Ballwin woman honored for life-saving actions

 (This story with 2 of my 6 photos appeared very recently in  print and online for West Newsmagazine)

The Ballwin Board of Aldermen kicked off its Aug. 14 meeting with a trifecta of honors for resident Debra Belobraydich.

While walking her dog, Belobraydich was approached by a woman along Kehrs Mill Trail, who asked if she could help at a nearby subdivision pool.

“Honestly, I didn’t think it was an emergency at first because she just asked if I could help at the pool,” Belobraydich recalled. “Then, when she said someone was drowning, the first thing I did was just run straight to the pool. It kind of all unfolded from there. I kind of went into an adrenaline mode of whatever I needed to do to help with the situation.”

The person drowning was an 11-year-old girl who had sunk to the pool’s bottom. Belobraydich acted quickly to save her life.

At the meeting, she noted that the incident occurred at a swim-on-your-own subdivision pool with ‘No Lifeguard on Duty’ signs.

According to Metro West FPD Capt. Matt Coppin, Belobraydich made several perfect spur-of-the-moment decisions in the life-saving scenario.

“There were other people in the pool, but nobody was feeling comfortable to go get the girl at the bottom of the pool,” Coppin said. “Debra saw what needed to be done and didn’t hesitate. She jumped in and got the girl out of the pool. Not only that, (but) what impresses me the most was her ability to think through the logistics of what needed to happen next. She checked to make sure 911 was on the way. She made sure the ambulance went to the pool. She organized kids to be ready with the words, ‘Don’t let the ambulance pass you! Stand in the street to let them know we are here.’

“She also rolled the girl on her side to make sure the water came out from her mouth. She knew what to do to organize the people that were there. For somebody who is untrained, that’s incredible! Without a doubt, Debra is the reason that girl is alive today. There’s no question about that.”

Ballwin Police Capt. Jon Bergfeld was in total agreement with Coppin’s assessment.

“You hear all the time how citizens stand by and expect somebody else to take action, and a tragedy occurred because no one would do that,” Bergfeld said. “As Matt Coppin said, sometimes you just need a leader in those situations, and it’s the unknown heroes who will step forward and say, ‘Go wait for the ambulance or fire truck to show up.’” 

While presenting Belobraydich with her second plaque of the evening, Bergfeld added, “You are a role model to our citizens here. Because of your willingness to act, a positive outcome occurred here. On behalf of the Ballwin Police Department, we’d like to award you the Citizens Service Citation.”

It was Mayor Tim Pogue’s honor to follow up with a proclamation from the city, after which laughter filled the room when it was questioned as to whether or not the Belobraydich family had enough wall space to sport all those honors.

Coppin noted that, within a few days, the young girl walked out of the hospital in good health. He stressed that, contrary to popular opinion, it’s rarely apparent or obvious to bystanders when someone is drowning.

He said drownings are silent events despite movies showing a person splashing around and yelling for help. When somebody is drowning, he said, they’re doing everything they can just to keep their head above water. So, they don’t have extra energy to splash around and yell for help.

“As a fire department, we teach CPR, ‘Stop the Bleed’ and other safety courses,” Coppin said. “Also, everyone who graduates high school now has to have a CPR class. Metro West, Red Cross and American Heart offer them, too. There are lots of options to get that education. But those courses don’t work unless somebody takes the initiative to act. A lot of times, people think, ‘I’m not trained, I don’t know what I can do.’ But if it’s a bad situation, you’re not going to make it worse. Maybe you’ll act and make it better.”

Belobraydich said the experience was overwhelming.

“You never expect to go through a situation like that and it’s nothing you plan for. I feel like God was truly with me that day, and I’m so blessed that she’s OK. It’s nice to have a community that supports you like this but nobody really has to go and honor or recognize me.”

 

Tony Gwynn: A Gem On and Off the Diamond

(Here's an article I produced on one of my favorite athletes of all time for the May 1988 edition of The Sports Journal of Calgary, Alberta. The story is just four seasons into the lengthy, 20-season Hall of Fame career of the man who barely made it to age 54.)

