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STORY INDEX Introduction Service still most important product at Ligonier Telephone Co. A black and white sensation: Tiny Screens a big attraction in early years of television A man works from sun to sun, but a woman's work is never done Indiana Extension Homemakers better the lives of families How to be a good wife The show goes on at The Strand: Kendallville theater survives decades of changes in the movie business Some movies forgettable, but not Cleon Point: Memories of colorful, longtime Strand Theatre manager live on Small towns once supported their own movie theaters 'You'd see everyone there': Kendallville residents have lasting memories of teen hangouts old and new Links of land and lakes: County, state officials worked together to establish Chain O' Lakes State Park William Jennings Bryan among among orators at Rome City's Western Chautauqua Dr. David Rogers - Man of mystery, and benevolence DNR restoration programs working: Once abundant wildlife returning to area Rise of girls athletics have changed face of school sports Decades of intramurals: Before the '70s, girls had limited athletic opportunities Ford Frick was reared on Noble county's sandlots: Baseball executive always considered himself a 'lucky fan' Ruth was greatest player ever: Frick Frick's predictions for 2000 not far off Small Wolf Lake big winner in 1942 basketball regional Four in a row: Finally with a gym of their own, KHS cagers went to 'Sweet 16' four straight years Ink to flow into 21st century at county's newspapers Broadcast media: Manahan was pioneer in Noble County broadcasting WAWK's history dates back to 1959 Soundwaves from the past: Ligonier museum has one of the largest collections of antique radios in U.S. Health trends: Changes through the century occurred in medicine, health care Scarlet fever, polio were early health scares From sanitarium to partnership: A century of Noble County's medical care Funeral directors ran ambulance service in county prior to '74 'EMS arrives in time for '74 tornado LaGrange County doctors once made house calls by horseback Country doctor delivered babies in his home and drove a Thunderbird Service to mankind condensed to footnotes of history Lengthy Mier-Straus rivalry ended with bank merger : German-Jewish immigrants had impact on Ligonier's history Who are the people of the Amish faith? A place to live, farm, worship, and raise families: Amish began settling in LaGrange, Elkhart counties in 1840 Two controversial religious sects from the 1970's have impact on Noble County Churches with rich heritages served parishioners in LaOtto, Ege Ruth was greatest player ever: Frick By TERRY HOUSHOLDER The News-Sun Of all the baseball players Ford C. Frick saw in his half-century of association with the national pastime, he considered New York Yankees' legend George Herman ''Babe'' Ruth the greatest. Born and raised in Noble County, Frick came to New York in 1921 as a sportswriter. He worked for the New York American, and for a number of years he covered the Giants. Later he switched to the New York Evening Journal and traveled with the Yankees. He witnessed many great events of baseball during the golden era, including the third game of the 1932 World Series in Wrigley Field, Chicago, when Ruth ''called his shot,'' a home run that still is debated today. On a two-strike count, Ruth stepped out of the batter's box and pointed to the rightfield bleachers, then swung at the next pitch and sent the ball sailing into the area he allegedly intended it to land. While other writers of the time played on the antics that Ruth was known for, such as carousing the streets at all hours of the night, Frick saw the human side of the ''Bambino'' and found him to be one of the most warm-hearted men who ever lived. In Frick's mind, Ruth, who became his golf and bridge partner, was the ''savior'' of baseball who brought the game out of the ashes of the 1919 Black Sox scandal. (''Shoeless'' Joe Jackson and seven Chicago White Sox teammates were accused of trying to throw the 1919 World Series. They were acquitted in court but banned from organized baseball. Though Jackson admitted his part in the scandal to a grand jury, he later recanted and swore his innocence until his death in 1951.) Ruth, the ''Sultan of Swat,'' changed the complexion of the game more than anyone and drew huge crowds of fans wherever the Yankees played in the 1920s and early 1930s. He held two home run records for decades - most home runs in a season (60, in 1927; broken by Roger Maris in 1961) and career home runs - 714 (broken by Hank Aaron in 1974). (At the time, Frick was criticized when he commented during Maris' home-run chase in 1961 that any player must hit 61 homers in 154 games to officially break Ruth's record, because Ruth played only 154 games when he set the record in 1927. In 1961, the American League added two teams, growing from eight to 10. To accommodate the expansion Washington Senators and Los Angeles Angels teams, the league revamped its schedule from 154 to 162 games. Frick said that a player who may hit more than 60 homers in more than 154 games should have some sort of distinctive mark in the record book to note that it was accomplished in a 162-game schedule. Actually, it was more of the dilution of talent in 1961 than the extra games that year that helped Maris. Twenty new pitchers were added to the American League in 1961 because of the addition of the Senators and Angels teams. Nearly 500 more home runs were hit in the American League that year than in 1960.) One of Frick's favorite stories was when Ruth and the Yankees came to Fort Wayne for an exhibition game while Frick was covering the Yankees as a journalist. The Yankees played a game in the old Calhoun Street park, and Frick's 80-year-old father, Jacob, drove from Noble County to attend the game. The elder Frick received a box seat along the Yankees' dugout and met each of the players. The score was 7-7 in the ninth inning and it was time for Ruth to bat. ''Daddy,'' Ruth boomed to the elder Frick in the stands, ''you look a little tired and a little hungry.'' Frick admitted that he was. ''Tell you what I'm gonna do. See those freight cars over there,'' Ruth said, pointing toward the Nickel Plate tracks than ran along an embankment beyond the rightfield fence. ''I'm gonna hit one over there for you, and we can all go to supper.'' Never one to go back on his word, Ruth poked a long home run in the exact spot he had pointed, rounded the bases and grinned at his astonished friends in the stands. ''My father lived to be 94 years old and died knowing Babe Ruth could hit a home run out of any ball park in America any time he wanted to,'' Frick later said.