Serving Lucas, Ottawa, Sandusky and Wood Counties
To put a fine point on just how things have changed over the years, especially in the chronicle of childhood experiences, look no further than the humble game of marbles.
Less than a century ago, the popular pastimes for kids in the springtime included flying kites and playing marbles.
Seven decades ago, when I was a boy at Camper Elementary in Genoa, it was customary for boys, and sometimes girls, about the month of March, to bring a bag of colorful glass and stone marbles to school each day and then at recess, we would begin the games.
It was easy to find a collection of little knots of children gathered around a circle, usually etched into the mud, where marbles play unfolded. Frequently, with great intensity and serious eyes, we often played “for keeps,” meaning if your “shooter” could knock someone's marble out of the circle, it was yours to keep.
It was very cool if you managed to score a coveted “aggie,” “glassie” or “cat’s eye.”
The reward, besides the inherent bragging rights, seemed to be the joy of this social interaction itself in this perennial rite of spring - a reminder that warmer days lie ahead.
I don’t recall that we had any big tournaments in Genoa, but I know in Toledo in the 1920s to 1940s, the local newspapers not only held regular “Mibs” tournaments around the city and region, but winners would move on to state and national competition, which to those “Mibsters” with good eyes and steady hands was a source of competitive pride.
I don’t know if kids still bring marbles to school anymore, or if they are even allowed, but I do know that marbles, or “Mibster” tournaments, are still happening. There is a National Marbles Tournament every June in Wildwood, N.J., the marbles Mecca of America that boasts a marbles museum and the National Marbles Hall of Fame.
In 2023, Wildwood celebrated its 100th anniversary of the first games, celebrating a first year that witnessed some three million children take part in marble’s competition across the country. Young 14-year-old Harlin McCoy, a boy from Columbus, Ohio won the national title on June 19, 1923 after defeating little Sammy Schnieder of St. Louis, the regional monarch of “glassies” in a 6-4 series of games that were followed by national sport reporters like it was the PGA.
The victory for McCoy, the son of an Ohio railroad switchman, was a huge achievement and the honor netted him a gold watch, a lifetime circus pass, and other sundry treasures. But this proud new marble king also garnered headlines and a wave of newsprint from all across the country.
McCoy told reporters the victory made him happy, but most of all, he was “happy for his Mom and Pop.”
A better Mibs King there never was.
The National Marbles Tournament is held every year the week after Father's Day in June and winners now receive thousands of dollars in scholarships and other prizes. It's open to children between the ages of 7-14. You can learn more at nationalmarblestournament.org.
