Author Archives: Larry Krug

About Larry Krug

April 22, 1938 - May 3, 2019 Larry was with 4-H for 27 years and retired as the Director of Communications. Although he passed away on May 3, 2019 after a brief illness, Larry's work with and for 4-H will live on.

1904 World’s Fair Boys’ Corn Pyramid

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The following story is from the National Compendium of 4-H Promotion and Visibility on the National 4-H History website at

http://4-HHistoryPreservation.com/History/4-H_Promotion/

There are several historical references to Will Otwell’s corn-growing boys in Illinois and beyond in the early history of Corn Clubs in the US; the story of Otwell’s creativity from 1904 is definitely a noteworthy story worth repeating.

Will Otwell was a simple, local nurseryman in Macoupin County, Illinois. He was president of the county Farmer’s Institute which had sponsored an annual county corn contest for farm boys for two or three years, each year getting a bit more successful. In 1903 Illinois Governor Richard Yates (over Otwell’s protest) gave him the responsibility of creating an exhibit representing Illinois at the great 1904 Louisiana Purchase Exhibition in St. Louis. The prospect appalled the farm-bred man from Carlinville. He knew that famed artists would create beautiful displays for other states. What could he do to match them?

Then he struck upon the idea of holding a boys’ corn contest, this time state-wide. Otwell extended the contest to include 50,000 entrants. In the fall of 1903, Otwell and his associates in Carlinville were busy opening packages of 10-ear entries of corn, drying them out, and repacking them for shipment to the Agricultural Palace at St. Louis. They sent down the best 1,250 samples from the contestants along with 600 photographs of the young farmers. This made up the bulk of the exhibit.

Exhibition visitors came upon the sight of two huge pyramids of corn – one of yellow corn and the other of white – arranged neatly in 10-ear samples. Above the pyramids were signs reading “Grown by the Farmer Boys of Illinois!” and “8,000 Farm Boys in Contest.” The fact that hundreds of samples were adorned with the pictures of the boys who grew them added the personal touch. The result: the Illinois corn display literally stole the show from the other states.

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When newspapermen at the World’s Fair learned that each morning Will Otwell was getting approximately a bushel basket full of mail from his youthful contestants, they literally overwhelmed him for stories. The newspapers and magazines from around the country carried about 2,000 special articles about the pyramid of corn from Illinois. The display received so much attention that Otwell received offers from foreign countries to stage similar contests there.

Always “raising the bar,” in 1905 Otwell invited farm youth from anywhere in the country to come to Carlinville for a national roundup of corn growing contestants in his home town.

A Dinner to Remember… Words Never to Forget

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The following story is from the National Compendium of 4-H Promotion and Visibility on the National 4-H History website at

http://4-HHistoryPreservation.com/History/4-H_Promotion/


This story was published in National 4-H News following the 1947 National 4-H Club Congress, written by Robert Chesnutt, Assistant Extension Editor, Alabama.

The theme of this story about our Alabama delegates could be repeated over and over by others struck with the eagerness of youth to accept new ideas, encouragement, strong leadership.

Our boys and girls hadn’t missed a session, not even a word uttered by outstanding speakers. They absorbed the entire program. I know. They talked with me about every meeting.

Then at one of the dinners given by a generous sponsor, their enthusiasm was fired higher and higher. It reached the bubbling-over point. At this event rumor got around that top-flight athletes would appear on the evening program. Immediately every member of our group wanted autographs. They soon located Charlie Trippi, Chicago Cardinals, and Ted Williams, Boston Red Sox (both later Hall of Famers) at the table across the spacious Stevens Hotel Ballroom.

They got the signatures and then said they would be ever-grateful if the stars would pose for a picture with them. True sports that they are, Trippi and Williams laid down their forks and obliged. That was the happiest bunch of boys I ever photographed.

After dinner, the two stars, plus a dozen more in all fields of sports, talked to the Congress folks. None hung more closely to their words than did our Alabama delegates:

“Fair play”… “Play to win”… “Be a good looser; a gracious winner”… “Practice, practice, practice”… “Keep working, keep trying”… “Study and plan; use your mind as well as your muscles”… “Practice, and then keep practicing.”

