Round the Bend Now and Then

In this episode, I meet with the hosts of the Settled on the Field podcast: Liz Krueper, Jeb McNally, and Bill Krueper. They are all South Bend products and proud graduates of John Adams High School.  As you’ll hear in the episode, they’re all sports nuts who decided to formalize their sports fandom by establishing a podcast. Their listeners learn about a variety of relevant sports related to...

On January 7, 1933, almost two years after the tragic death of legendary Notre Dame football coach Knute Rockne, A Detroit Evening Times headline read: “Bomb Killed Rockne, Put in Plane by Gang” A few years ago, retired journalist Jeff Harrell saw that shocking headline and curiosity got the best of him so he dug deeper. He found archived newspaper articles, official reports, interviews and m...

In this episode, I meet with Mike & Christine Golic to shine a spotlight on The Golic Family Foundation and also to hear about their forty plus year relationship with the Notre Dame and South Bend area. We start out by discussing everything from their favorite area restaurants to the changes the 5 Point/Eddy St area has experienced to recalling fond memories of a few local historical locations...

In 1984, the sometimes controversial owner of the very popular 5 Point/Eddy St. Corby's Tavern was shot execution style in his York Rd. home - in the normally quiet Twyckenham Hills neighborhood. The bar's manager escaped alive, but was traumatized by being strapped to a chair with a pillow case over his head. For three years, the case went cold, until a WGN reporter tipped off the South Bend Poli...

Tom Lynch has owned and operated Lynch's Gym at the intersection of Dunham and Walnut St for half of his life and has lived in the neighborhood for almost his entire life. In his 80 plus years, he has amassed quite the collection of stories! From his days at the original Washington High School on Sample St, to the Marine Corp, to his time in competitive body building, and even his 13 years as...

In this episode, I meet with Lou Sabo - longtime photographer, including 25 years with the South Bend Tribune.  Lou has spent decades photographing South Bend's landscape, amassing quite a collection of pictures and knowledge about our local history along the way. He has created and narrated a couple of different YouTube documentaries that include a plethora of his photography of histori...

We do a little something different in this episode! Normally I conduct interviews that help tell a story from our area’s past or highlight a historical or well known spot in our area. In this episode, we shine a light on a huge four day event… a one of a kind event that has only happened 4 other times in North America, an event that hopes to draw thousands of families to the Northern Indiana....

In South Bend's historic City Cemetery, there is a bridge that looks completely out of place and literally crosses over nothing.  It crosses no stream, creek, or road -just a VERY old stone arch bridge.   Turns out it was one bridge of many, built in the 1830s, that was meant to cross a waterway. This waterway was to be called the Kankakee Mill Race. This mill race was meant to conn...

The Linebacker Lounge is a legendary Notre Dame & South Bend area establishment. It has stood on the corner of Edison Rd & St Rd 23 since 1962. While the surrounding area has changed over the years, The Backer has stood tall making sure all who visit leave happy & hopefully upright.   In this episode, I meet with Aaron Frucci, "retired" longtime Backer bartender. Bartenders, espec...

In the early hours of January 10, 1935, at the corner of Colfax Ave & Michigan St in South Bend, IN, bomb blasts rocked the fancy Palais Royale building. The target was the Palace Cafe, which was located on the ground floor of the building. In the ensuing months, the drama surrounding the bombing was something out of a Hollywood script with everything from courtroom shenanigans to looting to i...

Imagine how hard it would be to have a son or daughter overseas fighting in a war. Now imagine that multiplied by SIX ! SIX of Ethel & Howard Hardman's sons left their Corby St. home to serve our country in World War II! In this episode, you'll learn about those SIX brothers: South Bend's Band of Brothers. I meet with Edna Parcell, who over the years has helped tell the stories of her brothers...

In the 1970s, students at Notre Dame organized multiple blues festivals that brought students, locals, rich, poor, African American and white folks together, to share their common love of the blues.  In 1971, Perry Aberli, a grad student at the time, approached the administration of the University of Notre Dame and pitched an idea that had never been done on campus.  He proposed a 3 day...

