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Welcome to Hear Something Good on Women's Health and Longevity, brought to you by Seneca in partnership with Life MD. Each week, we talk to leading experts about the issues shaping women's health in midlife. From hormone therapy and weight management to sexual health and more, these conversations take a comprehensive look at the whole woman, exploring the latest science and practical steps women can take to support their long-term health and well-being. And we return to our American stories. Up next, a story that started in Rogers, Arkansas, a truly beautiful town, and the home of Daisy Outdoor Products.
and the Daisy Aragon Museum. Which is truly out of this world. Here to tell the story is Joe Murphyn, the chairman of the board of that aforementioned museum. Take it away, Joe. Yes When I learned this story, In my career with DAISY, I used to really love to talk to older people who were retired from the company.
I felt I could learn so much from them and so much of what we as a company thought we were doing was new. In a way, it had been done before, or we could benefit from their experience. And so I would tap into that knowledge base a lot. And I started calling people and saying, You know about these astronauts with Apollo 14? Yeah.
Yeah, Ellen Shepard came here to Rogers. You knew that. Oh, yeah, I had lunch with Rusa. I said, you know there's two golf balls on the moon. Yeah, I knew that.
I said, well, why have you never told me this? Because I didn't think it was important. In June of 2015, while I was still serving as vice president of public relations for DAISY, I was contacted by a gentleman with an estate company in Fort Smith, Arkansas. And he told me about a 103-year-old woman who had passed away. and her estate was going to be liquidated.
There was going to be a sale. And it was one of these estate sales where everything's full price today, but if you come back tomorrow, it's 20% off, and by Friday, it'll be half price. And so I was familiar with those. I like that kind of sales. I like old things and antiques.
And he started talking to me about items that he'd found in this woman's attic that were Daisy-related and bore the name of Jack Powers. And I knew Jack Powers to have been a vice president of public relations for DAISY. for a long time. He joined Daisy in the 60s. And he worked there until he actually passed away.
And we kind of, he and I, this gentleman with the estate sale and I made the connection that probably this woman was. A relative of Jack Powers, and that Jack had at some point in time decided he'd leave some things with her to store as he moved on in his career. But this gentleman wanted us to buy things from him, and I immediately told him we're a nonprofit, that we don't purchase things, we'll accept your donation. But the more he talked, and eventually the more photos that he emailed to me, the more interested I was in acquiring some things. One of the things he had was a very early instinct shooting kit that was made for a promoter of instinct shooting by the name of Lucky McDaniel.
And it was made by Daisy, but it was barely identified as, you know, it's the Lucky McDaniel shooting kit, and then on the back, somewhere very small, Daisy Manufacturing, Rogers, Arkansas. It wasn't a Daisy-branded item. I'd heard about it, I knew what it was worth. And so to kind of establish a relation with him immediately. I said, I like that lucky McDaniel shooting kit.
We'd like to acquire that. The book value is this. and that's what I'll pay you for it, even though it's got a water stain on the front. And I just kind of set the tone that I'm willing to do something for you if you're willing to work with me on some of the other things. There were a lot of photographs, there were a lot of books, there were a lot of magazine covers with famous people's pictures on them that were autographed to Jack Powers, this DAISY public relations VP.
There were even some Crossman air rifles. Crossman's a major competitor of Daisy. I knew somebody at Crossman. And I said, I'll tell you what, I'll even help you if you'll help me with some of these other items and be fair with me. There was a kind of like a salesman's display case, a wooden case, red velvet line, with a half dozen beautiful Crossman guns in it.
And I said, I've got a buddy at Crossman. He, like me, is interested in history. Let me contact him. I'll have you a phone call by this afternoon of somebody that can appraise those for you and/or would like to buy them for Crossman. And so we began to work together on this, but some of the things that really caught my eye were more unusual things.
And they caused me to go to the president of DAISY and say, you and I. Mm-hmm. need to be pickers this week, and we need to go down and see this sale and see these items because I really don't know what I'm getting into, but they belong to Jack Powers and they're from the sixties, etcetera. And one of the most intriguing things was a photo of the entire Apollo 14 crew. It had all three astronauts' signature, which I've talked to people who say that a lot of times they'd take these crew photos out, but only one astronaut would make an appearance somewhere.
So Alan Shepard might sign it, or Edgar Mitchell, or Stuart Russo, but very unusual for all three of them to be there and all three of them to sign these photos like this. But they did. This one Apollo 14 was signed by all three. And then down at the bottom on the mat around the mat area around the photograph, it said to Jack Powers. Our most sincere thanks for the Daisy Golf Balls by Victor, They're Out of This World.
So I talked to this gentleman at the estate sale company, and we arranged some general pricing on some of these items. And I said, but two things. I need to acquire them before the sale starts. I need to come down there Monday morning. And I want to buy them.
