By Al Rabenold
Where were you on Friday, November 22, 1963?
For many of us “baby-boomers” this was one of those frozen-in-time moments that you never forget.
Fifty-nine years ago, I was a 12-year-old 7th grader. Shortly after 12:45 p.m. I walked out of the north end of the Junior High Library where some of the freshmen girls had been listening to music on what we called a “transistor radio” or “pocket radio”. I remember the shocked look on their faces as their music was interrupted by a news bulletin stating, “the President has been shot!”
The Montezuma high school girls and boys basketball games scheduled with BGM were called off and the Hawkeyes football game vs. Notre Dame on Saturday was also canceled. The U of Iowa burned all the game-day programs that had been printed for that game.
But the NFL still played their professional games on Sunday, less than 48 hours after President Kennedy was slain. NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle said, “It has been traditional in sports for athletes to perform in times of great personal tragedy. Football was Mr. Kennedy’s game. He thrived on competition.” Personally I disagree with the NFL’s choice.
JFK’s presidential press secretary, Pierre Salinger, also thought that the games should be played. “Absolutely, the right decision,” said Salinger. “I’ve never questioned it. This country needed some normalcy, and football, which is a very important game in our society, helped provide it.”
Of course, there was nothing normal about that Sunday. Less than an hour before kickoff, Jack Ruby shot Lee Harvey Oswald – live on national television. I saw it all unfold on a small black and white TV at Minnie Ferneau’s house on North 3rd Street.
On Monday, November 25th, the Montezuma businesses closed between 9:30 and 11:30 a.m. A memorial service for the slain President was held at 10:00 a.m. in the high school gym with a large number of students and community members in attendance.
Next year will mark the 60th anniversary of this event. It will be interesting to see how our country remembers it and pays tribute to the legacy of JFK as Americans born prior to 1955 make up less than 25% per cent who remember exactly where they were or what they were doing when they heard that President John F. Kennedy was shot.