The story of retired baseball player Ron LeFlore is one worth repeating.
LeFlore was a gifted athlete who refused to let the mistakes he made during his childhood define him. His talent, perseverance and a little luck catapulted him out of his prison cell and onto the Detroit Tiger’s roster for six seasons. He led the league in stolen bases twice and secured a spot on the 1976 All-Star team.
Although Ron LeFlore’s story has been told before in an movie and an autobiography, author Adam Henig felt there was still more to tell.
In Henig’s book “Baseball’s Outcasts: The Story of Ron LeFlore” he details the former Tiger’s journey from the streets of Detroit to the dugout, and LeFlore’s life after the major leagues. Henig joined the show to explore some of the lesser known details about Ron LeFlore’s life.
Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.
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Sometimes, history reaches out to make itself known.
A historic preservationist was going through an old, forgotten truck when she discovered something extraordinary: decades old journals.
As she began to read through them, she realized they held more than family memories, they held the words of her mother’s journey to the United States. The long forgotten journals revealed a surprising connection to one of Detroit’s most famous figures.
During World War II, Albert Kahn, the legendary architect who shaped much of Detroit’s skyline, quietly helped support her family.
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In this episode of CuriosiD, listener Max Spayde asks the question:
Why is there a boat club and a yacht club on Belle Isle?
The short answer
The two clubs were each founded for different boat-centered sports. The Detroit Boat Club was founded as a rowing club—although many decades ago it developed a “pure” sailing program that’s motorless. And the Detroit Yacht Club was developed as a sailing organization that continued to build on its motor-powered sailing programs.
Belle Isle was an ideal setting for both because of its location on the Detroit River and its connection to the Great Lakes system.
Detroit Boat Club
The Detroit Boat Club was founded in 1839 after Detroit developer Edward Brush fell in love with rowing on a visit to the East Coast. It is the fifth oldest non-academic rowing clubs in the world and the second oldest in the country.
Rowing was the most popular sport in Detroit after the Civil War. There were more than 1,000 rowers in the city by the late 1870s with a boat house district that stretched from St. Aubin to McDougall. Hundreds of thousands of people would come to the river to watch rowing competitions.
Stephen Malboeuf is a rower at the Boat Club, its official archivist and its unofficial historian. He says at that time the sport wasn’t just for the wealthy.
“Both of the stove works—both the Detroit Stove Works and the Michigan Stove Works had boat clubs that were organized by their iron workers,” Malbouef said. “The railroads would have their employees…form boat clubs…and they’d compete in regular regattas.”
But that level of enthusiasm for rowing didn’t actually last that long, Malboeuf said.
“By the 1880s and as early as 1881 the rowers noticed that most of their spectators had abandoned the sport in favor of watching baseball.”
The first professional baseball team was organized in Detroit in 1881.
“In 1879 You’ve got 30 clubs, and by 1893 you’re down to just two,” Malbouef said.
Detroit Yacht Club
The Detroit Yacht Club sets its founding in 1868 and its focus has always been sailing. Its early members are among the most notable names in the city’s history, including the Fords, Dodges, Scripps and Fishers.
Mike Alberts has been a member of the Detroit Yacht Club for over 45 years.
The Yacht Club’s Mike Alberts says the DYC had two or three buildings before its current clubhouse. He says inventor Gar Wood was the commodore when the club built it in 1922 after Wood’s win at the Harmsworth Challenge Regatta in 1920 made him a rock star.
Alberts says even though the Detroit Yacht Club was built by some of the automotive industry’s heavy hitters, boat racing was bigger than car racing in those days. And, he says the DYC was and still is a pioneer in freshwater sailing, power boat racing and competitive swimming.
But why Belle Isle?
In the mid-1880s, when clubs were looking for better positions on the river as it became more industrial, the Detroit Park Commission gave the Detroit Boat Club and the Detroit Yacht Club permission to build on the island.
The clubs are actually not technically on the island. They built the foundations for the buildings next to Belle Isle. And gave them a pretty sweet deal.
“When the Park Commission originally approved the clubs to move to Belle Isle, each club had to furnish a $5,000 bond,” Malbouef said. He said that’s like $125,000 today.
“Then they’d pay an annual lease of $1 a year for property in Belle Isle.”
The one hundred year, one dollar a year leases ended in 1992. Malbouef says the Boat Club went from paying $1 to be on the island to 100,000 dollars overnight.
The Detroit Boat Club is one of the oldest boat clubs in America, and one of the oldest social organizations in Michigan.