The History Museum has seen many changes in its almost 150 year existence, but one thing is for sure, the entire area is blessed to have one of the oldest and largest historical societies in our state, right here in our own back yard.   In this episode, I meet with the Deputy Executive Director of The History Museum, Kristie Erickson.  We start our talk in her museum office, where we dis...

In this episode, I meet with LONGTIME South Bend Tribune columnist Bill Moor.  Bill started at the Tribune in 1973 and spent almost 50 years serving in numerous roles including a sports writer, editor, and human interest columnist. During our conversation, we get into his years at the Tribune, our common love of the Chicago Cubs, and even his experiences flying on top of airplanes and riding...

“The Lake” is a nickname for the LaSalle Park neighborhood on the far West Side of South Bend, IN. The history of the neighborhood and everything it has experienced are so unbelievable, the story simply must be told. Longtime city leader Lynn Coleman joins me and helps tell the neighborhood's story. The neighborhood is situated near a city park called LaSalle Park. Within LaSalle park is a small b...

Four Winds Field & the South Bend Cubs are a thriving minor league baseball stadium and franchise! Many fans probably do not know how close we came to losing baseball in South Bend altogether. In this episode, I meet longtime South Bend lawyer Dick Nussbaum.  Dick shares his memories of professional baseball’s journey in South Bend as he has played an integral role in its growth here over...

In this episode, I meet with author Lisa Kelly. Lisa has written numerous Notre Dame related books, including the Echoes from Notre Dame series, cookbook Domer Dishes , and her new children's book, Clover Goes to Notre Dame . You'll hear that Lisa's story is a true, one thing leads to another journey. One thing wouldn’t lead to another however, if Lisa didn’t dive right in, take a few risks, and f...

In this episode, I meet w/Mishawaka High School head football coach Keith Kinder deep in the bowels of historic Steele Stadium. Hear how he balances the rich tradition of the program with today’s kids, & how he hopes the relationships they build propel them to success! You'll hear Coach Kinder's passion shine as we talk about his journey, the football team, and its relationship with a traditio...

In this episode, our listeners and I learn all about how a mid 1930s Great Depression era program created by President Roosevelt’s administration to provide jobs to the unemployed, was used to build a local high school football stadium that on Friday nights 80 plus years later still fills an entire residential neighborhood up with the sounds of a school band playing, helmets and pads crashing into...

In this week’s episode, we try a first: I recorded an entire interview on site away from my basement studio. I felt that this would be the best way to authentically shine a spotlight on one of the South Bend and Mishawaka area’s gems: the Studebaker National Museum!  I met with Archivist Andy Beckman, and he was so gracious with his time, as he shared some history behind the museum and highli...

In this episode, Roger Parent joins us again & shares his memories leading the city in bringing professional baseball to South Bend, IN. In what started as a meeting pushed by a very insistent Michiana Area Planning Commission Director in February of 1985, ended 10 days later with former South Bend Mayor Roger Parent announcing to the citizens of South Bend that they would be the hometown of a...

In this episode, former South Bend Mayor Roger Parent, who was mayor at the time the East Race Waterway was built in the early 1980s, joins me and shares his memories of what it was like to collaboratively accomplish building something that literally was the first in North America.  You’ll learn that the East Race has not always looked like the one we know now. Originally built in 1843 to pow...

On this episode, I meet with the first coordinator of the Michiana Crime Stoppers program, retired South Bend Police Lieutenant Sam Walsh. Michiana Crime Stoppers turns 40 years old this year! Many people remember the Crime Stoppers Crime of the Week commercials in the 1980s with the jail door being slammed shut and Lt. Sam Walsh saying, "You'll be assigned a code number and we won't ask your name...

In this episode, I meet with author Gabrielle Robinson and we discuss the story behind her book, Better Homes of South Bend: An American Story of Courage. The book's description, says it all: "In 1950, a group of African American workers at the Studebaker factory in South Bend met in secret. Their mission was to build homes away from the factories and slums where they were forced to live. They cam...

In this episode, I meet with the author of the More People article series, Joe Molnar. His series detailed how South Bend grew every decade up until the 1960s and then explained our unprecedented population loss of over 30,000 people in the fifty years that followed. With Joe's article series, you will not find a more comprehensive, understandable, descriptive account of South Bend, IN's populatio...