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Over the course of two years, prior to the Darrtown Bicentennial, Kirk Mee III, Darrtown native and former collegiate and professional football coach, collected the following autographed, professional sports items, which he donated to the Darrtown Bicentennial auction.

BELOW LEFT AND BELOW RIGHT: Item No. 01:

Bengals' football (in box), autographed by Elbert L. "Ickey" Woods.

"Darrtown OH 2014 Icky Woods 88-91 Bengal The Shuffle Man"

Click the following link to learn about Kirk Mee's coaching career.

BELOW: Item No. 02:

Bengals football (in box),

autographed by Jim Breech.

"Jim Breech. Bengals All Time Leading Scorer"

BELOW: Item No. 03:

Bengals football (in box), autographed by Pete Johnson.

"To Darrtown Ohio 2014. Pete Johnson. Cincinnati Bengals. #46"

BELOW: Item No. 04:

Bengals football (in case), autographed by Anthony Munoz

"Anthony Munoz HoF 98"

BELOW: Item No. 05:

NFL football, autographed by Mark Mosley

"To my friends at Darrtown, Ohio 2014 - Mark Mosley #3 NFL - MVP 1982 Super Bowls XVII & XVIII"

BELOW: Item No. 06:

NFL football, autographed by Fred Biletnikoff

"Darrtown, Ohio 2014 - Have a great Anniversary - Fred Biletnikoff - Hof 88 - SB XI MVP"

BELOW: Item No. 07:

NBA basketball, autographed by Calvin Murphy

"Hall of Fame '93 / Calvin Murphy #23"

RIGHT & FAR RIGHT:

Item No. 08:

Photograph, autographed by Robert "Bob" Feller and Certificate of Authenticity

BELOW: Item No. 09:

Book, written by Duke Snider, with Phil Pepe.

Darrtown’s Walter “Smokey” Alston is remembered by baseball Hall of Famer, Edwin “Duke” Snider in his 2006 edition of the “Few and Chosen - Defining Dodger Greatness Across the Eras.” Snider’s book is an insider’s opinion of Dodger players and managers that baseball fans will find both entertaining and informative.

Among his recollections and appraisal of Alston as a professional baseball manager, the “Duke” shares his perspective on the storied incident when Smokey confronted the future Hall of Famer, Jackie Robinson about perceived differences between the two (pg. 185-186). Additional information about this faceoff between manager and player appears in the section of the book where Snider (and co-writer, Pepe) provide commentary from the Dodgers general manager, Emil "Buzzy" Bavasi (pg. 183). This text, published by Triumph Books (Detroit, MI) in 2006, was priced at 7.95, when first published. Approximately ten copies of this text will be available for purchase during the Bicentennial.

BELOW: Item No. 10: Sports coat; owned and worn by Weeb Ewbank. 

Wilbur Charles "Weeb" Ewbank (May 6, 1907 – November 17, 1998) was an American professional football coach. He coached the New York Jets to victory over the Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III in 1969, as well as leading the latter to two NFL Championships in 1958 and 1959.

Ewbank was born in Richmond, Indiana and attended Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. Ewbank's first football coaching job was in 1928 at Van Wert High School in Van Wert, Ohio. He returned to Oxford, Ohio, and coached all sports at McGuffey High School.

During WWII, Ewbank joined the Navy and was assigned to Naval Station Great Lakes, where he was reunited with his Miami teammate Paul Brown who was the base football coach.

Kirk Mee III, the consignor of all the sports items that appear on this webpage, knew Weeb Ewbank personally. Kirk often visited Weeb and his wife in their Oxford, Ohio home.

Following Weeb's death, some of his personal Items were donated to a charity fundraiser. Kirk subsequently purchased Weeb's New York Jets sports coat, which appears in the image at the left.

The sports coat bears a label that reads "Styled and Made by Saxony of New York."

BELOW: Item No. 11:

Poster, autographed by Hale Irwin;

NOTE: The distortion seen in the certification image was caused by the camera. The 15 inch by 17.5 inch Certificate of Authenticity is NOT distorted.

BELOW: Item No. 12:

Football, autographed by Joe Theismann

BELOW: Item No. 13:

Original, never worn, championship jacket from Super Bowl XXVI - (large)

RIGHT and BELOW: Item No. 14:

Original, Washington Redskins jacket

(large) never worn!

Left sleeve - autographed by Kenny Houston

Right sleeve - autographed by Mark Mosely

BELOW: Item No. 15:

Football, autographed by John Stofa

BELOW: Item No. 16:

Football, autographed by Kenny Houston

BELOW: Item No. 17:

Basketball, autographed by George Wilson

BELOW: Item No. 18:

Basketball, autographed by Kevin Grevey

Item no. 19

Walter Alston / Los Angeles Dodgers Autographed Baseball

The three images below shows the baseball offered in the Bicentennial Auction.

This ball was donated to the Darrtown Bicentennial auction, by the Ogles; Harry Ogle, (Walter Alston's son-in-law) Rob Ogle (Walter's grandson) and Kim (Walter's granddaughter).

ABOVE: The signature of Walt Alston

ABOVE: The signatures of Steve Garvey, Sandy Koufax, and Dick Scofield

ABOVE: The signatures of Claude Osteen, Jim Lefebvre, and Don Sutton

Commemorative quilt sold during the Bicentennial

The quilt that appears in the following image was offered at auction during the 2014 Bicentennial. The quilt was designed by Fred Lindley and crafted by Ocie Kelly. Lindley and Kelly donated the quilt to the Bicentennial auction.

The 20 images that appear on the 40" x 48" quilt commemorate individuals, events, and/or sites from Darrtown's history. The individual images are identified in the grid that appears beneath the quilt image. More information about many of these images is available at the Directory page or through the Search feature that appears in the banner of this website.

Grid identifies sectors of commemorative quilt

Commemorative "Liar's Bench" auctioned during the Bicentennial

During the middle part of the 20th century, Luther McVicker's Garage, located at 4278 Main Street in Darrtown, was a favorite spot for local residents to gather, as they shared stories and solved local, national, and inter-national issues. Some in the community affectionately referred to the sitting area of Luther's garage as the "liar's bench." The image at the right shows a group in session at Luther's garage, on a summer day in 1982

Members of the Darrtown Bicentennial Steering Committee thought that a "liar's bench" should be part of the Bicentennial celebration. Steering Committee member, and Darrtown native, Ron Wiley volunteered to design and build a bench that he would donate to the Bicentennial auction - with proceeds going to the Bicentennial Fund. Ron produced the bench that appears in the following images, using cherry wood from his personal collection of lumber. The bench measures 42" long by 19" tall.

The commemorative "liar's bench," crafted by Ron Wiley, was inscribed with the following message:

DARRTOWN, OHIO

BICENTENNIAL

1814-2014

BELOW: One stained glass with The Ohio State University logo

Marvin Gillespie created this handcrafted stained glass display and donated it to the Darrtown Bicentennial auction. The piece measures 18.5 inches by 19.5 inches.

BELOW: One framed collection of four photographs that depict four seasons of the year in Darrtown.

Ron Wiley donated this item to the Bicentennial auction, which was created by Tom Hogeback of Village West Framing in Oxford, Ohio. The barn in the picture is located on the farm that sits in the southwest corner of State Route 177 and South Street in Darrtown.

RIGHT: Handcrafted quilt

This quilt, crafted and donated by Elizabeth Bowman, was offered at the Bicentennial auction.

Title: "Silent Night"

Subject: The Darrtown Lutheran Church

Artist: Ellen Brady Deck

Title: "Holy Night"

Subject: The Darrtown Methodist Church

Artist: Ellen Brady Deck