Chapter I: Youth and Grinnell Student Days, A Prodrome of the Future

The Texan-Cajun

Irwin Leo Simon was born June 30, 1913, in Abbeyville, LA, the son of Leo John and Grace Fae Simon. He grew up at 905 Fifth Street in his hometown of Port Arthur, TX. As he was growing up (1925), Irv came to a momentous conclusion:

I decided at 12 years of age that I was going to BE A COACH. Franklin Grammar School was a mile and a half from the high school. I had to run that mile and a half every afternoon to make it to my job on time. Next to being mayor, I considered it to be the most important job in the city. I WAS MASCOT, WATERBOY, AND ASSISTANT TO THE ASSISTANT TRAINER FOR THE HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL TEAM.1

Irwin Leo Simon, Beaumont Middle School, 1925

Irv apparently obtained a nickname, Hot Simone, which lasted for some 50 years according to his own admission. In his childhood he was entranced by football, but did not play first-string quarterback until he was in college playing for the American College of Physical Education in Chicago.

1 Simone, Irwin L. Personal Scrapbook, manuscript copy in the possession of Mrs. Sue Simone Asinger of Minneapolis, MN. Commentary attached to a childhood photograph of a prepubescent boy, most likely from grammar school days. The costume suggested the 1920s era. Irv Simone had a pattern of writing in the margins of documents in capital letters, assuring the reader that these were his thoughts and ideas. None are dated, so the autobiographic information may have been added at a time distant from events in his life.

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Port Arthur, TX, nestled on the Louisiana border2

As a youth living in east Texas, Irv reflects on the photograph below, probably taken in the summer of 1936:

Simon physically fit from the 1930s

BODY BY PEROGUE [CAJUN CANOE]. IN HIGH SCHOOL YEARS [I] NEVER LIFTED A WEIGHT UNTIL I BECAME A COACH. [IN] 3 SUMMER MONTHS [I] LIVED IN THE WILDERNESS OF EAST TEXAS—OFF THE LAND—[EATING] FISH, RABBIT, SQUIRREL, ALLIGATOR TAIL, ARMADILLO MEAT, WOODDUCK. MOTHER NATURE PROVIDED US WITH AN EXCELLENT DRINK, SASSAFRAS. [I] CHOPPED WOOD, BOXER STYLE, HAD A POLE VAULTING PIT, [AND] SWAM SEVERAL TIMES A DAY. WE DRANK FROM A FRESH WATER SPRING. MANY PEOPLE DRANK FROM THIS SPRING, [AND] MOST GOT SICK WITH A FEVER. WE DID NOT GET SICK—MUST HAVE BEEN THE SASSAFRAS. LOCAL MOUNTAIN MEN TYPES TOOK SASSAFRAS AS HEALTH TONIC, BLOOD

2 MapQuest, Image of the geographic location of Port Arthur, TX

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THINNER, AND GENERAL CURE-ALL. WHEN WE HAD SPECIAL COMPANY, FROG LEGS, WILD TURKEY, AND [WILD] HOG GRACED [0UR] TABLE.3

Irv loved hunting and fishing with his father Leo and later

would regale the Truesdale family (his future wife’s relatives) with stories about the adventures of his youth.

Irv was very proud of his French-Canadian-American heritage and kept a definitional statement about being Cajun in his scrapbook. The Bob Hamm definition suggested that a Cajun was made up of gumbo, boudin (a spiced sausage), and sauce piguante. The Cajun could be as stubborn as a mule and as ornery as an alligator. These people found great pride in their heritage and past, in their emigration from France to Newfoundland, and then their deportation to the French colony in rural New Orleans, LA, and Texas in the late 18 th century. The Cajun has moral and spiritual values that provide the basis for an engaging smile, a confident gait, and the joie de vivre—hearty enjoyment of life—that invigorates the personal soul of each individual. Irv held fast to these values.

Finding Work in the Depression

Irv graduated from high school in 1933 and joined the Great Depression workforce as an oil tester for Gulf Refining Company, making $120 per month in his hometown of Port Arthur. By June of 1936, however, he had to find a new job as a truck driver, reducing his salary to $75 per month, which demonstrates the variability of wages during the Depression.

In September of 1935 he enrolled at the American College of Physical Education in Chicago, IL. While going to school, he worked part-time as a lifeguard for the city of Chicago for $100 per month, and as a swimming instructor for $65 per month at the Sovereign Hotel in Chicago.4 He graduated from the American College of Physical Education with a bachelor’s degree in physical education in 1937. In the summer transition, from June to September of 1938, Simon found work at the Chicago Crippled Children’s Camp in Burlington, WI, making $50 per month.