                                                                      (Breitbart photo)

Those who claim that all high-salaried players are self-serving primadonnas don't know Tony Gwynn.  But that unfamiliarity of personality should not be surprising considering how few people are even aware of Gwynn's on-the-field talents.

Gwynn's accomplishments are staggering! In his four years with the San Diego Padres, the 27-year-old rightfielder has compiled a .335 career batting average, including a pair of batting titles. His .370 batting mark last year was the National League's best since Stan Musial's .378 in 1948.

"He's amazing at the plate," Padres infielder Mike Flannery said. "He does everything right.  He'll get a hit on an incredible pitch; maybe one theat's busted him inside, and all of us on the bench will look at it and shake our heads.  It happens all the time."

But there's far more to Gwynn's abilities than making contact at the plate. He also earned his second straight Gold Glove and swiped 56 bases last year, second only to the Cardinals' Vince Coleman. Gwynn's seen All Star Game action all four seasons as well.

"If I had nine Tony Gwynn's suiting up every day, I wouldn't have to manage them a minute," said Padres skipper Larry Bowa. "His work ethic and every day contribution is just incredible!"

In addition to all of Gwynn's baseball accomplishments, which also included a trip to the World Series in his rookie season, Gwynn is the ultimate role model for other young players.

"I've never in my life seen anybody with Tony's work habits and dedication--and his desire to improve," teammate John Kruk said. "It's infectious!  You can't help but want to adopt his habits.  He's inspiring!"

Gwynn's list of good deeds involving the fans and the media probably even surpasses his baseball statistics.

When a couple players turned down an interview at Yuma (Arizona) Junior High School, Gwynn accepted and turned a 10-minute session into a comical half hour.  In fact, Gwynn's the man that Padres assistant public relations director Mike Swanson looks to when other teammates are unavailable to the press. 

Gwynn's love for children has led to personal sacrifices like missing a late night meal in St. Louis to satisfy dozens of autograph seekers in the streets after complaining to San Diego pitcher Greg Booker of being starved. Gwynn also suffered emotional pain while visiting a home for abused children in Las Vegas.

"That's just me," Gwynn said.  "I can't stand when people think baseball players are better than anybody else. I realize how lucky I am.  But I was raised to believe that you treat people as you'd want to be treated. That's all I do.  That's easy."

Who is afraid of the big, bad wolf? Not Regina Mossotti

 (This ran in West Newsmagazine last month...from the TedTalks event held at Chaminade.)

A constant stream of howling emanated from the second row as soon as Regina Mossotti’s name was announced at the TEDxStLouis presentation on May 13. It was fitting, given that her talk was titled “Who is Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf?”

“Raise your hand if you’ve ever seen a movie or read a story with a big, bad wolf in it?” Mossotti, former Director of Animal Care and Conservation at the Endangered Wolf Center (EWC), asked the audience.  She then shared how movies perpetuate a negative image of wolves, showing them as scary animals, snarling and often covered with blood. She said those images portray the wolf as something to be feared, and if we fear something, we don’t want to save it.

But Mossotti grew up seeing wolves and other wildlife in a far different light. 

Regina Mossotti at work caring for a wolf pup (Photo provided)

“I started to suspect, from a young age, that what I was hearing about wolves wasn’t right.  See, I grew up in a part of Ballwin that, back then, had hundreds of acres of woods and farmland behind it. I played in the streams, climbed trees and went fishing with my dad,” she said. “I was always out exploring nature out in the woods with neighborhood kids every single day in the summer.  After school, I’d come home, throw my backpack in the door and we’d be outside again.  

“Being in the woods and observing gave me empathy for wildlife. I saw the world in a different lens and tended to fall in love with animals that others shied away from or lived in fear of … snakes, frogs, spiders, you name it …. The underdogs of the natural world.”  

Mossotti vividly recalls a sixth grade assignment on future ambitions. While other students chose doctors, teachers, firefighters, ballerinas and astronauts, Mossotti brought her 5-foot-long pet black snake to school and spoke about becoming a herpetologist.

