B is for Billy (Graham and Sunday)

One thing I discovered quickly in my preparation for this years A to Z challenge is that there were more than 26 people I wanted to write about it.  Of course quite a few of them I had to discard, but where I could I have tried to put a few in the same post if I feel they are some what connected.

For the letter B I found 2 men with not only the same first name but also the same occupation.

                                                    William Ashley (Billy) Sunday

                                                    Years Lived Before 1921: Fifty-nine

                                                    Years Lived After 1921: Fourteen

Billy Sunday  was a famous evangelist and prior to that he was a baseball player.  He was born in Iowa in 1862.  His father died in the Civil War a few weeks after his birth.  He was raised in an Orphan's homeHall o. He loved baseball and was discovered by future hall of famer Cap Anson and signed with the Chicago White Stockings (Cubs).  He played for  Chicago from 1883 to 1887 and played

After you've looked at the additional content from my other blogs head back to the challenge and explore continue exploring. He played for the Pittsburgh Allegheny's (The Allegheny's changed their name to Pirates at the end of the 180 campaign.)  from 1888 to 1890 before being traded to the Philadelphia Phillies midseason.

While Playing for Chicago Sunday was converted to Christianity after attending meetings at the Pacific garden Mission.  In 1886 He met Helen "Nell" Thompson who he married in 1888.  In 1891 he quit baseball and began work at the YMCA.  After the YMCA he began  preaching at revival meetings first with J. Wilbur Chapman in 1893 and then on his own in 1896.  

Sunday would often incorporate baseball into his crusades.  Sometimes forming teams to play and playing for both sides.  He believed in the authority and inerrancy of scripture and unlike some 

preachers of his day addressed social issues.  He denounced child labor, supported the vote for women and did not segregate his revivals even in the deep south.  He was a strong proponent of World War I and and even stronger advocate of prohibition.

"Nowadays we think we are too smart to believe in the Virgin birth of Jesus and too well educated to believe in the Resurrection. That's why people are going to the devil in multitudes." - Billy Sunday

Before Sunday's death in 1935 it is estimated that 100.000.000 people attended his revivals and 1,000,000 professed Christ as a result of his preaching.   

                                                            William Franklin (Billy) Graham Jr.

                                                            Years Lived Before 1921: Three

                                                            Years Lived after 1921: Ninety-seven

 

Billy Graham grew up in North Carolina where his childhood dream was to be a baseball player. He addressed this in a book  he wrote in his 90's:

Since there were few things in life that I loved more than baseball, as a young man I dedicated myself to the sport and hoped that my passion for the game would lead me straight to the major leagues.

My goal was simple: stand at home plate, with bat in hand, immersed in an important game. I often pictured myself hitting a big-league grand slam into the stadium seats and hearing the crowd roar with thunder as I ran the bases—nearing home.

He then followed it up with this ...

I never would have guessed what lay in store. After giving my heart to the Lord Jesus Christ—repenting of my sin and putting my entire life into His hands—I laid down my dreams, along with my bat, and fully embraced God’s plan by faith, trusting that He would lead me all the way. He did, He is, and He will.

As I look back, I see how God’s hand guided me. I sense His Spirit with me today, and most comforting is the knowledge that He will not forsake me during this last stretch as I am nearing home. If that doesn’t give me a sense of hope, nothing else will.

Billy Graham came to faith in Christ through a revival  meeting that came to his town.  This was the beginning of the end of his baseball dreams but also the beginning of his own career as an evangelist.  Unlike Sunday Graham was well educated getting degrees in 1940 from Florida Bible Institutes and in 1943 from Wheaton College.  It was at Wheaton where he met and married Ruth Bell. Like Sunday some of his first forays into ministry were with young people.  While Sunday worked for the YMCA Graham worked for an organization called Youth For Christ.  I first heard the Gospel through Youth for Christ and volunteered as a youth leader my first 3 years after high school so I feel like I can relate to Billy Graham on that level.

From 1947 to 2005 Graham conducted 417 crusades in over 180 countries and territories on 6 continents.  

Graham successfully utilized radio, newspapers, magazines and television in his ministry.  He was able to be a very public Christian figure and avoid any major scandals in his ministry.  While he certainly had critics, his style of clearly communicating the gospel on a global scale for more than a half a century is definitely the greatest evangelical achievement of the 20th century.

A TO Z Easter Eggs

A to Z Archives 

Meaningful (and civilized) dialogue between adherents of different worldviews at Dave Out Loud. In 1969 Woody Allen and Billy Graham appeared together on a T.V. special.  I uploaded the video from you tube onto my vlog last year to show how civil disagreements can be.

The Politics of Christianity at Random Acts of Roller. I use the legacy of Billy Graham as a counter example to how politically one sided I thought American evangelicalism was growing.

A To  Z Extra

 Sunday Mond ay  atCrazy Uncle Dave's Sports Blog. How 2 Chicago Cubs outfielders named after days of the week are better known for their stands rather than their stats.

That's all I have as Day 2 of the challenge comes to an end.   After you've looked at the additional content on my other blogs head back to The A to Z challenge and  continue exploring. .  

 

A is for Allen and Al

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April 1 2021 A to Z Challenge commences.

Hello to anyone visiting from the challenge.

 This year my theme is Alive in 1921.

