“Not so bad – huh” Ray Snow, artist. Harrisburg Telegraph, PA, 1924. Library of Congress Prints & Photographs Division, Washington, D.C.
“Memory itself is an internal rumour.”
— George Santayana, Reason in Science, 1906.
1922 Was a Long Time Ago
Einstein theorized that both time and space are relative. One way each of us measures both time and space is by our personal memories. And just as we all have a storehouse of memories which we can use to measure how things used to be, America also has a national storehouse of collective memories. We hope that key elements of this individual and collective knowledge includes playing marbles[1].
The Way We Go About It
The U.S, National Marble Tournament started in 1922. Some sources report the start date as 1923. While researching this story we had a great time reading some of the original copy which was written and published in newspapers nation-wide. The Ray Snow cartoon at the top of this post is an example. It was published in the Harrisburg Telegraph in Pennsylvania in 1924 when the Tournament was only two years old.
We visited the Library of Congress at the Website Chronicling America[2]. If you have a few minutes to spare you might want to access this website, search, and read newspaper stories about marbles in the digitized original format. It is fascinating.
Chronicling America provides information about historic newspapers and The U.S. Newspaper Directory provides access to digitized newspapers from 1690 to the present. Newspapers are especially important in the story of the American Marble Tournaments since the National Tournament began “as the brainchild of the Scripps-Howard Company and rapidly became the most successful newspaper promotion in the history of American journalism.”[3]
We have two Marble Tournament Medals in our collection. Every medal you find, if genuine, offers a wealth of knowledge. In the second part of this story we explain how to research any medals you do acquire. This can be fun, engrossing, and surprisingly informative!
From the Horse’s Mouth
The place to start in considering marble medals is with the National Marbles Tournament Inc. in Wildwood, New Jersey.[4] Today boys and girls compete for national honors, college scholarships and numerous prizes and awards.
The Tournament reports that “The mibsters will play more than a 1,200 games over the four-day tournament. Champions selected from local tournaments held in cities and counties around the United States represent thousands of competitors and will converge on Wildwood for a week of serious marble competition and fun on amusement rides and boardwalk attractions.
The national committee operates the tournament which is composed of a group of volunteer men and women from around the country that have a common interest in the game of marbles.”
The National Marbles Tournament lists every national winner and his or her hometown. The boys winners start in 1922 with Bud McQuade of Baltimore and runs through 2019 when Spencer Hays of Gunnison, Colorado, won.
The Girls Have It!
Jean Smedley was girls champion in 1948. Jean was from Philadelphia. In 2019 Lauren Young of Frederick County, Maryland, won. We can only imagine that the Covid-19 pandemic closed the competition in 2020 – 2021; we are unsure of the games’ status this year.
Wait a minute! Why were boys playing in the National Championship for 26 years before the girls? Can’t girls and boys play championships together? Well, you can check the rules at the National Tournament website ; Chronicling America provides information about historic newspapers and The U.S. Newspaper Directory provides access to digitized newspapers from 1690 to the present. Newspapers are especially important in the story of the American Marble Tournaments since the
National Tournament began “as the brainchild of the Scripps-Howard Company and rapidly became the most successful newspaper promotion in the history of American journalism“[5] Remember, the championships themselves reflect who we are, who we were, and where we came from. “It is what it is.”
Some Other Neat Sources on National Marble Tournaments
A wonderful and well-written story by Stan Flewelling explores the early days of the National Tournament and it considers what we have lost along the way. The story is “Kings (and Queens) of The Ring” and it is published on the website of The Museum of American Glass in West Virginia in Weston.“[6]
This is the way Flewelling starts his story: “Not many people today have heard of the US National Marbles Tournament. Not much is written about it anymore. Sometimes it pops up as a feature in a kids’ magazine or TV show. A handful of newspapers run back-page stories about the finals in June each year. But playing marbles these days usually comes off as something cute and quaint – and obsolete. For all the enthusiasm that spins around marble collecting in our time, there’s just a small core of fans who still play the game and pass it on to new generations. It wasn’t always so.”
As Flewelling says not many of us know much about the National Marble Tournament. So we can only imagine that even fewer have ever heard of the Veterans of Foreign Wars National Marble Tournament! Its true: the VFW sponsored a Tournament from 1947 – 1962 which “helped World War II veterans re-integrate into society and taught boys life lessons “[7]
I Read It In the Newspaper So It’s Gotta Be True
Now we share the flavor of some of those online newspaper stories of long ago.
