Gone But Not Forgotten in San Antonio! - Part I (Houston: school district, retirement)

[49 Olds]

Kit Kat Club (1958) Fredericksburg Rd north of Vance Jackson (now VFW) - we were the first clown diving group trained by Charles (Bart) Bartleson, the head lifeguard. We made Dick Jones a lot of money performing for the evening dinner crowd. “The once and only flaming dive”. The best diver was sprayed with lighter fluid on the back of his t-shirt, but it soaked thru to the skin. His sister flicked the lighter and set him on fire. He ran up the steps of the 10 foot dive platform and the shirt flipped up and the skin on his back caught fire. He knew he was on fire but proceeded to walk out and bounce and perform a perfect dive. You could smell the burning flesh. Second degree burns. Dick Jones daughter , Genene Ann Jones, was the nurse convicted of killing the babies in a Kerrville hospital and is still in prison.
Link to Genene Jones
Genene Jones (broken link)

Triangle Ice House (1954-…) Corner Babcock and Balcones Heights Road. Had curb service. Owner Mr. Endicott, nice guy. Died of brain cancer.
Ralph Carl Powers, the guy convicted of killing Dickie Renfro and still in Huntsville, burgled the Triangle the same night he committed the murder.
The property on which the building is built is a triangle, so I guess that is why it was named Triangle.
It was a raunchy noisy beer joint for a short time in the 80’s and now an upholstery shop.

Dell Oak Park – 1961- A large lake. I “think” it was the Leon Creek dammed up. South side of Fredericksburg road approx. 1 mile southwest on Hausman Road on the right side. Lake was a couple thousand feet long and at least a couple hundred feet wide.
Large billboard marked Dell Oak Park. I think it may have been a future subdivision.
Great place to park and makeout with the moon shimmering off the water. We had our own high school senior party by the lake. It was fenced off in 1965 and I have not been out there since.

[Paka]

.

Remember the Medina blast. Blew windows out at SAC, had to have the organ retuned in the auditorium. Was at home sick that day and thought for sure we'd been attacked.

WOW!!! Do you know for ALL the people that live in SA, you are the ONLY one that seems to remember the Medina Blast.

That HUGE MUSHROOM cloud had all the teachers crying and trying to round us kids up from the playground (we were exercising at the time...remember when they had REQUIRED EXERCISE OUTSIDE!!! Big white dots painted on the asphalt and everyone got their space and did their exercises???) and thought sure it was some attack. I was only in the 3rd grade and did not understand why they were crying, but they made us all lay down on the floor on the INSIDE of the hallway, as far away from the windows (yes, NO A/C, open windows) for ever. We thought it was kinda cool...getting to lay on the floor vs doing Math.

[centaur1]

Mr. Natural's - LOL. That brought back some memories. There was an ice house close to there that would sell alcohol to anybody. Ripple, Boone's Farm....

Cracker Box Palace on Hildebrand was 7th House but I cannot remember the name before that. Was it Trucker's General Store? We frequented that place during high school. There were a lot of head shops along Broadway adjacent to the park and of course the classic Flipside on Military Drive. Still there selling "tobacco products".

I spent many a night (and day) at the Crystal Pistol. Burger and a beer for $1.00. I used to walk over there because I knew I couldn't drive home.

Oh, those Frontier burgers and onion rings on Hildebrand and Fred Rd. Down the street was a store that liquor and ammunition. Was it Don's and Ben's? Getting ready for deer season with a quart of whisky and a box of 30-30 shells.......

[BrianW]

Originally Posted by 49 Olds

Ralph Carl Powers, the guy convicted of killing Dickie Renfro and still in Huntsville, burgled the Triangle the same night he committed the murder.
The property on which the building is built is a triangle, so I guess that is why it was named Triangle.
It was a raunchy noisy beer joint for a short time in the 80’s and now an upholstery shop.

Is this the same Dickie Renfro that went to Highlands?

[SilverCreek78250]

Earlier in this thread (like back in October) there were a few comments about a place called "Edge of Town".

When my wife and I first got married in 1985, we lived in the apartments at 7585 Ingram Road - back then I think they were called Greystone - now they are something else. Anyway, right at the intersection of Ingram and Culebra in the same center that now houses Fast Eddies, there was an awesome club and it was called Edge of Town.

Am I just imagining this? And my wife too? Perhaps there was more than one Edge of Town as some people recall it being over on Perrin Beitel or Nachodoches, but honestly, in at least 1985 and 1986, there was one on Ingram and Culebra.

Can anyone else confirm this?

