In sixth grade, when Wally secretly stole our teacher’s wooden paddle, we were in shock. When he later chopped it into little pieces and threw them down a storm drain, we were in awe. Of course, that wasn’t the end of the story.

In 1966, corporal punishment was still a thing in Ottawa, Illinois. At the time, I was in Sixth Grade at McKinley School. From Kindergarten through Fifth grade, all our teachers were women. If you caused trouble, you were sent to the front office, where Mr Powell, our Principal, would dole out the appropriate punishment. You could receive anything from sitting in the office for an hour, to a paddling, to a note to your parents. Everything changed in sixth grade, when Mr. Ledbetter became our teacher.

Mr Ledbetter (known affectionately as “Leadbottom” in our class) administered punishment in our classroom, and rarely, if ever, sent anyone to the Principal’s office. As my good friend Howard recalled “His exact words, — I remember them well after all these years — were:  “I don’t like to play policeman, but sometimes I have to. (Pause for effect.) This is my badge.” He said this while holding up a wooden paddle. The words were chilling. He delivered it on the first day of sixth grade.”

I don’t know if this was because he was a male teacher, or it’s just the way he was. If you acted up repeatedly, you were called to the front of the class. Once there, you put your hands on a desk facing the class. Mr. Ledbetter would walk over to the closet, reach in, and pull out his wooden paddle. He’d then stroll back to the offender, and administer the appropriate number of whacks. I say stroll, because I think he liked to let the moment build, before administering the punishment. Perhaps this was to serve as an added deterrent for the rest of us students.

As the year progressed, there weren’t that many paddlings, but I suppose several of us received a whack now and then. Our classmate Wally seemed to receive more than most. Wally was a good kid, fellow Boy Scout, and friend. He was also one of those guys who always seemed to push the limit on things, and eventually, Mr Ledbetter would respond. We’ve all had Wallys in our classes, and in our lives. You know this guy – not a bad sort, just always acting out. In Sixth Grade, it got you more than your share of paddling.

One day after school let out for the day, my buddies and I were outside the school horsing around. Suddenly, Wally came running out of the school with something under his arm, and yelled “follow me!”. Naturally we all took off after Wally. When we were a bit away from the school he showed us what was under his arm. Holy hell, it was Leadbottom’s wooden paddle! We were literally in shock – how is it possible Wally could have stolen this? We all started talking at once, when Wally said “Wait here, I’ll be right back”, and went running off to his house, which was directly across from the school yard.

A few minutes later, he returned, with the paddle in one hand, and something else in the other – his Boy Scout axe! As we looked on in amazement, Wally, with a smile on his face, proceeded to chop the paddle into little pieces and threw the pieces down a nearby storm drain. This was all so far beyond the pale, no one knew what to say, or do. How was it even possible this was happening? Eventually, the group broke up and I jumped on my bike and rode home. Wally and the paddle were all I could think about.

Although only a few of us saw Wally chop up the paddle, the stories and rumors spread among us kids over the next few days. Wally was a hero, or out of control, depending on who you talked to.

Time passed, and perhaps two weeks went by.

Wally once again did something bad, and Mr Ledbetter called him to the front of the room for a paddling. Wally walked to the front with something of a strut. As he turned to face us, he had a bit of a smirk on his face. He knew, as many of us did, the paddle was no longer there.

Mr Ledbetter reached into the closet, felt around a bit, then smiled, and pulled his hand out of the closet. There in his hand, was a steel paddle… With air holes drilled in it. Wally’s face went from a smirk to bulging eyes faster than anything I’ve ever seen. Ledbottom strolled over to Wally and administered the whacks. It’s probably my imagination, but he seemed to have a smile on his face while paddling Wally.

I’ve thought back to that day, and I have no idea whether Mr Ledbetter actually saw Wally steal the paddle, or just knew it had to be him. What I am sure of, is he waited till Wally was the one who acted up before producing and using the new paddle. The scene created a lasting memory, and I remember Wally’s eyes to this day.

Addendum:

Special thanks to my sixth grade classmates Howard Johnson, Lynne Galley Robinson, Cathy Habben, Linda Baker, and Becky Ohlendorf-Jobe for providing input, or corroboration to various parts of this blog.

Thanks to my niece Jordan Zarka, who took the photos of McKinley School and the storm drain. I told her were I thought the drain was, and she found it.

Corporal Punishment: I didn’t realize corporal punishment was still used in many places after all these years, but found this in Wikipedia: “Corporal punishment was held constitutional in 1977 by the Supreme Court. The court stated that the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause of the 8th Amendment did not apply to disciplinary corporal punishment in public schools, being restricted to the treatment of prisoners convicted of a crime. In the years since, a number of U.S. states have banned corporal punishment in public schools. As of 2018, corporal punishment is still legal in private schools in every U.S. state except New Jersey and Iowa, and legal in public schools in nineteen states. The practice is banned in 128 countries around the world.”

Mr Ledbetter was actually a pretty good teacher, as far as I was concerned. In talking with several of my classmates, some weren’t so keen on him, while many others credited him with getting them interested in math, and making learning fun. He taught for many years, and eventually retired from McKinley School.

Leadbottom: I debated using the nickname “Leadbottom” here, but it seemed to capture our 6th grade spirit, so I decided to include it. I should also point out Disney apparently stole our nickname for Mr Ledbetter. Leadbottom is now a character in the Disney animated feature film, Planes. In the movie, Leadbottom is a grumpy old biplane who spends his life working, rather than racing. Disney’s description is that he’s a “grumbling taskmaster, a real “tank-half-empty” kind of guy. For Leadbottom, it’s work first, then … well, more work.” This seems to conform with our Sixth Grade opinion of Mr. Ledbetter.

Paddles: In researching this blog, I went online to look for pictures of paddles. All I can say is there are an extraordinary number of paddles available for sale on the internet.