After graduating from Marquette High, Mossotti began her undergraduate studies at Webster University. Halfway through, she switched to Hawaii-Pacific University; then, headed to SIU-Carbondale for a Masters of Science in Zoology. After graduation, she started her Ph.D. at Oregon State University. When a position opened at the Endangered Wolf Center (EWC), Mossotti decided not to finish her Ph.D. 

“I had been lucky enough to work there when I was younger as a keeper, and got to see how special that place is, as well as its impact on conservation for endangered species. It was during the recession, and nonprofits like the EWC were having a really hard time. I wanted to go back and help it grow, focus on its conservation efforts and really bring the community into that effort.” 

In January 2011, Mossotti became the EWC’s director of Animal Care and Conservation. She helped its physical growth by managing construction of habitats for several different endangered species and growing its level of impact on the American red wolf and the Mexican wolf, two of the most endangered wolf species in the world. 

“For me, the American red wolf is so important because it used to be native to Missouri. You often hear about other countries needing to protect their wildlife, but here in our own U.S. backyard, we have animals that are on the brink of extinction.”

A family of red wolves (Source: EWC)

Mossotti shared the story of one such wolf, a pup named Max who came to the EWC with his brothers and sisters at about two weeks old. The goal was to transfer the pups to the care of a mother wolf near the border of Arizona and New Mexico. A GPS collar worn by the mother led them to her exact location.  

“As we approached, she took off,” Mossotti said. “Wolves are shy. They want nothing to do with people. They run away from us. Because of that, we needed to work quickly. Once we got there, we gave each of the pups a small microchip like your dogs or cats would get to keep track of them throughout their lives.” 

Then, they gently placed Max and the rest of the pups into the den so the mom could come home and take care of them. Rubbing dirt and urine on all of the pups helped to ensure they all smelled the same and increased the likelihood that the mother would nurture them all.  

About a year later, Mossotti said she was assisting in the annual wolf population survey. As she worked she checked the wolves for microchips and amazingly, she found Max. 

“Here, lying in front of me is a full-grown, healthy and handsome wolf,” Mossotti told the audience. “The last time I had seen Max, he was the size of a large potato. (Now) he was thriving, and there was even a female with the little Casanova.”

She described finding Max as one of the most moving moments in her career. 

“So many people had come together, working together to save an endangered species. They were making a difference, using what nature taught us .... Making sure that their children grew up to be safe, successful and secure, just like we do for our own kids. I want so badly to end the story here …,” she said. “… to leave you with the image of Max running free with his family.”

But sadly, a few months after seeing Max, she received news that he had been shot and killed. Someone saw him as something to be feared. 

But there is hope, she said. Today, there’s close to 100 wolf pups in the wild from over 10 different zoos across the country. And about 20% of the wild wolf pack is now led by a foster or its offspring. 

Mossotti said her favorite thing about wolves is observing their families together. They are very caring and nurturing, and wolves have similar family structures to humans. They teach skills to help their young protect themselves, work together, find food and raise their families. She noted that the strength of the pack is the wolf, but the strength of the wolf is the pack. 

“If we can see them differently, it will empower us and give us that empathy to say, ‘I want to do something for these animals’ because they’re not big and scary like we see on TV,” she said. That idea doesn’t just apply to wolves but also to a lot of different wildlife. 

“Being able to see how wildlife really is will help us to coexist with it,” she said. 

This spring, Mossotti was appointed the first woman vice president of Animal Care at the Saint Louis Zoo. While she really loved the EWC, she said it was the right time to make the move.

One of the projects she is excited to help with is the Zoo’s newly announced 2.8-acre Henry A. Jubel Foundation Destination Discovery. Built on the footprint of the former Children’s Zoo, where dinosaurs now roam (their last day in the Zoo is Nov. 5), Destination Discovery will feature immersive experiences and educational spaces alongside a network of treehouses, a walk-through aviary, a climb-through Tasmanian Devil exhibit, underground cities, river otter flumes and so much more. 

“It’s a big next step and I’m really excited to be able to help with that over the next several years,” Mossotti said. Destination Discovery is slated for opening in 2026. 

