John Shearer: Random Thoughts About 1941 Polio Crisis That Also Shut City Down, And About Bob Goodrich And Dawn Staley

  • Sunday, March 15, 2020
  • John Shearer

Despite the new feelings of fear over the spreading of the coronavirus, Chattanooga has periodically had to deal with frightening silent health killers and disrupters before.

 

The yellow fever epidemic of 1878 claimed some 366 local lives during a 2½-month period, according to some online information announcing a tour held several months ago at Forest Hills Cemetery.

 

John Wilson’s book, “Chattanooga’s Story,” chronicles multiple pages of stories about some of the people who died, including Chattanooga mayor Thomas Carlile at his West Ninth Street home on the side of Cameron Hill.

 

Hattie Ackerman, a schoolteacher who began volunteering as a nurse, also died.

She had become a beloved figure due to her efforts to put others above herself.

 

The local residents had at first thought Chattanooga would not be susceptible to this disease due to its mountainous location, but that proved not to be the case. And several doctors and others died while going to Memphis to help combat the ailment before it arrived in Chattanooga.

 

The second major disease to affect Chattanooga and numerous other areas was the Spanish influenza outbreak about the time World War I ended. It has been well recounted in recent months and even days due to stories about its centennial anniversary and current comparisons to the coronavirus outbreak, respectively.

 

A historical story by local historian Sam Elliott published several months ago mentioned that some 7,000 people locally contracted influenza and up to 700 deaths could have occurred from that or possibly another seasonal flu. Public gatherings and social interactions were also discouraged like today.

 

As Chattanooga and the world are faced once again with such a potentially fearful health scare, and many are wondering for the first time whether danger is now lurking in familiar and favorite public places and among friends, I remembered a story I wrote on another outbreak.

 

That was the September 1941 polio epidemic that virtually shut down the city for a couple of weeks, much as seems to be happening here. While that disease usually struck young people and often resulted in paralysis, the precautions taken at that time seemed to be eerily familiar to those ordered over the Covid-19 scare in 2020.

 

I had written a story for the Chattanooga News-Free Press in the fall of 1991 on the 50th anniversary of the event, and I went back and looked at my now-yellowed clipping of the article.

 

That month had started out with optimism, despite the escalating World War II in Europe before America’s entry. As evidence of the good vibes, the theaters were promoting the upcoming movies. Scheduled to show at the Tivoli in mid-September was “Sun Valley Serenade,” which featured a new song by the name of “Chattanooga Choo-Choo.”

 

However, that movie would not be shown then due to that villain considered as bad as an enemy warmonger. It was, of course, the polio virus.

 

While it had been a horrible health issue for some time in America and would continue to be until a vaccine was finally found in the 1950s, local officials at first thought the outbreak was waning, even though some cases had been reported the month before.

 

On Sept. 8, though, the situation was said to be worsening again, and Chattanooga-Hamilton County Health Department Director Dr. F.O. Pearson and others issued an order prohibiting adults and children from gathering publicly.

 

School had already been postponed indefinitely, and such popular events as the Interstate Fair at Warner Park and the Cotton Ball at Memorial Auditorium were also halted.

 

Church services for the following Sunday were also being postponed in the area, and spectators were not allowed in the city and criminal courts.

 

And the Chattanooga Lookouts’ playoff baseball game scheduled against the Atlanta Crackers at Engel Stadium was moved to Atlanta.

 

A story in the News-Free Press that day simply said, “The epidemic has reached a serious stage.”

 

Dr. Pearson had originally announced on that Monday that the movie theaters would also shut down beginning Saturday for the first time since the influenza outbreak of the late 1910s. However, after five new cases of polio were reported the next day and after a meeting with theater officials, he ordered all movie houses to close at the end of the day on Tuesday.

 

By the next day, Wednesday, Sept. 10, all bowling alleys, pool halls, and recreation centers were closed, and civic meetings were postponed.

 

From July until about mid-September, about 100 cases of polio had been reported in Hamilton County, although the only death was apparently a 4-year-old who had been brought to T.C. Thompson Children’s Hospital in Glenwood from Alabama.

 

On Sept. 14, as the crisis showed no signs of ending, the University of Chattanooga announced that the start of its classes would be postponed until Sept. 28.

 

Worry continued to fill the community, and, as often happens, some con artists tried to sell a disinfectant that they claimed would prevent polio. But Dr. Pearson said such actions were fraudulent.

 

Finally, on Sept. 19, Chattanoogans received some happy news when Dr. Pearson and the others announced that the crisis appeared to be passing and the ban on public gatherings, including at theaters, was to be lifted on Sept. 24.

 

A feeling of much relief filled the community, and some youngsters in St. Elmo even had a parade down Alabama Avenue on that day of celebration.

 

Dr. Pearson -- a Vanderbilt and Johns Hopkins graduate who would later practice at Campbell Clinic before becoming involved as a regional public health director in Macon, Ga., until his death in 1959 – had shown much leadership and wise counsel during that tumultuous time.

 

Chattanooga area citizens and people everywhere are hoping this eerie feeling about this latest bodily invader of harm will be kept under control with proper steps and guidance, too, and we can soon get back to our sense of normalcy and calm, not to mention getting to enjoy sports.

 

* * * * *

 

And speaking of sports, I had seen where 1974 McCallie School graduate Bob Goodrich had died in Nashville on March 7 at the age of 63 after a long battle with cancer.

 

He had gone on to a distinguished legal career in Nashville after graduating from the University of Virginia and Vanderbilt law school. He was also involved in creating and preserving natural areas in the Nashville area and was involved in his Presbyterian church.

 

But to me, he will always be Bobby Goodrich, a standout blond athlete who I think wore No. 22 while playing such sports as football and basketball at McCallie. As a young athlete in the seventh and eighth grades at Baylor from 1972-74, I took note of the older high school athletes at both Baylor and McCallie and wanted to emulate many of them.

 

Both schools were blessed with good athletes during that time, and it was fun to watch the showdowns over football, of course, as well as basketball, where you could see the players of both teams more up close.

 

And like many athletes from both schools at that time, Mr. Goodrich continued the display of excellence in life that he had shown on the old rubberized court at McCallie.

 

* * * * *

 

As the SEC women’s basketball tournament was winding down last weekend before I knew all sports events were in the process of shutting down, I started wondering what has made South Carolina women’s coach Dawn Staley such a good coach.

 

Her team has become the cream of the SEC and – much to the chagrin of Tennessee Lady Vols fans -- the Gamecocks now have that mystique of excellence that UT had for so many years under the late legendary coach Pat Summitt.

 

Coach Staley, who came from Philadelphia and played for Virginia against UT in the NCAA tournament, went on to a pro career. She was actually talked into coaching Temple while still a pro player and once had the opportunity to carry the U.S. flag at the 2004 Summer Olympics. She came to South Carolina in 2008, and the rest has been history.

 

I also found one other fact about her, and it is one of those tidbits that fact junkies love. That is that she was born on May 4, 1970.

 

As many students of the Vietnam War know, that was the day when four people were killed at Kent State University during anti-war protests while Ohio National Guardsmen were there. It is a day that has been debated by hawks and doves, but it did sadly hit home how truly unpopular the war had become by most of the American citizenry, and it was no doubt a factor in the cease fire of 1971 that eventually led to an American withdrawal.

 

Whether coach Staley is aware of the historical significance of her birthday, I don’t know. But she has gone on to become an obvious hardcourt general, and everything she touches right now seems to turn to gold.

 

Let’s hope she and the others can get back to doing what they do well, and we can soon not worry about what we touch.

 

Jcshearer2@comcast.net

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