You just told me what you were going to price these items at. I want to pretend it's the following Friday when everything's half price.
So that was my challenge to him. And as most negotiations go, we met in the middle somewhere on a pre-established handshake over the phone price. on photos of Apollo missions with this wonderful statement on them that really intrigued me. The second thing I asked him is, who are you dealing with? And he told me the name of the family member and I said I need a phone number for them and I need to speak with them and then tomorrow I will come down and I will buy this, this, this, this, and this.
But nothing happens unless I talk to Jack Power's family member.
So he gives me the contact information. Of course, he said, You're not trying to go around me, are you? And I said, No, I'm dealing with you, that's fine, but I just want to speak to him.
So I spoke to Jack's son. I later would meet with him and have lunch with him, but I asked that he immediately, after he told me this story, I asked that he immediately write me an email and send it to me because I actually feared, what if he never comes? We're supposed to meet, he's supposed to tell me this story, I'm supposed to get to interview him, but I need this story in writing. And so he did that. But, you know, my first question is: so, why are there daisy golf balls at all?
Why do they exist? and how do they get on the moon? And we're listening to a story within a story within a story. And by the way, What are daisy golf balls? We're going to find out in a bit.
But by the way, anyone who has ever done garage selling or better still, estate closings and estate sales. Oh my goodness, this is the joy of a lifetime, one I enjoyed with my mom for decades.
Well into my 30s, on Saturdays in Bergen County, New Jersey, we would get out the Bergen record, circle the estate sales, and go on Saturday, never on Thursday, never on Friday, always the last day. And that's when you could make deals and find treasures. The story of the Daisy Golf Balls on the moon, and so much more for all of you who are collectors of memorabilia. Sports artifacts or anything else. The rest of this story is for you.
We find out the answer to the question: what are daisy golf balls for? when we return here on Our American Stories. The best skaters, BMX riders, and moto athletes in the world don't compete in leagues until now. The X Games League Championship is live from New Orleans, July 24th through 26th. Three days of elite action sports, plus performances from Metro Boomin, JID, Subtronics, and Bunt.
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When we last left off, Joe Murphyn of the Daisy Aragon Museum in Rogers, Arkansas was telling us about learning of an estate sale unlike any other. The cellar had tons of unique Daisy products, including a photo signed by the astronauts of Apollo 14. With a thank you note written on the bottom made out to Jack Howers, a former DAISY PR executive. Intrigued, Joe managed to get in contact with Jack Bowery's son. to figure out the story behind the photo.
Let's return to Joe.
So, why are there daisy golf balls at all? Why do they exist? And how did they get on the moon? And he began to tell me a most interesting story. His dad, right out of college, his first job was a executive director.
Of the American Sport Fishing Institute in Washington, D.C.
So, a young man just out of school takes his first job, wants to impress his boss. Moves somewhere in Virginia near Washington, D.C. He's renting a townhouse with him and his wife. And there were six identical townhouses side by side. And he's trying to impress his boss in the new job, and he works late at night.
So he comes home after dark, he throws open the door and says, honey, I'm home. And a gruff voice says, I'm not sure, honey, and I think you're in the wrong townhouse. Luckily, no one was injured, and as a matter of fact, both of them laughed about it. Both of them said, well, let's get our wives and put on a pot of coffee and let's get to know each other. We're next-door neighbors.
It was a humorous incident. But that chance meeting became a lifelong friendship for these two couples. As their futures unfolded, this gentleman's name was Al Chop. He was the head of Project Blue Book. For the Air Force.
His job was to investigate UFO and alien sightings. And Al went on to become the VP of Public Relations for NASA, and his voice could be heard. In the control booth, mission control for all of the Apollo missions, it was Al Chop's voice that you heard.
So that was his career path. Jack Powers left the Sport Fishing Institute, went to Crossman Air Rifles, which explains why a Daisy executive in a relative's home an hour away would have a collection of Crossman guns. And then from there, he left Crossman and came to DAISY. He did a tremendous job at DAISY. And from people I've talked to that knew him, He was just the ultimate PR guy.
He had a Rolodex. With names of famous people in it, with their direct home phone numbers of politicians and Hollywood actors and actresses. He just knew everybody, and he was constantly ripping articles out of newspaper and magazines, writing a note, firing it off to these famous people, letting them know that he'd seen what they'd done. And there were at those times, during the 60s and 70s, there were famous people appearing in Daisy ads. And there was a little bit of a Hollywood connection where Daisy developed guns and holsters because there were a lot of Western movies being made and things like that.
So Jack Howers was very well connected and he would go down and visit Al Chop and his wife in Florida to watch launchings of space vehicles and rockets. And then he'd be introduced to the crews and to the astronauts. And he would ask them to come to Daisy. He would ask him to come up and meet our people and walk through our factory and All these astronauts are Knew about Daisy, or it had an air rifle when they were a kid, and so they did this. That's how the photo.
