Awesome story! Thanks
-BadMan On 11/15/12, mail.bobparks.com <[email protected]> wrote: > What a great story! Sad too. Thanks for posting it, Woody. > > Oliver Barry, CRS, GRI > Real Estate Broker > Bob Parks, LLC > 1517 Hunt Club Blvd > Gallatin TN 37066 > 615-972-4239 > 615-826-4040 > Sent from my iPhone > > Begin forwarded message: > >> From: Woody Bass <[email protected]> >> Date: November 14, 2012 8:20:49 PM CST >> To: WXIA <[email protected]> >> Subject: [gatornews] When UF Said 'Let There Be Lights' at Florida Field, >> Poekel Devised Plan - GatorZone.com Mobile >> Reply-To: [email protected] >> > >> http://www.gatorzone.com/mobile/news/24314 >> >> When UF Said 'Let There Be Lights' at Florida Field, Poekel Devised Plan >> >> GAINESVILLE, Fla. – On Page 84 of his master's thesis is where one story >> ended and another one began for Charles Axel Poekel. >> >> The page is dated Aug. 27, 1938. Poekel's thesis titled "Design of >> Flood-Lighting for Football Stadia" was approved that day, signed off by >> four members of UF's College of Engineering, including Dean Joseph Weil. >> >> Almost a year earlier in September 1937 Weil received a letter from >> Florida assistant athletic director Percy Beard, who was exploring the >> possibility of adding lights to Florida Field. The Florida football team >> needed a lighted field to escape the heat and to be able to practice at >> night, and Beard asked if Weil and his staff could "prepare an estimate of >> the cost of this installation." >> >> Poekel, an electrical engineering graduate student at the time, had >> recently completed his undergraduate degree at UF and was in search of his >> thesis topic. >> >> A light went off. Poekel went to work. >> >> ***** >> >> Poekel's thesis ended up as the plan UF used to install the lights that >> first lit up Florida Field, which was built in 1930 and expanded many >> times over the years. The first night game came several years later in >> September 1950 when the Gators hosted The Citadel. >> >> By that time Poekel was settled for more than a decade in New Jersey, >> where for the next seven decades he would add numerous accomplishments to >> his life's story. His contribution to UF's football history received >> recognition in early 2010 when he returned to Gainesville for the first >> time in more than 70 years to be honored as the UF College of >> Engineering's Alumnus of the Year. >> >> The reunion was special for those involved. When Cammy Abernathy, UF's >> current dean of the College of Engineering, asked Poekel why it had been >> so long since he had been back to UF, he responded, "I've been busy." >> >> Poekel was thrilled to be recognized by his alma mater and received a >> special surprise when school officials took him to Ben Hill Griffin >> Stadium, took him to the 50-yard line, and flipped on the lights in his >> honor. >> >> "I bet Thomas Edison wouldn't get this kind of treatment,'' Poekel told >> The Florida Engineer. >> >> >> >> Photo: Poekel as a UF student in the 1930s and a diagram in his master's >> thesis. >> >> Poekel was scheduled to return to campus earlier this month during the >> weekend of the Florida-Missouri football game. The College of Engineering >> planned to unveil a plaque at Ustler Hall – the building that used to be >> old Florida Gym and where Poekel met Mary Alice Webster, his late wife of >> 63 years – in Poekel's honor. >> >> He planned to attend the football game, meet the first two recipients of a >> scholarship named in his honor, and celebrate his 97th birthday. >> >> "We were really looking forward to it,'' said Charles Poekel Jr., his son >> and a New York City attorney. "One of the greatest things in his 90s was >> the reconnection with Florida. That really inspired him." >> >> A few days prior to the trip, Poekel developed an infection that required >> a hospital stay. Then Hurricane Sandy blew ashore and cut off power at his >> Essex Fells, N.J., home for several days and canceled travel plans to >> Florida. Instead of celebrating his birthday at The Swamp, Poekel was >> forced to remain in the hospital, where he developed pneumonia. >> >> The family was able to take the Poekel home but on Nov. 7 he passed away >> at 97, leaving behind a significant legacy besides his role in lighting >> Florida Field. >> >> "I tell people he didn't live just 97 years, but 97 great years,'' Charles >> Jr. said. "You can't ask for much more than that. He battled really >> heroically. They gave him the strongest possible antibiotics and they >> weren't enough." >> >> ***** >> >> Poekel was just getting started all those years ago at UF. >> >> While working at Curtiss-Wright Aeronautics five years after turning in >> his master's thesis, Poekel invented an anti-icing method to prevent >> propeller blades from icing on an airplane. He eventually earned a U.S. >> patent for his work and the invention became the industry standard for >> de-icing airplane propellers. >> >> Poekel's creative ways ran in the family. He moved to Florida to live with >> his grandparents after his mom died when he was 11. His grandfather was >> well-known Danish yacht and boat designer T.S. Poekel. >> >> Later in life Poekel designed equipment used in the development of the >> first hydrogen bomb while at Gould and Eberhardt Engineering in Hoboken, >> N.J. He married Mary Alice, a Florida State graduate, in 1941. >> >> He also created and owned C.A. Poekel & Company, a real estate brokerage >> firm, Poekel Electric and Poekel Travel Bureau. >> >> A lifelong boxing fan, late in life Poekel developed into a huge fan of >> Manny Pacquiao and continued to travel extensively well into his 90s. He >> loved to swim and was active in masonry, a skill he acquired during his >> time in Gainesville. >> >> It makes sense that his favorite singer was Bing Crosby, whose song "Young >> at Heart" was a favorite of Poekel's. >> >> "That really sort of captures the way he was,'' Charles Jr. said. "That's >> why it's tough on all of us. He didn't seem so old. He seemed so young at >> heart. He was always someone who sort of looked ahead and never looked >> back." >> >> As Poekel rested in a New Jersey hospital on Nov. 2, a banner arrived from >> UF's College of Engineering. >> >> "To our favorite Gator engineer,'' it read. >> >> "He really loved to see that,'' Charles Jr. said. "This would have been >> the highlight of his life if he had made it down there for that Missouri >> game weekend. We want to continue on with his legacy and come down there >> in future years." >> >> Maybe they can come watch a Gators' night game. That seems about right. >> >> AT A GLANCE >> >> A memorial service for Poekel is scheduled for Nov. 24, the day of the >> Florida-Florida State game. >> >> The family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the >> "UF Foundation" to support the Charles A. Poekel Sr. Endowed Scholarship >> Fund, c/o College of Engineering Development Office, P.O. Box 116575, >> Gainesville, Fla. 32611. >> >> >> >> Woody (via iPhone) >> -- >> GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY! >> 1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions >> 2006 National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions >> 2008 National Football Champions | >> Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel >> (1996), >> Tim Tebow (2007) - Visit our website at www.gatornet.us > > -- > GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY! > 1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions > 2006 National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions > 2008 National Football Champions | > Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), > Tim Tebow (2007) - Visit our website at www.gatornet.us -- Sent from my mobile device -- GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY! 1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions 2006 National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions 2008 National Football Champions | Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), Tim Tebow (2007) - Visit our website at www.gatornet.us
