Date in History: 1927

In early May 1927, a group of young boys gathered after school to take part in the Fort Atkinson grade school marble tournament. After a number of early rounds, the two marble sharks left standing were William Papke of Caswell School and Roy Larson representing Hoard School. The final round saw deadeye Larson – the 10-year-old 5th grader from Hoard School – defeat Papke, the 12-year-old Caswell student, for the title of city champion.

Two weeks later School Superintendent Frank Bray accompanied our young champion to Milwaukee for the state marble tournament. Despite being the youngest and smallest of the 28 boys competing, Roy Larson shot his way into the final round. There, a bad carom by his shooter dropped him to fifth place. And that’s just the way the ball bounces sometimes.

This historic document aired on the radio as an Historic Minute on 05/03/2004.

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