Every Legend Contains a Grain of Truth
Work, education and leisure are sometimes in conflict with one another in our Germans from Russia culture. We descend from mostly agrarian ancestors who were not afraid of a hard day of work. In fact, the phrase Arbeit macht das leben süss translates to say “Hard work makes life sweet”, and has often been used to describe our ethnic culture. Many of our family albums contain photographs of emigrant ancestors with broad shoulders and thick hands, the hallmark of their strength.
In my family we have a legend that has been passed down about our great uncle, Julius Dockter, born to Germans from Russia parents, Jacob and Katharina (Heine) Dockter, who emigrated from the Glückstal village of Neudorf in South Russia and the Bessarabian village of Klöstitz, and settled in Dakota Territory.
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| Christina and Katharina Heine. Yankton, Dakota Territory |
Katharina Heine came to America as a young girl from the village of Klöstitz, with her parents, Johann and Christina (Seeger) Heine and sisters, Margarethe, Christina and Caroline. They spent the first years in Yankton, Dakota Territory, working in boarding houses and hotels until Katharina and her father could file for their homestead claims in McIntosh County in 1886. Her time in Yankton exposed her to the English language and the influence of popular culture affecting her views on farming, politics and education. When Katharina Heine filed her first homestead claim at age twenty-one, she was one of 20 women filing for homestead land in McIntosh County. Katharina spoke English and had an understanding of homestead law and the options available to her.
By the time Katharina Heine married Jacob Dockter in 1890, her hard work had translated into three quarters of land in her own name. She held the original homestead, a tree claim and a pre-empted parcel that she purchased.
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| Jacob and Katharina (Heine) Docker - photo car photo 1890 |
Jacob Dockter was born in Neudorf in 1867 and came to Dakota Territory with his parents, Gottlieb and Salomea Job Dockter, in the Fall of 1889, just before Dakota Territory became the two states of North and South Dakota. Jacob and Katharina’s marriage was a “matched” marriage. That story will appear at another time on this blog.
Julius Otto Dockter was born in 1906 on his mother’s original homestead in rural McIntosh County, ND. In 1920 his parents left the family farm in the care of the oldest son, Henry, and moved 30 miles to Linton, ND, taking 14-yr-old Julius with them. Not many farm boys in that era had the opportunity to attend high school. The move altered Julius’ fate. Julius proved to be a well rounded student at Linton High School, obtaining good grades and performing in theater presentations, but his real strength was on the football field.
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| 1923 Linton High School Football Team * J.O. Dockter back row 2nd from right |
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| Boys of Linton High School. Class of 1926. J.O. Dockter 3rd from right |
Summers working on the family farm on Beaver Creek gave Julius the core strength and brawn to lead on the football field, serving as Captain of the team his senior year, 1925-26. At that time, football was new to Linton. According to the Emmons County Record, Linton High School’s first football team was organized in 1923 with 14 players to play an 11-man game. A weak bench by any standard, they played a good brand of ball, losing to Bismarck High School by only 6 points. Julius Dockter was a member of that first team.
Julius was a football standout and was recruited to play for the mighty Bison at North Dakota’s Agricultural College, known as the “AC,” (often called the “Cow College) a land-grant college, now known as North Dakota State University (NDSU), two hundred miles northeast of Linton at Fargo, in the Red River Valley.
Enrollment data indicates that Julius Dockter began his freshman year at the “AC” in the fall of 1926. He also shows up on the football roster for that season, playing under Bison Coach, Ion Cortright.
Across the Red River and many miles to the north at International Falls, MN, another farm boy of strength and brawn was recruited to play for the University of Minnesota (U of M) football team.
That Minnesota farm boy, Bronislau (Bronko) Nagurski, was born in Canada in 1908 to Michael and Amelia Nagurski, emigrants from Western Ukraine in Galicia. Surrounded by wilderness and enduring long, cold winters, Bronko loved the outdoors and athletics. He ran four miles each day to and from school. In his teens he labored at a nearby timbering operation, growing into a powerfully muscular six footer. Bronko was discovered and signed by the U of M’s Gopher’s head football coach, Clarence “Fats” Spears.