“We had a children’s zoo that we will always remember, but this one is going to be so innovative,” she said. “I’m part of the core team helping to design and implement the design in terms of building the staff, the different animal collection that we’re going to have, working with our architect firm on making sure that the habitats are big and beautiful for our animals.”

Recalling those days roaming the woods near her Ballwin home, Mossotti had some advice for young and old alike. 

“Just being out in nature really makes an impact. Going to zoos and seeing those animals, going to parks and hiking … whether it’s Forest Park or Elephant Rocks State Park … just getting out.  We have so many beautiful places in our state. Getting that connection with nature and finding that empathy with wildlife … It makes a big impact,” she said. “Also, it grounds you and is good for your mental health.” 

St. Peters resident LandSpeed Louise Noeth has a need for speed

 (This ran in MidRivers Newsmagazine from a  TedTalks event that I loved covering May 13 at Chaminade College Prep!)

“Buckle up, people!  You’re about to go on a very fast ride with me, LandSpeed Louise. I’m a gal with a Ph.D. from the University of Concrete and 458-mile-per-hour world land speed record!”

That’s how St. Peters resident Louise Ann Noeth began her May 13 Tedx St. Louis speech. She set that record as a member of Team Vesco racing on Utah’s Bonneville Salt Flats in October 2001. The record still stands. 

“No one has been able to knock us off the top!” Noeth exclaimed. “To see how fast this really is, it’s about 300 miles from St. Louis to Chicago. It takes about 4 1/2 hours to get there. If I take you in our car, we’re going to get there in about 39 minutes!”

A lengthy round of thundering applause followed that explanation. 

According to Noeth, courage and curiosity are the hallmarks of every land speed racer. But also is the common sense to know when to take a calculated risk, because you can blow up a car in one run then have a lot  of time to think about it from your hospital bed.

Claiming the world record was a team effort, Noeth said. And, other than some piston-driven cars, the closest anyone has come to it is still about 20 mph off the mark. 

“Now, we want to be the first race car that goes over 500 miles per hour with a world record,” she said. “It would be a great accomplishment and it sets a goal.”

Born and raised in Evergreen Park on Chicago’s South Side, Noeth convinced the local street kings they should let her drive their fast, muscle cars as a teenager. She traded her talent, painting designs on their cars, for a chance to race. 

Eventually, she raced a 250-mile-an-hour, fire-breathing jet dragster all over North America with exhibition runs through the National Hot Rod Association (MHRA) on a quarter-mile track. She added elimination races and sold a lot of tickets at non-MHRA drag racing venues. That led to her awareness of automotive journalism. 

She started test driving cars, trucks and motorcycles and writing stories and taking photos for car report newspapers and magazines.

“When I went to the Bonneville Salt Flats for the very first time in the late 1990s, I met ladies who didn’t just wear helmets, but fireproof underwear! That’s why I’m here talking to you right now,” she told the captivated TEDx audience. “In 2020, I started doing a little research. I wanted to know how many women had actually driven on the Bonneville Salt Flats. As I peered deeper into this female lens, my head exploded when somebody told me that this picture I had taken of 20 female motorcycle racers had set more than 200 records … just this one group. I wanted to know how these women had actually set records on the Bonneville Salt Flats.”

Three months later, Noeth had documented more than 300 women racers, ages 16-80. Most had gone over 200 miles an hour; quite a few over 300 miles an hour; and a couple had knocked on 400’s door.  

“Who knew there were so many? Nobody knew … Until I started asking, none of us knew,” North said. 

Her passion for sharing the stories of women racers can be seen in her book, “Bonneville’s Women of Land Speed Racing.” It’s chock full of historical significance in regard to land speed racing and the women who Noeth says have been severely overlooked by everyone. 

“I’m a high-speed storyteller with a particular soft spot for women in racing because they have not just been overlooked, but forcibly and intentionally denied, sabotaged and wrecked,” Noeth said during a later interview. “What I said in the speech (is true), in stock car racing you see cars bang into each other, knock them into the wall and spin around. 

“I’m absolutely convinced that gender has absolutely nothing to do with skillfully operating any car, truck, motorcycle, plane or boat.”