Each day I will write about one or more person who was alive 100 years ago in 1921.My criteria for selection was to write about only people who I knew about before compiling the list.  I will give some biographical information, but I will also try to focus on my connection with the person.  

We are starting with Steve Allen, who was the first host of The Tonight Show in 1954.Allen was born the day after Christmas in 1921 so he was born in the last week of eligibility for t

his list.  

                                                        Years Lived Before 1921: Zero

                                                        Years Lived After 1921:   Seventy Nine

I know it is April 1st but when it came to hosting a late night show, Allen was no fool.  Many of the innovations he pioneered for his ground breaking progam are still in use today. Like this duet with himself

Steve Allen made a lot of appearances on talk shows and game shows in my youth.  What I remember him for most was his dead pan sense of humor.  In the 1980's a show by the name of Solid Gold ran on television. It did not run on broadcast or cable network it was syndicated and I watched a few episodes in it's first season.  On one of those episode Mr. Allen gave a "dramatic" reading.  I put dramatic in quotes as the reading was the lyrics of Donna Summer's Hot Stuff which topped billboard hot 100 chart in 1979. 40 years later the mere thought of the chorus lyrics below being read by Mr. Allen send me into a fit of hysteria.  I was unable to find a clip of this otherwise I would be posting it on my vlog.  

Steve is not the only Allen we are celebrating today. The other one spells it Allan and goes by Al.  His name is Al Jaffee.  Al Jaffee was an artist for Mad magazine.  Like Steve Allen, Jaffee was born in 1921 but unlike Allen who died in 2000, Jaffee is still alive, just celebrating his 100th birthday last month.  

                                             Years lived before 1921: Zero     

                                             Years lived after 1921:One Hundred (so far)

This is a good time to mention how I am incorporating my other blogs into the a to z challenge this year.  I have links to additional content on some of the people I will be featuring this month.  I am calling these A to Z Easter Eggs and there are 2 kinds.  A to Z extra are content I created specifically for the challenge and that I publish simultaneously with that day's letter. A to Z archives are previous posts which have previously appeared in the blog-o-sphere.  Today, I have none of the former, and 2 of the latter.  

A TO Z Easter Eggs

A to Z Archives 

Happy Birthday to Chris and Al at Random Acts of Roller. Mr. Jaffee's birthday coincides with my younger brother's, so I wrote them a fitting tribute which contains a little more biographical information as well as how I connect with the Mad artist.  

The Tonight Show: A History of Hosts at Dave Out Loud.    Steve Allen was the first of 6 hosts of the Tonight Show. I have some footage of each host. 

This should end my first installment of the A to Z challenge.  After you've looked at the additional content on my other blogs head back to the challenge and explore continue exploring. .         

 

A to Z Challenge 2021 Theme Reveal

It is almost time once again for the A to Z Challenge to come out of it's den and cast it's shadow to the

blogging community.  It is now time for participants to reveal their 2021 theme to the world.

I had several ideas for this years a to z challenge, some more ambitious and some less ambitious.  I think this one is just right and hopefully, like Goldilocks you'll eat it all up.

My A to Z challenge is to write about people who were living 100 years ago in 1921.  For example 13 men who had been , were , or would become U.S. presidents were alive in 1921. These presidents lived between 1856 and 2006.  All 4 of my grandparents were living in 1921.  They ranged in ages from 9 to 19 at that time.  The 9 year old eventually married the 19 year old but that was some years later.  

In the past I have participated in the challenge from multiple  blogs.  This year I come back to HSD after doing the last challenges from Random Acts of Roller.  I currently have 4 active blogs and have found  a way to involve each blog into the extravaganza.  The way is by A to Z Easter Eggs

What are A to Z Easter eggs you ask.  It is my way of adding additional related content my from my  other blogs to my a to z posts.  I will do this in 2 different ways one if I create additional content on one of my blogs and then post it concurrently with the a to z post, I will call that an to A to Z extra.  If I have already created that content and posted it previous to this years challenge I will call it A to Z archive. 

 For today's post I only have one kind of Easter eggs but I have plenty of that kind.. Last week at my vlog, Dave Out Loud on my feature called Quick Random Takes the topic I picked out of my hat just happened to be A to Z challenge.  I put that topic idea last May, so it's interesting it would pop up a week before the topic reveal.   In addition,  all 4 of my blogs including this one have A to Z archives which are links to my previous A to Z Challenges.  

A TO Z Easter Eggs

A to Z Archives: 

 Quick Random Takes: A to Z Challenge at Dave Out Loud

Index for A to Z Challenge 2020: Capitals at Random Acts of Roller

Index for A to Z Challenge 2019: Music of the Sherman Brothers at Random Acts of Roller

Index for A to Z challenge 2016: Y is for YouTube at Dave Out Loud

Index for A to Z Challenge 2016 Cubs Home Run Hitters Aramis to Zimmerman at Crazy Uncle Dave's Sports Blog 

Index for A to Z Challenge 2015 Nouns at Home School Dad

Index for A to Z Challenge 2015 White Sox Home Runs Hitters AJ to Zeke at Crazy Uncle Dave's Sports Blog

Index for A to Z Challenge 2012 at Home School Dad

The challenge starts on Thursday April 1st and continues  every day but Sundays for the rest of the month. Click here to be redirected to the A to Z challenge.