Once Upon a Time in the Vest

Monday, September 15, 2014

Vol. 4 No. 68 More Nike, Adidas, Tiger Shoe History

Without trying to be redundant, I'm combining pictures and letters from a recent posting along with this most recent letter from John Bork, Jr.   All the pieces should help us remember and maybe clarify the evolution of events around 1972 up through 1976 regarding the appearance of Nike on the scene.  The story came from my putting a picture of Jack Bacheler, Steve Prefontaine, and Jeff Galloway on our site showing the three of them side by side,  Prefontaine wearing Adidas, and Bacheler and Galloway wearing some early Nikes.  Phil Scott picked up on this and Rick Lower added understanding to the picture and now John Bork has helped with his input.  Thanks to all three.

Here's the picture that started this off:
Jeff Galloway, Steve Prefontaine, Jack Bacheler



George: Interesting article about Jack ! I could not help noticing in the picture of Jack, 
Pre & Galloway that Pre is wearing Adidas other two Nike???:)s  Phil Scott



9:28 AM (6 hours ago)
to pdscott
Phil, thanks for pointing that out.  This is probably around 1972.  I think Pre wore Adidas at Munich.  
Don't know about Bacheler and Galloway.   The shoe business was in transition then with Nike coming
 on the scene, we'd have to review pictures of these guys from 72 to 76 to try to follow the transition.  
Probably some pictures would be deceptive as they may have just been 'trying out the new shoes'.   
I'll write my friend Rick Lower at Nike to see what he has to say


George-


Hi!
Phil’s question is a good one, and a story that I use all the time to reinforce Nike’s mission of making 
athletes better. As you know, Pre was uncompromising in every way, and that extended to his 
footwear. Bowerman worked very hard to get Pre into his handmade shoes, and Phil did the same 
with the imported Tiger product. Both products were simply not good enough for him, and he really 
helped pushed BRS to get better. He didn’t start regularly using our product until 73’. Adidas spikes  at 
that time were so superior to ours, that no one would risk switching. Training shoe selection depended 
on how important cushioning was to you. The Adidas shoes were much better constructed regarding 
fit/upper comfort, but lacked cushioning for high mileage. Our product lacked the crafted construction, 
but had better cushioning. Pre, being more of a middle distance guys was more suited to Adidas 
product.


It’s ironic that now we dominate with our spikes, and still struggle with hard core runners preferring 
our training product.

Looking at the photo, I’m guessing it might have been taken at the 72’ pre-Olympic camp in Maine. 
At that time there was early Nike product being used by top athletes. The Obori flat was our first legit 
racing product. Also, Galloway was a close friend of Geoff Hollister, so he probably was a pipeline for 
early footwear on the Florida TC guys.

Take care!


Rick











Below  from the website Arkamix



The Nike marathon shoe Obori, borrows its name from the Obori (officially pronounced Ohori), park
situated within  the running course.
Because the shoes were originally launched from Onitsuka Tiger shoes, a championship held in Japan
became  the origin for its name. However, when Jon Anderson wore the Nike Obori and won the Boston 
Marathon Nike decided to change the name into Boston !Whatever the background and trivia, these shoes 
were named Boston by the goddess of Victory who smiled upon Anderson :)








Here is John Bork's letter:



Dear George:

Munich 1972 is pre-Nike. I think that I can say as the USA Onitsuka-Tiger Representative
that there was not a single pair of Nikes available to the Olympians at Munich.

Shorter had worn Tiger Bostons for training and the Tiger Ohbori for racing.
The Ohbori was a Tiger Model. It was actually designed specifically for Frank Shorter's foot
on Onitsuka's Glass-Foot X-Ray pressure plate technology.
 He was fitted with this shoe during one of his 2 victories at the famous Fukuoka Marathon.
I am not sure that Nike  ever copied the Ohbori. 
However, they did make copies of the Onisuka Tiger Boston, Cortez, and Marathon. 
In their lawsuit in 1973-1974 they.claimed that they owned the designs and names. Both companies 
continued to produce these three designs side by side.
But, Nike won the right to the names only.................................., (Long Story)

However, at Munich Tiger was not paying athletes so, Adidas made a copy of the
Tiger Ohbori for Frank which he won the marathon in. 
Before and thereafter Frank wore nothing but Tigers .