She invited every woman in the TEDx audience to try her hand at land speed racing but noted that the only U.S. site to do so is Bonneville.

“And this place is so doggone big that if you can drive your car you drove here 100 miles an hour for more than a minute, with your eyes closed, you’ll never hit a darned thing,” she said. “I know. I’ve done it! 

According to the Bureau of Land Management, the Bonneville Salt Flats are “one of Earth’s most unique landforms.” They  are about 12 miles long and 5 miles wide,  located 120 miles west of Salt Lake City in Tooele County – and are mostly sodium chloride, or table salt. Since 1949, when the first Speed Week was held in Bonneville, the Salt Flats have been home to racing enthusiasts bent on seeing how fast they can go.

“There are no one-shot wonders here. Today, you will see anything out there that can run,” Noeth said. “If you can dream it up, build it and get it past the safety and technical inspections, you earn the right to go to the starting line.”

Noeth is an authority on Bonneville. In fact she wrote the book – or rather, books. “Bonneville: The Fastest Place on Earth” was published in 2002 by Motorbooks. “Bonneville Salt Flats,” published by Arcadia Press in 2020 traces 100 years of racing history. And then, there’s “Bonneville’s Women of Land Speed Racing,” published by Images of Modern America in 2021. 

“I had approached the publisher, Motorbooks, with a different idea because I was part of a team that helped build a car that was going after the first supersonic record back in the mid-90s,” Noeth said of her first encounter with her would-be publisher. “The publisher said nobody cares about that, and shut me down. About a month later, the editorial director said, ‘Well, I know we didn’t take you up on that idea, but would you like to write the history of the Bonneville Salt Flats?’ I pinged myself on the ceiling and tried to calm myself down because I was absolutely thrilled! 

“That’s how I got to be an author. I moved from magazines and newspapers to being a real life, honest to goodness author!”

More than that, she’s also an award-winning journalist and photographer whose works have been published by the New York Times, Sports Illustrated, The Late Show with David Letterman and others around the world. Noeth has also served on several auto industry technical committees developing self-regulating guidelines in tires, suspension and emission controls and contributed to regulatory discussions with the Secretary of Energy, which resulted in a shift in national policy. She is a recognized authority not only on racing but also the Bonneville Salt Flats and an avid supporter of their conservation (savethesalt.org).

“I have an enormous archive of files that I’ve been doing an inventory of – documents and articles, books and films, television shows I’ve helped produce, photos and details of radio interviews (connected to) the sport of land speed racing. I have 300 to 400 books and at least 400 or 500 films,” Noeth said. “There are places I’ve been quoted and articles I’ve written.”

She said one of her latest goals is to find a home for this rich history of racing “in a place where the general public can find it, access it and use it, because I’ve been collecting this stuff for over 40 years.”

“It’s one of the biggest private archives of land speed racing on the planet,” she said. 

Throughout her racing career, her husband, Mick Lanigan, has been at her side. 

“There’s no way I could have achieved as much as I have if I had not had the complete support and help of Mick. Early in our marriage (August 1992), I was all over the place and he was my constant supporter,” Noeth said. “Sometimes, all he did was babysit my photography equipment while I ran off and got a shot or did this or the other.  But he’s been my partner in this without a doubt.”

Local teacher seeks to raise awareness of kidney transplant need

 (My article as it appeared in the April 12, 2023 version of West and MidRivers Newsmagazines)

Every 10 minutes, another person is added to an organ donor transplant list. 

According to Organdonor.gov, that means more than 104,000 Americans are currently on the overall organ donor transplant waiting list. Sadly, 17 people die each day while awaiting a transplant. But for the most needed form of organ donation is for patients with kidney disease. As of January, well over 88,000 people are awaiting kidney transplants.

On March 27, Sanjana Ohri, a 24-year-old St. Charles County woman with cognitive and speech delays, was added to that list – and her mother, Pooja, a Fort Zumwalt School District teacher, stepped up her efforts to find her one. 

Sanjana’s kidney concerns were discovered by accident in 2009. 

