More Speeches and Events for 2012

Sunday, June 24th, 2012 | Book Signing, Iowa History Journal, Speaking, Wrestling | No Comments

Mike has added a few new events to his schedule for the next few months.

June 17 – Walnut will named a street Earl Caddock Memorial Drive during its big Antique City weekend. Members of the Caddock family came from Maryland and Texas to help celebrate the event. Earl Caddock was world heavyweight wrestling champion from 1917 to 1920 and lived in Walnut. Mike is the author of the book CADDOCK: Walnut’s Wrestling Wonder, and gave a speech at the 9 a.m. ceremony, and then held a book signing.

July 4 – The Frank Gotch Statue unveiling will take place in Bicknell Park in Humboldt, at 1 p.m. The eight-foot bronze statue is the project of a special committee in Humboldt, the hometown of the legendary professional world heavyweight champion (1908-1916). Mike is on the statue committee and will make a speech about Frank’s legacy. Among the special guests are Bill Smith, 1952 Olympic champion (UNI), and Brad Rheingans, a two-time Olympian who also wrestled professionally for 14 years.

July 6 – The Iowa Cubs have declared this date as Iowa History Journal Day and Mike and Bev will set up a booth in the entryway, with Iowa History Journal items for display and for sale. The first 100 fans to stop by the booth will receive a free copy of Iowa History Journal, some with Bob Feller on the cover. The gates open at 5:45 p.m. and the game starts at 7:30 p.m.

July 15 – Mike will be one of the Iowa authors featured at the Linn Creek Arts Festival in Marshalltown. Over 60 artists, 12 authors and a wide variety of children’s entertainment will highlight the 4th annual festival, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The event is sponsored by the Marshall County Arts & Culture Alliance, at the Fisher Community Center, 709 S. Center Street in Marshalltown. Over 2,000 attended last year and admission is free. Other attractions are the world champion Yo-Yo stars, kite flyers, kite memorabilia, as well as numerous food, wine and beer vendors. For more detail, see: www.linncreekartsfestival.com.

August 9-19– For the third straight year, Iowa History Journal will have a booth at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines. The booth will be on the second floor of the Ag Building, above the Butter Cow exhibit. Back issues of Iowa History Journal and over a dozen of the books Mike has written will be for sale.

Tags: bill smith, brad rheingans, Earl Caddock, Frank Gotch, Humboldt, iowa cubs, Iowa History Journal, Iowa State Fair, linn creek arts festival, walnut

Mike at Dedication of Earl Caddock Memorial Drive in Walnut

Monday, May 28th, 2012 | Books, Wrestling | No Comments

The city of Walnut has announced the dedication of Pearl Street in Walnut to be designated the Earl Caddock Memorial Drive in honor of the town’s most famous citizen. Author Mike Chapman will be a part of the ceremony on Sunday morning, June 17, giving a short address and signing copies of his book on Earl.

Earl Caddock came off an Iowa farm to become a great amateur wrestler and then won the world heavyweight championship of professional wrestling, back when the sports was a true athletic contest. He was an AAU national champion, in 1914 and 1915, but the cancellation of the 1916 Olympics ended his amateur career. With Frank Gotch of Humboldt, Iowa, acknowledged as the top athlete in America at the time, Caddock decided to follow Gotch into professional wrestling. On April 9, 1917, he took a perfect record of 79-0 (53-0 as an amateur and 26-0 as a pro) into the ring in Omaha to take on the world champion, Joe Stecher. After more than two hours of grueling wrestling, Earl Caddock emerged as the heavyweight champion of the world.

In 1919 and 1920, Caddock was one of the nation’s most popular athletes, standing alongside such legendary figures as Babe Ruth, Jack Dempsey and Jim Thorpe.

At the peak of his sports career, Caddock enlisted in the U.S. Army to fight in World War I and served gallantly in France as a doughboy, suffering lung damage from gas attacks. He returned to make his home in Walnut, Iowa. After three more years of wrestling, Caddock retired from the ring and began a successful career as a businessman in both Walnut and in Omaha. Caddock is buried in the Layton Cemetery just east of Walnut on Pearl St.

A new book, CADDOCK: Walnut’s Wrestling Wonder, was written by Mike Chapman, noted wrestling author and historian, and published by Culture House Books of Newton, in cooperation with the city of Walnut. Mike will be on hand for the dedication and available for book signing after the event. Members of the Caddock family will also attend.

The dedication is June 17, at 9 AM, in conjunction with the Walnut Antique Show. The dedication ceremony will be held in front of the Village Blacksmith Shop antique store located one block east of Antique City Drive on Pearl Street. Earl Caddock built this building as one of his businesses during the early part of the 20th century.

For more information about Walnut or the Walnut Antique Show, go to:
www.WalnutIowa.org or www.WalnutAntiqueShow.com

Tags: Earl Caddock, Walnut Iowa

Iowa History Journal Volume 4, Issue 3 Now Available

Saturday, May 26th, 2012 | Iowa History Journal | No Comments

When the USS Titanic sank in the frigid waters of the Atlantic Ocean on April 15, 1912, it was front page news all over the world. Over 1500 people perished on the ship and among the casualties – and survivors – were several Iowans. A century later, the Titanic legacy lives on. At the Brucemore Estate in Cedar Rapids visitors can see an extensive exhibit which tells the story of the Titanic and its many Iowa connections.

Readers will also be treated to feature stories on many other fascinating persons and moments in Iowa history – ranging from the impact of philanthropist Andrew Carnegie on over 100 Iowa libraries to memorable moments by Iowans who played in the major leagues.

Also included in this issue:

• Henry A. Wallace is not only one of the most important figures in all of agricultural history, he was also one heartbeat away from being president of the United States.
• USS Iowa battleship has finally found a permanent home and will open as a museum later this summer.
• EMC has been a huge player in the world of insurance for over 100 years and is an Iowa landmark and institution.
• Music of all kinds has been featured at the legendary Val Air Ballroom in Des Moines for many decades, attracting some of the biggest names in the music industry.
• Columns by our regulars – Arvid Huisman, John McNeer and Mike Chapman

…and much more!

Read more to see what’s inside this issue…

Tags: Andrew Carnegie, EMC Insurance, Henry Wallace, John Wayne, Titanic, USS Iowa, Val Air Ballroom

A Touching Letter

Wednesday, April 18th, 2012 | Books | No Comments

Mike received the following letter recently from a reader. It was really touching. Thank you sincerely, Mr. LaVeck, for the kind words.

Mr. Chapman,

I wanted to let you know how much my son and I have enjoyed your books, but in particular our experience reading “Gotch: An American Hero.”

My son just turned 12 and is an avid wrestler. We live in Maryland and he competes all over the mid-Atlantic and we both love the sport.

We have several of your books, but this week we were on spring break and Alexander and I decided to finally get to your novel about Frank Gotch. We sat on the balcony of an oceanfront condominium every day for the past 6 days and completed the entire book together.

It was a rewarding experience to read the book and allow the fictionalized account of Gotch’s life to illuminate what we had already learned through your non-fiction materials.

We often read together, but I know this will likely be a joint reading experience that we both remember for the rest of our lives, not only because of the beautiful location, but because we both enjoyed the story, and the writing so much and we now are both huge admirers of Frank Gotch…and we both have you to thank for that.

Thank you very much…we already have “Caddock” but we are looking forward to all of your future titles.

Sincerely,

Art LaVeck (and Alexander)