Upon receptive, eager ears fell these lines that had followed other inspiring words of a dozen speakers of previous days. They were drunk, deeply drunk, by kids who would hold on to them forever. Those words and those boys and girls became inseparable. Neither could escape from the other.

The ringing challenge would return later down in some Alabama cotton field. It would come again to haunt and inspire a boy who found his beef cattle project heart-breakingly tough. It would sound again and thrill a wisp of a girl whose eyes were filled with sweat from standing over a red hot stove, canning food for winter. Yes, some words never die. They become as much of the one inspired as he is of himself.

Deeply moved, the boys and girls questioned me: “I’ve heard the same words before – but this week they really did something to me”… “Everybody’s got a chance to do big things, they said, and I believe it”… “The only person who can stop you is yourself,” said another. “That’s what those speeches meant to me”… “I’ll never forget – and I’m going to make more out of myself. I’m going to be a winner.”


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Those were some of the things the sincerest kids I ever knew told me that night.

Couple of days later 14-year-old Nimrod Garth looked at the international’s grand champion steer and unwaveringly volunteered, “I can grow out one just as good. It may take a long, long time, but I am going to do it.”

Nimrod, already a State champion, was echoing the spirit he found at the Congress. Perhaps he would have said the same, Congress or no Congress, but I can’t think so.

Making the last lap of the journey home by car, I was seated next to Lucille May, from the red hills of remote Randolph county. She was quiet, weighing something in her bright, energetic mind. Then Lucille turned to Mary Dell McCain, State girls leader. “Some day I am going to be the national achievement winner,” she announced quietly. “I’ve worked hard for nine years to be State best record winner. Now I’m aiming for what I think is the greatest 4-H honor. I’m going to help younger girls with their 4-H work and make myself a winner.”

Lucille said it in a matter-of-fact way. But meant every word. Knowing how far down the line she started and how high she’s climbed, I say she’ll do it, too.

The words and inspired faces remind me over and over that at every crossroad are growing our future wealth.

How well we succeed lies in how well we kindle in our youth the fire that keeps them pushing towards new victories in the smaller accomplishments in life: Sewing a better dress, canning a better jar of food, growing better corn, taking a fuller part in leadership.

Inspiration may come at a National Congress – but just as surely it may come in the smallest 4-H meeting; or at a home visit by the county Extension agent; or when an older member helps a beginner.

When or where youth is inspired is not important. The fact that they can be as inspired as their leaders have the vision to make them is the secret to better 4-H work – and a better world.


Early Roots of 4-H Education Philosophy

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The following story is from the July 2015 issue of the 4-H History Preservation Newsletter

During the 1890s, progressive educators were beginning to promote the idea that teachers need to be teaching more than the three Rs (readin’, ‘ritin’ and ‘rithmetic). In fact, M. Buisson of the French Ministry of Education, speaking at the International Congress of Education at Chicago on July 26, 1893, said: “Let the school teach, we say, what is most likely to prepare the child to be a good citizen, an intelligent and active man. Not by the means of the three Rs, but rather by the means of the three Hs – head, heart and hand – and make him fit for self-government, self-control and self-help, a living, a thinking being.” (Page 263 of the proceedings of the National Education Association for 1893)

A few educators were beginning to grasp what Buisson was talking about. Liberty Hyde Bailey, a naturalist at Cornell, was offering nature studies to young people in the 1890s that closely resembled 4-H work of later years. Perry Holden, known as the father of hybrid corn and the nation’s first agronomist, first at the University of Illinois and then at Iowa State College, was almost evangelical in his quest to get small businessmen and bankers involved in financially supporting young people with project loans. At the turn of the century, a few superintendents of schools and some of the landgrant colleges were coming on board. In 1902, W. M. Beardshear, President of Iowa State College and President of the National Education Association, gave a speech on “The Three Hs in Education” and stated “We are coming to embody Buisson’s definition of education, and harmoniously build up the character of the child.” Yet, there was no organized plan, no organized movement. It seems almost as if it happened through “little clusters of people” standing around talking about these three Hs, nodding their heads up and down and saying, “this is a good idea,” but it was moving ever so slowly. What they drastically needed was a great public relations person, a person who could present their case to the media. But 4-H promotion and visibility was not yet on the horizon.


