This photograph from the 1951-52 school year features the Tecumseh Grade School girls softball team. The team's coach was Lee Dodson, who also was the school's principal and seventh and eighth grade teacher. Prior to his career as an educator, Dodson pitched for five seasons in the minor leagues, including one-year stints with the Chanute Owls (1946) and the Topeka Owls (1947). He later served as Washburn University's Dean of Students for many years. Dodson was a key figure in Topeka's baseball community for decades. Pictured in the photograph are the following individuals: (standing, l to r) Lee Dodson, Mary Whitlock, Judy Bayless, Pat Patterson, Marcia Alumbaugh, Judy Rogers, Elanor (Sis) Shay, Janet Eggleston; and, (kneeling, l to r) Carol McFarland, Mary Lou Williams, Mary Ferrin, Pat Newton, Lois Tolbert, Marian Knisel. Digital reproduction of the photograph was accomplished through a joint project sponsored by the Kansas Historical Society and the Shawnee County Baseball Hall of Fame.
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