Tri-State Neighbor: South Dakota Farm Newspaper

Surrounded by corn husking trophies and souvenirs, four-time national corn husking champion, John Van Liere, 82, Colton, S.D., says he learned corn husking as a young boy working on his family’s farm. Tri-State Neighbor photo by Lura Roti

Four to 5 cents a bushel was what neighboring farmers used to pay John Van Liere, 82, and his brother, Adrian, to pick corn when they were teens in the late 1930s. Today, Van Liere husks corn for fun and competition.

“If we picked a 100 bushels in a day we could earn about $4 to $5 a day. Can you imagine a kid today working from 7 a.m. to chore-time for $5,” said Van Liere, a four-time national corn husking champion and a 17-time state corn husking champion.

Corn husking contests are about 30 minutes in length. Contestant's scores are based on the pounds of corn they pick, their ability to husk the ears and pick the stalks clean. They are docked points based on pounds of corn left in the field and how many ounces of husk end up in the wagon.

Growing up on a farm near Chester, S.D., Van Liere says that corn husking is a skill that he, like many farm kids of the era, learned at a young age.

“There was no mechanical pickers at that time. Our dads would take us to the fields and teach us how to husk corn. By the time I was in high school, I would stay home from school the first 4-6 weeks to husk corn,” Van Liere said.

Corn husking contests became popular across the Corn Belt in the 1920s drawing large crowds of spectators. The first national contest was held in Ottoman, Iowa, in 1924. According to Richard Humes, the president of the National Corn Husking Association, as many as 300,000 people would turn out to watch.

“The old contest was 80 minutes and was probably one of the most grueling sports there ever was because you'd have to compete against yourself for 80 minutes,” said Humes, a corn husking history buff.

He adds that the most corn ever picked during an 80-minute contest was 50 bushels.

“Hank Endress from Wyoming, Ill., is one of the only four guys to do this. He is 92 and still comes to contests. In those days they say the average farmer would pick about 6,000 bushels a year on his farm,” Humes said.

Humes was a division winner at the 2007 National Corn Husking Contest held in Dell Rapids, S.D. His friend and fellow husker, Frank Hennenfent, adds that at the height of its popularity, husking champions were treated like rock stars.

“I read one letter where a guy talked about how after winning the 1932 contest, women from across the Corn Belt sent letters of marriage proposals,” said Hennenfent, a farmer from Smithshire, Ill., who has been competing since 1984. “It is interesting how they were thought of like today's movie stars.”

Van Liere attended his first contest when he was 12. His dad took him and his brother to the 1938 National Corn Husking Contest, held in Dell Rapids Nov. 3.

Van Liere remembers the crowds of more than 125,000 contestants and spectators making their way through muddy fields to enjoy the event.

“It was real interesting and thrilling,” he said. “It was humongous. We stood in a line of cars 2 miles long waiting to get to the contest.”

To provide for such a large crowd, a large tent city went up - complete with its own post office. Local church and legion groups put up stands and sold food and souvenirs.

Similar to today's farm shows, machinery vendors showed off their newest equipment, an overalls company promoted their product by making a pair large enough for two grain silos to model, and Van Liere remembers his father paying $1 for an airplane ride for him and his brother.

Minnehaha Historical Society marker chairman, Bruce Blake, says the 1938 National Corn Husking Contest was unlike any event the state had ever hosted.

“This was a colossal event for the state. It was the biggest event up until that time,” said Blake, who put up a historical marker on the farm site that hosted the event a few miles northeast of Dell Rapids. “Our state's population was probably around 700,000 people at the time. The event pulled people from across the Midwest.”

After seeing the contest, Van Liere and his brother, who by this time were both considered good huskers, were eager to compete. His dad said they would have to wait until they were 18. World War II would interrupt the brothers' plans. It wasn't until 1978 that Van Liere would have the opportunity to compete in his first corn husking competition.

“Between brothers it was always kind of a race. In a fair crop of corn, we could pick 100 bushels per day, per person,” Van Liere said. “We each had a team of horses and a wagon. In those days the horses were used to working - they would start and stop as we would command them. A good team of horses, you wouldn't even have to say anything to them.”

Van Liere was drafted soon after he graduated from Colton High school and went into the army in 1945. He was sent to Japan as part of the Occupation Force. After the war, he returned to Colton, married his wife, Esther, and farmed corn, alfalfa and oats, and raised hogs and dairy cattle. He retired in 1990, moved to town, but still owns most of his farmland - this is where he practices before contests.

Skill and endurance

Competing in a corn husking contest requires skill and endurance. Van Liere, Humes and Hennenfent all say they spend time in the field practicing before their state competitions. There are nine divisions in today's contests, for men and women of all ages. The states of South Dakota, Minnesota, Nebraska, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa, Illinois, Indiana and Ohio all participate in the National Corn Husking Association.

“I usually go down every day once the corn is ready to pick and practice with Frank Hennenfent,” Humes said.

Hennenfent says that when he first competed he was 28 and most of his competitors were 20 years his senior.

“I thought I would do really well. I came in 18th of 24,” he said.

The technique that he learned as a young farm boy, and teaches to young competitors today, is the one Van Liere continues to use in competitions today.

“Make sure you get ahold of the ear good, you have to tend to business, it takes concentration and you have to make sure you hit the wagon, not the side of the wagon and not go over it,” said Van Liere, who says his record was 981 pounds in 30 minutes during the 1996 national competition in Kansas. “I got third. Two pickers, a guy from Kansas and a guy from Ohio, got 1,023 pounds.”

Humes says that the tip he always gives new huskers is to keep their elbows in.

“Keep your elbow in and don't let your elbow get out. Use your wrist action,” said Humes, who says he learned the technique from an older corn husker. “You grasp the ear loosely in your left hand. If it's standing upright you rack across it to open the husk, pull the husk down with your left hand, grab the husk, give it a quick twist and throw it into the wagon.”

To open the husk, competitors use either a peg or a hook. Pegs slide over the husker's fingers and are made of wood or metal with a hook on the end. Hooks are a metal hook attached to leather and come in three styles - wrist, thumb and palm. Van Liere has a large collection of antique pegs and hooks. For husking, he prefers to use a thumb hook.

“It fits on my hand just where I want to use it. Then I have the rest of my hand available for grabbing the ear better,” Van Liere said.

Win or not, meeting huskers from across the states that host contests is something all three men say they enjoy about the competition.

“I have made a lot of good friends at competitions,” Humes said. “It's one of the dying arts - this is how all corn used to be harvested. I'd like to see it stay alive. This is history we should not lose.”

To learn more about today's corn husking contests visit, www.cornhusking.com.

Contacts for upcoming contests include: South Dakota, Oct. 12, Fred Fedeler, (605) 489-2154; Minnesota, Sept. 27, Kathy Ofstie, (651) 923-4835; Iowa, Paul Christensen, (712) 773-2117; Nebraska, Oct. 11, Elaine Stuhr, (402) 736-4427.