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Somebody was Inspired When They Founded the 4-H Club

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The above quote is from Will Rogers in 1934. Known worldwide as a humorist, a social commentator, performer and motion picture actor, he was one of the best known American’s of that decade. The best paid actor in Hollywood, making 71 movies. He traveled around the world three times; and, as a syndicated columnist, he wrote more than 4,000 columns.

The people adored Rogers and listened to what he had to say… and, he had a lot to say. Here is what he had to say about 4-H:


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“With all the haywire ideas we have, ever once in a while we hit on a good one. I was down to the Los Angeles livestock show, and I saw these hundreds of farmer boys that had fattened and cared for a calf, or pig, or sheep, themselves. It’s a thing called the 4-H Club. Somebody was inspired when they founded that. It’s all over the

Beginning of IFYE (International Farm Youth Exchange)

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The following story is from the National Compendium of 4-H Promotion and Visibility on the National 4-H History website at

http://4-HHistoryPreservation.com/History/4-H_Promotion/

 As reported in the Wessel book, 4-H: An American Idea, in the fall of 1946 Ed Aiton (a member of the National 4-H Staff at USDA) had been assigned to look into the possibility of international farm youth exchange programs. At nearly the same time, O. T. Norris of the Young Farmer’s Clubs of Great Britain was visiting in Washington. Prior to the war, the United States and Great Britain had exchanged dairy judging teams and Norris was interested in seeing the exchange renewed. Very quickly the two ideas coalesced into a general exchange of farm youth.

Here are the British visitors. From left, 21-year-old Hywel Evans; Stanley A. B. Gray, 20; William Edge, 21; group leader John L. Cornah, 23; Kenneth J. Osborne, 21 and Alexander Campbell, 20.

Here are the British visitors. From left, 21-year-old Hywel Evans; Stanley A. B. Gray, 20; William Edge, 21; group leader John L. Cornah, 23; Kenneth J. Osborne, 21 and Alexander Campbell, 20.

Until more plans could be made, the two agreed that a visit of several young English farmers to the National 4-H Congress in Chicago would be a good interim idea. The young men traveled to Chicago and were very much impressed with the Congress and discussed the idea of a general international exchange. At the Stevens Hotel (later Conrad Hilton), Aiton invited the gathered state 4-H winners to donate funds in order to send seven American farmers to Great Britain the next year. The delegates were enthusiastic with the suggestion and started taking up a collection right there during the assembly; from the balcony surrounding the auditorium 4-H’ers from across the country were dropping dollar bills, showering down on the delegates below, supporting the effort. The generosity of the 4-H delegates provided the initial contribution for sending the Americans to Great Britain in 1948, starting the International Farm Youth Exchange (IFYE) which officially began in July of that year.

1950 returning IFYE delegates meet with the Grocery Manufacturers of America.

1950 returning IFYE delegates meet with the Grocery Manufacturers of America.

For more information about the history of 4-H International Programs please visit http://4-HHistoryPreservation.com/History/International_Programs/

The Greatest Story Ever Told

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The following story is from the National Compendium of 4-H Promotion and Visibility on the National 4-H History website — http://4-HHistoryPreservation.com/History/4-H_Promotion/

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Airman First Class Eugene E. Evers

 This traditionally is not a story about 4-H promotion. But it conveys the impact a story can have. Printed, and reprinted, in the national 4-H magazine, National 4-H News, not once but three times over the course of several years, with the heading at least once as “The Greatest Story Ever Told,” it represents a certain type of 4-H-related story that has appeared from time to time throughout 4-H’s long history.

Eugene Evers grew up on a farm in Forest Grove, Oregon. An 8-year 4-H’er, his father was the club leader. His 13 brothers and sisters were all members.

Eugene’s main project was his Holstein dairy herd. He milked 30 cows a day and was assistant secretary of the Oregon State Holstein Association, although still in his teens. With these qualifications he won a trip to the 1949 National 4-H Congress in Chicago where he was selected a national dairy winner, winning a scholarship.

A year later Eugene Evers enlisted in the Air Force and was sent to the Orient. He was reported missing in action over North Korea in July, 1952, being captured after volunteering for a mission.