Kenny Moore and Jack Bacheler ran the Munich Marathon in Tiger Shoes.  All were
 training in Tigers.

However, Frank Shorter Wore Adidas Spikes  in the 10,000M and Prefontaine wore
Adidas Spikes in the Munich 5,000M

I do not have a recollection of what Galloway's shoe preferences were. I think early on he
wore Tiger and then switched to Nike's when he got into the Retail running shoe business himself.

Going back to Mexico City in 1968 -  Jack Bacheler made the final in the 5,000M wearing
Tiger "Mexico 
68 Spikes,.Maroon with white stripes. 
Jack got Dysentary aka: Montezuma's Revenge and could not  make the start for the 5K. 
Bill Toomey also wore Onitsuka-Tiger Spikes in the Decathlon Pole Vault to make a statement that
he was not taking money. 
( Wade Bell also could not make the 800M final due to Montezuma's Revenge,)

Sadly the USA Medical and Training Staff did not provide our team with meds that could ward off the 
dysentary. For myself, I went to our Strider Doctor, Harry Silver who prescibed me Entroviaform to
take 
every day in Mexico City and also, Lomotil to plug me up if I started to "run" . I only had to use the
 Lomotil one day the next day I was back to normal.. Stupid, Stupid, Stupid.   (Can you imagine the 
homestretch run bewtween Wade Bell (Oregon) and Ralph Doubell (Australia), if Wade Bell had been 
able to run the 
final?)

Over the years, I was Jack Bacheler's primary supplier for his training and racing shoes thru 1976.  
Like a lot of runners he was probably not adverse to trying new shoes like the Nikes from time to time.
But, throughout his career he wore Tiger's..

Shorter's training preferance for years was the Tiger Boston. I was a little worried about this since it
 had onlya 1/2 in heel but, I Frank had great biomechanics, was light in weight and never had a 
problem. The cushioning was adequate for him, as well.

Coming into the 1976  Montreal Olympics , Nike was coming on and getting athlete's attention,
At the1976 Olympic Marathon Trials in Eugene Trials I lost almost all of my 30-40 marathoners to
to new Nike Waffle racer. But, while this shoe worked well for shorter races like the 10K
on both roads and track., At Eugene the vast majority of the contestants got waffle pattern of
blisters on the bottom of their feet. 
So, I got back all the guys back in the near future. Shorter However, was feeling neglected by
Tiger ,who would not let me deal directly with Frank until he switched to Nike prior to the 1976 
Olympic Trials. When we lost Frank, Mr. Kitami, our Export Director, urged me to engage Frank. 
Frank explained to me that part of his reason for switching to Nike was that so many of the 
best runners were going Nike and he had great guilt about not convincing Pre the night he died to 
allow Frank to drive him home. And, Pre along with Kenny Moore, etc.were Oregon guys.

But, Frank had a clause in his "Nike contract"  in 1976 that allowed him an out if the shoes did not  meet 
his satisfaction .
At Montreal, where Frank and his Wife were staying at the Nike "compound: called me about 10 days 
before the marathon and explained that the Nike Marathon Flats were not owking fopr him. They were 
making a new pair of racing flats each day for about a 10-14 day period,. All of the shoes stretched out or, 
in other ways were not comfortable to Frank. 
So, he called me and asked if we would supply him with his personal Ohbori's if we'd compensate him in
the same manner that was called for in his Nike Agreement. 
Of, course, I agreed,.....stunned, as I was.  So we flew a staff member from Japan to LA with 2 pair of 
Ohboris. And Peter Sakurai flew to LA to meet him and bring the shoes back to Montreal where I
presentedthem to Frank. We did not know what Frank was going to wear for the marathon until he 
came out on the infield with all the competitors.  As he sat down to put on his racing flats we could 
not see him behind the field of milling runners til finally he stood up and came into view wearing a
 bright yellow pair of Tiger Ohbori's. Tiger's Not Nike's

Bill Rogers, Marathon -  also wore Tiger racing flats in the Montreal Olympics And before at the Trials.

