Postcards CCHS: Stepping Stone to the U.S. Senate

The public speaking honors earned by the future U.S. Senator, Alan Bible, did not end when the CCHS debate squad took the state championship just one hundred years ago.

With encouragement from CCHS Principal George McCracken, Bible had entered a national oratory contest in January 1926. His chances of going very far seemed slim. Most of the contestants had considerably more experience, having previously entered the national contest as sophomores and juniors. This was Bible’s first and only shot at winning.  

In Nevada, California, and Arizona (comprising one of seven “zones” in the U.S.), over 30,000 high school students in 50 different districts entered the first phase of the contest. The topic was “The United States Constitution.” Bible easily won over a Humboldt County contestant to move to the second phase, held in Reno, where Bible claimed victory and moved to the “Zone” semi-finals against only seven other survivors of a process designed to whittle the original 30,000 entrants down to one “Zone” winner.

On May 7, the “Fallon Standard” proudly proclaimed, “Bible One of Eight in 30,000,” and Bible, accompanied by his father, Jake Bible (who then owned the Fallon Mercantile) and CCHS Principal McCracken, travelled to Los Angeles on a tidal wave of local enthusiasm to compete in the Semi-Finals. The first prize consisted of $500.00 (equivalent to $9,155.99 today) and a trip to Europe.

Bible was bested by a Hollywood, California student named Herbert Winig, but McCracken and the local newspapers did not soften their praise for their promising young orator. Asked by the “Churchill County Eagle” how Bible had stood the ordeal, McCracken replied,” Alan never did better in his life than he did before an audience of 4000 people…. The young man who won first prize had won over all of the high schools in Los Angeles, and, besides, he had been in the contest for two years prior to this.” The “Standard” praised the fact that “Alan’s strength in the contest will be better understood when it is known that one of the 21 judges gave Alan 3^rd place; 3 gave him 4^th place.”

McCracken added, “It was worth a thousand dollars to me and Jake Bible to be there…. The audience got eight sermons on the patriotic observance of the fundamental law of the land. It was a lesson to the citizens.”

I wonder how many of the other contestants, as did Bible, continued on to serve his country and the Constitution as a U.S. Senator (1954-1974).

In 1966, I moved to Washington, D.C with my husband, Mike, who was finishing law school at Georgetown University. Senator Bible employed Mike in his office and helped me find a job teaching in a D.C. School. He and his wife, Loucile, had us to dinner at his home in Silver Spring, Maryland. I will always remember what he said to me that night, “Michon, I will never forget my school days at Oats Park Elementary School and Churchill County High School. Fallon helped me find my way to the Senate.”

Please send your stories and ideas for stories to [email protected].