bus spotless, earning the nickname “Mr. Clean.” When Ernie had called in after contracting the flu, Mahlum knew that he must have been very sick.

Ernie Howard retired from bus driving, but he slowly recovered from total paralysis after being treated at Lutheran Hospital. He expressed his hope for full recovery when meeting his favorite country singer, Bill Anderson, after six weeks of hospitalization.

He remained disabled until his death in 2010. His bus driver’s cap was donated by his son, Douglas Howard, and is preserved in the La Crosse County Historical Society’s collection as a memento of the history of the city’s public transportation system.

This article was originally published in the La Crosse Tribune on June 23, 2018.

This object can be viewed in our online collections database by clicking here.

Marian Dorset's Indian Clubs

Copyright La Crosse County Historical Society

Michelle Kelly

Catalog Number: 2018.015.01

While they look like bowling pins, and the word “club” invokes ideas of weapons, Indian clubs are, in fact, a very old method of exercise.

They originated in ancient Persia, where they were called meels or mils. They were a training tool for the zourkhāneh, a group of men who met to practice grappling (wrestling) and patriotism. Over time meels were carried by different cultural groups into India, where the practice of training with meels continued for centuries.

Copyright La Crosse County Historical Society

When the British invaded India in the 19th century, the colonists saw the use of meels and coined them as “Indian clubs.” They were unconcerned with the rich history of Mongols and Moghuls behind the exercise tool.

The colonists brought Indian clubs back to Britain, where they were quickly adapted into the new fitness craze of the Victorian Era. An visiting American by the name of Sim D. Kehoe brought the concept back to the states, where he began to manufacture and sell them.

Indian clubs were widely used in both Britain and the United States by men and women. Men used them in police and military academies and women in newly-built gymnasiums. They became so popular in the early 20th century that Indian clubs were a precursor to Rhythmic Gymnastics in the 1904 and 1932 Olympics. Gymnasts used Indian clubs in rhythmic routines as opposed to the now-used ropes, ribbons, and bells.

Interestingly, the “club” part of their name became a reality in 1913/1914 when the British Suffragette movement used their Indian clubs as actual clubs. The ladies concealed the exercise tool in their clothes in case the British police used their batons on them.

As organized sports and regimented fitness routines became the norm, Indian clubs went out of fashion. For a short time they were used by professional athletes and the military as training tools, but better equipment was developed and Indian clubs became old-fashioned--the way of the past. Only in the 21st century have they started to make a return to fitness routines.

The La Crosse County Historical Society has a few examples of Indian clubs in their collection. The set pictured was the personal pair of Marian Dorset, daughter of Nannie Colwell-Dorset and Reverend Charles Dorset, who were early residents in the young city of La Crosse. These Indian clubs were a recent donation from John Satory. When Satory was young, he purchased them at the Dorset-Colwell estate auction after the death of Marian’s sister Helen.

Dorset’s pair of Indian clubs weigh in at only 10.6 ounces, less than 3/4ths of a pound. For reference, Indian clubs could weigh upwards of 100 pounds. They could also be as ornate or simple as the user wished. Marian Dorset’s set is rather elaborate in comparison to the other plain wooden painted clubs in the collection. Dorset’s clubs are made of a polished red wood with a simple handle and detailed silver ring embellishments. Marian Dorset’s name is engraved on a silver ring in the middle of each of the clubs; in essence, she had personalized gym equipment.

This article was originally published in the La Crosse Tribune on June 16, 2018.

This object can be viewed in our online collections database by clicking here.

La Crosse Catbirds

Michelle Kelly

Catalog Number: 1995.023.01

Copyright La Crosse County Historical Society

In 1985, La Crosse joined the Continental Basketball Association.

Formed in 1947, the CBA was two months older than the National Basketball League.

The CBA started as the Eastern Pennsylvania Basketball League, expanding to become the Eastern Basketball Association. After adding a team from Alaska, the league changed the name one final time to the Continental Basketball Association. As the CBA, the league truly became continental, playing 14 teams from 14 states.

The La Crosse Catbirds originated in Louisville, Ky., in 1983. They played as the Louisville Catbirds for two seasons before the team was bought by Norm Gillette and D.B. Reinhart in 1985 and moved to La Crosse.

In the first five years in La Crosse, the Catbirds led the CBA in attendance, averaging more than 4,500 fans at the La Crosse Center. La Crosse was a training ground for NBA head coach Flip Saunders, who was known for leading the Minnesota Timberwolves and died in 2015. The Catbirds were one of the CBA’s longest-running teams.

The CBA came into financial trouble in the late 1990s and early 2000s. By the end of the 2001 season, the CBA filed for bankruptcy. After bankruptcy, the CBA floundered before merging with the International Basketball Association, finally marking the end of a CBA-owned league. The CBA/IBA partnership lasted from 2001 to 2009, ending in 2010.

The Catbirds were in La Crosse for nine seasons, from 1985 to 1994. Of the 84 teams that played during the CBA’s height, 1979 to 2001, only five teams lasted longer in one city than the La Crosse Catbirds. The La Crosse Bobcats were La Crosse’s second CBA team and lasted five seasons, from 1996 to 2001. La Crosse was home to a CBA team for 14 seasons.

La Crosse is one of six cities that has brought home two championships, one in the 1989-90 season and another in the 1991-92 season, beating the Rapid City Thrillers both times. Catbirds were defeated in the championship once in 1985. La Crosse’s later team, the Bobcats, made it to the championships in 1999, losing to the Yakima Sun Kings.

The La Crosse County Historical Society has a championship ring from the 1992 season. The ring was donated to the Historical Society in 1995, only three years after the 1992 championship. In 1990, the Catbirds beat the Thrillers in a spectacular 4-1 series, while the 1992 game was much closer, with the Catbirds winning 4-3 and clinching their second championship.

Unfortunately, sustaining a minor league team was expensive. Despite the Catbirds’ best efforts and the city of La Crosse’s financial help, the team was sold to a Pittsburgh businessman after the 1993-94 season. They were renamed the Pittsburgh Piranhas and had a stellar first season in Pennsylvania, making it to the championship game in the 1994-95 season. The team only lasted that first season outside of La Crosse, folding due to lack of attendance, in 1995.

This article was originally published in the La Crosse Tribune on June 9, 2018.

This object can be viewed in our online collections database by clicking here.