Arnold (Red) Halpern’s name is on the Rock of Fame at Memorial Field.

But it probably should be on something else, too: a park, a softball field, a building.

Red’s fingerprints are all over this town. Yet his name is fading from collective memory.

Maybe his prickly personality was the problem. The former director of the Parks and Recreation Department was opinionated, demanding, a perfectionist who loved children.

“There was no middle ground with Red,” said friend Steve Anthony, who replaced his boss as rec director in January 1985. “People liked and admired him, or he rubbed people the wrong way.”

Red’s accomplishments are undeniable.

During his 30 years with the city (1954-85), Red transformed this town into a softball mecca, boosted the recreation department into one of the Northwest’s best and found money to buy, change or expand city parks: Tubbs Hill, McEuen Field, Independence Point and Sunset Heights.

He was part of the grassroots effort that rallied the town against a proposed shopping center on what is now McEuen Park. Then, funding and sweat equity were found to build tennis courts, a playground, two softball diamonds and an American Legion hardball field on the site.

Coeur d’Alene summers were dominated by recreation softball and tournaments that attracted top teams from around the Northwest and the nation.

Red understood self-promotion and connections.

He armed his staff with cameras and instructions to provide the Coeur d’Alene Press with a regular supply of photos and stories. "All publicity is good publicity," he said. He also joined and led a laundry list of city, state and national organizations. In 1982-83, he was president of the American Softball Association.

Ultimately, he was inducted into multiple halls of fame for his recreation, parks and softball work.

Red mentored many young people who would become community leaders, including the two who replaced him at the city: Steve Anthony (recreation) and Doug Eastwood (parks and cemetery).

Red impressed Charlie Nipp after Charlie’s father died in a 1962 accident while working for the city street department. At the time, Charlie was a Coeur d’Alene High star athlete. In 2022, Charlie told The Press that Red knocked on his door the following spring and said: “You probably need a job.”

Charlie, now a successful businessman, worked for Red for five years, including during summer breaks from college. He told The Press: “(Red) believed deeply in recreation, meaning everybody participated. Everybody had an opportunity to play."

Perhaps Red handled the recreation part of his job too well.

In 1983, Mayor Jim Fromm claimed that Red was subsidizing rec programs with park funds. And that October, despite Red’s protest, coaxed a divided City Council to separate his departments. Red remained in charge of recreation and Doug Eastwood was promoted to become parks and cemetery director.

Red decided to resign in October 1983 after the council’s decision. But he continued for 15 months more in order to host a national softball tournament in Coeur d’Alene the following August.

Red Halpern, 79, died Oct. 3, 2003, underappreciated by some but admired by many.

Here’s the beef

In 1984-85, actress Clara Peller created an instant catchphrase when she asked in a Wendy’s commercial: “Where’s the beef?” Wendy’s claimed that competitors offered more bun than patty.

But no chain, then or now, has ever served a meaty payload the size of Wes’s Shady Lady Burger at Wardner in the mid-1980s. Wes Aamodt, the burger’s namesake, was the burly, bearded proprietor of the Shady Lady Tavern and a councilman in the tiny Silver Valley town.

His massive Shady Lady Burger began as a lark, according to a Press story of Jan. 20, 1985. A customer joked that Wes’s burgers were a few ounces short of a half-pounder.

So, Wes created the $22.50 Shady Lady Burger: 5 pounds of burger, 16 slices of cheese, a whole sliced onion, two tomatoes, a layer of pickles and buns 16 inches across, served on a pizza platter.

The menu item was free to anyone who could eat it within two hours. No one ate more than two slices: a pound.

The Shady Lady Burgers, which easily fed a dozen people, were popular at birthday parties. In response to Wendy’s catchy question, Aamodt told The Press: “We found the beef.”

One-horse sleigh

Coeur d’Alene once was home to a one-horse open sleigh — you know, like the “Jingle Bells” one.

The sleigh — or two-seat cutter — was a gift in the mid-1950s from Helen “Parm” Nelson to her husband, Ralph, a community booster, musician and longtime insurance executive.

And the sleigh remained part of the Nelson winter fun into the 1970s until better-plowed and sanded roads cut down its use, according to a Nelson son, Doug.

