Sporting Images

There’s more to history than battles and obituaries. There’s philosophy, music and art, and at the Union Oil Museum in Santa Paula, there’s a cultural landslide of oil industry and local sports history.

The petroleum giant Union Oil actually began in the tiny farming community of Santa Paula, “the citrus capital of the world.” The Queen-Anne-Italianate-style building that houses the museum was built in 1890 as Union Oil’s headquarters by company president Thomas Bard for $27,000.

At the time, this was the second-largest building in the county, after the courthouse in Ventura, which is now City Hall. After a varied career, the building was refurbished in 1990 for $2.8 million to commemorate the company’s 100th anniversary. Now the museum is a state and county historical landmark.

The focus of the Union Oil Museum is, not surprisingly, the black gold itself. There are a number of colorful displays such as mint-condition antique gasoline pumps (complete with antique prices of 34 cents a gallon) from companies that aren’t around anymore--Conoco, Richfield and Signal. Films on the history of Union Oil and the industry itself trace the black goo from dinosaurs to drilling to the gas in your tank.

Although the oil items are a constant, history, art and science exhibits are changed throughout the year. “A Century of Sports: Local Heroes, Local Stories” is of particular interest to those who want to connect faces to several of the well-known names in local sports history.

There’s no shortage of personalities, and the exhibit includes a wide cross-section of local jocks, many from the Santa Paula area. The photo of the 1904 Santa Paula girls basketball team recalls a simpler time before shot clocks, full court presses and TV timeouts as the ladies sit serenely on a sea of grass wearing long dresses. One of the older photos depicts the starting line of the Ventura-to-Santa-Paula bike race of 1897, a time when jams still had to do with bread, not traffic.

There’s plenty of high school memorabilia, including a number of photos, programs and box scores. A large orange-and-black banner lists the Pirate Prep heroes of Ventura High (before they became the Cougars), from football MVP Stacy Blaylock in 1938 to track MVP Mike Larrabee in 1952. Ventura High’s Poli Stadium was renamed Larrabee Stadium in his honor.

Water sports are covered in an exhibit honoring local swimming legend (and current Ventura Pontiac dealer) Jim McConica in one of his moments of glory, when he successfully swam the English Channel in 56-degree water.

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Of particular interest to beach-goers are Rod Osborn’s surfing photos from 1962-63, back when the boards were heavier, the surf was bigger, the beaches were uncrowded and parking was free.

There are several photos of local fin-heads hanging 10 at spots like Stanley’s--named for a famous local steakhouse on the Rincon that was killed by freeway construction in the mid-’60s.

A large 70-year-old poster advertised “150 Big Turkeys” and “Bring home your own turkey!”--an invitation to shooters to come to the nearby Teague-McKevett Ranch to blast their own Thanksgiving dinner..

There are some vintage photos of the legendary Jack Dempsey, who trained in Ojai from 1919 to 1926, including preparation for his epic bout with Gene Tunney in 1927. The colorful trunks and robe of Santa Paula boxer Eddie “Chinito”’ Contreras, the 1988 California Lightweight Champion, are also on display.

A number of local pro athletes are also honored, one in a wall plaque dedicated to Fred Snodgrass, who batted .321 for the Giants in 1910. His modest goal, he said, was to pay off a ranch he had bought in the area. The New York Giants and the Chicago White Sox played an exhibition game in Oxnard in 1913. The Giants won 3-2, and local historian Jeff Maulhardt wrote a book about it called “The Day the New York Giants Came to Oxnard.”

Another plaque is dedicated to Myron McCormick, who played mostly in the ‘40s--there’s a photo of him on the 1949 National League Champion Dodgers. McCormick played up a storm, with an amazing lifetime batting average of .361. He actually batted .400 twice in the ‘40s, but didn’t have enough at bats those years to qualify for the batting title.

And once upon a time, Ventura had its own pro baseball teams--minor league teams owned by the Braves and the Tigers--that played at Seaside Park in the ‘40s and ‘50s. There’s a team photo of the 1950 Ventura Braves.

Although Eric Turner (Ventura High, UCLA) of the Raiders may be the best-known current pro football player, the county has contributed a number of players to the NFL. Probably the most famous local player was Don Burroughs, the greatest player in Fillmore High history, who is shown in his 1949 Fillmore Flashes uniform. Burroughs went on to play for Ventura College, the Colorado State Rams, the L.A. Rams and the Philadelphia Eagles.

The past in total is what we are today, and by looking at the past, we may better understand the present. Soaking up some local history on a quiet weekday recently was Mary Jones of Oxnard.

“We live in Oxnard and we haven’t been here in a while,” Jones said. “Sometimes it’s hard to get people to actually go to a museum, but it’s fun.”

Admission to the museum, which is operated by the city of Santa Paula, is free. To complete this cultural extravaganza, there are exceptional veggie burritos across the street at La Terraza Restaurant.

DETAILS

Santa Paula Union Oil Museum at Main and 10th Streets, Santa Paula, Wednesday-Sunday, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.; free; 933-0076.

Bill Locey can be reached by e-mail at blocey@pacbell.net.