Milford Township and Proud of It

One week-end in the summer of 1956, Loyd Hughes ‘56, who had been a pitcher for Milford Twp’s baseball team in 1954-’55 and 1955-’56, and a friend and their dates, went to a carnival in Webster City. While down on the midway he was chAllenged by both the “barker” and his friends to see if he could throw a baseball at some “milk bottles” that were arranged on top of a barrel and not only knock them over but off the top of the barrel. “Hey kid, why not give it a try---win a stuffed animal for your lady friend” and “Go ahead, Lord Charles**, it should be a snap for you!” Loyd, who enjoyed a chAllenge and was noted locally for his accuracy at pitching, “play-acted” to be reluctant, and stepped up to throw. After winning three large stuffed animals in short order, he was told, in not too polite terms to leave the booth, that they were not going to let him throw again.

So, he and his friends walked away-- Now with three large stuffed animals, it wasn’t long before he ran into some other friends who wanted to have some stuffed animals for their girlfriends so they talked Loyd into changing shirts and caps with one of the guys and together they went over to the same booth and again Loyd, in short order, this time with his friends’ money, won a couple of large stuffed animals. Then one of the proprietors of the booth looked at Loyd more carefully, and this time threatened to call the cops to have him thrown “out of the park” if he came over to that booth again. Anyhow, it had been fun and they had five or six large stuffed animals to pack in the cars and a good story to tell.

The Milford baseball teams in those middle years of the fifties were not noted for the superb play and winning records, but Loyd was noted for his ability to “pick at the corners” with his pitching. He did not have the fast fast ball that some others had but his accuracy made him a quite successful, for our team, pitcher.

** “Lord Charles” was a nick name from the mispronunciation of Loyd’s name of Loyd Charles. See pages 230 and 264. Loyd farmed the Sowers/Hughes farm which became a Century farm in 1976.

Loyd “passed away” in Nov of ‘98 from a stomach cancer. A short note from a 1956 classmate- (When Loyd was terminally ill). Although his body had withered, rather than appearing stout and healthy and his penetrating smile was gone, too; yet his stature and infectious smile had never really faded away for anyone that knew him. He is fondly remembered as “Lord Charles”.

In Sept of 1934, an independent team of Kittenball players from Milford beat the Nevada west side team 11-2 in a fund raiser for the Christmas fund. No mention of how much was raised or how the money was collected; whether by “passing the hat” or by an admission charge. The crowd was light as the weather was quite cool for an early fall evening. The reporter was quite impressed with the Milford Kittens, as he called them, and speculated that even a combination of the West side and the East side teams of Nevada could not defeat the team lead by Jacobson on the mound with B and J Alfred, R Brodie, P Allen, Arrismith, Larson, E Prescott, Tjelland, and Ersland making up the Milford ten. It was part of Kittenball league that was in place in Nevada at the time.