Legendary Locals Of Pottstown

From its founding by Colonial ironworker John Potts through its heyday as a manufacturing hub in the 20th century, Pottstown has been defined by entrepreneurs, inventors, and hard-working immigrants with dreams of a better life. It has been home to a variety of churches, community organizations, and businesses that have sustained and entertained residents and visitors for more than 260 years. It has also produced its fair share of musicians, doctors, nurses, and professional athletes, like Dick Ricketts, the first pick in the 1955 NBA draft. Pottstown is a culinary capital in its own right as the place where Amanda Smith started Mrs. Smith's pies, and where Dan Brunish sells his famous sausage sandwiches out of the deli started by his grandparents in 1937. Today, with the vision of people like Marta Kiesling and Deborah Stimson-Snow, cofounders of Steel River Playhouse, and Dr. Karen Stout, president of Montgomery County Community College, Pottstown is reinventing itself as a center for art, technology, higher education, and recreation on the Schuylkill River in southeastern Pennsylvania.

Lamar advertises itself as the city "where legends begin," and the city of four thousand lives up to that slogan. It was the place where frontier lawman Wyatt Earp first wore a star and where President Harry S Truman was born. When Truman successfully brought World War II to an end, the submarine fleets in the Atlantic and Pacific were commanded by Lamar High School graduates. Lamar's legends, however, are not limited to those who found fame after they left the city. Lamar was home to the longest-serving mayor in Missouri history, a legendary newspaperman, a football team that captured seven straight state championships and an infamous killer whose life was ended by a lynch mob. Author Randy Turner details these stories and much more.

In this inspiring memoir, the star of Hercules shares the story of the sudden aneurysm and multiple strokes that left him incapacitated--but ultimately redefined his definition of success. On television, Kevin Sorbo portrayed an invincible demigod; in his real life, an aneurysm caused strokes that left him partially blind and incapacitated at just thirty-eight years old. Yet since appearances are everything in Hollywood, he hid the full details about his condition from the press and continued to film Hercules, which was the number one TV series in the world. True Strength is the story of transformation, persistence, and hope in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Sorbo reflects on his childhood in Minnesota and his early acting days in Hollywood, to his charmed life as television's beloved Hercules, and where he is today. He recounts the onset of his symptoms, his frightening hospitalization, and his arduous path to recovery. With this honest account of personal tragedy and triumph, Sorbo aims to blaze a trail for those who have ever suffered acute illness or a serious setback in life and are now struggling to find their way back.

Recounts the addiction and recovery of the world-renowned solo artist and former lead singer and songwriter of Soul Coughing.

Soldiers, champions and innovators have all hailed from this buzzing borough on the banks of the Schuylkill River. Founded in 1761 as Pottsgrove, the small country town was transformed into a thriving industrial center with the coming of the P&R Railroad. Local historian Michael T. Snyder brings together a collection of vignettes to chronicle this fascinating history. From tales of gallant Civil War colonel John Rutter Brooke and the dedicated Dr. Alice Sheppard to memories of summer baseball games long past and a community united in the aftermath of Hurricane Agnes, Snyder deftly captures the spirit and history of Pottstown.

As the last Don of the Philadelphia mob, Ralph Natale, the first-ever mob boss to turn state’s evidence, provides an insider’s perspective on the mafia. Natale’s reign atop the Philadelphia and New Jersey underworlds brought the region’s mafia back to prominence in the 1990s. Smart, savvy, and articulate, Natale came up in the mob and saw first-hand as it hatched its plan to control Atlantic City’s casino unions. Later on, after spending 16 years in prison, he reclaimed the family as his own after a bloody mob war that left bodies scattered across South Philly. He forged connections around the country, invigorated the family with more allies than it had in two decades, and achieved a status within the mob never seen before or since until he was betrayed by his men and decided to testify against them in a stunning turn of events. Using dozens of hours of interviews with Natale along with research and interviews with FBI agents, this book delivers revelatory insights into seminal events in American mob history, including: - The truth about Jimmy Hoffa’s disappearance - The murder of Jewish mob icon Bugsy Siegel - The identity of the man who created modern-day Las Vegas With the full cooperation of Natale, New York Daily News reporter Larry McShane and producer Dan Pearson uncover the deadly reign of the last great mob boss of Philadelphia, a tale that covers a half-century of mob lore—and gore.