Jerry Summers: Plug Horse Derby Monday, May 17, 2021 - by Jerry Summers
Jerry Summers
Although our local area has never been able to develop the thoroughbred racehorse reputation of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky a local humorous horse event has benefitted charity.
The Sertoma Civic Club of Chattanooga in the 1950s-1960s put on a fundraising event titled the “Plug Horse Derby” that closely followed the non-parallel fundraising paths of the Cotton and Kudzu Balls in the history of the Chattanooga community. Both achieved the goals of raising money for good purposes through different routes.
The Chattanooga event was part of the Sertoma Club’s nationwide charity programs with a similar occurrence taking place in Hamilton County, Ohio, which had started in 1949.
Leinart, Alvin Odell Sunday, December 20, 2020
Alvin Odell Leinart, 94, joined his wife Ruth in heaven on Thursday, December 17, 2020.
Born in Bulls Gap, Tn. on Dec. 22, 1925, Odell spent most of his life in Chattanooga. A 1943 graduate of The Baylor School, Odell was drafted by the US Navy in 1944 and flew over 300 combat missions over the Sea of Japan during World War II. He served as radioman and nose gunner of his crew’s Privateer (PB4Y2) plane as part of the Navy Patrol Bombing Squadron 118. After the war, Odell graduated from the University of Tennessee with a degree in Civil Engineering and married Ruth McClendon on March 23, 1951. With his degree in hand, Odell gained much experience in the field of asphalt paving and consulting first with Dave L. Brown Contracting and later with RP Scott Contracting. After retiring, Odell worked part time as a paving consultant for the City of Chattanooga.