September 28, 2019 at 2:18 p.m.
Duck Ponderings: Search still on for Hauser pedal jet
Note: While finding material for the article about John Trimnell and the highly successful 1965-1966 Hauser Basketball Team, I noticed several pictures of the Hauser Pedal Jet. In posting this article again around Heritage Days, we are hoping that it will be located. We know such a find would make many people happy!
As I was reading Chuck Grimes's article about a conversation with Bud Herron about how we got the Jets' name, I thought of an article that caught my attention while reading a wonderful resource located in the Yellow Trail Museum, "Memories of Fifty Years in the Flat Rock-Hawcreek School Corporation, And What Came Before It."
Before continuing, I would encourage you to get a copy of the booklet for $10 if you do not have one. The school memory booklet is not numbered, but I would suspect it has well over 100 pages of great material including several black and white pictures. I actually was hoping for information about how the tennis courts originated but had to go to The Hope Star-Journal archives located in our library. In the opening “Acknowledgments” of the booklet, it ends with a statement from Barb Johnson encouraging people to submit additional information to be stored with it; thus, I am sending my story about the tennis courts to Barb.
Now, let's return to the reason for this article. At the very end of the booklet, there is a section entitled “Bits & Pieces.” One page gets into basketball trivia. (It would be a perfect area to put Chuck's article, “The History Of The Jets Remembered.”) One of the final paragraphs on this page reads as:
“With consolidation, the Hauser Jets needed a mascot. A riding toy shaped like a jet was purchased, and each season some lucky young man got to ride it into the center circle when the Jets took the floor for the varsity game. Some of the riders included Jeff Fisher, the principal's son, David Clouse, Tim Shoaf, and Bo-Jack (Mark) Teltoe.”
On the next page of the booklet, there is a picture of young David Clouse on the Hauser Jet with feet on the pedals, hands on the steering wheel, and a helmet on his head. It appears he dressed in black and white clothes which would make sense since those were the school colors then and even wore a black tie. In talking with David, he was in kindergarten at the time and thinks his sisters had a lot to do with him being selected as one of the pilots since Lori was a cheerleader and Kathy was a Hauserette. He got off to a roaring start coming down the ramp of the old school while landing on the H in the center of the gym.
I am wondering if we might want to put the Hauser Pedal Jet back in action to join the Hauser Victory Bell again. It would be great if the original one could be located! If not, I admittedly have been online looking at pedal jets. Then again, I am quite confident someone in the community has the skills to build one if requested.
There must be other pictures out there that the Hauser Nation can share with us about the Hauser Pedal Jet. Please send them to John Clark at [email protected]. In addition, I'm sure there are some interesting memories. Possibly, you were one of those lucky kids that got to “fly” it into the gym. We would encourage you to share comments on the HSJ Facebook Page.