At Montreal we had the following Runners in Tiger Spikes.

Lassee Viren - 5,000M and 10,000M. Double Gold

Frank (Paul?)  Geis - Oregon - 5K (Switched him from Adidas)

Duncan McDonald - Stanford - 5,000M finalist.

Bill Jankunis - High Jump Qualifying. (He stiffed me after agreeing to
                        wear Tiger, & making the finals by qualifying in Tiger HJ Shoes.
                        Then he stiffed me and wore Puma's in the Finals, taking money from us both.

Irena Szewinski,Poland Women;s 400M Champion in WR time: 49.28

There were others including Kenyans at 1500M  and 5000M who never ran their finals when
Kenya and most of the Balck African Nations boycotted the precense of the integrated N. Rhodesian team.
It was just non sense.  (the boycott I think was due to the New Zealand rugby team playing a game in 
South Africa. ed.  This would have been Henry Rono's chance to run in the Olympics.  In his book he 
states that Kenyan officials took a lot of money to pull out of the games.ed. )

I could be wrong but, I do not believe that any athletes ran finals in Nike Shoes. They were still a fledgling 
company as Shorter's troubles with his racing flats suggest.  Nike did not have acceptable spike shoes yet 
in 1976.

By 1980 Jimmy Carter disappointed us all by cancelling the Participation in the Moscow Olympics.
And, as a result, I had my program with Pony International cancelled when the USA and many others 
pulled out of the Games. (and now we are the ones with a presence in Afghanistan ed.)
That ended my life in the Athletic Footwear Industry and the stinit prior in 11977-78 with Runner's World - 
where I served as a member of the 10 man panel rating the top training and racing flats in the Runner's 
World Shoe Survery.  John Bork, Jr.   


from George Brose
Just a few weeks after the Montreal Olympics,  Frank Shorter appeared at the Charleston Distance 
Run in Charleston WV.  It was a fifteen mile race, which he won that year.  The night before the race, 
he gave a talk and was wearing a new pair of Nikes that no one had ever seen.   The main question 
asked after his talk was, :What are you wearing on your feet, Frank?   It was a pair of Nike Sting,  
green and orange.  We had never ever seen anything like this before.  Really a breakout color design.   
I don't know if he wore them in the race,  probably not.   I have a pictureof him taken at Boston in 1978, 
and he was wearing the familiar yellow and blue Tigers.  


 
Nike Sting   circa 1976


George: I enjoyed John Bork Tiger shoe history. Being a multi event athlete I had a bag full of shoes
 (sprint shoes,hj, sp&d, jav, training shoes) I won nationals twice. Never  received even a shoe lace
 ,never expected anything. If I would have got $ for wearing a mfg.
 Shoes. I would have used money to buy more shoes:) I WORE PUMA, ADIDAS, TIGER & NIKE in
 one   Decathlon. 
  Phil Scott, 

Vol 4. No. 67 The Bob Schul Invitational Cross Country Meet West Milton , Ohio

 The following article appeared recently in the Dayton Daily News.


