HUCKLEBERRIES: Miss Diamond Cup's swimsuit controversy

In Coeur d’Alene’s 1960s, when hydroplanes thrilled spectators and a swimsuit competition was part of pageantry, a young woman in a modest bathing suit caused a stir.

On July 19, 1968, Miss Diamond Cup XV Linda Dreschel appeared in a two-piece suit in the Coeur d’Alene Press. And race official Archie McGregor blew his top.

McGregor had asked Linda not to wear a two-piece bathing suit for promotional shots. But she complied when asked to do so by a Press photographer.

So, there she was on page one, seated on the hood of a metallic blue Dodge Dart, parked on what is now North Idaho College Beach. The car was the grand prize for a Diamond Cup Century Club drawing to promote the unlimited hydroplane races.

Styling a beehive hairdo and smiling, Linda is shown looking toward Cougar Bay while sun-bathers huddled on blankets behind her. The photo shows off the car, but not too much of Linda.

In his book, “Hydromania: A History of the Diamond Cup,” Stephen Shepperd said Linda described special events manager McGregor as “quite upset.”

“He was just like a father to me,” Linda told the “Hydromania” author.

Earlier in the summer, McGregor and Diamond Cup Commodore Nile Latta recruited Linda to be their 1968 queen. She jumped at the chance. And joined the two men in promoting the race and other events, including the ribbon-cutting for the new U.S. 95 bridge over the Spokane River.

Everything went along fine until the beach photo shoot.

McGregor, a grocer and convenience store owner, was so upset that the Press ad staff edited the car out of the picture and placed Linda in the same pose with Tubbs Hill in the background. But the Press unwittingly used the “offending” photo a second time, in its weekly magazine, riling McGregor again.

Linda would later meet McGregor’s standard of dress for another photo shoot with the “real” Tubbs Hill in the background. She donned what she described as a “really silly one-piece bathing suit” for the local chamber’s summer activity guide, photographed by chamber manager Kyle Walker.

“That was what she was expected to wear as a Diamond Cup queen,” said chronicler Stephen Shepperd, “at least in the eyes of Archie McGregor.”

Contacted at her home in Richland, Wash., Linda Dreschel Bechtel told Huckleberries, “I wish I could remember all those details 55-plus years ago, but I’m sorry I can’t.” She said Shepperd provided an accurate account of the bathing suit story in his “Hydromania” book.

Linda left Coeur d’Alene in 1970, graduated from Washington State University and taught briefly. She is married to Pastor David Bechtel of Bethel Church and has lived in the Tri-Cities for 36 years.

“I’m alive and very well in Richland, Wash., loving on my four grandkids,” said Linda. “God is good.”

No one knew at the time that the 1968 Diamond Cup would be the last major hydroplane race on Lake Coeur d’Alene until a brief revival in 2013.

4,000 and counting

E.R.W. “Ted” Fox achieved a milestone 45 years ago (July 1978) when baby Tricia Anne Ekwortzell was born at Kootenai Memorial Hospital.

She was the 4,000th baby delivered by Coeur d’Alene’s “Family Doctor.” And she wasn’t the first generation of her family handled by him. Twenty-nine years before, Ted had skipped the Fourth of July Parade to deliver her mother, Patricia McCormick Ekwortzell.

“It is a privilege to be present at the beginning of a new life,” Dr. Fox told the Press. “It also reminded me that for some time now I have been delivering babies for girl babies I delivered a few years back.”

Dr. Fox noted that hospital births cost three or four times more than they did in 1939 when he moved here. But he still considered babies to be “today’s best bargain.”

He had no plans to retire: “Each day a doctor practices he learns more about patient care and more about caring for people. Why quit just when you are getting good at it?”

In 1996, Dr. Fox retired at age 87 after 57 years of practicing here. He died at age 93 on Aug. 28, 2002.

A new life

Charlie and Susan Nipp have accomplished much in their Idaho Hall of Fame lives.

Charlie has partnered with Steve Meyer to erect dozens of commercial buildings, including major ones in the Ironwood medical district. Susan has created the Mudgy and Millie characters and expanded her line of Wee-Sing songs and musical instruction sing-alongs.

After returning to the Inland Northwest from teaching in Lake Oswego, Ore., they bought a restaurant. Mr. Steak? No. The eatery, which provided free birthday meals to customers, would come later.

On July 27, 1978, Charlie and Realtor Elmer Jordan appeared in a Press photo to announce the purchase of the Nipps’ new restaurant — Oliver’s at 320 Sherman Ave. Elmer coached Charlie and the 1962-63 Coeur d’Alene High basketball team to the state championship.

Charlie told the Press he looked forward to seeing old friends and intended to become involved in the community, a promise he has kept for the last 45 years.

Huckleberries

• Poet’s Corner: The little peas are green and round;/when squashed they make a squishy sound/and plop green goo upon the floor./What child of two could ask for more? — The Bard of Sherman Avenue (“Dining with Baby”).

• Limericking: Idaho's summer skies bring breathtaking tones,/That warm us to the depth of our bones./While our roads all now show,/The unique blooms that we grow,/Which the florists call orange traffic cones — The Humble Spud (“CONES”).

• Factoid: The new $1.9 million U.S. 95 bridge over the Spokane River opened 55 years ago (July 27, 1968).

• Golden Anniversary: On July 25, 1973, Coeur d’Alene, Hayden and state highway officials opened a new U.S. 95 section, from Appleway to Garwood, 8 miles. Mayors John McHugh (Coeur d'Alene) and Leonard Stewart (Hayden) cut the ribbons. And 10 boys on bikes cheered and dashed off toward Hayden on the new bike trail.

• 30 for 30: It has been 30 years since The Shadows played at a 30th-anniversary gig for charity. All six of the original members from 1963 played: Dexter Yates, Doug Wanamaker, Pete Shepperd, Mike Bolan, Jack Fullwiler and Jim Frame. In 2015, the six finally disbanded after the last members turned 70. Six years later, Dexter told Huckleberries: “We’re 76 years old, and we’re through.” But not forgotten.

Parting shot

The greatest act of heroism during the 10-year run of Diamond Cup racing occurred 60 years ago (July 28, 1963) when Warner Gardner rescued an unconscious fellow hydroplane driver on Lake Coeur d'Alene.

Mira Slovak was neck-and-neck with eventual winner Bill Muncey when the nose of his hydroplane dipped into the water. According to the Press report, the boat “was ripped into a thousand pieces,” and sank in seconds.

First on the scene, Gardner found Slovak face down in the water. He held his competitor’s head above the surface until help arrived. Slovak was badly injured but survived.

A World War II pilot, Gardner transformed from a local fan favorite to a hero.

In September 1968, he would die in a similar crash on the Detroit River. A memorial featuring a hydroplane with a jet flying from its rooster tail, east of The Coeur d’Alene Resort, honors Gardner and all other hydroplane drivers who died enjoying the sport they loved.

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D.F. (Dave) Oliveria can be contacted at dfo@cdapress.com. For more old photos and stories, you can join his Facebook page: D.F. Oliveria.