Ended up in Rogers, Arkansas. That's how the photo was signed. But still, you know. Why are there golf balls on the moon?
Well Daisy was owned during that time by a company called Victor Comptrometer. and Victor Comptrometer made adding machines. And when the handheld calculators started flooding the market in the United States, and they were not inexpensive at that time, but they were plentiful and they worked a lot better than a mechanical adding machine did, this adding machine company decided that they needed to diversify their holdings.
So they built a recreational products group. They purchased the company's daisy. Head and lures and fishing equipment, Ertl Toys, Valley Manufacturing, which made exercise equipment. Neeson Gymnastics, which made gymnastics equipment, Bear Archery, very famous archery, old archery company, Burt Golf Equipment, who did business as a DBA of PGA Golf, and the Worthington Ball Company, which made golf balls.
So immediately, Victor asked the Worthington Ball Company. to stamp a bunch of golf balls with their victor name. Don't know the exact number of these. I like to think it was very few, but some of them then they would stamp the other side with bears.
So it says Victor, Bear Archery, Victor, Ertle. You know, Victor. Burke, you know, whatever the other company's name was. And so there were golf balls stamped with Victor and Daisy. And these golf balls weren't sold in any store.
They were just given out. The president of each of these companies, or the executives of each of these companies, would take them out. play in the Chamber City Tournament. Here's a sleeve of my golf balls. Why don't you play these?
In 1961, Alan Shepard became the second person and the first American the Travel in the Space. Ten years later, in 1971, he commanded the Apollo 14 mission and became the fifth person and the oldest person to walk on the moon. And the crew of the Apollo included Shepard, Edgar Mitchell, and Stuart Russo.
So, knowing that Shepard was an avid golfer, Jack Powers just made this suggestion that Al Chop. Why don't you take some of these daisy golf balls that say Victor on one side, Daisy on the other? And get Alan Shepard to hit him on the moon, knowing that Alan Shepard wanted to do that. By the way, I think I know that, I think it was Mitchell that threw a javelin on the moon.
So there have been two sports played on the moon that we know of, but the most famous is Shepard stepping out onto the moon, and he's wearing a spacesuit that makes him look like the Michelin man. He can barely get his hands together. And he had taken an excavation tool with him, which he was supposed to have. And then each astronaut was allowed to take a personal item with him.
Some of them would take a watch with them. and Shepard took a golf head. and he tapes it or attaches it somehow to this excavation tool. He drops the golf ball on the surface. He takes a one handed swing and said that one went miles and miles and miles.
Yeah. Actually, it probably went 200 to 400 yards because there is some atmosphere and there is some gravity on the moon and so it doesn't just go out into space forever. It actually does drop.
So it was a long shot, but it wasn't miles and miles and miles. By the way, the crew were never allowed to divulge the brand name of anything they took into space. And I've done a little bit of research on it. It was interesting how they selected the flag that went to the moon. They actually would send out six employees, tell them to buy a flag, bring it back.
tear up all the packaging, get rid of all the tags on the flag, and then one of those flags was selected.
So no one can ever claim we made the American flag that's on the moon. It's so randomly done that no one knows. But this was a personal item. But Shepard was instructed never to divulge what Brandy hit, and he never did. If you just search for this on the internet, you'll find uh My information and my story that I've developed over these golf balls, you'll never find one by Shepard where he divulges the brand name.
You'll find people that speculate that he liked this golf ball. I saw him play that golf ball. It was probably one of those. My question was, of the son of Jack Power, so how do you know? And he said, two ways.
Number one, my father told me every day I put those golf balls on the moon. Secondly, when my father would challenge me and tell me to do something and I'd say, you can't make me do that. He'd say, I put two golf balls on the moon. If I can do that, I can make you mow the yard. It's not like, Ellen Shepard ever said it, it's that my dad did it.
And he said he was very proud of a lot of things he did for Daisy. He was very proud of his career, of the people he knew and associated with. But he was most proud that he put him on the moon. And a special thanks to Katrina Hein for capturing the audio and a terrific job on the production. By Monty Montgomery.
And a special thanks to Joe Murphy for sharing the story. His museum is the Daisy Air Gun Museum. It's in beautiful Rogers, Arkansas. And this may be the ultimate PR stunt that nobody knew about. That's the joy of this one, except the guy who did the stunt himself.
The story of the Daisy golf balls on the moon here on Our American Story. The official language of football is trash talk, late-night group chats, memes, and unbelievable highlight clips. That's why Boost Mobile brings you our new global connection plan. The first plan ever made for WhatsApp. Get unlimited data, talk and text, international roaming, and calls to over 100 countries for just $40 a month.
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