HomeMy Public PortalAboutParent, Ed "Porky"PAGE C--14- -THE STAR - NEWS -- WEDNESDAY, JUNE 23, 1982
gh school sports 1 111
When Ed Parent was growing
up in McCall, the area around
Park and Mission Streets- was
mostly pasture land.
He came to the valley in 1930 at
the age of eight with his parents,
Eugene and Catherine, and his
nine brothers and sisters.
"My dad bought 32 acres; we
owned clean out past the school
house," Ed recalled.
A lumberjack, Ed's father saw
"a future up here," and worked
for Brown's mill. Not too long
after, however, his father had a
stroke.
"He couldn't pay for the land so
Brown bought it back, all except
for the part which the Parents'
home stood on. Ed still lives on
part of the land.
"All this was pretty much
pasture land then," he said. "The
road out there (in front of the
forest supervisor's) was just a
mud hole. Guy Fairbrother would
bring his cows in to milk. He
delivered milk around here. When
I was a kid, he would hire me
when a hand got sick or quit. We'd
have 40 -50 cows to milk by hand
every morning and every night."
School and work, that's what Ed
said consumed most of the
youngsters' time in the.'30s.
"Kids those days were busy,"
he said. "After we got the chores
done, we didn't have much time
left. All the kids had to keep the
trails shoveled and a lot of 'em
had to carry water.
"Every weekend I had to shovel
from the top of the hill (on Stibnite
Street) right down there to the
road (Park Street), It all had to be
four feet wide. I would take ya all
day.
"When I went to see a picture
show, it cost 10 -15 cents. I had to
go out and shovel trail or split
wood.
"Any time the kids weren't do-
ing anything, we'd have a touch
football game down where the
bank is."
The school, he said, was near
where Medley's is today.
Youngsters would ride their
horses to school and stable them
in Carl Brown's barn.
And his eyes shine when he
talks about the football and
basketball games he 'used to play
in high school, and his days as a
professional boxer. i
"The American Legion had a
boxing deal down there on the
lake ( where the city park is now) ,
Ed said. "They had a ring. That
hillside there was for spectators."
Though no "real famous
names" boxed by the lake, Ed
recalled:
"The Kid Mathews was here on
exhibition. 1 was 12 years old.
They wanted me to fight him, but
his dad wouldn't let him. I. was
pretty fair for my age..
"I used to work in the bakery.
They'd let me off to go fight. We
got $3 if we won and $1 if we lost. I
fought guys that were 25 when I .
was 13 -14-. 1 won quite a few of
'em.,,
Ed Parent takes break from
building woodshed at his Park Street home.
Ed Parent, back row center with helmet,
with his McCall team year before championship.
W-11lb' 1115 UUWJ 111 lU 11111K. nC
delivered milk around here. When
I was a kid, he would hire me
when a hand got sick or quit. We'd
have 40 -50 cows to milk by hand
every morning and every night."
.School and work, that's what Ed
said consumed most of the
youngsters' time in the,'30s.
"Kids those days were busy,"
he said. "After we got the chores
done, we didn't have much time
left. All the kids had to keep the
Off to go camping
near stockyard, Ed
Parent and his horse,
111C - t1111C1l1:d11 J Curpu11 11[lu A
boxing deal down there on the
lake ( where the city park is now) ,
Ed said. "They had a ring. That
hillside there was for spectators."
Though no "real famous
names" boxed by the lake, Ed
recalled:
"The Kid Mathews was here on
exhibition. I was 12 years old.
They wanted me to fight him, but
his dad wouldn't let him. 1: was
pretty fair for my age.
"I used to work in the bakery.
They'd let me off to go fight. We
got $3 if we won and $1 if we lost. I
fought guys that were 25 when I "..
was 13 -14. I won quite a few of
'em."
Ed said his boxing skills were
self taught, and he would watch
other boxers to learn what he_
could.
"Nails Gorman, he used to be a
regular professional fighter, and
he was up here," Ed said. "He did
training in Goodman's garage
next to the city park. There used
to be a bunch of us watch old Nails
go through his training.
"We used to go around and fight
in New Meadows, Warrens, Don -
nelly... I think it was Saturday
nights.
"I had a lot of fun. I only got
paid $12 a week at the bakery so if
I could make $3 on top of that, I
felt a little richer."
