Sept. 21, 2001
During his years of teaching and doing mission work, the Rev. Charles Kuszmaul always kept the faith.
But even as a strong believer he probably had to wonder if his Baylor University letterman's blanket would ever arrive. After all, he earned it in 1943, the year he graduated.
Kuszmaul, now 84 and a resident of Coatesville, Pa., was a letter-winner in both track and swimming. He has spent most of his life teaching in vocational schools and helping establish Baptist congregations in the Washington, D.C.-Baltimore area.
His wife, Hazel, 82, also a Baylor graduate and former schoolteacher, finally decided the wait for the blanket had gone on long enough. She wrote a letter to the Baylor "B" Association office in Waco and explained that while her husband had received "his Winged Foot in 1941" and "his combination woolen material and leather jacket in 1941," the "B" blanket he earned as a senior had never been presented to him.
Maybe it was the war, maybe he could not be located after leaving Waco for the Southern Baptist Seminary in Louisville, Ky. - or maybe someone just forgot.
Last year when Dr. Jerry Marcontell was the "B" Association President, he sent out questionnaires to all Baylor letterwinners for whom the "B" Association has current addresses. Mrs. Kuszmaul answered the questionnaire and wrote her letter to Dr. Marcontell. Marcontell contacted Mrs. Kuszmaul and sadly informed her that Baylor had stopped awarding letter blankets a number of years ago, but if at all possible, he and Dutch Schroeder, the "B" Association Executive Vice President, would try to locate one and get it to her husband.
Schroeder first contacted Clyde Hart, Baylor's track and field coach, and then others in the Baylor Athletic Department. No solution surfaced until Schroeder thought of his friends at Powers Embroidery Co. in Waco and soon they produced a Green and Gold blanket looking much like the 1943 version.
2001-02 "B" Association President, Knox Pittard, and Schroeder attended a meeting of the National Letter Winners Association at the University of Maryland a few months ago. At the conclusion of the meeting Knox had to fly home, but Dutch and his wife made a side trip to Kuszmaul's hometown.
"We called for directions from a convenience store and discovered he lived just a block or two away," Schroeder said. "But then Coatesville is a pretty small town."
Schroeder said Kuszmaul was shocked and then overcome with pride and joy when they presented him the elusive blanket.
"We also gave him a Baylor cap and then he wanted to do something for us," Schroeder said. "He got out his bow and musical saw and played a few tunes. I'm not sure what they were."
But the numbers were surely well rehearsed because the Rev. Kuszmaul had been waiting almost 60 years to show his appreciation.
