This photo composite shows teacher Lee Dodson and students in his seventh and eighth grade classes at Tecumseh Grade School in the 1951-1952 school year. Pictured are: (top row, l to r) Dalmar Melton, Judy Bayless, Phil Toelkes, Judy Rogers, John Rice, Patty Patterson, Gary Hook, Marcia Alumbaugh; (middle row, l to r) Dick Bradford, Lee Dodson (who also was the school principal), Lois Tolbert; (bottom row, l to r) Mary Catherine Whitlock, Dick Patterson, Patty Newton, Mary Lou Williams, Marian Knisel, Janet Eggleston, Harold Thomas, and Mary Ferrin. The Tecumseh post was Dodson's first as an educator. Previously, he had 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. Digital reproduction of the composite was accomplished through a joint project sponsored by the Kansas Historical Society and the Shawnee County Baseball Hall of Fame.
![]()