About high school sports, Ed
said:
"We used to have championship
teams. We'd play New Meadows,
Council, Cambridge, Midvale,
Donnelly."
. Ed recalled the year he was
quarterbacking for the team and
it won the league. The boys were
pointing for the state champion-
ship.
"I didn't get to play; I got kick-
ed out of school. I don't know what
I done. I figured I'd get back in
Ed Parent, back row center with helmet,
with his McCall team year before championship.
rholus cotilra•s, of j, "a i -aren' High school team plays
infield where smokejumpers are now.
because I was captain and
quarterback of the team and we
only had one week to go before the
state championship. I figured I
was a cinch.
"I got fooled. I thought I was a
pretty good boy, that week."
The McCall team lost.
"We could have won that game
awfully easily," Ed said.
Before the league championship
game against Co�pncil, Ed said
McCall held a practice game with
Cascade.
``I went deer huneing," he said.
Council came down' to spot the
team, and Ed said they were real
surprised to see him back at
quarterback for the championship
game.
"We had seven banquets of-
fered us if we could beat the Coun-
cil team," Ed said. "We had 'em
33 -0 at the half and beat 'em
42 -13."
Ed said he wasn't sure if the
McCall boys ever ate any of those
promised banquets, "but there
was sure a lot of people betting on
'em, I know that."
Games used to be played -where
( Continued on Page C =15 )
...Ed Parent
(Continued from Page C -14)
the Smokejumper loft is now, he
said. Their equipment and
facilities were not the best.
"My helmet, I could always
crush it up and it would,stay in my
pocket. We didn't have any grass.
Our legs were just like pieces of
hamburger, peeled up one end to
the other."
The hot spots of the day, Ed
said, were the Dog House saloon
on the south side of Main Street
and Abbott's, where the tPlgnhnne
company office now is.
"They had a bar, gambling and
a cat house upstairs," Ed said.
"Seemed to me was three of them
around here at that time. They
played roulette, poker, black
jack, slot machines.
"I worked at the sawmill and in
the winter I used to tend bar at the
Stadium. The guy at Forester's
wanted me to come to work for
him. He put in slot machines that
paid off $1,000 on a $1 and $250 for
a quarter."
Gambling was legal before Ed
was of age.
"We was actually too young as
kids to be in there, but as long as
you could get that money over the
bar, they'd take it," he said.
"Those times, the mob w5sn't
out here like they are nowadays.
As far as I'm concerned, the peo-
ple who had the joints were all
really nice people._
"They did a lot for the com-
munity; bought a lot for the city
through taxes and donations."
When "Northwest Passage"
was filmed in McCall in 1937 -'38,
Ed got to be in the movie.
"Down there at the Texaco Sta-
tion, Don Peer and Jack Sacker-
man were always arguing," Ed
said. "I got to telling Don about
these blanks (they used in the
movie gun fights) . Don told me to
bring some down. He went in and
loaded this gun with these blanks
and then went out and told Jack
`I've taken all I'm gonna take
from you.' Jack started shaking.
I'll never forget that as long as I
live."
Spencer Tracy, Robert Young,
Walter Brennen's double, Young's
double and Wallace Beery's dou-
ble were all in town.
"I was sitting out there eating
huckleberries, and Wallace
Beery's double came over and
asked what I was doing," Ed
recalled. "I told him, and he was
like a big gorilla, pulling them out
by the roots. They called him to
come on the set, but he said `Oh,
I'm busy, I'm busy.' He wouldn't
leave, either."
PAGE C-- 15 - -THE STAR - NEWS -- WEDNESDAY, JUNE 23, 1982
McCall under snow.
On horses in spring.
7A AIn !Y7 • A _7 T 71• CV• T _7 7i 7'
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McCALL HIGH 5C HOOL event through the long and tough long
Pin Six -man football league season to bring the title to :McCall for
the first time since slx -man May began in the area. Pictured above
Is the full DleCall sgnad. Front roxv, left to right — Roland, Bon•I-
inVarent, Shaw, Watkins, Farrell, Leaf, Gantz, Campbell, Drake,
Mason, manager and Coach MeJunkin. Back row. left to right—
Shaver, Siari, Badley, Legler, D. Brown, Yeager, Canada,)•., B.
Bro«Tn and Callander. (Statesman Photo)
Football started in McCall in 1936. Eddie Neyman was the first coach. Two games were played tl
year, five games the second year and from then on it became a regular season.