CAL FARLEY - INDUCTEE #4
Hall of fame fast fact:
Did you know that Cal Farley and his family saw Jesse Owens perform in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin? Daughter Genie Harriman recalled that as a 9-year-old, she got to see the sprinter's historic performance in front of Adolf Hitler because her dad had won a trip to the Olympics.
Cal Farley
Cal Farley was a world-class wrestler, a minor league baseball player, a veteran of World War I, a humanitarian, and an entrepreneur.
He is best known for establishing Cal Farley’s Boys Ranch. Farley was also instrumental in organizing the Maverick Club and Kids, Inc. in Amarillo.
Farley’s best sport was wrestling. But all sports were put on hold when Farley joined the Army and was among the first American troops to enter combat in France in World War I.
After the war, Farley won the welterweight wrestling championship in the American Expeditionary Forces Games and compiled a 122-0 won-lost record in competition.
Farley attended a baseball tryout with St. Paul of the American Association. He was farmed out to the Amarillo Gassers, arriving in Amarillo in 1923.
Despite all those activities, Farley found time for his wife and daughter, Genie Harriman.
Cal Farley died at the age of 72 in 1967.