[*mud*]

Originally Posted by 49 Olds

Mudpuddle- one other note on the Winans brothers. Charles was the talk of the neighborhood with the hearse and his "hippy style". His son attended Baskin GS and had shoulder length hair which caused an uproar. His mom would walk him from school down Balcones Heights road to Crestview and to his street. I think she also looked and dressed hip.

Boogie- very cool guy. Skinny as a rail. Wore Stacy Adams with multiple soles. He could hardly stand. I think he was a close friend to Jake, from the musical group "Little Jake and the Giants". Boogies claim to fame in high school was teaching the other guys how to peg their jeans after they were on. Tight peg down to the last three inches. Put jeans on. Take needle and thread and stitch up seam. Go to school.

Back then most people (peers and officials) wanted everyone to be cookie cutter people.
If you deviated from the norm you were an outcast.
Thank goodness there were rebels then and now.
Memories are great.

Charles' son was at the funeral as well Olds.
I'm sure they were the talk of the neighborhood,
in those daze, Charles and his did not conform.

We wore the pegged jeans over in my neck of the woods too.
Couldn't afford Stacy's though,
we favored the Thom McAn's "points".
Built up with 2-3 soles, and the heels chopped.
August Hartkopf wore a pair of "points"
that were about size 16.
Anyone remember August??

Attached is a detail from a sketch done for me
by one of Charles' contemporaries back in the 60s.
This is before the pegged pants.

mud

[*mud*]

Originally Posted by 49 Olds

********************************

Triangle Ice House (1954-…) Corner Babcock and Balcones Heights Road.
Had curb service. Owner Mr. Endicott, nice guy. Died of brain cancer.

Ralph Carl Powers, the guy convicted of killing Dickie Renfro and still in Huntsville,
burgled the Triangle the same night he committed the murder.

****************************

Olds, was Renfro the football hero??

And, did the murder happen at an apartment complex
on Blanco Rd, 6-8 blocks north of Oblate,
across from Castle Hills??

mud

[49 Olds]

mudpuddle-great sketch. I wore Thom Mcan's (sp) loafers without the extra soles.

If I remember correctly, Renfro was a football hero and his dad was a weathy realtor. I think he hired a private prosecutor and got the conviction. I remember something about him chasing people around the cars at the Bun & Barrel with a gun. I don't remember what location he shot Renfro.

[49 Olds]

Brian W- I remember Dickie Renfro was a football player and I think you are correct about him attending Highlands. You may have more information to share about him and Powers.

[*mud*]

Originally Posted by 49 Olds

mudpuddle-great sketch.
I wore Thom Mcan's (sp) loafers without the extra soles.

If I remember correctly,
Renfro was a football hero and his dad was a weathy realtor.
I think he hired a private prosecutor and got the conviction.
I remember something about him chasing people
around the cars at the Bun & Barrel with a gun.
I don't remember what location he shot Renfro.

Thanks Olds.

May have been the Castle Hills Manor Apts.
where the murder occurred.

I remember the incident,
but, I would like to refresh my memory on the details.



This was right around the time of
the greatest High School Football game ever -


Quote 11/03/99 By Brad Townsend / The Dallas Morning News -

the most fabled night, Nov. 29, 1963,
and the most extraordinary game in Texas high school football history.

the night Baer's Lee Volunteers outlasted McVea's Brackenridge Eagles, 55-48,
in a bi-district playoff game at San Antonio's Alamo Stadium.
It is the night McVea scored 38 points, Baer 37.

Statistics alone would have made it a game for the annals.
There were 17 kickoffs, no punts and only three penalties.
The combined 103 points was astonishing for that era.

The game sold out a week in advance. It was locally televised.

For many, coming one week to the day after President Kennedy's assassination,
it had a salving effect.

It featured San Antonio's two best teams and, many believed,
that year's best teams in the state's top classification, 4A.
It was powerful 10-0 Lee vs. swift, 8-2 Brackenridge,
the defending state champion.

It was Lee, with its predominately white student body from the more affluent North Side.
And Brackenridge, whose students mostly were black and Hispanic,
many from lower-income West, East and South Side neighborhoods.

It had the glamour individual matchup, McVea vs. Baer,
featuring the state's two most touted backs of '63,
one black, the other white.

Both, as if on cue,
summoned their most brilliant games that crisp November night.

Baer, had 333 total yards that night to go
with five touchdowns and seven extra-point kicks.

Many who saw the 5-8, 165-pound McVea play
insist he was the best open-field runner in Texas high school history.
Then, before, since.

(after the game),
As both teams huddled in prayer at midfield,
a rare act in those days, a downcast (coach) Forren said:
They'll be talking about this game for years to come."

unQuote

mud