Return to the Frank Passic
Any photos not otherwise credited are from the personal collection of Frank Passic, Albion Historian.
|
Morning Star, September 12, 2010, pg. 15 Yours truly will be at my Albion History Booth at the Festival of the Forks in front of Citizens Bank this coming Saturday, September 18. Be sure and stop by and purchase one of my latest books if you haven‘t gotten one already, and my other Albion history materials. I‘ll have copies of Gwen Dew‘s autobiography, "My God, a Woman! on hand. I‘ll be looking forward to seeing you. FYI: I will not be presenting a Riverside Cemetery tour this year. I do have, however, tour booklets from previous years available which are loaded with local history material you won‘t find anywhere else. In the June 15, 1997 edition of this column (which is republished on the www.albionmich.com website) I wrote about Ulysses Curtis, who was born and raised in Albion. He is a 1944 graduate of Washington Gardner High School, and served in the U.S. Navy for two years following graduation. Amazingly, Ulysses didn‘t play football in high school, but instead played basketball and baseball. He learned the sport of football at the urging of his brother Tom when he went to college at Florida A & M in the late 1940s. Ulysses excelled in the sport and was named "All American for the years 1947 and 1948. He was later inducted into the Sports Hall of Fame there at his alma mater. In the early 1950s, Ulysses played for the Canadian Football League and his team, the Toronto Argonauts, earned national championships in 1950 and 1952. As a postscript, Ulysses "Crazy Legs Curtis was inducted into the CFL Wall of Fame on October 27, 2005. There was a special poster with his name on it promoting the game where the ceremony was held. This coming Saturday evening September 18 at 6 pm at Tennant Hall, the Albion High School Alumni Association will be recognizing Ulysses as a Distinguished Alumnus. His plaque will subsequently be placed on the Wall of Fame at Albion High School. It is worth noting here that some local history will be made at this event, because it will mark the first time that two siblings have been presented this award. Ulysses‘ brother, Dr. James Curtis, was given the award in 2008. That‘s makes two Distinguished Alumni from the same family—what an accomplishment! From our this week we present a photo of the two Albion High School Distinguished Alumni brothers: James and Ulysses Curtis during a recent visit.  James Curtis (Class of 1940) and Ulysses Curtis (Class of 1944) Next: EARTH DAY, 1970 All text copyright, 2026 © all rights reserved Frank Passic | Artwork copyright Maggie LaNoue © 2026
| |