Good as gold: Schul gives back to hometown



Related

Good as gold: Schul gives back to hometown photo
Jim Witmer
The last five years Bob Schul (left) has attended the Bob Schul Invitational cross country meet held at his alma mater, Milton-Union High School. Schul stands next to the t-shirt and book stand for hours signing autographs and talking to the runners. This is the 50th anniversary of Bob Schul’s gold medal victory in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. JIM WITMER / STAFF
Good as gold: Schul gives back to hometown photo
Jim Witmer
The last five years Bob Schul (left) has attended the Bob Schul Invitational cross country meet held at his alma mater, Milton-Union High School. Schul stands next to the t-shirt and book stand for hours signing autographs and talking to the runners. This is the 50th anniversary of Bob Schul’s gold medal victory in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. JIM WITMER / STAFF
Staff Writer
WEST MILTON — 
Days prior to his historic gold medal run in the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo, Bob Schul received a message from the residents of West Milton. Thousands signed a telegram in support of their hometown hero.
Fifty years — and one gold medal later — Schul has never forgotten that gesture.
For the past seven years Schul has thanked the town in a fitting way: One autograph at a time at the cross country meet in his honor, the Bob Schul Invitational.
On a hot and humid Saturday morning, Schul stood for nearly five hours signing shirts, shoes, meet ribbons, medals, trophies and his book for many of the 1,250 runners at one of the biggest meets in Ohio. He’s likely signed more than 5,000 autographs since time commitments eased allowing him to return to the meet in 2008.
“It’s a way to give back. When I ran I received a telegram from the people of West Milton who signed it and it was 30 pages long,” Schul said. “Thousands of people signed that. That was meaningful to me. Miami University did the same thing. When you get that prior to the race, you know it’s not just for you. It’s for everybody. It’s just a wonderful feeling.”
Meet and greet
As Schul posed for a photo with a Versailles boy, he asked how fast the student ran.
“Not as fast as you,” he replied, drawing a bigger smile and a laugh from Schul.
As he signed a medal for an Oakwood girl, he told her she could sell that autograph for $10 in the United States. He told her take it to Europe and she could sell it for $200.
“Wow, really?” she said in disbelief.
“He’s very nice,” said Milton-Union sophomore Kira Rohr. “It’s kind of funny to see all the people like, ‘Oh my gosh, that’s Bob Schul.’ We’re just like yeah that’s Bob. He came from here.”
Schul, who turns 77 on Sept. 28, always did put on a great show at the track. His own cross country career started with West Milton’s inaugural team in 1951. He finished seventh in the state as a senior in 1955, having no idea at the time how far the sport would eventually take him.
He was a walk-on with George Rider’s Miami University team but quickly established himself with the school record in the mile as a sophomore (4:12.1). He joined the Air Force in 1959 and trained under Max Truex, who later introduced Schul to legendary Hungarian coach Mihaly Igloi. Igloi’s innovative training techniques helped Schul gain international success with the legendary Los Angeles Track Club, including a 5,000-meter bronze medal at the 1963 Pan American Games.
Schul returned to Miami that fall and — despite having to train in a harsh Ohio winter — continued his course for Japan by winning the United States three-mile indoor championship.
Both Sports Illustrated and a panel of writers from Track and Field News picked him to win the 5,000 in Tokyo on Oct. 18. He’s the only American runner ever to be the favorite in a distance event.
Schul — confident but not cocky from an undefeated 1964 season from one mile to 5,000 meters — knew he would win. With half a lap left he momentarily had his doubts.
Australian Ron Clarke fell off the pace, leaving France’s Michel Jazy in front on the bell lap. Schul, waiting patiently in fifth, matched Jazy’s sprint and increased his lead on New Zealand’s Bill Bailley. Schul breezed past fellow American Bill Dellinger and Russia’s Nikolay Dutov on the backstretch. He caught West Germany’s Harold Norpoth in the final turn for second.
The only thing between Schul and history was Jazy and a frantic sprint to the finish. Schul, known for his legendary kick, ran down Jazy with 50 meters left to win in 13:48.8. Jazy was also passed by Norpoth (silver) and Dellinger (bronze) in a photo finish at the line.
“Down the back straight I wasn’t catching Jazy. He had good speed,” Schul said. “It wasn’t until I got passed Norpoth after the turn. Then I could see Jazy was tightening up. I thought to myself, ‘I can get him now.’ He just fell apart. It’s hard to understand.”
Hometown pride
In the athletic entrance at Milton-Union High School is a ceiling to (almost) floor banner celebrating Schul’s accomplishments. A Plexiglas case will soon join it. Schul is donating his Olympic uniform and shoes for display.
That’s not the only thing on display at Milton-Union, thanks to Schul. The popular cross country course that starts in a pasture and weaves through the woods and the Bulldogs’ recently refurbished all-weather track can be attributed to Schul as well.
“I don’t think we’d be lucky to have the facilities, and the tradition obviously, without Bob,” cross country coach Mike Meredith said. “Having Bob back at the meet is awesome to be able to put on a quality event. To be able to let some young kid experience meeting a gold medalist is very satisfying for him. He’d do it without any recognition.”
Schul’s gold medal dreams didn’t start until he was a sophomore at Miami. Teammates took turns sharing their goals one night. League championships and personal bests were tossed around. Schul was the last to go.
“It came to me and I said, ‘I’d like to make the Olympic team one day.’ Everyone laughed,” Schul said. “I don’t blame them for that. To them it was just ridiculous.”
As a youngster, even Schul couldn’t have imagined beating the world’s best. He almost died twice as a baby from severe asthma. Growing up on the family farm on Iddings Road didn’t help his condition. Sometimes he would wear his uncle’s World War I gas mask working in the fields.
Often, when an attack would happen, Schul would force himself to lay still and keep calm to conserve his oxygen. That mental toughness served him well in his racing.
“In some of those instances I thought I was going to die,” said Schul. “It’s like you’re trying to breathe through a straw. You want to fight. You want to roll around but you can’t because that uses oxygen. You have to force yourself to lay still and breathe as deep as you can. If there’s a good thing that came out of my running, that was probably it.”
Comeback cut short
Schul’s international running career came to an end in 1965. Knee pain, other ailments and his asthma left Schul struggling. He made an attempt at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico but an asthma attack limited him to fifth in the trials.
Schul started Wright State University’s cross country program in the early 1970s. He taught in the Dayton City School system, coached cross country programs at Brookville, Centerville and Wayne, ran the Bob Schul Racing team and owned a shoe store in Troy.
His best advice for runners?
“I always tell my runners you have to have some ego. It doesn’t mean you have to shout from the rooftops,” Schul said. “When you go into a race you’ve got to know you can win this thing. There’s nothing wrong with that. I didn’t go into a race looking at everybody and saying, ‘Well, I’ll see you at they finish line.’ I never thought about that. To me it’d be demeaning. But when I went into a race in 1964, after the indoor season, I’d knew I’d be tough to beat.”

