When the Soap Box Derby was king

By way of the Minnesota Historical Society, we hear that Joe Garelick passed away yesterday. He was the 1938 Soap Box Derby champion in St. Paul. It was a time when 10,000 people came out to watch the Derby in St. Paul. He grew up, went off to war to be a gunner on a B-24, came home and invented a boat ladder, starting the Garelick Manufacturing Company, which still churns out marine products in St. Paul.

He was profiled in the Historical Society’s fabulous Greatest Generation series. Find the story and the video here.