Stanley Ketchel ~ September 14, 1886 - October 15, 1910

Stanley Ketchel was born Stanislaw Kiecal in Grand Rapids, Michigan, to Polish immigrants and became a middleweight boxing world champion. But before that, he was a teenage runaway, worked as a bouncer in Butte Montana, and started boxing in backroom matches. In 1903, he began boxing professionally, at age 16. He famously fought Jack Johnson and in 1910 he fought his last six fights. Stanley was recovering from those fights on a friend's farm in Missouri when he was robbed and murdered by a ranch hand. Read about his short and tragic life story in this well-written book.

Grand Rapids remembers him with a sculpture by Ann Hirsch (erected in 2015) on Bridge Street, part of the Community Legends Project.

The now defunct Rocky's Bar had this hanging on a wall.

Stanley's funeral was the largest in Grand Rapids until Gerald Ford's in 2007. He is buried with members of his family in Holy Cross Cemetery in Grand Rapids. When we first visited the grave some years ago, boxing gloves were hanging on the headstone and the base was clearly crumbling.

Today we visited and found a repaired grave site and members of Stanley's family nearby.

His father and mother:

His brothers, John and Alexander, and Alexander's wife, Ethel.

His brother, Leon, appears to have died in World War II in 1942 but details are scant.

Someone laid flowers on the grave of the "The Michigan Assassin" and boxers who come to town continue to pay their respects. RIP Stanley, the first middleweight champion to regain the world title after losing it. He packed a lot of living into his short life.

Roger B. Chaffee ~ February 15, 1935 - January 27, 1967

 Roger B. Chaffee was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and was an American naval officer, aviator, aeronautical engineer, and astronaut. A statue was installed in his honor in 2018 on the corner of Fulton St E and Sheldon Ave NE, downtown Grand Rapids.

Chaffee attended Central High School in Grand Rapids and became an Eagle Scout. There's a historical marker in front of Trinity United Methodist Church, 1100 Lake Drive SE, Grand Rapids.

After Chaffee's death, the Grand Rapids Public Museum renamed its planetarium after him.

The museum maintains a small exhibit with Chaffee memorabilia.

In 1963, Chaffee was selected as a NASA astronaut as part of the Third Group.

Because they perished together, Roger Chaffee will always be intertwined with Gus Grissom and Ed White. Here are some photos from the Grissom Air Force Base Museum in Peru, Indiana.

Grissom has a Memorial Museum in Mitchell, Indiana.

There's also a small space museum in Bonne Terre, Missouri.

In Frankenmuth, Michigan, you can find the Michigan Heroes Museum.

The Air Zoo in Kalamazoo, Michigan, has a plaque for Chaffee.

In 2017, we visited the Kennedy Space Center where 50 years after the Apollo 1 fire, the center put the hatch doors on display. Chaffee, Grissom, and White were sitting in the capsule on the launch pad for pre-launch testing. A fire broke out and all three were asphyxiated before they could get out of the capsule.

The Kennedy Space Center has a memorial to those who lost their lives in service to flight.

The Armstrong Air and Space Muesum in Wapakoneta, Ohio, has a small memorial to the fallen astronauts.

In 2024, we visited Arlington National Cemetery and walked up a hill to find the astronaut's grave. We were honored to pay our respects. RIP Roger B. Chaffee. 

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Gus Grissom Blogpost

NASA Day of Remembrance