Remembering Clem

July 12, 2008 09:36 am

— Larry Larkin Column

It was during the return to Claremore on Tuesday from an afternoon trip to Muskogee when I received a telephone call from my father.
"Have you seen the paper?" he asked. "Clem McSpadden died last night."
Dad had driven his golf cart down to get the mail and the newspaper. That's when he saw Clem's picture and the headline on the front page of the Progress. Like countless others learning of Clem's death, many long-ago memories came flooding back for my father, Bill Larkin.
Hearing many of those recollections over the next day or two, I wanted to share them. The following are my dad's words.
"Seeing the news in the paper about Clem, I now realize how an uncle of mine felt 73 years ago when he learned of Will Rogers' death. As an 11-year-old, I couldn't understand why he was taking it so hard.
"Uncle Rodney, my dad's brother, was a huge fan of Will Rogers. If Will said it, Rodney believed it. Living in Tulsa, he would ride the train to Claremore to take radium baths on the top floor of the Will Rogers Hotel. One day, he was going out the front door just as Will was coming it.
"He said Will stepped back and Will stuck his arm out to shake hands. He added they then stood on the sidewalk talking for several minutes. My dad and a third brother would later claim Rodney didn't wash that hand for several weeks afterwards.
"I don't know if that was true or not, but knowing Rodney was a plumber, I hope that wasn't the case.
"Anyway, Dad and I were visiting Rodney and my grandmother at their Tulsa home. We were all sitting on the front porch when the newspaper arrived. Rodney went down the steps to get it.
"Even now, I can hear him telling us Will Rogers and Wiley Post had died in an airplane crash. He had tears in his eyes.
"Hearing about Clem had the same effect on me.
"My first meeting with Clem McSpadden goes back to the time I was 16 years old and he was 14, I guess. At that time, Collinsville held Sunday rodeos for the local cowboys. Clem was in the roping events going against adults. And he would win more times than not.
"When I was a little older, I tried some bull and bronc riding, but back then I usually just tagged along with my three older brothers.
"As good a roper as Clem was at 16, he must have started as a young child. I have heard Clem's father had him riding horses before he could walk. I don't know that for a fact, but he had to start early.
"Except for maybe another rodeo or two, our paths didn't cross again for several years. Of course, I followed his careers in politics and rodeo announcing. We moved to Claremore in 1963 and, of course, everyone here knew Clem McSpadden.
"Then one day, I was on an airplane in Tulsa getting ready for a business trip to Dallas. I was in my seat when I hear his voice behind me. I knew right off who it belonged to.
"Back then, all the airlines assigned seating. Our seats were side by side.
He settled in, and right away stuck out his hand and introduced himself. I said we had met as teenagers years earlier at the Collinsville rodeos.
"Telling him my name, Clem remembered my three brothers right away and wanted to know how each was doing. He said he was on his way to announce yet another rodeo. Ironically, the promoter of the show was related by marriage to my brother Frank.
"We had a real good visit that flight, remembering several old stories and good times. Landing in Dallas, we walked together to the car rental area. We then shook hands again. Before going separate ways, we both agreed 'a couple of ol’ Rogers County boys' needed to get together again and swap more stories.
"I am sorry we never followed up with that meeting.
"Like his great-uncle Will before him, Clem McSpadden had a special knack. One meeting with him made a person feel they had a life-long friend."
Now a few thoughts of my own ...
If memory is correct, the last time Cherl and I saw Donna and Clem was at the Asleep At the Wheel concert at the Robson Performing Arts Center.
They were seated right behind us. It was a Saturday night right after the Oklahoma State football team blew a big lead and lost the game. We were discussing the game as Jarol and Richard LeGate walked by.
Of course, Clem couldn't let Jarol pass without taking a few gentle pokes at her beloved 'Pokes.
Once, during a performance at the Will Rogers Roundup Club Rodeo back in the 1970s, the evening's events called for three skydivers to fly into the arena.
At the time, the pen holding the wild Brahma bulls was right below the announcer's stand. Clem had the microphone in hand and I was next to him holding a camera. I was there to take photos for the Progress.
Well, the first two divers made a perfect landing right in the middle of the arena where they intended to land. The third missed his spot. He came straight down in the middle of those bulls.
What could have been a serious mishap was anything but that. As the diver came down out of the sky, the 10 ferocious-looking bulls simply parted in the middle like Moses' Red Sea.
Once on the ground, the diver wasted no time heading to the fence. As for the bulls, each seemed to be bored with the whole thing.
During the whole time this was happening. Clem was announcing away as if it was a planned event. He then turned to me and asked if I have gotten a good picture.
Nope!
It was only then that I remembered holding a camera uselessly by my side. Even though I later took several good action shots of the contestants, I missed a shot that probably would have made the national wire services.
Even though he didn't let me forget that missed shot, there was never a time I was around Clem when I didn't enjoy it tremendously. Without a doubt, my top Clem memory came during the summer of 1974. After serving as a state senator and then in the U.S. House of Representatives, he ran for governor.
On the evening of the primary election, he and his supporters held a watch party at the Will Rogers Hotel. While Lyle Becker and Pat Reeder were busy working the Progress phones, I covered the watch party.
Some time during the evening, Clem asked me to to join him in a small second-floor office. It was just the two of us. Why me? I don't know. Maybe it was just because I was the closest one standing by him at the time. Looking back later, I think he was just wanting to get away from the festivities and rest a little bit. Whatever the reason, I wasn't going to miss the opportunity.
Clem was always an enjoyable interview for any news source. Ask one question and then start writing. He could handle the rest.
This wasn't a governor’s candidate talk that night, however. In fact the next day, I didn't use any of his remarks from that room.
The remarks were for me and I didn't want to share them back then.
Now I do. I can't remember word for word, but he talked about his boyhood days and growing up with his brothers on the ranch.
He told of his memories of serving in the navy and attending Oklahoma A&M. He talked about his enjoyment of being around rodeo performers.
He talked about his family and the love they shared.
Clem also admitted he didn't really like the two years he spent in Washington, D.C.
He said he missed the open spaces and seeing cattle graze. He missed the feel of a saddle under him while atop one of his beloved horses.
He named longtime friends and touched on several other topics.
I just sat there and listened.
All too soon, it was time for him to get back in with all the others.
Running against two opponents, David Hall and David Boren, Clem received the most state wide votes that night. It was a successful and happy time at the hotel.
The second -place finisher, Boren, however, would go on to win the runoff vote and later be elected Oklahoma's governor.
There was one other thing Clem said while we were in that room. Referring to his stay in Washington, Clem said most of all, he missed Rogers County.
Now it is Rogers County's turn to miss Clem McSpadden.