Airman Evers became a prisoner 36 hours after his plane went down and was placed in solitary confinement for seven months. He was then transferred to Mudken, China, and again placed in solitary confinement, allowed to leave his 9 x 12 foot cell only twice during the next 7 months… for interrogation.

The 14 months Eugene was in solitary confinement was not at any time in a prison camp, a fact considered by the military as meted out only to prisoners deserving the most severe treatment.

His family received no word about the young man. His sister recalls that late every afternoon as they were milking cows, the radio would announce the names of any prisoners of war which had been released. The young brothers and sisters would sit on the bales of straw and anxiously listen to the report… but never any mention of their brother.

Then, one day the announcer casually read off the name of Eugene Evers from Oregon. His sister said “it was like the 4th of July as they all hugged each other and cried, before racing to the house to inform their parents.

After getting home, one of Eugene’s best buddies, who had also been to National 4-H Congress with him… Bill Headrick, asked a pointed question: “What did you do to occupy your mind during those 14 months all by yourself? Eugene Evers had a ready answer:

“I relived my trip to the Chicago 4-H Club Congress. I recalled all the experiences and discussions we had during that trip. Sometimes, in my mind’s eye, I got as many as five or six people in on the discussions, talking all at once.”

This is how Airman Eugene Evers kept his sanity… reliving his experiences and those discussions at 4-H Congress – over and over and over again.

We often hear delegates to Congress, to 4-H Conference, and other 4-H events describe their experience as “A Precious Lifetime Memory.” More so than we realize. But national dairy winner Eugene Evers from Forest Grove, Oregon’s story undoubtedly must be near the top of the list. In some ways it really may be the greatest 4-H story ever told.

National 4-H Sunday

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The following story is from the National Compendium of 4-H Promotion and Visibility on the National 4-H History website — http://4-HHistoryPreservation.com/History/4-H_Promotion/

Throughout much of its history, and particularly during the mid-20th century, 4-H had celebrated National 4-H Sunday and Rural Life Sunday. Held in the spring, 4-H clubs in hundreds of communities worked closely with the community church to provide the 4-H-driven church service. Members of the local 4-H club would serve as greeters, ushers, provide the choir, give the scripture readings and even the sermon. This was perfectly acceptable. After all, in the traditional homogenous rural population everyone knew everyone else; went to the same school, the same church, and belonged to the same 4-H Club.

However, by the 1970s, federal court actions more narrowly defined the separation of church and state, and 4-H had to reassess its policies. The reassessment was hastened by the recognition that the new audiences that 4-H was bringing in did not necessarily share the common religious values presumed to exist in rural America.

What had been a major, highly visible annual function in rural communities across America – National 4-H Sunday – would rapidly disappear.

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4-H Hijacking – A Promotion Program

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The following story is from the National Compendium of 4-H Promotion and Visibility on the National 4-H History Website at http://4-HHistory.com/?h=4-H_Promotion

Through time, some 4-H’ers have welcomed visitors with a more subtle approach such as is depicted in this 1959 National 4-H Calendar.

Through time, some 4-H’ers have welcomed visitors with a
more subtle approach such as is depicted in this 1959 National
4-H Calendar.

Technically, this wasn’t a national promotion program, but doing research on 4-H promotion history, the story was featured in the June, 1953, issue of National 4-H News, so it did get nationwide exposure. It was a creative way to teach hospitality and promote the local Georgia 4-H program at the same time. Actually, creative may not exactly be the correct word – “bizarre” might be more fitting. But, remember, this was over 60 years ago. Life was slower. Things were different.

The way the story goes: minding their own business, admiring Georgia’s pine trees, cotton fields and magnolias, and looking forward to two weeks in Florida, Mr. and Mrs. E. F. Brooks of Veedersburg, Indiana, were driving peacefully along US Highway 1 when a policeman’s whistle frightened them to a stop near the city limits of Swainsboro, Georgia.

“What have we done wrong now?” they wondered aloud. Nothing! Emanuel county 4-H’ers just wanted to practice their good neighbor policy on them. It was Saturday and time for another good neighbor night program at the county’s new $25,000 clubhouse.

Through time, some 4-H’ers have welcomed visitors with a more subtle approach such as is depicted in this 1959 National 4-H Calendar.