3 Simone, Irwin L. Personal Scrapbook, a personal reflection on a youthful photograph of himself. The free-ranging thoughts are modified slightly to complete appropriate sentences. The capital lettering was part of Simone’s autobiographic style. The photograph appears in at least two locations in the scrapbook.4 Edgewater History, (http://www.edgewaterhistory.org/tour020505/1.html). The Sovereign Hotel was built from 1922 to 1923, reflecting 19th century French opulence and luxury. The 10-story building had 600 rooms, two ballrooms, and the swimming pool where Irv worked.

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Simone Arrives at Grinnell

At age 25 he entered Grinnell College as a transfer student, working part-time as a student-athlete trainer for the college.5

As a transfer student and faculty member, Irv had problems with eligibility requirements due to his participation in sports in Chicago, particularly in swimming sports. Irv established the training room facilities on campus. He developed a whirlpool tank for treating muscle injuries.

Simone apparently made an impression on his professor and athletic director,6 John Truesdale, as Irv was allowed to assist in the collection of the data used in Professor Truesdale’s Master of Arts dissertation at Iowa, which was submitted and defended in 1939.7 Irv would remember this honor as “being in the right place at the right time” to learn something about research and requirements for a PhD dissertation. Professor Truesdale continued his studies at Iowa and defended his PhD thesis in 1953.8 These learning experiences would serve Simone in 1964 when he submitted his own prototype thesis.

The Grinnell swim team competed in the Big Six Conference against teams from Kansas State University, Nebraska, and Iowa State Universities (see Appendix A, Grinnell Swimming Scores in the Simone Era). On February 25, 1939, Irv was listed as a swimmer on the freshman team, capturing the diving, 40-yard, and 100-yard freestyle events. For his 5 Grinnell College archives, editorial note: Grinnell College paid Irv Simon $280 per annum for his services as athletic trainer. During the summer of 1939, the college paid Irv $100 per month to manage the swimming pool and provide swimming lessons. During the summer of 1940, he worked for the city of Grinnell as waterfront director and swimming instructor at Arbor Lake for $130 per month. The records demonstrate the pattern of a student working his way through college. The salaries also demonstrate the Great Depression’s effects on income. Irwin Simon was fortunate to find consistent employment to support his educational achievements. There is also a subliminal current of energy in Simone’s resourcefully finding employment, which can be related to his physical education achievements.6 Scarlet and Black, 32 Freshman win Numerals: Seven Transfers will also receive Athletic Recognition, Wednesday, March 15, 1939.7 Truesdale, John C. Trends in Some Organizational and Administrative Procedures in Intramural Athletics in Thirty American Colleges and Universities, August of 1939, pages 1-72. The master’s thesis, a mail survey instrument reflected an extension of work done at Bradley University as an undergraduate. Truesdale demonstrated that between 1933 and 1938 there was a trend toward more intramural sports, underwritten by appropriation and student fees, with awards for excellence in competition in the form of plaques or medals.8 Truesdale, John C., Measurement of Athletic Intelligence, doctoral thesis defended February of 1953, University of Iowa libraries, T 1953.

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leadership in 1939, Irv won his Class of 1941 numerals sweater with his friend Jack Truesdale; Jack was two years younger than his sister Patricia graduating from Grinnell in 1942.

Valued Diver & ‘Dash Man’

The Scarlet and Black newspaper informed the reading public that Irv was a valued diver and “dash man” (short-sprint swimmer) on the Grinnell team. He lettered in his junior year, gaining admission to Men’s Honor G in 1940. A truly versatile person, Irv was also an assistant stage manager for the play, Family Portrait, and a stage manager for the play, George and Margaret, in his senior year at Grinnell. Probably because of eligibility limitations, Irv did not dive for Grinnell in his senior year, 1941, but functioned as a mentor and coach.

He was listed as Irwin Leo Simon during his first two years at Grinnell but changed his name to Simone, reflecting his French-Canadian and Cajun heritage, before he graduated in 1941.