Gold medal celebration
To commemorate the 50th anniversary of Bob Schul’s gold medal in the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, Bob Schul will be hosting a party on Saturday, Oct. 18 for family, friends, running teammates, etc. To RSVP, email bobschul@sprintmail.com as soon as possible so a suitable location can be reserved.
BOB SCHUL BIO
World, American records
American Indoor: 3-mile — 13:31.4 (1964)
World Record: 2 mile — 8:26.4 (1964)
American Record: 5,000 meters — 13:38.00 (1964)
American Record: 3-mile — 13:15 (1964)
American Record: 3 mile — 13:10.4 (1965)
Championships
1963 USA Indoor 3-mile (1st)
1963 Pan-Am Games: 5,000 meters (3rd)
1964 USA Outdoors: 5,000 meters (1st)
1964 Olympics: 5,000 meters (1st)
1965 USA Outdoors: 3 mile (1st)

Vol. 4 No. 66 Brits Pub Pole Vault Video

Michael Reneau  (Twin Cities Track Club) 

has sent us a nicely produced video of the Brits Pub pole vault gathering in Minneapolis.

Thanks Mike





George-

Here is the video we had produced about the Pub Vault:


Enjoy!
Mike


from Ernie Cunliffe:

 Many might be seeing women vaulting for the lst time, but back in 1959 in Stockholm Sweden there was a women's pole vault
competition but since I was unfamiliar with metric heights I can not tell you how high they vaulted.
I would guess around 3 meters which is close to 10 feet.

