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A. L. (Vern) Coffman is shown here in 1953, posing with the team bus used by the Topeka Decker Oilers semi-pro baseball team. Called Pooch by his friends, Coffman was well-known in Topeka's baseball community as the Decker Oilers' manager in the late 1940s and 1950s. During that period, the team was a perennial contender for the state semi-pro baseball title, competing each year in the state tournament in Wichita. The team won the state championship in 1948, placed second in three consecutive years (1950-1952), and finished third in 1955 and 1957. Other Coffman family members were key members of the Decker Oiler team, including Vern's brothers Junior and Ed, and his sons Harland and Burton. Vern Coffman was a lifelong Topekan who operated a service station at the intersection of 10th and California for many years. He died in 1963 at the age of 54. Digital reproduction of the photograph was accomplished through a joint project sponsored by the Kansas Historical Society and the Shawnee County Baseball Hall of Fame.
Date: 1953
Item Number: 307456
Call Number: 2014-211
KSHS Identifier: DaRT ID: 307456
Collections - Photograph
Community Life - Recreation and Sports - Sports - Baseball
Date - 1950s - 1953
Objects and Artifacts - Communication Artifacts - Documentary Artifact - Photograph
Places - Cities and towns - Topeka
Places - Counties - Shawnee
Transportation - Buses
Type of Material - Photographs
http://www.kansasmemory.org/item/307456