His name is Francis Kau. He was Chinese-American and in 1926 he came all the way from Honolulu to compete in the National Marbles Championship matches in Atlantic City, New Jersey. Now that is dedication! The winner in 1926 was William Harper of Bevier, Kentucky. The Winslow Mail [Arizona 1893 – 1926] 2 July 1926, Image
Times were hard in the Spring of 1945 and marble competition reflected the struggles: “Evidence of the manpower shortage is seen in the fact that for the second successive year a girl has won the East End school marbles competition in Roanoke, Va.” The Wilmington Morning Star [North Carolina 1909 – 1990] 29 May 1945, Page 4, Image 4.
Check this out! This is Raymond Ryabik, who was the 1946 National Champion. The caption reads that Raymond won the Championship in Cleveland, Ohio and he “…shows Mayor Lawrence of Pittsburg the finer points of the game. Raymond won a watch, bicycle and a fountain pen in addition to the crown he is wearing.” The Skyland Post [West Jefferson, North Carolina 193?-1988] 27 June 1946, Page 3, Image 3.
Stop the presses! He won a crown? Did he get to keep it like the bicycle? Where in the world is it now? Years ago we learned about an almost legendary antique marble tournament trophy (these are numerous now), but can you imagine finding a marble crown? If you, have one or someone in your family won one, please let us know!
Boys Wearing Crowns
The Museum of American Glass in West Virginia has a couple of photographs of boys wearing crowns.
For example check out this “Portrait of 1931 National Marble Tournament champion, Johnny Jeffries, Greenville.”[8] This Greenville is in Kentucky.
We will mention only one more story. Trust us; if you like history, enjoy reading about changes in the American culture, or just want to know more about marble championships, check out the Chronicling America archives.
National Marble Tournaments Bigger Than Football?
“Marbles as a Spectacle May Replace Football.” Bold headlines on the Sports page above the fold. From the very outset marble gaming, championships, and any level of marble competition were treated as legitimate sports in the papers. But replace football?
The story was written by W.O. McGeehan and it was published in the New York Herald [1920 – 1924] on 27 march 1922. The lede reads: “Outcry Against Gridiron and Other Strenuous Sports May Bring Ancient Game Into College Stadiums, Polo Grounds and [Madison Square] Garden.”
One line reads in part: “Do not be surprised if in the near future Madison Square Garden is packed to the rafters with spectators cheering on their favorite marble shooters….” Wow!
But we know that football remained king. So we wrap up this first part of the marble championship post. If you want to read about our two marble medals and how they fit into the history and culture of the time then check out the next story “What A Spectacle! The Rest of the Story“.
Comment:
“Great article!” Tom Felt, Museum of American Glass in West Virginia, Weston, WV
Footnotes for National Marble Tournaments
- Merle Haggard knew all about memories, time, and place. In his 25th number one hit, “My Favorite Memory of All,” in 1981, he sang: “I guess, everything does change except what you choose to recall.” ↑
- https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/ ↑
- “A Brief Description of American Marble Tournaments.” http://alronmarbles.com/players_origins_marble_tournaments.htm 3/3/2011 This paper reports, in more than one place, that the Tournament started in 1923. ↑
- https://www.nationalmarblestournament.org/ 8/11/2022 ↑
- We don’t have the answer for these questions, but consider them: Did boys and girls shoot together in competition on the local, state, or national level in the 1940s – 1950s? Were the local, regional, and national tournaments ever segregated; if so, when were the competitions integrated? ↑
- http://www.magwv.com/magmarble/kings_and_queens_of_the_ring.html 8/11/2022 ↑
- Kari Williams “Straight Shooters.” @ https://www.vfw.org/media-and-events/latest-releases/archives/2018/7/straight-shooters 8/11/2022 ↑
- Photograph used with permission. https://magwv.pastperfectonline.com/Photo/ABE66344-71C8-4235-81A7-388237262252 (8/11/2022). Thank you Tom Felt, author of L.E. Smith Glass Company: The First One Hundred Years & so many more glass and glass identification books. Always a gentleman and a scholar. ↑
