Beardstown

Jenny O'Hara was one of 60 original players in the AAGBPL, made famous in the movie "A League of Their Own". She played seven seasons for the Kenosha Comets, and was known for throwing a wicked knuckleball.

Casper Ruff came to the U.S. in 1837 and was the first in the states to brew beer using the German lager method. His grandson William patented the process of pasteurizing beer, which was soon used worldwide. After surviving prohibition by producing near beer and ice cream, the Ruff co. was put out of business in the 1940s by the large conglomerates.

Beardstown native Walter Flanagan joined the Rock Island Independents football team as a backup end in 1913, and purchased the team two years later. In 1920, he met with nine other team owners in Canton, Ohio to form what would become known as the National Football League. They hosted what has been retrospectively designated the first National Football League game on September 26, 1920. In 1926, the Independents left the NFL to become a charter member of the first American Football League, but folded with the rest of the league in 1927.