Al Bailey, 53, Dies;
Was Well Known Resident
(The following article, probably written by Mary Kelly Knutson, appeared on page 1 of the Emmetsburg Reporter, on December 2, 1952. See notes at the end.)
Allen R. Bailey, 53, well-known Emmetsburg insurance man and coach of Emmetsburg High School’s state champion football team of 1926, died Saturday in St. Mary’s Hospital at Rochester, Minn., after a critical illness of several weeks.
Although Al had been at Rochester a month and feeling under the weather before that, his death came as a shock to his many friends in Emmetsburg and few men in town had more friends than he did.
He was not one to complain of ailments and when he became suddenly stricken in early November and was taken to Rochester he belittled his condition assuring those who accompanied him in the ambulance that he would be all right.
At Rochester his case puzzled specialists at the Mayo clinic but was at first diagnosed as encephalitis or sleeping sickness. He showed some improvement after his earlier serious condition and there were grounds for new hope when the doctors said he might be able to return home about two weeks ago.
Then on Thursday he suddenly became worse and developed a high fever with pneumonia settling in. It was only a matter of hours until his death ending the long vigil his wife, Kathryn, and two sons, Mart and Tommy, had kept at the bedside.
Funeral rites will be held this (Tuesday) afternoon at 2 o’clock at the First Congregational Church with Dr. F. T. Mayer-Oakes, pastor, officiating. Burial will be in Evergreen cemetery with the Foy Funeral Home in charge.
Serving as pallbearers will be six young men who were coached by “Al” Bailey when he was one of Iowa’s outstanding athletic instructors. They are Leo and Lloyd Jensvold, Curt Randa, Lon Helgen, Francis Cretzmeyher and Paul Brechler, both of Iowa City. Weather permitting the last two planned to fly here for the funeral. Cretzmeyer is head track coach at the University of Iowa and Brechler is athletic director there.
Born in Cedar Falls, December 9, 1898, Mr. Bailey was the son of James L. and Anna House Bailey. He attended the schools in that community and then entered the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, Mich., where he affiliated with Sigma Nu national fraternity. After graduating from Michigan University he entered the coaching field taking a position at Hampton. From the first he was outstanding in his athletic work and the came to Emmetsburg in 1925 with excellent recommendations to join the local High School faculty. His 1925 football team lost only one game in a stiff schedule and in 1926 Emmetsburg, under his tutelage, won the state championship. He remained as coach here until 1928; then during World War II he was asked to take over the local High School athletic post again although he had established a profitable insurance business.
On August 10, 1926, he was married to Miss Kathryn Ausland of a prominent Emmetsburg family. His wife was also a faculty member in the local High school. They made their home here and were the parents of two sons, James Martin (Mart) Bailey and Thomas Allen Bailey. Mart is now of St. Louis, Mo., where he is studying and working in the religious news field and Tom is a local High School junior.
Perhaps there was no man in Emmetsburg that better understood boys and who kept in touch with them and their interests more than Al Bailey. Proud of his own two sons who have been leaders in youthful church groups, Al also took a deep interest in his former football “boys.” One of them, Paul Brechler, now an Iowa University athletic head, came to the Emmetsburg schools from the Curlew neighborhood and Al invited him to make his home with the Baileys during his school days here, helping the Curlew youth in many ways. Throughout the succeeding years his championship team of 1926 and Al maintained their pleasant relationship and among the happiest memories of many of these young men are their associations with their former High School coach.
The Bailey home has always been a hospitable one, and Mr and Mrs. Bailey were unusually congenial, taking an active part in community affairs. Mr. Bailey was a faithful church member, often serving as an usher and in other church groups. Generous and considerate of others, he was always the first to offer help when a friend or neighbor needed it. He was a Navy veteran of World War I.
Surviving besides his wife and sons are his father of Grundy Center, four brothers, Millard of Fort Wayne, Ind., Joseph of Clarksville, Ia., Richard of San Francisco, Calif, and Ralph of Grundy Center, and two sisters, Mrs. Carrie Schneider of San Francisco and Mary Emma Newton of Grundy Center.
(Corrective notes: Mr. Bailey attended the University of Michigan, as stated, but he graduated from what was then the Iowa State Teachers College in Cedar Falls, Iowa. During the two years he was at Michigan he played football on the junior varsity team.)
Church Filled For Rites for Allen Bailey
(The following article appeared in the Emmetsburg Democrat on December 4, 1952. It may also have been written by Mary Kelly Knutson.)
The First Congregational Church was filled by friends of the late Allen R. Bailey, Emmetsburg insurance man and former High School coach, whose funeral was held Tuesday afternoon. Dr. F.T. Mayer-Oakes officiated and in his sermon lauded Mr. Bailey’s fine record of sportsmanship and clean lioving in his association as atheletic coach with many Emmetsburg youths in past years.
Members of the High School football and basketball squads, school officials, and the entire athletic staff were present at the last rites. Classmates of Tom Bailey, son of Mr. Bailey, also attended the funeral in a group, as did members of the Emmetsburg Friday Club and other organizations of which Mrs. Bailey is a member.
Organ music was softly played during the services by Mrs. Jack Cook. The many beautiful floral offerings adorned the front of the church, including an especially significant one from football players of Mr. Bailey’s winning teams of 1925 and 1926. The floral tribute was in the shape of a football in yellow colored mums and pompons, against goal posts of white mums. The 1926 team won the state championship. Mr. Bailey was also one of the organizers of the Lakes Conference. He died at Rochester, Minn., Saturday.
Inclement weather prevented two of the pallbearers from reaching Emmetsburg by plane. They were Head Track Coach Francis Cretzmeyer of the University of Iowa and Athletic Director Paul Brechler, also of the University in Iowa City. Taking their places were Earl Peterson of Amboy, Minn., one of Emmetsburg’s leading athletes years ago and a former pupil of Mr. Bailey, and Julius Skow, Jr., also onetime High School football player under Al Bailey. Other former athletes serving as pall-bearers were Lloyd and Leo Jensvold, Curt Randa and Lon Helgen.
Burial was in Evergreen Cemetery with the Foy Funeral Home in charge. Among relatives from a distance was Mr. Bailey’s aged father, James Bailey, of Grundy Center, as well as a brother’s family and other close relatives.
See also "Bailey Makes a Fine Record" published at the time of
Bailey's retirement, and
"My Dad, My Coach" by J. Martin Bailey