Mr. and Mrs. Brooks were the nineteenth couple to be guests of the local 4-H Clubs. The youngsters, getting good neighbor training, and promoting 4-H at the same time, had hosted tourists from 10 states and Canada over the course of months. 4-H’ers competed to get the opportunity to play host and hostess each week. Sara Ellen Phillips, 15, and Loy Cowart, Jr., 17, were the lucky hostess and host for Mr. and Mrs. Brooks. They showed the tourists to their room, reserved in advance at a motor court, and then they began a tour of interesting local points. (Apparently, the Brooks were spending the night in Swainsboro whether they wanted to or not.)

The visitors saw 27,000 barrels of resin at the processing plant and heard explanations of other pine tree uses. They appeared on a radio program over station WJAT, and Mr. Brooks was even a disc jockey for a while. Then they toured the new hospital, saw the livestock auction barn, and took a look at some cotton gins, though Mrs. Brooks had already picked a boll of cotton for herself. And they ate steaks at a local restaurant. At the 4-H Clubhouse that night the guests received a box of Emanuel county products – canned goods, pecans and articles made by home demonstration clubsters. Other features of this regular Saturday night good neighbor event sometimes included a talent show.

For Mr. and Mrs. Brooks the whole thing was something they never expected to experience on their way to the “Sunshine State.” And when they left Swainsboro after Sunday breakfast, they were probably tempted to spend the whole two weeks right there with the 4-H’ers who had been so nice to them (the article said).

Imagine if someone tried that today!

4-H a ‘Career Starter’ for TV Program Host

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The following story is from the National Compendium of 4-H Promotion and Visibility on the National 4-H History website — http://4-HHistoryPreservation.com/History/4-H_Promotion/

During a major 4-H push with urban programming in the 1960’s, a local television station in Indianapolis – Station WLWI (now WTHR) – created a weekly 4-H Saturday morning show called “Clover Power.” The show host was a young David Letterman, later to become a late night network talk show host. Letterman attended National 4-H Congress in Chicago, covering the Indiana delegation for his “Clover Power” show.

With Mr. Letterman retiring from his role hosting the David Letterman Show on the CBS network we wish him all the best in retirement and in whatever future endeavors he may pursue. (We are always in need of volunteers for the 4-H History Preservation Program.)Button_Clover_Power

4-H and the Great Depression of the 1930s

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Wisconsin State 4-H Band and Chorus in 1939.

Learn more about 4-H programs developed to cope with the Great Depression in this new segment. One of the major objectives during the Depression years for the 4-H Extension office of USDA and the National Committee on Boys’ and Girls’ Club Work, in Chicago, was “to try to make life a little richer, a little more fun, for rural America.” With the dust bowl and lower prices for their commodities, life was tough for farming families.

The National Committee published a National 4-H Songbook in 1929 which was widely used throughout the decade of the 1930s. They published a series of 4-H skits and plays, particularly adaptable to 4-H club meetings or community events. Radio programs and music appreciation were being carried through network 4-H to thousands of 4-H families and clubs.

Not only was 4-H fortunate to be able to retain almost all of their national awards program donors during these Depression years, but even more were added, particularly in areas relating to the needs of the farm family. The 4-H Farm Accounting program and the 4-H Rural Electrification program were two main ones.

The Farm Accounting program, sponsored by International Harvester, encouraged youth of the “dust bowl era” to work with their parents in a more business-like approach to farming. It promoted sons and fathers, working together, to set goals, keep track of expenses and profits and to maintain accurate farm accounting record books. To put it bluntly, it often meant “save the farm.”

In 4-H Rural Electrification was supported by Westinghouse Electric Corporation. The program enabled young and old to intelligently participate in the era of rural electrification expansion. Through the program Westinghouse pioneered the concept of encouraging local power suppliers and Westinghouse employees to serve as resource people in the local communities training volunteer leaders.

While these were major thrusts at the national level during the 1930s, other areas of 4-H strength at the state and local levels included an increase in 4-H camps for summer activities and organized sports teams and competitions at the club level, particularly in baseball and basketball.

Whereas the decade may have been a challenge, there were many positives with new opportunities arriving throughout these years. To read the entire segment on 4-H and the Great Depression of the 1930s go to:

http://4-HHistoryPreservation.com/History/Great_Depression/