The Time Capsule | Roy Marshall

“Fastest Growing Sport in the World” -Time Magazine, 1936

The documentary, “When Farmers Were Heroes,” contains a scene I’ve replayed a dozen times.
The year is 1935; the location Fountain County, Ind. A newcomer from southwest Iowa has taken the field against 17 finalists from various states. Included are four former national champions. The best from Indiana, playing on his home turf, is favored by many of the estimated 100,000 spectators. Three days of banquets and demonstrations and side shows are over, the parade has run its course, the starting gun is raised and cocked.
Elmer Carlson, sporting a barbershop haircut and a torso that has ladies swooning, shucks his shirt. He pulls a pint whiskey bottle from his back pocket and takes a long drink of water (rumors that it contained booze were strongly refuted). The gun sounds and during the next 80 minutes he does something no one ever had.
Elmer Carlson was born near Massena in 1909, the youngest of seven children. When he died 95 years later, his obituary made reference to the fact that he founded Carlson’s Champion Hybrid Seed Corn Company, owned a trucking firm, published the Audubon newspaper, developed the Circle Drive area of that city, owned and operated several farms, and ran twice for the U.S. Congress. The usual family and church affiliations are included, but the obit does not mention corn husking. Perhaps this was overlooked because it died 64 years before he did.
Carlson was perhaps the all-time best in the sport Collier’s Magazine called “the toughest in the world.” There were no timeouts or substitutions. A drink of water before the opening gun was the last Carlson would have for 80 minutes. He had no coach, no trainer, no workout facilities and his only special equipment was a metal hook strapped to his palm.
Although the original intent was to promote progressive agriculture, competitive husking exploded in popularity as the Depression deepened.
There was never an admission fee. In Carlson’s championship year, 1935, the U.S. had more farms than at any other time in this nation’s history, which meant more people than ever before or since identified with pickers. The fans he attracted were likely a consideration when a Time Magazine reporter wrote that husking was “the fastest-growing sport in the world.” Winners were rock stars in bib overalls, received marriage proposals from women they’d never met, sold endorsements, and rode on parade floats.
 Carlson set an all-time national finals record. Many observers felt the only one with a chance of topping that mark was him, but he didn’t try. In 1936, Carlson opted to step aside and give his brother, Carl, a chance. Carl won at county, district, state and, in an Ohio field following a wet snow and soaking rain, out-mudded the competition to make the Carlsons the only brothers to take the big prize. (In the excitement of the moment Carl was confused by the battery of microphones. Thinking he was on nationwide radio rather than the PA system, he told the audience in front of him he wanted to say “hi” to the folks back in Audubon.)
Although Elmer’s record was broken in 1940, pickers that year had several advantages. In preparation for the contest, four carefully chosen fields were planted to the latest hybrids. All were fertilized and cultivated and evaluated, with the highest-yielding chosen. Plots were then manicured, end-row turns engineered, crowd control tightened. Organizers did all they could to assure that an estimated 160,000 spectators on the ground and news photographers in the Goodyear blimp witnessed a new record, and the weather was ideal.
The 1940 mark will stand for all time, relegating our southwest Iowan to second place. But huskers, the serious ones who understood what had happened, walked away wondering what an Elmer Carlson in his prime would have picked that day, in that field.
Carlson, on his farm in Audubon County, didn’t speculate. He was preparing to buy a corn picker.
“When Farmers Were Heroes” can be purchased on CD from Heritage Documentaries in Davenport; or save the $13 and borrow mine.

Roy Marshall is a local historian and columnist for the Red Oak Express. He can be contacted at news@redoakexpress.com.