Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1907-07-30
NEW RULER OF THE
ELKS IS OLD BASE
BALL ENTHUSIAST
John K. Tener of Charleroi, Pa. Newly
Elected Grand Exalted Ruler of the
B. p. O. E. is TWirler of Internation-
al Fame
al Fame.

eSiiiSstsop, July ~. SuSl,
one time ball player, president of the
First National Bank in the little town
of Cnarleroi, Pa. and newly elected
grand exalted ruler or the Benevolent
Protective Order of Elks. was once an
international figure in the world of
sport. While a native OF Pittsburg,
Tener in sense product of Chicago,
because it was Chicagoan who dis
covered him, Chicagoan who trained
him and Chicagoan who put him in
the way Of changing his profession.
Really ii was the King of England,
then Prince Edward OF Wales, who
gave him his cue as to change of pro-
fession, but 1t was cap" Arson who
put him in the way of gazing upon
royalty and made his name a house
hold word not only among the fans of
America but in the huts of faraway
Australian bushmen, and in the pal
aces of continental Europe.
John K. Tener owes his fame and
fortune to a phenomenal right arm:
his popularity to his unaffected good
fellowship, which remains to this day
a tradition on the dusty diamond Of
America Tener was one of the first
great American pitchers, and he show
ed the royalty and nobility of Europe
what strong man can do with little
1lorsehide sphere To them it was like
the legerdemain. of the conjurers of
India. They saw him twirl his long
arms above his head, writhe his long
body into position and force the little
sphere to describe arcs in the air In
apparent defiance of the laws of grav-
ity It was their Introduction to the
curved balls SO familiar in America
that has ceased to excite comment.
Captain Arson stoutly repulsed the
idea yesterday that Tener's curves
would fail to excite comment today.
John could do anything with ball
that any of your diamond stars today
can do" he said, "and I'd back him,
just for oldtime's sake, to go them one
better. He was a great ball player
and one of the best fellows / ever
met
Tener was a green boy, uncommonly
tall and uncommonly compactly built,
when Captain Arson of the Chicago
National team discovered" him in
1888. He stood six feet four in his
hosiery (and the hosiery wasn't of
niggardly proportions.) He was noted
body and his big laugh.
Like all well grown American boys,
he had a taste for outdoor sports, base
ball above all. Captain Arson saw him
play one memorable day when he was
pitching for the old Pittsburg Athletic
team, and amateur organization. Tener
was in good trim that day and, con-
cious that he was being watched by a
man who had the reputation of making
big players, he twirled his best Arson
was Impressed! He vent again to see
the boy play and finally made an offer.
That was how John K Tener came
to give up the pen which he was push
ing none too enthusiastically, over the
ledgers of big Pittsburg steel con-
Germ all week and leap into prominence
The trip abroad and the familiarity
with royalty were incidental. They
came about through the ambitious plan
of successful theatrical promoter to
introduce the American game to
Australia and the old world. Tener
went as one of the two pitchers carried
by the Chicago team in it's series Of ex-
hibition games, played with the ALI
American team picked to oppose 1t by
Johnny Ward, then captain of the New
York team. His partner in the box
was Marx Baldwin, now DR.. Mark
Baldwin of Pittsburg, his lifelong
friend, and one of his most ardent sup
porters for the leadership of the ma
tional body Of Elks.
His elevation to the highest honor
in the gift Of the lodge filled his Chi
cago admirers with enthusiasm and
was construed by Arson, himself an
Elk, as a special recognition of the
part played by baseball in the develop
ment Of the characteristic national
spirit. He had received the news WITH
inimitable competency.
AS the captain sat in his special
leather chair on the first floor Of his
billiard hall in Madison street he glow.
ed with vicarious pride, and while he
caressed one ample knee and smiled
in a reminiscent manner, all of the in
cidents of that grand tour of the world
when ball enthusiasm was not confln-
ed within the narrow limits of the
American continent, flowed from him
in eager anecdote 1t was plain to an
observer that, it gals the captain yet
to know that the rest of the world is
sunk in darkness and refuses to accept
the final score Of the New York-Chica
20 game with the seriousness. 1T &C
cords to international politics.
O.
He admitted with evident regret that
he had been unable with his great pail
of pitchers, Tener and Baldwin, to con
vince the Prince of Wales that cricket
is a game for women to play.
81 always knew Tener would make
his mark some day. said the captain
Prom the time l signed him he was
the most popular man on the team. He
had jovial, smiling way about min
that simply took you by storm and was
g. great ballplayer.
"Of course he was a pitcher first
but he could dive the ball some whel
the bases were aching to unload them
selves and the crowd was yelling st
you couldn't have heard a grand oper;
soprano taking the high hurdles whel
she finds the barytone in the arms o
her rival in the blond wig"
do you fancy Tener's curves woult
still hold the giants down to a small
scorer" the captain was asked.
l. ~. L. ,,.