History of the Elgin Jaycees

Preface

The early history of the Elgin Jaycees organization covers the period of 1946-1950 since that was the period of time the writer was active in this fine organization.

As indicated, the Elgin Jaycees were extended by the Evanston Jaycees in October 1946.

The charter was presented at the Charter Dinner held at the Elgin Masonic Temple on December 16th, 1946. President Alfred Kirkland was presented the charter by Hunter Gehlback, Illinois Jaycee President. The speaker at this event was Clem Lane, City Editor of the Chicago Daily News. There were 134 charter members and the membership of the Elgin Jaycees continued to remain at the level reaching just over 150 members in late 1949.

The Elgin Jaycees during this span of time continually ran about 20 projects per year. Usually the pattern was to have one or two money makers to sustain the other projects.

In the field of sports, there was the AAU Basketball Tournament, the Harlem Globetrotters Exhibition (original Globetrotters), the city-wide swimming meet, the Golf Exhibition at the Elgin Country Club, the Illinois Semi-Pro Baseball Tournament, Don Sunderlage Night at the Chicago Stadium, etc.

At the 1948 Annual Dinner, the speaker was Paul G. Bagwell, then the U.S. Jaycee President. Thanks to him, C. Raymond Long (the real Godfather of the Jaycees) personally contacted the local industries for funds to send Eber Jernberg Jr. and Ed Stohr (Elgin Jaycees) to the International Jaycee Congress in Brussels, Belgium. They were there for ten days and attended committee meetings, special meetings, and the Grand Ball at the Palace. The highlight of this trip was being able to "hitchhike" a ride on the U.S. Air Lift. We left Weisbaden on a C-54 loaded with 168 cases of potatoes and, one hour and fifty minutes later, arrived at the Berlin airbase. The next day we flew back, arriving at 11:00 PM in Rhein Main. We returned to the United States on Saturday, May 3rd, 1949. While there, we sent daily written reports to the Courier-News which appeared in the paper. Shortly after returning, the articles were put into bound form with a colorful pictorial cover. I gave a copy to this chapter at the 40th Anniversary meeting.

In early 1947, the first Jaycee newsletter was written by Edward Weidner and the cover design was made by Bob Goss, then a commercial artist at the D.C. Cook Publishing Company. It was titled: 'The Bull Session'.

My thanks for assisting me in researching this history go to: Elgin Public Library Staff, Elgin Courier-News Micro Film, History of Elgin (book form), Mike Alft and Alfred Y. Kirkland Sr., Alfred Y. Kirkland, Earl Tillery, Jack Reuter, Edward Weidner, Joseph McCarthy, and Ed Stohr.

I hope you have enjoyed reading this as much as I have enjoyed working on it.

Eber D. Jernberg Jr.
Life Member

History of Elgin Junior Chamber of Commerce.
By Eber D. Jernberg Jr.

The Elgin Junior Chamber of Commerce, now known as the Elgin Jaycees, came into being at a meeting held at the old Elgin YMCA in which Hunter Gehlback, State President, Ellis Fuqua, Evanston Jaycees, explained the history of the Jaycee movement and the desire to establish a Jaycee chapter in Elgin. There were about ten Elginites of Jaycee age who attended this meeting. It was then agreed that sufficient interest was shown at this meeting to meet again and organize a chapter in Elgin. This meeting was held October 4th, 1946.

On October 11, 1946, the following Elginites met with Gehlback and W.E. Leffingwell, Chicago J.C. extension chairman, Alfred Y. Kirkland, William Meyers, Earl Tillery, Eber Jernberg, Walter Geister Jr., Ashley Arnold, Chris Carsten, Henry Bucklin, William Fedou, Gene Sale, Howard Krafe, and Robert Morrison. This meeting was held in the boardroom of the Elgin Chamber of Commerce at 178 East Chicago Street at 7:30 P.M.

At this meeting a nominating committee composed of Ashley Arnold, Chris Carsten, Henry Bucklin, Willard Fedou and Howard Kraft was elected.

The following week, the group met again and the nominating committees' slate was presented as follows: President, Alfred Y. Kirkland; 1st V.P., Gene Sale; 2nd V.P., Eber D. Jernberg Jr.; Secretary, Robert Morrison and treasurer, Earl Tillery. The slate was unanimously accepted.

On Thursday, October 18th, the group met again at the YWCA and President Kirkland appointed Ashley Arnold and Henry Bucklin as Co-Chairmen of the membership committee. Also, Board of Directors was elected as follows: Willard Fedou, Walter Giester Jr., Henry Bucklin, John Gostele Jr., Earnest Ludwig and Kenneth Sorenson. Guests were: Hunter Gelbach, State President and Ralph Rohweder, U.S. Jaycee Director. It was also agreed that the group would meet the first Thursday of each month at the YWCA at 7:30 P.M. It was also hoped that the membership could be expanded from the current twenty members to one hundred for the Charter dinner-meeting, the date to be set later. The Application for Affiliation with the U.S. Jaycees was dated October 15th, 1946 by Alfred Y. Kirkland, President, and Robert Morrison, Secretary. It was submitted to the U.S. Jaycees headquarters by Hunter Gehlbach dated October 31, 1946.

