Kiwanis Pages of the Past - 34 Years Ago in 1977

• The May 9 Bulletin reported that Glenn Sahl was inducted as a new member and was sponsored by Mac Bohlman.
• On May 12, the Club chose Ray Clark as president-elect for 1977-78. Bill Foy was chosen vice president; and Dee Harkins, re-elected treasurer.  Three board seats were filled by Ed Cathcart, Bob Muller and Dan Rodriguez.
• A crudely drawn map appeared in the May 16 Bulletin to show members where the 1977 Corn Roast would be held in the desert near Ahwatukee. The site was being called “Yount’s Crossing.”  The roast  saw 36 members bring 119 guests for a total of 155 attendees. They ate about 600 ears of sweet corn.
• KCOT President  Ray Clark will represent the Club at the 62nd annual Kiwanis International Convention June 26-29 in Dallas, Texas. The program would include political comic Art Buchwald.
• Expansion of Sun Devil Stadium to add more seating would force the event to nearby Packard Stadium for the fireworks show on the 4th of July. There would be 8,000 seats available. Wallace and Ladmo were the preshow entertainment.  Chairman Bob Muller said Skaggs Drug would be the site for advance ticket sales, with Kiwanians and spouses volunteering to sell them.
• The July 11 Bulletin reported, “There were approximately 6,000 paid admissions inside the fence at Packard Stadium and somewhat in excess of 10,000 freeloaders outside the fence. The latter’s only contribution to the evening being to compound the traffic problem.”

When Gov. Knappenberger’s father visited KCOT

While composing the nearly 60-year history of the Kiwanis Club of Tempe, Lawn Griffiths found an item in the March  5, 1964, issue of the KCOT Bulletin about a visiting Kiwanian from the Camelback Kiwanis Club  -- Moulton Knappenberger,  The next time he saw Bruce “B.K.” Knappenberger, then Governor-Elect for the Southwest District, he asked B.K. if that was his father.  Here was the response from B.K., who is now our current Governor of the Southwest District of Kiwanis International.

“Yes, the person attending was my dad, Moulton Knappenberger. He went by the name of “Knap” or “Knappy.”  I was 15 (2-15-65) when he unexpectedly died from an aneurism in his head.  He had frequent headaches, but back then the medical equipment was not available to diagnose.

“I attended a meeting with Camelback when I joined the Kiwanis Club of Phoenix in July of 2003.  I sat by one of his close friends at the meeting, and he was excited that I had joined Kiwanis.  We planned to have lunch the following week, and I later found that he had died the next day.

“Back then, my dad was in 20-30 Club for several years waiting to be a Kiwanian. That was the group Kiwanis usually selected their new members from.  You did not just join, but had to have your community service reviewed and be asked to join.  There was a several-year waiting list to join Kiwanis,” B.K. explained.  “I remember that he was excited when he was finally asked to join Kiwanis.  He was finally selected by Camelback Kiwanis and was a member for many years before he died.”