Buying a bit of history: Hulman auction underway

Jun. 12—Bidders lined up halfway through an exhibit hall at the Wabash Valley Fairgrounds on Friday, anxious to participate in the first day of a weekend auction of the estate of Mary Antonia "Mari" Hulman George.

George is the daughter of Anton "Tony" Hulman Jr. and Mary Fendrich Hulman, whose name is synonymous with Hulman & Company, Clabber Girl and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. George served as the chairwoman of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway from 1988 to 2016 and was chairwoman of Hulman & Company.

The day's signature auction item was a large, hollow sterling silver greyhound dog in a seated position. The silver greyhound weighs about 32 pounds and was in Mari George's home in Terre Haute, along U.S. 40/Indiana 46.

The item sold for $12,500 at the auction.

A framed lithograph of the F.W. Cook Brewing Co., founded in 1853 in Evansville, sold for $6,000.

Ron and Jack Gerhardt of Evansville wanted to get some advertising signs from that brewing company. The two were able to purchase two small signs, each for $15.

"Some of the signs were out of our range," Jack Gerhardt said, referring to some bids for Cook Beer advertising signs, which ended at $375 to $400. "The Hulman family is kind of like the first family of Terre Haute. They have connections to just about every city," Jack Gerhadt said.

Tony Hulman bought controlling interest of the Cook brewery in the early 1950s. After workers went on strike in 1955, Hulman ceased operations, with the brewery closing in 1957.

Ron Gerhardt said his grandfather, Jack Nanney, owned a tavern and handed down some old Cook's signs, which sparked his interest in the signs in the Hulman auction. His grandfather also had a fifth-mile dirt track known as the Speedrome in Evansville.

"I raced sprint cars for a couple of years. I raced in Terre Haute right here at this track," he said of the nearby Terre Haute Action Track. One race Gerhardt won't forget was in June, 2009, while driving a non-wing sprint car at age 54, Gerhardt was involved in a multi-car accident, which flipped his vehicle several times.

"Every time I come up here, my neck hurts," he said with a chuckle.

Standing in the midst of bidders was Tony Hulman George, former chairman, president and CEO of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Hulman & Company, serving from 1989 to 2009. He spotted an ink and pen set and bent down to look it over.

"I have been through this all for the last three years, sorting through it, inventorying it for her guardianship and for her estate," Tony George said of the material.

"It is lot of things that have been accumulated over decades. Really, not much else you can do with it, there is so much stuff," George said. "It has been in one place for so long and it is no longer a place where it can be kept," he said of the Hulman & Company building in downtown Terre Haute.

Terre Haute businessman Greg Gibson last year bought the historic Hulman and Co. building at Ninth Street and Wabash Avenue, where the auction items had been stored.

"It is best to get it into the hands of people who will enjoy it," George said. "It's a lot of neat stuff that hasn't been enjoyed for quite a while."

For Darcey Redman Hehner, who grew up in Dana and now lives in Carmel, the auction "is Indiana history."

"You have to come to this. These kinds of things don't happen very often. This was a big successful person from Indiana and a part of our history," she said of Anton "Tony" Hulman Jr., whose family name also fronts some building on the campus of Indiana State University, including Hulman Center, where basketball legend Larry Bird played.

"I couldn't be happier to be here and I hope to go home with a little piece of it," Redman Hehner said. "There are some Gucci purses and wonderful little porcelain Staffordshire greyhound dogs and of course, all of the Indy 500 memorabilia and there is beautiful glassware too.

"To me, it's like taking a piece of history home with you," Redman Hehner said.

Redman Hehner knows about Indiana history. She said her grandfather's third cousin is Ernie Pyle, who was born in Dana and went on to become a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and war correspondent known for his stories about ordinary American soldiers during World War II.

"We are all about Indiana history," said Redman Hehner, whose family has deep farming roots in Dana with Redman Farms Inc., which is next door to the Ernie Pyle Rest Park along U.S. 36 in Vermilion County.

Robert Remelius of Plainfield came to look for furniture and lamps he could sell on his eBay site.

"I am looking for newer stuff and there are things mixed in here," Remelius said. "I have seen some estate sales, but not this large, not around here. You might see this along the (East or West) coasts, but not near Indianapolis, at least not all at one time."

Craig Ketner, president and owner of Ketner & Sons Electric Inc., also owns Maple Avenue Auction after buying out Shadow Auction Barn in Terre Haute. He was at the auction looking for unique items, as well as bidding on items for an Indianapolis buyer.

"I am also here to buy for resale. I like signage, statuary and all kinds of stuff," Ketner said.

Jackie Heady of Terre Haute "just came to look at the history of Terre Haute, but I did get a (bidding) number just in case I saw something I like," she said. "I am not planning on buying, but you never know. If something catches my eye when it goes up" for auction," she said.

Mollie West, who was raised in Terre Haute, but now lives in Huntsville, Alabama, looked over books with her 94-year-old father, Bill Malloy.

Malloy picked up a book titled "McGuffey's First Eclectic Reader."

"It is amazing this is here. I had an old English teacher who used to tease me that I should read the McGuffey's Reader while I was a teacher Wiley High School," said Malloy, who taught at Wiley from 1952 to 1966. He then taught physical education, serving as a track coach at Indiana State University.

Malloy also competed for ISU in cross country, and track and field, from 1946 through 1949, receiving the McMillan Award for the most outstanding athlete graduating from Indiana State in 1949. He was named the Indiana State University head cross country coach and assistant track and field coach in 1967. A year later, in 1968, he became ISU's head track and field coach.

The auction continues today and Sunday at the Wabash Valley Fairgrounds.

Reporter Howard Greninger can be reached 812-231-4204 or howard.greninger@tribstar.com. Follow on Twitter@TribStarHoward.