Here is where fact supported by research bumps into fiction supported by family lore. The family story handed down to me states that the NDAC Bison freshman team invited the U of M Gophers freshman team to a scrimmage game in the Fall of 1926. At that scrimmage, 6' 4", 200 lb freshman Bison Julius Dockter managed to successfully tackle 6' 2" - 200-lb. freshman Gopher Bronko Nagurski several times, resulting in a win for the Bison!
Because I am a researcher with an appreciation for documentation and authentication, I was disappointed when neither institution was able to provide documentation of the scrimmage event. Archivists at both schools were able to verify the enrollment and team membership of both players for that season, but indicated that scrimmage matches are not typically documented. I had to accept the family lore without documentation.
It is what happened next that is really the “meat” of the story.
Bronko Nagurski became a standout football player for the U of M, playing both tackle on defense and fullback on offense until 1929 when he turned to professional play for the Chicago Bears, going on to become a formidable presence in the National Football League ( NFL), – helping the Bears win several division titles and three NFL championships. How large was Bronko Nagurski? At 6' 2" and 235 lbs he is listed as the largest running back of his time. Nagurski holds the record for the largest NFL Championship ring size at 19 ½. He wore a size 8 helmet. He was the only athlete to be named All- American at two positions in the same year.
What happened to Julius Dockter? Remember his mother, Katharina? The woman who managed to accumulate 480 acres of land in her own name by the time she was 24-yrs-old? Living a quiet life of retirement in Linton, ND, Katharina Heine Dockter was increasingly unhappy with Julius’ mediocre academic performance at the NDAC. Katharina didn’t care that he was a football star or that he was the “man on campus”. Family lore holds that one day Katharina had enough of her son Julius’ lack of focus on his studies. She took the train to Fargo and promptly un-enrolled her son saying “you are here to learn and if you can’t do that I will find some work for you.”
Julius’ life after college left a sparse paper trail, but clearly he was his mother’s son. Julius went to Canada and sold heavy equipment. He later trained and obtained an electrician’s license. During his time as the electrician for the Fessenden, ND, movie theatre he met the love of his life, Florence Wylie. They were married in 1932 and settled on his inherited acreage along Beaver Creek in McIntosh County,
Encouraged by his brother, Henry, Julius ran for and was elected to serve as McIntosh County Auditor, eventually serving as President of the North Dakota County Auditors Association. Julius, Florence and their small family moved to the county seat of Ashley. Julius’ years of public service included serving as county sheriff, judge and Ashley city auditor. Following public service, Julius became a very successful agent for Western States Life Insurance Company, earning top honors for selling $1 million worth of life insurance in one year. For many years he served as a committee member of the Boy Scouts of America and served on the Ashley Hospital Board of Directors. He was a booster of high school sports in his community encouraging all young people to learn good sportsmanship. After a long and successful life, Julius Dockter died in Montana at the age 79 in 1986. He was survived by two sons, Theodore and Ken and a daughter, Dorothy Weaver.
What happened to Bronco Nagurski? He became known as the toughest player in the National Football League in the 1930’s and became a legend as a two-way star during the formative years of professional football. His name became synonymous with tenacity. “Tackling Bronko was like trying to stop a freight train running downhill,” said running back Ernie Nevers.
Bronco was elected to the College Football Hall of Fame in 1951 and the National Professional Football Hall of Fame in 1963. Nagurski also had a long and successful career as a wrestler, becoming a three-time world heavyweight champion, until his retirement in 1960. In his later years, he suffered from arthritis and endured many knee operations to try to salvage what was left of his much-abused knees.
After his retirement from wrestling, Bronko returned home to International Falls and opened a service station, retiring again in 1978 at the age of 70. He lived out a quiet life on the shores of Rainy Lake on the Canadian border until his death in 1990 at the age of 81.
This is the story of two young men – a generation removed from a life in Eastern Europe that was heading toward the devastation of World War II. Both were exceptional athletes, their paths crossing in a brief encounter on the football field in the Fall of 1926. One pursued gridiron and wrestling glory and succeeded. The other athlete, derailed by a practical mother, pursued a successful path of public service.
I have to ask myself, could Julius Dockter have become Bronco Nagurski’s nemesis on the football field if his mother hadn’t intervened? We will never know. What we do know is this: Arbeit macht das leben süss. Whether you find your calling as a sports figure, a public servant, a farmer, educator or service provider – work at it with all you’ve got and life will be sweet.
Copyright:
Carol Just, March 2012