“From the time they’re kids, we told our children to go to the bathroom, flush the toilet, wash their hands and come out, and that’s what Sanjana usually did,” Pooja said. “For some reason in 2009, she left without flushing, and when my mother (who was visiting from India) went to use the bathroom, she noticed that (Sanjana’s) pee was frothy, or bubbling, as if someone had opened a beer can.”

For awhile, Pooja said they didn’t give it a second thought. But after her parents left, they went to the doctor for Sanjana’s regular checkup and her doctor took a urine sample. That’s how her parents learned that Sanjana had too much protein in her system. They were directed to a nephrologist at SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital.

“The first thing he said was, ‘Your daughter will need a kidney transplant.’ I asked, ‘What’s the prognosis?’ He repeated, ‘Your daughter will need a kidney transplant.’ There was no sugar coating. I left the office wanting to find another doctor. We found one at St. Louis Children’s Hospital who said Sanjana would eventually need a kidney transplant.”

Sanjana’s biopsy showed she had focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS). Pooja stopped buying her processed food.  Instead, she cooked everything from scratch and added an exercise regimen to prolong Sanjana’s kidney function. But now, Sanjana’s reaching renal failure with functions down to the 20% mark, which is how she landed on the transplant list. 

It’s up to doctors to add patients into the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN). It’s a national computer system that puts patients in order on the waiting list and matches them to donors. Pooja said being disabled doesn’t move you to the front of the list. In Missouri, the wait for a deceased kidney donor is about three to seven years.

According to the Transplant Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital, many people who need a kidney transplant discover they have a friend or family member willing to donate. When a suitable living donor match is identified, the recipient could have transplant surgery in as quickly as 12 weeks. 

Pooja wanted to give Sanjana a kidney, but she was diagnosed with appendicular cancer four years ago. Sanjana would have had trouble fighting cancer cells. Pooja’s husband, Sanjeev, is pre-diabetic. So, he also wouldn’t be a good fit for kidney donation.

The family decided that they needed to get creative. 

“We decided to put up a Facebook page for her so we could spread the word that we’re looking for a living donor,” Pooja said. “But when you have no friends, no occupation and a very limited circle, who comes forward? You start relying on strangers.”

The hope is that someone will see the Facebook page and request being a donor for Sanjana specifically. Even if someone steps up who is not a perfect match for Sanjana there is hope through Barnes-Jewish Hospital’s paired-donor kidney transplant exchange program. 

According to the hospital’s website, in a kidney exchange, as in other living kidney donor transplants, a donor gives a kidney and a patient receives a transplant. The only difference is that the donor gives to a different person than he or she may have originally expected to help. That person, say Sanjana, would then receive a living kidney from a different donor that meets her match criteria, while the donor who didn’t match the criteria for Sanjana is able to donate their kidney to someone who is a match. The Barnes-Jewish program can pair living kidney donors with patients in the St. Louis region as well as across the country.

A person’s blood type is a key factor in identifying a potential donor. Sanjana’s blood type is B-positive. According to the OPTN website, people with blood type B often wait longer for a kidney than people with other blood types; it’s harder to find a donor with type B blood. It’s a popular type in the region for both potential donors and those needing transplants.

Pooja is hopeful that with increased awareness Sanjana and others like her will find their living match. 

She also wants people to consider being an organ donor upon death. It’s estimated that every deceased donor can save eight lives and enhance over 75 more. But that said, for donations after life, only three in 1,000 people actually become donors even though 169 million are registered, because the manner of death does not allow for continued viability of the organs meant for donation.

Awareness of the need is critical, Pooja said. 

National Kidney Month takes place each March but unlike the constant reminders of Breast Cancer Awareness Month in October or American Heart Month in February, there is virtually no mention of transplant waiting lists or kidney disease during March. The silence is madness for those affected but not surprising. 

After all, kidney disease is known as a “silent disease.” That’s because typically there are no symptoms in its early stages, and 90% of those who have chronic kidney disease don’t know they do until it’s highly advanced.

Risk factors, besides being over age 60, include high blood pressure, diabetes or heart disease. 

