The time capsule: Who could forget Lynn King, season of '36?

Not long before Jim Zabel passed away, I asked if he remembered Lynn King of Villisca. The long-time sportscaster, on the phone from his Arizona home, didn’t hesitate. “Oh, man!” he said. “Who could forget him?” Zabel knew King as a middle-aged bowler, but was well aware of what he had been.This summer marks the 80th anniversary of the most memorable season of a Montgomery County boy who was voted, by the Des Moines Register’s Iowa Sports Hall of Fame, one of the top two all-time, all-around best athletes Iowa has ever produced. Under six feet tall, he played at 165 pounds or less. His younger brother, Loren, said there was no sport he didn’t excel in. Loren’s memory might have been a little fuzzy — when I interviewed him a couple of years ago he’d just turned 99 — but record books back his claim.Lynn King first attracted attention as a Villisca high school football player. He ran, passed, played defense and, during the 1925 season, returned five kickoffs for touchdowns. He was named first-team all-state quarterback before today’s class divisions; other first teamers were from West Des Moines, Sioux City, and schools of that size. On Villisca’s track squad he was unbeatable in the 100-yard dash, won the long jump, and placed high in shot-put. He was good at basketball, better at baseball.Freshmen at Drake were not allowed to compete, so he waited until his sophomore year to become the heart and soul of Drake athletics. He never lost a conference football game, scored the winning touchdown against Iowa State, came within a whisker of upsetting Knute Rockne’s Notre Dame, and was Missouri Valley all-conference quarterback three years in a row. If he wasn’t as good in basketball, he was close. A long-range bomber, The Register wrote that his most remarkable performance was when he drained 10 long-range shots during double overtime against Marquette. In baseball he was an all- conference outfielder and, in an example of versatility, won the Drake intramural horseshoe pitching championship.In his second year of professional baseball, he tied the Texas League stolen base record and made more putouts as a center fielder than anyone before him. He was called to the majors in the late summer of 1935.Other years were statistically better, but King relished ’36 because of the collection of talent and zaniness that comprised the Gashouse Gang. His teammates included Dizzy Dean, Walter Alston, Frankie Frisch, Ripper Collins, Leo Durocher, Pepper Martin, Joe Medwick, Johnny Mize, and others. The Cardinals were then the southernmost and westernmost major league team, the default favorite of middle and southern America. They were gritty, played with an attitude, and Depression-weary Midwesterners identified with them as a contrast to the smoother, higher-paid teams of the east coast.Dizzy Dean, in his prime, won 24 games in ’36 and did so with brash cockiness. He once wagered he’d strike out Vince DiMaggio four times. A news account said DiMaggio went down on strikes his first three at-bats. On his fourth try, he hit a pop fly behind home plate. Dean dashed toward the catcher shouting “Drop the @#%&@ thing! Drop it!!” He did, and Dean racked up the strikeout. Johnny Mize, then a rookie, hit .329. Leo Durocher, whom Babe Ruth called “The All-American Out” while he played for the Yankees, found his home in St. Louis. It was with the Cardinals in ’36 that Durocher solidified his reputation as “Leo the Lip.”Ripper Collins, a rural Oklahoma boy, had his best home-run season in ’36, and Joe Medwick hit 64 doubles. That record, set while King was on the team, remains the single-season National League best.King was a pinch hitter and runner and defensive standout. Relied on to back up the slugger, “Ducky” Medwick, King did everything better than the future Hall of Famer — everything except hitting the big-league curve.A frequent visitor to his home town of Villisca, King retired from baseball to buy a bowling alley in Atlantic. He polished his game and won a state bowling title. He was tough to beat in local golf tournaments, and I’ve been told he was a deadly accurate wing shot who could have competed in skeet.Although King did it all, that summer of 80 years ago was special.Roy Marshall is a local historian and columnist for The Red Oak Express. He can be contacted at news@redoakexpress.com.