On Jan. 20, 1955, Francis Cope, the legendary Coeur d’Alene Press reporter, photographed three children riding in the sleigh at Ninth Street and St. Maries Avenue. One of the children was her nephew, Tommy Cope, 7, who still lives in Coeur d’Alene. The other two were Nelson children: Susan, 12, holding the reins of her pet horse, Sada Licka, and brother Parmley, 8.

Over Stanley Hill and through the snow, Doug said, the Nelsons dashed in that sleigh with “a couple of good horses trained to pull it.” And they laughed all the way.

Huckleberries

• Poet’s Corner: Temperatures plunge,/the winter winds stir,/I’ve no more to add/except to say, “Brrrr” — The Bard of Sherman Avenue ("Cold Front Today”).

• Party On: You could try “Quarterback Stew” if you want something different for Super Bowl Sunday guests. Some may call it pinto bean casserole. But not John Friesz’s family. The former NFL QB from Coeur d’Alene savors mother Mary Jo’s signature dish so much that his family renamed it in his honor. Mary Jo shared her recipe with The Press before the 1995 Super Bowl. It includes a half pound of pork roast, a pound of pinto beans. And a lot of love.

• And the Answer Is … Smokey and Buckshot. The Question? Name the two Coeur d’Alene boys who appeared on the national “What’s My Line?” TV show Jan. 29, 1970. The sons of Ace and Carol Brannaman, Bill (Smokey), 10, and Dan (Buckshot), 8, performed rope tricks in rodeos throughout the country, including the World Champion RCA Rodeo in Kansas City. They attended Borah Elementary when they weren’t touring.

• Finis: Steve Young, who served an abbreviated three-month term as “mayor of Fighting Creek,” offered a brief acceptance speech in late January 2005: “I thought I would thank people, but I won’t.” The spoof mayor’s race at Fighting Creek, 15 miles south of Coeur d’Alene, prided itself on fraud and vote buying. The event began in 1987 as something to do at the Fighting Creek Tavern as winter approached and ended in 2005 when the business was sold.

• Did You Know … that among the wild ideas floated for Tubbs Hill years ago (Jan. 27, 1955) was one calling for construction of a hospital on the northwest side? The board of Lake City General Hospital hiked the hill in fedoras, overcoats and dress shoes after meeting to form a hospital district. Happily, board members deep-sixed the “favored location.”

Parting shot

A month after suffering a near-fatal bullet wound to his face in the line of duty, Coeur d’Alene officer Mike Kralicek thrilled a crowd of 1,000 with a simple recorded message: “Thank you.” After the shooting Dec. 28, 2004, the Coeur d’Alene Fire Department and Northwest Women in Business Network arranged a dinner auction that raised more than $100,000 for the 33-year-old policeman and his equally brave wife, Carrie. Mike’s family was overwhelmed by the support. “We need to do this,” said organizer Diana Tuttle, because “these guys are putting their lives on the line for us every day.” May we ever support the men and women in blue.

• • •

D.F. (Dave) Oliveria can be contacted at dfo@cdapress.com.

    In 1955, Parks and Recreation Director Red Halpern, right, with bus driver Derrol Hockett, checks in children for the city’s new “Skiing Every Saturday” program, from left: Jim Pierce, Roger Johnston, Melvin Moore, Judy Morse, Joan James, Ed Stein, Bob Boughton, Gene Branson and Beverly Boughton.
  

    In 1985, Wes Aamodt displays the 5-pound Shady Lady Burger.
  

    In 1955, Susan Nelson holds the reins to her horse, Sada Licka, while giving a sleigh ride to brother Parmley, center, and friend Tommy Cope.
  

    In 1995, Mary Jo Friesz shows off son John’s favorite Super Bowl dish, “Quarterback Stew.”
  

    In 1970, Bill (Smokey) Brannaman and brother Dan (Buckshot) Brannaman display their trick-rope skills.
  

    In 2005, Steve Young, left, the last mayor of Fighting Creek, kibbitzes with former mayors Billy Robins, center, and Nick Lepire.
  

    In 1955, the Lake City General Hospital board inspect a possible Tubbs Hill site for a new hospital, from left: Chairman L.W. Winkle, Eugene Miller, L.L. Gardner, Dr. H.H. Greenwood, J.H. Bell and O.W. Edmonds.
  

    In 2005, Carrie Kralicek thanks an audience of 1,000 people who raised more than $100,000 for husband Mike’s medical bills.