Template:Use mdy dates Amadee Wohlschlaeger (December 3, 1911 – June 24, 2014) was a 20th-century American sports cartoonist in St. Louis. He was known professionally as simply "Amadee", which was how he signed his cartoons. He was a long-time sports cartoonist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, in an era when newspaper sports pages usually included a prominent cartoon.[1] He drew the Weatherbird cartoon for more than 49 years.[2]
Life and career
Wohlschlaeger was born on December 3, 1911, in St. Louis and grew up in the Carondelet neighborhood in the far south of that city,[1] where he developed a passion for drawing when a small child.[3] He did not attend high school (although he did later take art classes at Washington University in St. Louis). His father was a printer with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and the younger Wohlschlaeger took a job there at age 14, as a copy boy earning $7.50 (about $Template:FormatpriceTemplate:Inflation-fn in Template:Inflation-year dollars) a week. In 1929, at age 17, he was hired into the paper's art department.[1]
In 1932, Wohlschlaeger became the fourth artist to draw the Post-Dispatch's Weatherbird, which was created in 1901 and remains in continuous daily use. He drew the Weatherbird, usually accompanied by a pithy observation on current events, from 1932 to 1981. His Weatherbird marked D-Day, the assassination of John F. Kennedy, and many other notable events.[1] He was succeeded as illustrator by Albert Schweitzer.[4]
Wohlschlaeger drew his first sports cartoon for the paper in 1936.[1] Among his contributions was his "Cardinals Camp Capers" cartoon, sent in from spring training.
In 1939, he filled in as the Post-Dispatch's editorial cartoonist, drawing caricatures of Hitler and Mussolini as well as local politicians.[1]
Wohlschlaeger drew many covers for the Sporting News, which was then produced in St. Louis and known as "The Baseball Bible".[1][5] He also drew covers for University of Missouri football programs for more than 30 years,[6] and covers for the annual St. Louis Baseball Writers dinner.[5]
Wohlschlaeger retired in 1981.[7] He was inducted into the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame in 1992.[6]
Wohlschlaeger was married to Violet Wohlschlaeger; they had a son, Amadee Wohlschlaeger Jr.[8] Wohlschlaeger died June 24, 2014, in St. Louis County.[1]
References
Publications
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