Sunday, September 14, 2014

Vol. 4 No. 65 Jack Bacheler Still Setting Records

Part of our job here at Once Upon a Time in the Vest is keeping you posted on what people who once set records on the track are doing in the present.  Here is one of those stories, brought to our attention by Bruce Kritzler.   The subject is Jack Bacheler former Miami of Ohio, Florida Track Club and US Olympian (Marathon, 1972, 9th place 2hr 17 min 38.2)  .
Jack and Frank Shorter

Jeff Galloway, Steve Prefontaine, Jack Bacheler

This picture sparked the following question from Phil Scott in Englewood , OH.


George: Interesting article about Jack ! I could not help noticing in the picture of Jack, 
Pre & Galloway that Pre is wearing Adidas other two Nike???:)



George Brose irathermediate@gmail.com

9:28 AM (6 hours ago)
to pdscott
Phil, thanks for pointing that out.  This is probably around 1972.  I think Pre wore Adidas at Munich.  
Don't know about Bacheler and Galloway.   The shoe business was in transition then with Nike coming
 on the scene, we'd have to review pictures of these guys from 72 to 76 to try to follow the transition.  
Probably some pictures would be deceptive as they may have just been 'trying out the new shoes'.   
I'll write my friend Rick Lower at Nike to see what he has to say


George-


Hi!
Phil’s question is a good one, and a story that I use all the time to reinforce Nike’s mission of making 
athletes better. As you know, Pre was uncompromising in every way, and that extended to his 
footwear. Bowerman worked very hard to get Pre into his handmade shoes, and Phil did the same 
with the imported Tiger product. Both products were simply not good enough for him, and he really 
helped pushed BRS to get better. He didn’t start regularly using our product until 73’. Adidas spikes  at 
that time were so superior to ours, that no one would risk switching. Training shoe selection depended 
on how important cushioning was to you. The Adidas shoes were much better constructed regarding 
fit/upper comfort, but lacked cushioning for high mileage. Our product lacked the crafted construction, but had better cushioning. Pre, being more of a middle distance guys was more suited to Adidas product.

It’s ironic that now we dominate with our spikes, and still struggle with hard core runners preferring 
our training product.

Looking at the photo, I’m guessing it might have been taken at the 72’ pre-Olympic camp in Maine. 
At that time there was early Nike product being used by top athletes. The Obori flat was our first legit 
racing product. Also, Galloway was a close friend of Geoff Hollister, so he probably was a pipeline for 
early footwear on the Florida TC guys.

Take care!


Rick
Jack at Miami of Ohio

This article appeared October 23, 2013 on the North Carolina State University website.

