SPECIAL Oct 1, 2024: Old Sports Page Newspapers Are Available Online
1976-1984 Sports Page Publication Scanned and Searchable
October 1, 2024
By: Stephen Kent
OJ Cunningham Jr. 2024 Picture
Publisher O. J. Cunningham announced recently that The Sports Page (The Bay County Sports Page) newspapers have been scanned and indexed and are available online at
www.baycountysportspage.com.
Bay County Sports Page existed in the tri-cities from 1976-1984.
WHERE DID THESE NEWSPAPERS COME FROM?
The newspaper's parent company (OJ Advertising, Inc.) financed scanning over 360+ newspaper issues to create viewable INTERNET images and printable PDF documents. This tedious, costly, and demanding effort took four years, and many hurdles were overcome.
Some 6,000 pages' scans have been created and processed through Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software to produce a searchable database.
The "SEARCH" portal is available on the website.
www.baycountysportspage.com
You can search by year, and you can search by name or place. The website allows you to look at it at no cost, but only low-resolution images are visible during the search process. You can right-click and get a low-res copy of individual pages. E-copies of individual issues are available at Amazon Kindle. (There is a link also to buy a paper copy.
How It All Began
The idea of the Sports Page newspaper was "conceived" on a Sunday night in May of 1976 at Denny Hayes's Green Hut Tavern (Columbus Avenue) in Bay City, Michigan.
O. J. Cunningham sat at a corner table with four or five Green Hut softball team members who had just won a hard-fought weekend fastpitch tournament. If you have ever been to the Green Hut, we were at the table under the murals depicting the sports accomplishments of Olympic Gold Medalist Terry McDermott, NFL legend Bill Hewitt, and baseball's most celebrated pinch-hitter Jerry Lynch. Hayes had commissioned painter/artist Dave Goss to produce those almost life-sized murals for the walls inside the Green Hut to set the sports motif tone.
The Green Hut fastpitch softball team's championship trophy was in the middle of the table. Two pitchers of beer were already empty. The victory celebration was utterly "on." Later in the evening, the conversation turned sour. There was a negative comment or two about the fact that there would be little or no "coverage" of the team's weekend performance. There was no question at the table that the team's performance had "earned" coverage.
The server brought more pitchers of beer to the table.
"Somebody ought to do something," another chimed.
Everybody grumbled. Everybody agreed. Everybody took a swig of beer.
"I can make a newspaper," O. J Cunningham said without thinking.
Everybody stopped talking. The players all looked at him like he was an idiot.
"I made newspapers in Colorado for three years," Cunningham explained. "After I got out of the Air Force."
It was Del Benson that made it happen. Benson stood up. He pulled out his wallet and spun it onto the table. "How much for your newspaper?
"Maybe five bucks a year," I guessed. "Maybe a little more." (Remember … it was 1976)
Benson pulled $10 from his wallet. "I'm in," Benson said. "Put me in for two years."
The next day, local banker Mel Kent listened to a proposal by O. J. Cunningham concerning a start-up sports newspaper in Bay City & Bay County that concentrated on local and recreational sports. Mel Kent was a Vice-President at Peoples National Bank in Bay City, Michigan, in 1976.
Mel Kent liked the idea, so he put his money where his mouth was. He paid in advance for the "Back Page" of advertising in the Sports Page newspaper for six months.
And the rest, as they say, "Is History."
Bay County Sports Page (Enterprise) issues are available online.
Unfortunately, the purchase of individual pages is not available.
Both hardcopy paper and downloadable eBooks are available for purchase.
eBook Issues from Amazon – only $9.99
Printed Hardcopy issues - $14.95 (includes shipping)
IMPORTANT NOTICE – EXPECTATION LEVEL
First and foremost, let's remember that these Sports Page newspapers are almost 50 years old. Although a Colorado company has professionally scanned them, there can be minor quality issues due to the scanning and processing. However, overall, the quality is outstanding.
The printed Sports Page issues are not actual same-size reprints of the original newspaper. Purchased issues are approximately two-thirds the size of the original newspaper and have been sized to 8.5x11 for copying and reproduction.