Courtship in the Making

Susan Simone Truesdale Asinger relayed the family story of the Simone-Truesdale engagement as follows:

Hazel, (John C. Truesdale’s wife), was impressed by Dad (Irv), and thought he was an interesting conversationalist and that he was really ‘pursuing’ Patty. She (Hazel) ‘got a kick out of him arriving by horseback’ and that he even brought the horse up the steps of the house at 1215 Broad Street where they all grew up. I remember the story of him bringing a box of chocolates with one of the chocolates replaced by an engagement ring. That is the family memory of the engagement.9

Patty Truesdale was a classmate and business administration major, who also graduated in 1941.10

By his senior year at Grinnell, Irv functioned as an instructor in physical education and an athletic trainer. He pursued his lifelong interest in Red Cross Instructor programs, attending a Red Cross aquatic school in Oconomowoc, WI, in the summer of 1939. He was at least partly responsible for diving training for Grinnell College competitors. One of his trainees in 1941 was Warren Brooker, who won the diving competition against Bradley Technical College in March 1941.11

9 Sue Simone Asinger, e-mail message to author, September 25, 2005.10 Editorial note: One might speculate with only circumstantial evidence that her brother Jack, who was a freshman swimmer with Irv in 1939, introduced Irv to Patty Truesdale.

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Marriage and the Air Force

Simone graduated with a bachelor’s degree in physical education in 1941. He began his coaching career at Martin High School and Junior College in Cicero, IL, from 1941 to 1942. Patty and Irwin Simone were married on December 20, 1941 by Dr. Horace J. Bridges, a Unitarian minister, and the father-in-law of Patty’s sister, Mary.12 The ceremony was held at the Morrison Hotel on South Clark Street (Chase Tower) in Chicago.13

Irv was inducted into the US Air Force, serving from 1943 to February of 1946 at Fort Logan Air Force Base in Colorado for the duration of the war. The base was the overseas training depot for Air Force personnel going to Europe. Irv was a physical fitness instructor and bayonet instructor at the base. He also held the bayonet record for that course and his unit was cited for the highest physical fitness rating in the Air Forces’ Technical Training Command.14

The Veteran Returns

Irv Simone, like many of his peers, reentered a civilian world unprepared for the influx of young couples from military facilities. As a result, the Simone family lived with Irv’s in-laws, Professor John C. and Hazel Truesdale, at 1215 Broad Street in Grinnell. This living arrangement might well have been related to the absence of adequate housing for returning military 11 Warren J. M. D. Brooker, personal communication, June 17, 2005. Dr. Brooker confirmed that he was recruited to dive by Coach Oliver Wagner. He, like many Grinnell swimmers, had no formal experience with diving and learned “on the job” from the coaching staff. Irv Simone functioned as his “mentor- coach.”

Because Grinnell had no course in embryology in 1941, Warren transferred to the University of Iowa and graduated in 1942, entering immediately into the accelerated World War II MD program. He graduated in medicine in 1945, and ultimately took his urology residency with Professor Creevy at the University of Minnesota from 1957 to 1961, becoming the first of a long tradition of urologists who swam for Grinnell College. Brooker was followed in later time by Chuck Hawtrey and Jim Jacobson, who also trained at the University of Iowa Medical School and specialized in urology under Dr. Rubin Flocks.12 Sue Truesdale Simone Asinger, e-mail message to author, November 9, 2005. Mary Truesdale, daughter of Hazel and Dr. John C. Truesdale, is still living and is a resource about events related to the marriage. 13 Mary Truesdale Bridges, e-mail transcript of telephone communication, November 12, 2005.14 Simone, Irwin L. Personal Scrapbook, manuscript copy in the possession of Sue Simone Asinger, Minneapolis, MN. Editorial note: Simone summarized his military accomplishments during the war effort. The Air Force used his coaching and training skills to the advantage of personnel being shipped to Europe.

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personnel, but the limited financial reward as an instructor at the college might have been a factor, too. The Simones lived at this location from 1946 to 1948. Irv left to pursue employment as a physical therapist at the Hughen School and Home for Crippled Children in his hometown, Port Arthur, TX.

Professor Truesdale’s house as it is today

1002 East Street house as it is today

When the family returned to Grinnell in 1951, they resided first at 1002 East Street, just south of campus by the Congregational Church, close to the town’s business district.

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Simone daughters, 1951Katie, left, and Susan, right

The Simones’ two daughters, Susan and Katie, were growing and thriving. They attended Grinnell public schools. On occasion, Grinnell College students (swimmer Bob Carrothers, Class of 1958, Economics major) would help them with mathematic schoolwork. While this house might have been convenient for some aspects of living, the quick move to their next home suggested that close proximity to the Truesdale grandparents was considered a family advantage to the Simones.

1205 Broad Street, Simone home near grandparents

A year later, in 1953 and 1954, they moved to 1205 Broad Street, two doors south of the Truesdales. The final move for the

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Simone Family occurred after the Truesdale grandparents retired to Florida. The Simones moved one block further west to Main Street and one block north, which would allow Irv an almost direct walk to his office in Darby Gym.

Last Simone home, 1958 to 1966, 1310 Main Street, Grinnell

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