Local Knowledge: Feeling smart today? You’re going to need it

Today’s round of trivia is the merging traffic of an actor, two baseball players, a veterinarian, a TV personality, a pilot, a soldier, a singer and a senator.

Good luck. You’re going to need it.

1. The late Dr. Mack Butler owned Butler’s Pet Hospital in Macon, where he practiced veterinary medicine for 56 years. He had several celebrity animals come through his office over the years, including “Silver” from “The Lone Ranger” television series. What did he treat the famous horse for?

(A) Fleas

(B) Sunburn

(C) Hoof in Mouth disease

 (D) Whiplash

2. “Trody Tro” was the signature signoff for which WMAZ-TV personality, who died in 2021 at the age of 94?

(A) Doris Martin

(B) Bill Powell

(C) George Jobin

(D) Del Ward

  3. Along with Pete Rose, “Shoeless” Joe Jackson’s lifetime banishment from Major League Baseball was recently reinstated, and both are now eligible for the Hall of Fame. Rose had ties to Macon, having played for the minor league Macon Peaches in 1962, the year before he was National League Rookie of the Year with the Cincinnati Reds. Four years after being implicated in the Chicago Black Sox Scandal of 1919, Jackson surfaced in Americus, Georgia, doing what?

(A) Working as a bellhop at the Windsor Hotel

(B) Opening a shoe store on South Lee Street

(C) Playing for the semi-pro Americus team in the independent South Georgia League 

(D) Serving as youth minister at First
Baptist of Americus

 4. Which song does NOT make a reference to U.S. 41, the highway that once served as the main route through Georgia to Florida before Interstate 75 was built?

(A) “Jesus, Take the Wheel” by Carrie Underwood

(B) “Ramblin’ Man” by The Allman
Brothers Band

(C) “I Don’t Even Know Your Name” by Alan Jackson

(D) “Nothing But the Wheel” by Patty Loveless

5.  In 1979, William A. Connelly became the only Georgian – and only the sixth person in history –  to serve as sergeant major, the highest-ranking non-commissioned officer in the U.S. Army. Where in Middle Georgia was Connelly born?

(A) Warner Robins

(B) Forsyth

(C) Dry Branch

(D) Monticello

6. Which of the following is NOT true about the late actor Sam Edwards, who was born in Macon on May 26, 1915?

(A) He appeared in more than 60 different television series, including “Gunsmoke” and “Dragnet,” and was the banker on “Little House on the Prairie.’’  

(B) He was the voice of Thumper in Walt Disney’s animated classic “Bambi” in 1942. 

(C) He opened Sam’s Club, a chain of member-only retail outlets owned by Walmart.

(D) He entertained the Army troops of Gen. Dwight Eisenhower and Gen. George Patton during World War II.

7. Macon’s Miller Field operated as the only airfield in Georgia outside of Atlanta in 1926. Five years later, which famous pilot landed there and spent the night in Macon?

(A) Charles Lindbergh

(B) Chuck Yeager

(C) Amelia Earhart

(D) Wilbur Wright

8. Actor Felix Knight, who was born in Macon, was on his deathbed at Calvary Hospital in New York in 1998, when he said: “For a country boy from a cotton patch in Macon, Georgia, I think I did pretty good.’’ He was best known for having the romantic lead as Tom-Tom in the holiday musical “Babes in Toyland” starring which famous comedy duo?

(A) Laurel and Hardy

(B) Cheech and Chong

(C) Abbott and Costello

(D) Smothers Brothers

9. When Macon’s main post office opened on College Street in November 1964, among the distinguished guests was Rep. Carl Vinson, of Milledgeville. Vinson served in the U.S. Congress 25 consecutive terms, longer than anyone in history, and was  considered the “father of the two-ocean Navy.’’ His nephew became a U.S. senator and was also known as a champion of a strong national defense. What is his name?

(A) Newt Gingrich

(B) Sam Nunn

(C) Sonny Perdue

(D) Larry Walker

10. Former Lanier High athlete Louie Wanninger was the son of Pee Wee Wanninger,  a teammate of Babe Ruth on the 1925 New York Yankees. Why is Pee Wee Wanninger the answer to a trivia question?

(A) He had a candy bar named after him to rival the Baby Ruth.

 (B) At 5-foot-7, he became a famous horse jockey who raced for the Triple Crown.

(C) He was the only guy named Pee Wee to win a Gold Glove.

(D) As a rookie in 1925, he ended one consecutive game streak and started another. He replaced Everett Scott at shortstop on May 5, snapping Scott’s then-major league record of 1,307 consecutive games. On June 1, Lou Gehrig pinch-hit for Wanninger in the eighth inning against the Washington Senators. Gehrig then replaced Wally Pipp at first base to start his famous record streak of 2,130 consecutive games. (Later broken by Cal Ripken Jr.)

Click here to view answers

(1) B. (2) D. (3) C. (4) A. (5) D. (6) C. (7) C. (8) A. (9) B. (10) D.

REPORT CARD:  (8-10) Express Lane (6-7) Interstate Highway (3-5) Two-Lane Blacktop (0-2) Dirt Road.