December 27, 2019 By Kasey McDowell
Every so often a duo or trio of athletes comes through a public high school and are the stars of several sports for several years. Mulvane is no different in this phenomenon, although these days with the rise of "1-sport" athletes it is somewhat less common. Mulvane's first dual threat was Frank Harris and Herbert Butterfield from 1918 to 1923. These two men were the stars of football, basketball, and track for all 4 years of their high school career.
Frank Harris played on the football team for four years, three as a halfback and one as a fullback. Four years on the basketball team as guard and three years he was the high point man in track. He was almost put out of track during his Sophomore year due to a gun shot wound in his leg. He still ran track that year and was still able to place some 2nd and 3rd places in the 50, 100, and 220 sprints despite his leg being in bad shape.
Frank was the state champion in track in the 220yd Sprint in 1922.
A yearbook quote described Frank in this fashion: "If things were divided up on a basis of reward for faithfulness and Frank were given his share, there would be little left for the rest. For absolute loyalty to MHS and general stick-to-itiveness, Franks puts everyone else in the shade. He never says anything about it but he just goes ahead and does the square thing by everybody."
How did he get shot? A newspaper article from 3-10-1921 has the following story:
Shot Through the Leg - Last Sunday afternoon Frank Harris, who works in the Dye restaurant near the Santa Fe Station, was the victim of a peculiar accident, but which fortunately did not have serious results. He was washing dishes just after noon and in whipping a dishcloth off a nail under the counter he jarred a .38 caliber revolver from the nail at the same time. The gun fell to the floor and was discharged, the bullet boring a clean hole through the calf of Frank's right leg. He was really more scared than hurt. He was able to hobble across the street to the office of Dr. Michener and was given prompt attention. The wound was only a slight one and no serious results are anticipated. Apparently they thought the wound wouldn't be serious, but a newspaper article about a track meet on 5-19-1921 said his leg was in bad condition.
Frank played football and ran track at Emporia State University from 1923 to 1927.
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Herbert "Percy" Butterfield played football, basketball, and ran track for all 4 years of high school and he was the quarterback in football and captain of the basketball team. A yearbook quote said "Herbert possessed a world of basketball knowledge and a better leader could not have been found. Herbert was one of the most spectacular players in the County and could hardly be equaled as a forward in the entire state. Percy is a star athlete. Even when a freshman he out classed many of the junior and senior competitors and showed great speed in Football, Basketball, and Track."
In the 4 years of Butterfield being quarterback, Mulvane's record was 26-5-2 with 3 consecutive league championships.
Herbert was the track Co-State Champion in Pole Vault in 1922.
Butterfield played football and ran track at Pittsburg State University from 1923 to 1927.