Entomologist is State Fair’s giant pumpkin king

Date posted: October 23, 2013
bacheler with the pumpkin(Natalie Hampton photo)Entomologist Jack Bacheler raised the State Fair's champion pumpkin, weighing 799.6 lbs.
As an Extension entomologist at N.C. State University, Dr. Jack Bacheler helps folks grow crops without giving up too much to insects that feast on plants. This year, Bacheler himself has a gardening success story – he is the proud producer of the State Fair’s biggest pumpkin.
Bacheler’s pumpkin, raised in the backyard of his Clayton home, tipped the scales at 799.6 lbs. Since the start of the State Fairon Oct. 17, he has spent a little time in the Exposition Building with the winning pumpkins, telling his story and sharing tips with others. On a recent morning, folks posed for photos and asked Bacheler lots of questions about his pumpkin.
For three years, Bacheler tried his hand at growing big pumpkins, but the first two years he didn’t have much success. Groundhogs attacked his pumpkins, so this year he protected the pumpkins with reinforced fencing.
Bacheler says there is much information available on the Internet on growing big pumpkins. And though the biggest pumpkin raised in the state was over 1,000 pounds, states like Ohio regularly produce pumpkins in the 1,500-pound range.
Bacheler started the pumpkin seeds indoors and transplanted young plants into the garden in May. By late June, the first female flowers were pollinated, and then the real work of raising the pumpkins began. July through September, Bacheler said he spent about an hour and a half every evening tending his pumpkins.
“It made it impossible to even go on vacation,” he said.
Water and fertilizer are keys to producing a big pumpkin, Bacheler said. He used a drip irrigation system to feed the pumpkins with water, fertilizer and pesticides. Starting with good genetic stock also helps – Bacheler said he paid $40 for two seeds from a parent pumpkin weighing 1,500 pounds.
“Pest management is a problem. Insects are my kind of things, so they were easier to deal with. But plant diseases are harder to manage,” he said.
The pumpkin was harvested by a small Bobcat that lifted the pumpkin by straps wrapped around it. Once it was raised, it was placed on a pallet so it could be moved by a forklift.
Before its debut at the State Fair, Bacheler’s pumpkin was weighed at the Yadkin Valley Pumpkin Festival. Getting it weighed early is important because pumpkins will lose weight as they dry, he said.
Bacheler isn’t the first person from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences to be named a pumpkin king. Wallace Simmons, 4-H agent in Wayne County, is a perennial big pumpkin champion. When he lived in the North Carolina mountains where pumpkins thrive in cooler temperatures, Simmons was a regular winner at the fair. Since moving to eastern North Carolina, he has continued to produce large pumpkins, just not as large as before.
What will happen to the great pumpkin? Bacheler isn’t sure. Simmons has sold some in the past, but he retains the seeds which are for sale at the fair for $1 each.
And Bacheler said he isn’t sure whether he’ll try to raise another champion pumpkin. Despite the time that the pumpkin required, it has left him pondering, “I wonder what I could do next year?”
–Natalie Hampton
pumpkins at the fair
(Natalie Hampton photo)
Bacheler’s prize pumpkin sits atop the display at in the State Fair’s Expo Building.
From: Ernie Cunliffe
I like to make pumpkin bread and wonder how many loaves I could get out of Jack's huge pumpkin?

Ernie,

Ernie,  never being put off by a challenging question, here's what I came up with.

I assume a twenty percent loss in weight when making pumpkin puree, so you are down to 639 pounds of puree
A basic recipe calls for a 15 oz can of puree , and that makes 3 loaves of pumpkin bread or 3x 639 equalling 1917 loaves.
Knowing you are a child of parents who survived the Great Depression and your mom probably didn't let anything go to waste she would have needed the following to complete the recipe for 1917 loaves of pumpkin bread.

2556 eggs
625 cups sugar
2,226.5 cups of self rising flour
1278 teaspoons of baking soda
958.5 tsp salt
639 cups of vegetable oil
639 tsp of cinnamon and nutmeg
319 tsp cloves
159 tsp ginger
She could probably get 6 loaves at a time in her oven at 50 minutes each, 
So total baking time would be about 265 hours.
I'm not going to consider clean up time or rest breaks.
George


Lucky for me I use a no egg recipe and either 2   15 oz or 1   29 oz can of pumpkin .    My wife can not
eat eggs so I have developed a no egg recipe.  I also use applesauce as part of the vegetable oil to cut
down on the fat,  ie my recipe adjusted uses 1/2  cup applesauce and 3/4 cup canola oil instead of the
1  1/4 original recipe oil requirement.  To further complicate things we live at 6,500 feet and thus my
adjustments over the years have arrived at a good recipe rather than the usual one found in cook books.

Do you like pumpkin bread?    Too much causes a lot of gas when I over do it.

Liked your effort as that certainly took quite a bit of time. Ernie

12:57 PM (17 hours ago)

Ernie,  I'll let you do all the math for your recipe.  I'm exhausted.  But anything that gives me more gas,
 I like.  It stimulates  boring conversations with people I sometimes don't care to be around.  
Your surly old friend, 

V 14 N. 19 Query on Dave and Don Styron

 Asking any of you who read this blog if you know if Dave and Don Styron who ran at  NE Louisiana and Southern Illinois in the early 1960...