Omaha native Paulette Braun was a baton twirler, juggler and wire walker who performed with the circus and appeared as a halftime entertainer with the Harlem Globetrotters before beginning a second career as a professional animal photographer. Braun performed during an era when circus entertainers...
In the spring of 1949, 17-year-old Lorna Mae Nifong left her family’s 335-acre farm in Bourbon, Indiana, for a job most teenage twirlers could only dream about. She had never set foot on a train and was still working toward her high school diploma, but her destination was Sarasota, Florida, the...
Katherine “Kitty” Clark is the August 2026 Vintage Twirler of the Month. If you are a paid member of the Baton Twirling Preservation Society, you will receive your FREE sticker of Katherine by mid-August. This is the third sticker we’ve distributed since our launch and it’s a little over four...
Edward Frye, a circus fan from Minnesota and Kitty Clark, August 1941, Madison, Wisconsin (Source: Milner Library, ISU) This photo has been enhanced with AI tools and software. See original below. During the late 1930s and throughout the 1940s, Katherine “Kitty” Clark (1920-1993) was...
Rural New Mexican Norm Crider was born in 1938 and influenced a generation of French and Italian baton twirlers. Here are 15 facts about the late international champion and college feature twirler. 1 Born in 1938 in Lordsburg, New Mexico, he spent most his childhood in Southwest New Mexico....
Diane Shelton, Baton Twirler, performs for U.S. Soldiers stationed in Vietnam, Christmas Day 1966 Baton Twirler Performed in Vietnam on Christmas Day 1966 Diane Shelton was an accomplished baton twirler who toured Vietnam with Bob Hope’s USO shows in 1966. William Harrell was stationed in...
