Castlewood Athletic Club (Louisville, Ky.) Records, 1927-2009
Held by The Filson Historical Society
Creator: Castlewood Athletic Club (Louisville, Ky.)
Title: Records, 1927-2009
Rights: For information regarding literary and copyright interest for these papers, contact the Collections Department.
Size of Collection: 1 cu. ft.
Location Number: Mss. BK C253
Historical Note
The Castlewood Athletic Club was started between 1927 and 1928 by Bobby Moore and a group of his friends, who all lived in the Castlewood neighborhood in the Highlands in Louisville, Kentucky. What started as a small football club that held meetings in Moore’s shed. It gained traction after winning some games against other football clubs and soon became a full athletic club for ages 10-16 with 35 members.
The larger number of members meant the boys could take turns hosting meetings at each other’s houses and expand the CAC to include other sports such as basketball and tennis. Prospective CAC members had to become pledges and go through hazing trials before joining the club. Hazing trials included pledges carrying shoeshine equipment with them outside of school to shine the shoes of CAC members on command. “Hell night” was the last day of the pledging process, and various hazing tactics were used on these new recruits, including being beaten with paddles.
CAC was unique because it was completely run by the members. The boys involved in the CAC hosted and ran the meetings, collected dues, and scheduled practices and games with other teams and clubs. While the CAC used coaches from their schools at first, as club members aged out, many former members returned to coach.
The CAC had a few traditions and practices beyond athletics, including an annual Father and Son Banquet held at the end of each season. Coaches from local high schools and sports journalists from the Courier Journal were invited to attend and speak at these events. The five “honor” players also received recognition and awards at the banquet. Another annual tradition was the Castlewood Sweetheart: a teenage girl chosen by the CAC members. The Sweetheart hosted a party for the CAC and had to kiss each member during the event. The end of each season, or the “last day,” was celebrated by the members of the CAC through a trip to Tuckers Lake in Jeffersontown and the Fontaine Ferry Amusement Park in West Louisville.
In 1991, former members of the CAC got together for a reunion. In 2006, the collection donor, Allan “Moose” Weiss, sent out surveys to former CAC members soliciting memories of and memorabilia from the club. The responding members include Silas Lanham Frazier Jr., John R. Farmer, Larry Barnes, Joe Dumesun, Tom Grissom, Jeff Duprey, Dan Sullivan, John Porter Sawyer, Gene Douglas Scott, Donald F. Kohler, A. Steven Miles Jr., Tom Musselman Sr., Doug Keller Sr., Junius W. Prince III, Edward Quest, Fairleigh Lussky, Brock Martin, Frank B. Hower Jr., Jay Stewart, William Hoke Camp Jr., Stephen Green, Rodger Hubbard, Joe Helm, Morman W. Cummins, Frank Payne, and William W. Davis.
Scope and Content Note
This collection consists of records and materials from 1927 to 2009 related to the Castlewood Athletic Club, a sports club in Louisville for boys aged 10 to 16, which focused on football.
Folders 1-2 contain information about the early years of the Castlewood Athletic Club. Folder 1 includes the 1927 Castlewood Constitution and rules for new pledges. Folder 2 contains a typed history of the CAC by former member Lanham Frazier.
Folders 3-5 contain information related to the team coaches and captains, game scores, and meeting minutes. Folder 3 includes typed transcripts of Volumes 13-15. Folder 4 includes a scanned copy of the CAC member book, which belonged to Bob Moore. Folder 5 includes a scrapbook that belonged to Steve Miles.
Folder 6 contains programs for the annual Father and Son Banquet. Folder 7 includes invitations, newspaper articles, speeches, and correspondence related to the 1991 Reunion Banquet.
Folder 8 includes correspondence related to the 1991 Reunion Banquet and the conservation of Cherokee Park, which was used by the CAC. Folder 9 contains reminiscences, biographies, and recollections of former CAC members in response to Allan “Moose” Weiss’s CAC history project.
Folder 10 contains newspaper clippings relating to CAC games, dances, banquets, and the Castlewood Sweetheart, as well as obituaries of former CAC members. Folder 11 contains copies of photographs that cannot be found in the Castlewood Athletic Club Photograph Collection.
Folder 12 contains miscellaneous materials, including materials related to Hunter Thompson, a former CAC member and famous author and journalist, the history of the Cherokee Triangle in relation to the CAC, and an artist profile on David Ross Stevens, including sculpture sketches.
Volumes 13-14 include lists of team members, captains, and coaches, as well as game scores. Volume 15 contains CAC Meeting Minutes.
Related collections:
Castlewood Athletic Club Photograph Collection 016PC11
Castlewood Athletic Club Museum Items 2016.8.1-6
Folder List
Box 1
Folder 1: Castlewood Athletic Club Constitution, 1927
Folder 2: History of Castlewood Athletic Club, 1928-1938
Folder 3: Transcripts of Volumes 13-15, 1928-1954
Folder 4: CAC Members Book, 1927-1933
Folder 5: Scrapbook by Steve Miles, 1941-1945
Folder 6: Father and Son Banquet, 1950-1957
Folder 7: Reunion Banquet, 1991
Folder 8: Correspondence, 1991-2018
Folder 9: Castlewood Athletic Club Biographies, 2006-2009
Folder 10: Newspaper Clippings, 1943-2021
Folder 11: Photocopies, 1932-1991
Folder 12: Miscellaneous, 1949-2017
Volume 13: Team Members and Game scores, 1928-1952
Volume 14: Team Members and Game scores, 1953-1962
Volume 15: Meeting Minutes, 1952-1954
Subject Headings
Adolescence.
Athletic clubs.
Basketball.
Coming of age – Kentucky.
Education, Secondary.
Football.
Hazing.
Junior high school boys.
Junior high school students.
Male junior high school athletes.
Sex role – Kentucky.
Social role – Kentucky.
Sports injuries.
Teenagers – Kentucky – Social life and customs.
Thompson, Hunter S., 1937-2005.
Youth – Societies and clubs.