Hitting rough waters
The boat club’s membership was around 250 by the 1990s– down from around 1400 in the 60s. It was leasing its building from the city on a month-to-month basis until 2014. When the state took over Belle Isle, the Boat Club got a 30 year lease.
It hosted about 50 weddings a year before COVID – that money went into trying to keep the building in shape. But just after COVID part of a porch collapsed and the building was condemned.
Now, a developer is working to restore the building so rowers, sailors and the community can use it.
That’s just a little bit of the histories of the Detroit Boat Club and the Detroit Yacht Club. We didn’t get into the part where they were sued to let Black members in. And Mike Alberts has a great story about the King of Norway.
But we answered Max Spayde’squestion: There are two clubs because they were originally focused on different sports – and they made a deal with the city that made it possible for them to stay on Belle Isle for at least 100 years.
WDET’s CuriosiD series answers your questions about everything Detroit. Subscribe to CuriosiD on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.
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Have a question about Southeast Michigan’s history or culture? Send it our way at wdet.org/curious or fill out the form below. You ask, we answer.
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After being diagnosed with stage IV colon cancer and being told he’s nearing the end of his life, Dan Austin wants to secure the preservation and advancement of the city he loves. He and his wife found a way to do that with the Austin Past & Future Fund.
Listen: Ann Delisi talks with Dan Austin about starting the Austin Past & Future fund
Austin, 45, is a storyteller who has spent the past 20 years showcasing Detroit’s architecture, music and history. His work on the website Historic Detroit serves as a comprehensive archive of Detroit landmarks. It’s been primarily funded by Austin himself for the last 15 years, with some help from his audience.
The Austin Past & Future Fund allows for Historical Detroit’s archive to live on after he passes. It also provides scholarship funds to help motivated youth receive an education that will help them build up the city.
Eligible students can range from 16 to 26 years of age and apply to a variety of fields. “Whether they want to be a teacher or an urban planner… there are so many ways that you can make Detroit a better place, make a difference here,” says Austin. The amount of funding those students receive, as well as the number of students benefiting, all depends on donations to the Past & Future Fund in the years to come. Scholarships will be available starting in 2027.
Only a small portion of money is needed to keep Historic Detroit online as a resource. All donations to the site since the beginning of March go to the Austin Past & Future fund, and are tax-deductible.
Austin will also be auctioning off his extensive vinyl collection and donating the proceeds to the fund this summer.
“All I’ve ever wanted to do is give back to the city, because the city has given me so much,” said Austin. “So being afforded this opportunity, this vehicle to continue giving back to the city even after I’m gone… It’s more than I could have hoped for.”
WDET strives to cover what’s happening in your community. As a public media institution, we maintain our ability to explore the music and culture of our region through independent support from readers like you. If you value WDET as your source of news, music and conversation, please make a gift today.
In this episode of CuriosiD, listener Leah Warshaw asks the question:
“How did The Old Miami get its name?”
The short answer
The first Miami on Cass was the Miami Lounge, which opened in 1947. As the neighborhood took a turn for the worse in the 60s, the bar became the site of murder, prostitution, and other crimes that marred its reputation.
The bar switched owners several times but kept “Miami” in the name, for the most part. Shortly after The New Miami was burned down, veteran Danny Overstreet opened The Old Miami, with “Miami” standing for “missing in action Michigan”. Though it started as a place to serve veterans, it’s an inviting dive for everyone in the neighborhood today, with gems like a koi pond in its expansive backyard.
Danny’s wife, Julie, credits the use of “old” to Danny’s sense of humor. She runs the bar today.
Manager Dena Walker adds, “I mean what would you call it—the New New Miami?”
For more details on the history of The Old Miami and what to expect from today’s laid-back atmosphere, listen to the podcast above.
WDET’s CuriosiD series answers your questions about everything Detroit. Subscribe to CuriosiD on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.
We want to hear from you!
Have a question about Southeast Michigan’s history or culture? Send it our way at wdet.org/curious or fill out the form below. You ask, we answer.
Support the podcasts you love.
One-of-a-kind podcasts from WDET bring you engaging conversations, news you need to know and stories you love to hear. Keep the conversations coming. Please make a gift today.
The first floor of the historic Leland House in downtown Detroit felt as cold as the street outside. That’s where Dianne Lamb stood on a recent morning, bundled in a hooded winter coat, her breath visible in the unheated air. She’d slept two hours and was worn out from packing. For the past 12 years, […]
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