Giambelluca retires as museum chairman

Sam Giambelluca's love of sports and history led to the establishment of the Poplar Bluff Sports Hall of Fame in 1981 and the Poplar Bluff Museum seven years later.

After serving 20 years as the first chairman of the museum board, Giambelluca recently turned the leadership over to Jay Githens, but he will continue to serve as a museum board member and chairman of the Sports Hall of Fame board.

The museum has one large room filled with Sports Hall of Fame exhibits and nine other rooms full of Poplar Bluff historical exhibits. It is open 2-4 p.m. on Sun- days.

"I was born and raised here. I have a lot of pride in Poplar Bluff," said Giambelluca, who recently celebrated his 80th birthday.

The 1946 Poplar Bluff High School graduate, who was on the track team his senior year and was manager of the football and basketball teams, has always been a faithful supporter of Mules teams.

"I graduated in the spring and began the Letter Club's football banquet in the fall," said Giambelluca, who has spearheaded the all conference event for 52 years. The Letter Club also hosted all-conference basketball banquets.

He also was the sports editor for the school newspaper and worked two years in the Daily American Republic sports department.

"Then I sold shoes for about 50 years," said Giambelluca, who had Bob Evans shoe stores on South Main Street, at Valley Plaza and Mansion Mall.

"A group of us started the Sports Hall of Fame at the high school in 1981. We wanted some way to honor outstanding Poplar Bluff athletes," Giambelluca said.

Other original board members were E. E. "Bus" Carr, Bob Gray, Tom Hoover, Bob Thacker, John Lawson, Dr. R. W. Huntington, Paul Hogg and Stan Berry. Other current members are vice president Mike Huffman, secretary Parker Bennett, treasurer Richard Landers, Ed Lewis, Benny Holt, Dan Massingham and Githens.

To celebrate being inducted into the Sports Hall of Fame, Giambelluca started the annual Sports Hall of Fame banquet in 1981.

He recalls the first three inductees in the Sports Hall of Fame and other athletes he has helped throughout the years.

E. T. "Pete" Peters, who coached at Poplar Bluff High School, Carmin "Chink" Henderson and Billy Piper were the initial inductees.

"Billy Piper was the only Missouri athlete to play for Coach Bear Bryant at the University of Alabama," Giambelluca said. "He graduated from Poplar Bluff High School in 1959, having lettered four years in three sports."

Piper played in the Orange Bowl, Sugar Bowl and Bluebonnet Bowl and was named Alabama's best defensive player in 1963, according to Giambelluca.

Henderson graduated from PBHS in the 1930s and played football, basketball and baseball at the University of Missouri.

When the space at the high school was needed for other purposes, the Sports Hall of Fame board started looking for a larger location.

"The Sports Hall of Fame was our No. 1 priority. No. 2 was Poplar Bluff history," Giambelluca said.

Their search ended at the 1910 Mark Twain School in the 1000 block of North Main Street.

"It had been empty for two years. Jim Moss and I worked with the school board and superintendent Robert Moulton to obtain the building. The city bought it in 1988 for $1," Giambelluca recalled.

Volunteers cleaned out the old structure and Job Corps students "painted all the hallways and rooms."

"Jay Githens donated all the materials and labor to make displays. He put the Sports Hall of Fame room together," Giambelluca said.

Many display cases in the museum came from local stores, including the former KMart store when it was in the building where Orscheln's is today.

"They said if we could move the cases, we could have them," Giambelluca said.

With the help of civil engineer Bob MacDonald and Githens, Giambelluca was able to acquire the Georgia limestone columns from the old Post Office that served the community from 1914 to 1967. They were discovered in a weed-covered lot.

"Ben and Debbie Wyatt donated the columns to the museum," Giambelluca said. Githens poured a 4-foot deep concrete base to set the four columns on.

"Each column was in four pieces. Jay brought in a crane to set the columns," Giambelluca said.

He expressed his appreciation to many local families who donated historical items for the museum.

"We had the building filled up in the mid 1990s," said Giambelluca, who credited Chaplain Don Phillips at the Veterans Administration Hospital for starting the military room in the museum.

Giambelluca also thanked the many donors who have supported the museum for 20 years.

The building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998.

One coach and two athletes were inducted in the Sports Hall of Fame in 2007, making a total of 75 individuals and seven teams, according to Giambelluca. He has been voted into the Poplar Bluff Sports Hall of Fame and the Missouri Sports Hall of Fame.

In 1986, then Daily American Republic Sports Editor Stan Berry interviewed Giambelluca about his impact on local sports. What he said then summarizes his motivation for his many years of work with the Hall of Fame and the museum.

"The real pleasure you get out of all this is seeing kids through the years who have benefited at one time or another from programs you've worked on," Giambelluca said.

In concluding a recent interview, he said, "This has been my life. I feel good about it."