Urine tests and blood tests are good checks for major kidney issues. But in general, the best ways to help keep one’s kidneys healthy are having a diet that includes fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains and low-fat or fat-free products. The consumption of sugar and salt also should be limited. Taking one’s prescribed medicines, limiting alcohol intake and stopping smoking is also important.

Maintaining a healthy weight, being physically active at least 30 minutes a day, finding stress-reducing activities and getting at least 7-8 hours of sleep per night is generally helpful for overall health. So is asking good questions and seeking routine screening from your healthcare provider.

Like any mom, Pooja wants to do all that she can to help her daughter live a happy and healthy life. To learn about being a potential donor, call (314) 362-5365 and choose Option 4, “Sanjana Ohri” code: 7050.

Bob Gibson’s Fierce Determination Drove Fireballer to Honor in Cooperstown

 

(my article that appeared in the March 1981 issue of The Sports Journal of Calgary, Alberta Canada shortly after Gibson’s HOF induction)

     Few people can deny that Bob Gibson’s childhood set the tone for his fabulous baseball career.  He had to overcome the adversities of rickets, a heart murmur, pneumonia and the Omaha ghetto.

     Also, Gibson never used his impoverished youth as a crutch to keep him down. He went all out in school and athletics, and never gave up hope of escaping the ghetto. Probably more than anyone else in the history of sports, that same level of determination has persisted within him through the years.

     During his career, Gibson was 251-174 with a 2.91 ERA with 3,117 strikeouts and 56 shutouts. He had five 20-win seasons and could have had four others.

     In 1963, an 18-win season, a broken ankle caused Gibson a miserable April. In 1964, when he won 19, Gibby was kicked out of a game in the fourth inning with the Cards ahead 7-1.  In 1967, he was shelved for two months with a broken leg. In 1972, a rainout cost Gibson number 20.

     Gibby’s greatest regular season game? It was his 1971 no-hitter in Three Rivers Stadium against the then mighty Pittsburgh Pirates. His greatest season was 1968 with a 23-9 record and a modern-day 1.12 ERA, 268 strikeouts and 13 shutouts.

     The tougher the competiton, the higher Gibson rose to the challenge. He won seven straight World Series decisions, had eight complete games in just nine starts therein, a rock bottom 1.89 ERA with 92 strikeouts.  That included 17 in a 1968 contest against the Detroit Tigers.

     “Watching him pitch in 1968,” said former teammate and current Cardinals color commentator Mike Shannon, “was like watching Rembrandt paint a picture; especially with his performance in the 1968 World Series. I talked to a lot of the Tigers after the series, and they said they had never seen a pitcher more overpowering than Gibson was.”

     Gibson could hit and field as well.  His lifetime batting average of .206 includes 24 home runs—five  in two different seasons! His fielding prowess earned him none Gold Gloves.

     All these feats led former battery mate Tim McCarver to insist, “Bob Gibson is the greatest athlete I have seen in any sport.”  None other than Pete Rose, Lou Brock and Henry Aaron claim that Gibson was the most competitive.

     Gibson would almost always shun members of the press, and was even thought by his own teammates to be a loner. But that was part of his determination and single-mindedness. The night before he was to pitch, Gibby was always by himself, making mental preparations for his opponents.

     Even through all the animosity he created, no one could deny Bob Gibson his rightful place in the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Clarkson Valley mayor moves on after 34 years in service to the city

 (This appeared in West Newsmagazine a few weeks ago...just prior to the new municipal elections.)

Scott Douglass, Clarkson Valley’s one and only mayor to date, is set to retire following the election of a new mayor this April. 

His retirement will cap a 34-year career of service to the city. 

“The only thing older than me is dirt!” he jokingly exclaimed. Born on July 6, 1930, in Columbia, Missouri, Douglass has lived in West County since 1983. “Clarkson Road was barely paved and was a two-lane road when we moved here.” 

In 1989, Clarkson Valley went from village to fourth-class city and transitioned from government by a board of trustees to a mayor and aldermen. Douglass, who was chairman of the board, was voted in as mayor. 

