1957 Daily Republic staff

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The 1957 staff of The Daily Republic.

Things have changed just a little, haven’t they?

Back in 1957, the dress code apparently included skirts for women and suits and ties for many of the men.

I still have to wear a tie, as do other male department heads, but you won’t see many suits and ties or skirts — especially ankle-length skirts — around The Daily Republic anymore.

In this photo, I’m guessing the woman on the far left is probably Florence “Floss” Ronald. Her husband’s father owned the paper for decades, and then she and her husband Malcolm owned it. After Malcolm died, she owned it herself for a time before eventually selling it in the 1960s, if I have my history correct.

I’m assuming this photo was taken at the old Daily Republic building near the Carnegie Library. That old Daily Republic building no longer exists — again, if I have my history correct — and Floss Ronald moved us to our current location in the 1960s, I think.

If anybody can identify any of the other people in this photo, or if my identification of Floss Ronald is wrong, please feel free to post a comment.

A young Brock Lesnar?

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Is this an image of a young Brock Lesnar wrestling in a South Dakota high school event? Leave a comment with your thoughts. (Image from The Daily Republic archives)

I found the image above while rummaging through an undated, unlabeled box of prints among our photo negative archives.

Having been a young wrestler myself when Brock Lesnar was in high school, I saw him in action on the mat many times. My first impression upon seeing this image was that it has to be Lesnar. The crew cut and the rest of his distinctive facial features are unmistakable. If it is him, the image must be from the early 1990s, when he was in high school.

But then my journalist’s skepticism crept in. Is it really Lesnar? I can’t say with 100 percent certainly. Maybe you can help.

For those who aren’t familiar with the name, Brock Lesnar grew up in Webster where he was a high school wrestler of some renown, known for his impressively muscled physique. He went on to wrestle at Bismarck State College, where he won a junior college national championship, and at the University of Minnesota, where he won a Division I national championship.

After that, he found fame in the World Wrestling Federation (since renamed to World Wrestling Entertainment) and the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

When Interstate 90 was young

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A Daily Republic file image of Interstate 90 under construction in 1966 at a location that was then south of Mitchell. Today, thanks to a development boom over the past 15 years, the interstate runs through Mitchell.

These aerial Daily Republic file images, which are scanned from 4×5 negatives, were shot in 1966 when Interstate 90 was being built near Mitchell. As you can see, there was no development around the I-90 area back then. But today, as we noted in a recent story, the area south of Interstate 90 accounts for about one-third of Mitchell’s sales economy.

A Daily Republic file image showing an aerial view of Interstate 90 under construction in 1966.

 

Daschle vs. Roberts, 1982

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In 1982, South Dakota’s two U.S. representatives faced an unpleasant reality. The state’s two House districts were being consolidated into one, so the state’s two congressmen would have to run against each other in a rare incumbent vs. incumbent battle.

The race pitted Tom Daschle, an Aberdeen-raised Democrat from the state’s eastern side, against Clint Roberts, a Presho-raised, mustachioed cowboy Republican from the state’s western side.

From the vantage point of today, most people would assume Daschle won big. It wasn’t so. He eked out a slight 4-percentage point victory, 52-48.

Daschle later moved on to the Senate and served through 2004, including a stint as majority leader. Roberts was never again elected to Congress.

But in 1982, as you can see in these images, they were both still very young with unknown futures.

JFK in Mitchell

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A Daily Republic image of John F. Kennedy’s 1960 visit to Mitchell.

Many presidents, future presidents and would-be presidents have visited Mitchell’s Corn Palace. Few generated as much excitement as John F. Kennedy.

In 2003, on the 40th anniversary of Kennedy’s assassination, I wrote a story about his Mitchell visit based on The Daily Republic’s original account of the event and fresh interviews I conducted with people who witnessed it.

Here’s how the story began:

The Corn Palace was probably as far away from Camelot as John F. Kennedy ever traveled, but one night 43 years ago, the East Coast politician appeared in Mitchell and tried to win the hearts and votes of rural South Dakota.

About 5,000 people crammed into the Palace to glimpse Kennedy, who was then a 43-year-old U.S. senator from Massachusetts. Another 1,500 people stood outside.

The date was Sept. 22, 1960.

Kennedy flew to Mitchell after a midday speech at Sioux Falls, where Vice President Richard Nixon had also made a campaign stop. On the front page of The Daily Republic, the rivals generated headlines that captured the essence of their opposite styles.

The story of Kennedy’s stopover in Mitchell began with a line that mirrored his youthful vision and vigor: “Food is Strength, Freedom And Peace, Kennedy Tells CP Crowd.”

The account of Nixon’s speech began with the sort of uninspiring, businesslike tone that might have been his downfall in the election: “Nixon Favors Effective Price Support System.” …

Read the rest here.

When we published that 2003 story, apparently nobody in the building was aware that we possessed a stockpile of photo negatives from Kennedy’s visit. Since becoming the editor of The Daily Republic in 2010, I found those negatives, including the one with this blog post.

If you’d like to read the full text of JFK’s 1960 speech at the Corn Palace, click here.

The Daily Republic at Super Bowl VIII

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A Daily Republic image from Super Bowl VIII.

We don’t get to many Super Bowls anymore. (That’s sarcasm, in case you didn’t pick up on it. We don’t really get to any Super Bowls, ever.)

So imagine my surprise when I stumbled upon an envelope in our box of 1973 negatives that was labeled “1973 Super Bowl.” Holding the negatives up to the light, I could tell the images were exactly as advertised. The word “Dolphins” was plainly visible in the end zone in one negative. In another, there was an image of the scoreboard. In another was a midfield shot of the NFL logo.

Why was The Daily Republic at the 1973 Super Bowl? Well, 1973 falls within the heyday of newspapering, so there was probably a lot more money available for trips. Also, the Vikings were playing in the game, and lots of Mitchell-area readers were therefore very interested. And it was in Houston, Texas, which is probably about as close as the Super Bowl gets to Mitchell.

Mostly, though, I’m guessing somebody at The Daily Republic took advantage of a connection to Joe Robbie, the then-owner of the Miami Dolphins, who had lived and worked as a lawyer in Mitchell during the 1940s.

As Vikings fans know all too well, the Dolphins beat the Vikes 24-7. The game was actually played in January 1974, at the end of the 1973 season.

Sadly, the envelope containing the negatives was creased, and some of the negatives were too damaged to scan. But some were salvageable.

Probably the coolest image I found, even though it’s not of great quality, is a shot of several people in what must have been the press area of the stands. In the middle of the photo is legendary broadcaster Howard Cosell.

Howard Cosell in a Daily Republic image shot at Super Bowl VIII.