In June of 1947 the Jaycees promoted a golf exhibition. It featured Byron Nelson and Henry Ransom, top Pro golfers of that time. They competed against John Gostele and John Morrell, both Jaycee members. Co-Chairman of the event were Willard Miller and Al Kirkland. Committee members were: George Ambramson, Ken Sorenson, Elder Brown, and Vince Carlson. The event was held on June 3rd and a crowd of 2,000 were in attendance

In July 1947 the new slate of officers were installed as follows: Ken Sorenson, President; Eber Jernberg Jr., 1st Vice President; Willard Fedou, 2nd Vice President; Robert Morrison, Secretary; and Charles Melvin, Treasurer.

On August 11th, 1947 the Jaycees sponsored the First City-Wide Swimming Championship at the Wing Park pool. Al Kirkland was chairman of the event which had eight divisions and over 100 participants. By action of the Jaycee board, the event was approved for next year and a chairman was to be appointed at a later date.

The year of 1948 marked the Jaycees entry into participation in the Illinois State Semi-Pro Baseball Tournament. The franchise was held by one Nick Phelus who approached the Jaycees to sponsor the event in Elgin. The event was held at Trout Park. Bleachers were hauled from Maroon Field and Big Timber by flat bed trucks donated by members Jim Geister and Otto Rausch. When the event was over they were disassembled and returned and reassembled. George Goedert and Bob Morrison were Co-Chairmen of the event. Teams from all over the state entered the tournament including two Elgin teams. Top teams this year were the Evanston Merchants, Sycamore Sons, Elgin Ludwigs, and Joliet Athletics. The event was held July 23-31.

Also in July the Jaycees sponsored the 1st Pet and Hobby Parade. Bob Morrison and Eber Jernberg Jr. were Co-Chairmen. This was a very successful event and continued for several years. There were over 160 participants and some 12 divisions. This became an annual event well into the mid 50's.

Once again the Jaycees sponsored the Illinois State Semi-Pro Baseball tournament in 1949. It was held July 7th-17th and held that year at Wing Park, most of the games under lights. Tickets for each session (two games) were $0.75 for adults and $0.25 for children. The Championship tickets were $1.00. Chris Bazos and Les Culverson were Co-Chairmen of the program solicitation and sold over $2,500 in advertisements. Dick Banks, who at that time was manager of a chain store on Douglas Avenue, spent so much on this project that on a Monday morning when he went to open the store, the lock had been changed and his employment had been terminated.

At the July meeting, the new officers were sworn in: Attorney Franklin Kramer, President; Attorney Joseph McCarthy, 1st Vice President; Joe Tomick, 2nd Vice President; Bob Morrision, Secretary and Ed Weidner, Treasurer. Board members were: Otto Rausch, Hawley Michaels, Keith Winter, Ed Wascher, Jim McLaughlan, and Mel Middlesworth.

Ed Weidner set up the first set of books and audit procedures. This system prevailed for many of the early years of the Jaycee organization. He also set up procedures for minutes of Board and regular meetings in 1949. Also, he was the youngest charter member. This year, the Jaycees started a new program of having a Jaycee member attend each and every City Council meeting. I believe this continued 6-7 years.

On May 4th, 1950 at the regular monthly meeting at the Red Lion Inn, officers and directors for the 1950 term were elected as follows: Fred Wolff Jr., President; Joseph McCarthy, 1st Vice President and Secretary; George Milner, 2nd Vice President; Edward Weidner, Recording Secretary; and LeRoy Bell, Treasurer. Directors elected were: Dr. Warne Blackman, R.J. Morrison, LeRoy Youtzy, Raymond Strohm, Jack Reuter and John Eshelman.

In early summer the Jaycees decided not to sponsor the Illinois State Semi-Pro Baseball tournament due to a conflict with the Commissioner. However, the Jaycees took over the whole tournament a year later. John Eshelman became state commissioner.

Projects such as the City-Wide Swimming Meet, Pet & Hobby Parade and Show, Free Sand in containers, Christmas Balloon parade (small town Macy's type), Paint directional signs on National Guard Armory roof for CAA and others.

I would have liked to further continue into 1950, but the Courier News Microfilm, which would include the month of election of officers, is missing. I do know that Attorney Joseph McCarthy was President for the 1950 term. LeRoy Bull was 1st Vice President and Ray Strohm was 2nd Vice President. Also Eber Jernberg Jr. became the first Elgin Jaycee to be a state officer when he became a state vice president.

Eber D. Jernberg Jr.