H. Roe Bartle | |
---|---|
47th Mayor of Kansas City, Missouri | |
In office 1956–1963 |
|
Preceded by | William E. Kemp |
Succeeded by | Ilus W. Davis |
Personal details | |
Born |
Richmond, Virginia |
June 25, 1901
Died | May 9, 1974 Kansas City, Missouri |
(aged 72)
Resting place | Forest Hill Cemetery |
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse(s) | Margaret Ann Caroline Jarvis |
Children | Margaret Roe "Jimmy" Bartle Taylor |
Alma mater | University of Chattanooga |
Profession | executive, public speaker |
Religion | Presbyterian |
Harold Roe Bennett Sturdevant Bartle (June 25, 1901 – May 9, 1974) was a businessman, philanthropist, Boy Scout executive, and professional public speaker who served two terms as mayor of Kansas City, Missouri. After Bartle helped lure the Dallas Texans American Football League team to Kansas City in 1962, owner Lamar Hunt renamed the franchise the Kansas City Chiefs after Bartle's nickname, "The Chief."
Bartle was born in Richmond, Virginia, the only child of Samuel Dunn Bartle, a Presbyterian minister and an immigrant from Scotland, and Ada Mae Roe of northern Illinois. The Bartle family was musical, and at age thirteen Harold was playing the piano and organ at his father's church. The same year he also attempted to enlist in the army, but his father produced proof of his age and had him discharged.
Between 1916 and 1920, Bartle attended Fork Union Military Academy, where his father taught history and military science. There Roe (as he now insisted on being called) became a championship debater. Bartle attended the University of Chattanooga in 1920, where he proved a natural athlete, but he suffered a serious bout of pneumonia. He returned to his family, now in Lebanon, Kentucky, where in 1921, he earned a law degree from Hamilton College of Law, a Chicago correspondence school.
Bartle met Margaret Ann Caroline Jarvis in Lebanon, and they were married on September 26, 1923, in St. Joseph, Missouri, where his father had taken another pastorate. The Bartles had one child, Margaret Roe "Jimmy" Bartle Taylor. Bartle, who was 6' 4", weighed well over 200 pounds before his marriage, and he continued to gain until at one point he may have reached 375.