“When we went from village to city, we obviously had some ordinances that came from the village. So, we didn’t have to start from zero, but we started from (the) 10-yard line because we had to establish ordinances, who we were and why we were,” Douglass explained. 

Clarkson Valley is a community of 2,609 people, according to 2020 census data. It borders Chesterfield, Ballwin, Ellisville and Wildwood. Within those borders are Marquette High, Crestview Middle, a Rockwood Early Childhood Education facility, Forest Hills Country Club, First Church of Christ Scientist, Mercy Clinic Family Medicine and the Masonic Temple Association of St. Louis. 

The city also has 14 subdivisions, with residential properties that sit on at least one acre. According to city documents, each subdivisions has its own set of rules concerning landscaping, fencing, annual assessments, et cetera. Each subdivision also owns and maintains its own roads, sidewalks and retention ponds.

As to why Clarkson Valley was founded, it all comes down to one word: protection.

“I’m proud of our main focus, which has three areas: safety and protection of the individual, protection of property values, and protection of the environment,” Douglass said. “For protection of the individual, we had the Ballwin police, and now the Chesterfield police.  

“For property, the city was organized on individual private, single-acre residential properties with no retail and no business, and we’ve maintained that. Obviously, we have a hospital on … Clarkson and Clayton. Come on, you don’t want a residential house there. So, that’s the reason we were able to negotiate putting the health center there, and a church and school down a little way.”

Douglass noted that in terms of environmental protections, the city pays for trash collection and “has sound ordinances.”  It also has farmland “still in Clarkson Valley just north of Marquette High School.”

While the city does employ a city clerk, much of its work is handled by citizen volunteers. 

“That’s one of the real advantages of a small city,” Douglass said. “People can get easily involved, and when they do, it really provides good service for everybody.

“It’s easy to be the mayor of Clarkson Valley because (residents) over the years have taken personal responsibility for themselves. That’s who we are. As the administration of this city (mayor and board), we are pleased to say we’ve certainly encouraged that by stressing that good government is less government.”

Douglass may have been destined for local leadership. 

“I always had in the back of my mind a couple ideas that flashed through me when I was younger. I thought I wanted to be a race car driver or a politician and/or president of a company.” He succeeded in the latter two. In addition to being mayor of Clarkson Valley, he was president of one of Southwestern Bell’s three St. Louis subsidiaries when they broke away from the monopoly into a private company. 

Sue McNamara (Ward 1) shared, “One of my favorite stories concerns the time a resident called him frantically about a very large and valuable ring that was inadvertently tossed and discovered missing after the holiday trash had been picked up. The mayor contacted the trash company, accompanied the resident and helped dig through the landfill. They found the ring! Who does that?”

In 2012, Douglass was the recipient of the Municipal League of Metro St. Louis’ annual Buzz Westfall Award for Excellence in Local Government. The plaque he received notes that the award is “‘in recognition of outstanding leadership and commitment to the City of Clarkson Valley, St. Louis County and the St. Louis Region.”

It gives you a good feeling that what you’re doing is important …,” he said. 

Another important endeavor in which he has succeeded is his devoted marriage. He and his wife, June, will celebrate their 66th wedding anniversary this year. He said retirement will mean more time to spend together and perhaps an easier daily schedule.

“At this stage, it’s all just a little too much,” Douglass said of his duties as mayor. “I feel like I still function well enough, but I can’t stay on it with sustainability. I wear out now.  It takes me too long to bounce back.  You know, you have a busy day with a lot of activity and it used to be, I’d get up the next day and be ready to go. It’s hard for me to do that anymore.”

Even so, he said he will continue to volunteer at Community Christian Church in Manchester. “I happen to be an honorary elder there … an elder emeritus,” he said. 

Alderman Gregg Bogosian (Ward 3) noted that the mayor leaves big shoes to fill. 

“As our first and to date only mayor, to say he’s going to be a hard act to follow is a pathetic understatement,” Bogosian said. “I feel sorry for our next mayor; kind of like being the next quarterback after Tom Brady. 

“His 34 years of service give him an unmatched amount of institutional memory, and we’ll be calling him for advice and guidance for years to come.”